Customer Reviews

Fujifilm Finepix F200EXR Digital Camera - Black (12MP, 5x Optical Zoom) 3 inch LCD

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is the camera that the vast majority of us have been waiting for, in a sensible package it crams a high resolution advanced sensor with some extra tricks up its sleeve, a respectable 5x zoom lens, a shorter than average wide angle start point and last but not least a fully automatic mode that seems to do what it should........take the best possible picture in the circumstances.

It is the Extended Range Function that makes this camera what it is.

In normal to good lighting conditions it functions as a conventional 12mp camera.

However should the lighting conditions have a large difference between light and dark, then the camera shifts into the Extended range function. The 12mp sensor is now split into two 6mp sensors, one taking a slighty overexposed image and the other to take a slighty underexposed image. These are then combined to make one 6mp picture but with all the detail in both the dark and light sections of the image (and by god it works).

Should the lighting conditions be very poor and/or there is a risk of picture shake. It will shift to its high ISO - Low noise mode. Again it splits the sensor into two 6mp sensors and takes identical exposures and then combines the two images, cancelling out the majority of noise artifacts from such a high ISO setting. The high ISO also allows for a faster shutter speed and therefor less shake. This function can also allow you to take pictures without flash for a more natural balance or where flash is prohibited.

A small point to note that these last two functions result in 6mp image output from the camera, so excessive cropping/zooming/large print size could result in a slightly lower picture quality than expected.

The camera can be forced into using either of the two functions described above or can be switched off to function as a normal 12mp camera all the time (plus all the other usual modes).

Also to note is that battery life is awful in the EXR mode, as all the processing functions are fully active all the time including constant focusing

The 28mm start point on the lens helps, you know when your stood in the corner of a room trying to get as much in as you can. This camera (like any other with a similar start point) just gets so much more in the frame than those with the classic 35mm start point.

The zoom is also a revelation, whilst limited to a 5x limit it has lots of steps (15!) through its range. So its never a case of to close or not close enough.

Could go on for ages its brill....

Remeber plenty of memory (especially if you are going to use fujis amazing video mode, so much better than the rest at 30fps). A spare battery or two...... they dont last long. Watch out on the replacement front have seen some very low capacity batteries marked as high capacity (look for at least 900 - 1000 mha, have seen one as high as 1200mha which should help). The battery is not unique to fuji, i have a Kodak Klic 7004 battery (equivalent by Uniross 1000mha £11) that works fine.

Any niggles ..well yes i find that i keep jogging the function dial, but thats probably me just being clumsy when i get it out the case.

Buy and enjoy... you never knew you where that good at taking pictures!

N.B. I have noticed alot of people complaining about noisy pictures at iso 1600 setting. This (and iso 3200) is available at full 12mp resolution and will be noisy. Switch to EXR High/Low noise mode - problem solved.

When I buy something I buy a magazine and read reviews including Amazon.
This camera has a Gold award from "What Digital Camera" in the compact review class and I totally agree. Other reviews rate it highly.
It was smaller than I expected making the buttons fairly difficult but the 3 inch screen taking up three quarters of the back is superb.
Large easy menu selection.
Everything is a quality build.
The new EXR mode is like a "Super Auto" setting and takes all the decisions regarding macro or portrait or landscape together with indoor lighting or outdoor. Two exposures are then combined to give the best picture possible.
The 12mega pixel and 5 times zoom assist in producing High Definition pictures.
Note that a memory card is not supplied and I would recommend an Olympus or Fuji XD with the M+ rating (H are no longer available) and 1 GB will give a capacity of more than 100 at Fine quality using the EXR setting.
SD cards can also be used.
Picture format can be set for widescreen or the old 4 x 3 ratio.
Face recognition is included.

No protective case or rear screen protector was a minus point but they are available.

Comment added later :- If you have not ordered the memory card with the camera it does have an internal memory giving about 12 shots at the highest quality.
You can shoot in different aspect ratios to fill the widescreen on your monitor with helpful framing guidlines on the rear monitor at the time of shooting.
A week of use has convinced me that using the EXR setting you can leave everything to the camera as it even decides if it is a macro shoot or a landscape. The EXR setting is a bit power hungry so a spare battery is now on order.
All controls are very logical to use but I suppose I will just leave it on EXR.

