Customer Reviews

Fujifilm FinePix F70EXR Digital Camera - Silver (10MP, 10x Zoom) 2.7 inch LCD

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Summary: If you want a small camera with a big zoom, that goes from wide angle to extreme telephoto, that can take pictures in poor light but also in the glaring light of midday then the Fuji F70 EXR is (as of 2009) the very best option available.

I have a history of Fuji cameras and I am a fan. I use a Nikon Digital SLR when I can but a Fuji compact is never far away, and much less conspicuous at the zoo - I don't always want to look like "camera guy"!

Back in 2005 I bought the legendary Fuji F10 the very month it came out. The F10 is the direct predecessor of the Fuji F70 and the design has remained similar: small camera, big LCD on the back, and the ability to take sharp pictures indoors without flash. In 2005 there was literally nothing else available that could do this. ISO 400, 800 and even 1600 yeilded sharp, well exposed pictures at a time that most digital compacts struggled with ISO 200. This mattered as it meant less flash photography. Flashes annoy people so you get less chances to get the shot. Since then, Fuji have evolved the formula into the F11 (an F10 with manual modes) F30 and F31fd (the first with face detection), the 8 megapixel F40 and F45 (Argos branded version of the F40) the F100 and more recently the flagship model, F200EXR. I personally have owned the F10, F45 and F200EXR.

But the F70 has something new - that 27 - 270mm lens. The usual problem with long lenses is that they magnify camera shake, so faster shutter speeds are required. This generally means a bigger heaver lens to let more light in, or a better sensor inside the camera that works with low light. Again, the Fuji wins here. Panasonic and Ricoh are the major players in the mini cameras with big zooms and both make excellent cameras but they do not have the Fuji Super CCD inside them. Telephoto pictures in the real world are easy on this camera. Even pictures taken indoors across a large room.

So what are the pictures like? They are well exposed, sharp and taken quickly. The camera is very responsive and this again matters. If you press the button you want the shot now, not in 2 seconds time. There are compromises to the lens, of course there are. It flares more than shorter lenses and there are halos on high contrast pictures, but no worse than the competition. The resolution of pictures at 100% on screen at ISO 100 are very good.

Basically if this is your only digital camera or even if you have a digital SLR and want something more portable I genuinely think this is the best available. If you want something small to take pictures at concerts or other places where you need a long zoom but not camera bulk this is probably your only option right now.

(Disclosure - I was sent this camera for review by Amazon, I think because I had already bought the F200EXR from them. I will be selling the F200 and keeping this one - because of the better zoom and otherwise very similar feature set)

I owned a FinePix J10 previously and upgraded to this model and haven't regretted it. The auto mode retains the J10's simple point-and-shoot nature, while the EXR mode and the extra tricks up the F70's sleeve are more than welcome additions.

The dual auto-stabilisation and face-recognition options are excellent. I'm not the best at holding a camera steady, but shots taken with the F70 are razor-sharp and blur-free. It has 10x optical zoom and a wide angle lens allowing you to take incredible landscape shots. The EXR mode automatically adjusts the exposure, white balance, focal distance, ISO and EXR sensor mode, making it great for taking extra-special shots. In addition, there is a "Pro Focus" mode, which blurs the background of a subject for effect, and a "Pro Low-Light" mode, which takes 4 pictures and merges them together to reduce low-light noise. Both of these modes produced fantastic results in my tests.

When it comes to video, there's a distinct lack of video editing options on-board, but this doesn't bother me; I generally wouldn't use it to take video, and would prefer to edit the video on a computer if I did.

The build of the camera is noticeably better than the J10. It oozes quality, even if it isn't the best-looking camera out there (I had the gunmetal finish, which is very nice). It comes with an NP-50 rechargeable battery, a BC-45W charger (the charger comes as one unit - no cables - and is therefore more compact), a USB cable, an AV cable, a wrist strap, a basic printed manual, and two CDs containing the manual and FinePix Viewer software (which isn't required unless you really want it, on a Mac at least).

Overall, a fantastic little compact camera which produces flawless shots.

This camera is packed with features, and overall I think it's well worth the money.

First of all weight and looks: weighing in at 180g without battery and card it certainly isn't something you can fit into a shirt pocket that easily, unlike the Ixus 100 I recently bought. Looks-wise I quite like it. The body is nice and shiny with a deep gloss finish and metallic accents.

The zoom and the wide-angle lens surely must be two of its biggest selling features. The 10x zoom is just superb. I've taken some shots at 10x magnification and the quality of the pictures is really first class. This is something you don't find very often on compact cameras, and I'm mightily impressed. The wide-angle lens is also a useful features, especially for group shots.

Useability. For a camera novice like me I found the useability to be very good. The clickwheel feature works well and I like the fact that the screen shows a textual description of the function you have just chosen, just as a reminder. Very nice. I can honestly say I was up and running with pretty much all of the functionality within a couple of hours of experimenting. Perfect for a novice.

The thing I am most impressed with though is the Pro Low Light mode. I tested this in some low light situations against my Ixus 100 (my only reference point) and the quality of the pics was really good. Very little noise going on and a much better result than what I would have expected. One other function that may be of interest to some is the "Portrait Enhancer" mode which smoothes skin shots to give that air-brushed look...could be of use in years to come!

What can I say about image quality? I am no expert so you're probably better off referring to other expert reviews on the internet. All I can say is that I've experimented with the EXR and Auto settings and the quality is at least on a par with the Ixus 100 (which gives fabulous quality shots) in a range of situations. I am very pleased.

Other notable points - start up time is incredibly fast. Press the on/off button and it's ready to shoot near-instantaneously. The screen is good quality. The charger is very neat (plugs straight into the wall with no wires).

All in all an excellent camera with good build quality and packed full of features. Only downside is the size and weight, which may put some people off.

I`m not going to go into all the spec as others on this review page have done this in detail. Needless to say I bought this for my wife to take pictures of our recently born baby daughter. I already own a panasonic lumix FZ-18 which takes fantastic shots, but the fuji easily matches my pany. Although I agree the `EXR mode` is not as straighforward with light, it does produce striking images when got right. As a point and click on full auto (which my wife mainly uses), this camera has very quick focus and only stuggles to focus on extreme micro shots. It produces excellent sharp images and handles low light condition very well. The screen is large and bright