Originally I was looking for a video camera that could take pictures, but since I would be mostly taking pictures I came to the conclusion that what i really needed was a digital camera with good picture quality that could also take video. The FujiFilm F200EXR certainly provides excellent picture modes for my simple point and click requirements and the video quality is almost as good as my last video camera.

Although this camera was more than I had originaly wanted to pay, I was more than happy with the end results. It was also very recently confirmed as best buy on the gadget show, which just confirms to me its capability.

The only downsides that I have so far with it, is that when shooting video by turning the camer 90 degress (to make the picture taller) there isn't the option to turn the video back around the right way when viewing it later (either on the camera or PC). I suspect I will need to buy speacialist software to do this.

Also the Fuji Finepix PC software (to manage your photo collection and camera downloads) didn't seem to want to work with my PC (Windows Vista, with all the latest patches on), so I had to resort to manually bringing accross camera video/pictures myself and then deleting the images (this seemed to be a general issue with the software if you look at all of the google items relating to others users comments). This wasn't an issue or me, since I am quite capable on the PC, but for others this might be enough to discourage them.

Zoom on the video once it had started would have been nice, but I can live without it since taking pictures was the main purpose of it.

As with other reviewers comments, I would agree that a second battery is a must, especially since you need to remove the battery from the camera to charge it.

I previously owned a Fuji F31Fd, a camera renowned for its low light ability. The F200EXR is better than that camera in that regard. It is pocketable, snappy to focus, and takes great images. The EXR function appears to work well 75% of the time, to choose the best mode. Only slight negatives are the limited manual controls (which are buried in the menus), and not brilliant video, and the battery life which is not as good as the 31Fd. I thought about the Canon G10, but this camera has far better noise levels at high ISO, and is much smaller (though doesn't have an optical viewfinder).

Camera is slightly bigger than a lot of compact cameras, however is not a big camera and is thin.

Controls are pushed slightly together on the back due to the very nice large screen. however I've found them all very easy to use.

Image quality seems great my old camera is a now an 8 yr old 5 megapixel kodak so difficult to compare against modern cameras, this one is unsurpriseingly miles better than my old camera.
Images seemed great in all lights.
very nice feature that it accepts SD and xD memory cards

I was looking for a camera, which while mostly point and shoot, would give me a little more control when needed. It also had to be very portable. The F200EXR fulfils these criteria with spades. It's been a joy to use and the pictures are outstanding. The Image Stabilisation is superb, the 28-140mm lens is a very nice lens length, while keeping the camera compact. The EXR feature is very good.

So why not 5 *'s?
- The AP mode only switches between fully open and fully stopped down.
- The camera far too often selects maximum shutter speed over a good balance between shutter speed and a good aperture ie default SP!
- No standard USB port.
- Short battery life, you have to have a second battery.

Overall I would say this is an excellent camera, if you want something very portable, easy to use but giving you control (while not an SLR of course) when you need it, then I would say put this (high) on your short list.

I wanted to replace my Fujifilm F30 (thanks to the shutter breaking after one too many drops!), so I thought I would upgrade to the F200 EXR and enjoy those extra pixels! The camera is brilliant and I am really pleased with the photo quality (12 mega pixels). I always go for a Fujifilm camera because the video quality is excellent and with an 8mb data-card, gives me 30 minutes of high quality video (or at least high enough to make me leave my proper video camera in it's case 99% of the time!). My only niggle with this otherwise excellent camera, is that my last one had a plug- in 5v DC line, so recharging was easy. On this F200 EXR, you have to take the battery out and stick in a recharging station, which is slightly annoying. To get around this I have ordered a spare battery, so I will just keep one on charge all the time. If this camera had a recharging lead it would get 5 stars without doubt, as it's simply brilliant!! I would recommend it highly.

I bought this camera as a carry-anywhere alternative to my SLR kit, as I was looking for a pocket-sized compact that would produce decent results.

The first thing to say is that it fulfils this role pretty well. It is capable of producing good quality images and is very solidly constructed. There are, however, some things that could be improved.

The Good
The EXR sensor technology is not just a gimmick, the High Dynamic Range option does give better shadow and highlight detail than any other compact I have tried, and the Low-Noise/Hi ISO option also produces usable results in quite challenging conditions. Overall image quality is good, with excellent levels of detail and a sharp lens with a sensible zoom range. The 3" screen is usable in all but the brightest conditions and the menus and other on-screen information are easily read. This type of camera will probably be used on one of the Auto Settings a lot of the time, but there is a reasonable range of manual adjustments when you want them. Fuji fit a large (1/1.6") sensor which in my opinion just gives it the edge in terms of image quality over the otherwise excellent Panasonic Lumix equivalents.

The Bad
Shot to shot times are a bit slow because it seems to take quite a while to write the images to the card. If you are used to a fast SLR, you will find this frustrating. Similarly, auto-focus can be a bit sluggish for action shots. The lens performance is generally very good, but there is noticeable barrel distortion at the wide end of the zoom and the macro does not go as close as some competitors. Auto White Balance tends to give slightly cold results under daylight conditions (Flash shots are pleasantly neutral). Overall design is conservative but well thought out, but the controls are necessarily small due to lack of space, and it is possible to turn the camera on & off accidentally as the power button is slightly raised on the top plate. Finally, the "USB" port and supplied lead are in fact a proprietary fit, not standard mini-USB, this is an irritating design decision because it means you have to take the dedicated lead with you when travelling, or use a card reader.

Summary
This is a complex camera for its size and needs a bit of time to get to grips with it. If you do so, you will be rewarded with excellent results which would stand comparison with those from a budget SLR, even printed when up to A3. The fully auto EXR function works brilliantly but is best only used when really needed as it gobbles battery power. Better to choose the mode you want for the conditions you are in. In many settings, the camera automatically selects ISO speeds which are a bit high for my preference, but once you are aware of this you can "tame" it to shoot slower & virtually noise-free images you will be proud of.

This is a very good product and if the few niggles I have highlighted could be fixed...and RAW output added like some Fuji compacts of old... it could be a great one.

Fujifilm Finepix F200EXR Digital Camera - Black (12MP, 5x Optical Zoom) 3" LCD

I originally bought this camera elsewhere after A LOT of review reading, technical research and comparing of test shots to all other cameras in and around its price range.

I can confidently say that as long as you understand the differences between the shooting modes, you'll have to really persevere to find a picture that doesn't come out brilliantly.

The EXR mode is great for getting really great definition and colour into shots, the only downside (if you could call it that) being that only a 6 megapixel image will be captured. It is worth pointing out that the drop in megapixels does not denote a drop in clarity - as many camera salesmen (and women) would have you believe. Basically all this means is that the image will be smaller than a 12 megapixel counterpart - but this WILL NOT MATTER TO MOST USERS, as often users will only want to print to standard photo sizes (eg. 6" x 4" / 8" x 6"), which 6 megapixel resolution is more than enough for.

So you like the sound of it, but you're not sure you can get your head around all the different options / settings? No problem! I've purchased another F200 EXR for my dear old mum (off Amazon this time as their price is now best), who was looking for a camera that was easy to use, but would provide great picture quality. Now after a short demonstration of the camera and a few practice snaps, mum was off and rolling with the various scene modes (Portrait / Landscape / Beach / Snow / Fireworks etc, etc.), the face recognition feature and all basic features that the camera provides.

Now, I don't mean to sound harsh, but if a woman who hasn't owned a camera in roughly 20 years or more can work the F200 EXR - you have no excuse!! :0)

..::THE ONLY REAL DOWNSIDE::..

Battery life could be better, but is no worse than most cameras currently on sale - plus switching to power saving mode really does add hours to your battery life. To be perfectly honest, battery life won't be an issue at all unless you are taking photos every 20 seconds, all day, but it warranted a mention all the same. As with all cameras, it's often a good idea to buy a spare battery, in this case, you'll need this one: - Fujifilm Lithium Ion Battery for FinePix F100fd

..::CONCLUSION::..

It's a great camera, capable of taking tuly breathtaking photos, easy to use, a nice 3" screen size and the EXR mode is something that seperates the F200 EXR from all other models in AND around it's price range.

I have a number of film and digital cameras but wanted one to carry around at all times to go into my pocket. The F200EXR does just that. The overall build is very good and the 3" LCD screen works well in most lighting situations. The lense has produced sharp pictures and the colour rendition is very good. I wish the Programme mode allowed more control (only 2 aperture settings) and I have to say that for all the technical claims by Fuji, the noise at 1600 (EXR) setting is very noticeable. The rest of the specs seem to live up to the claims made for them and overall I am happy to have this camera to hand.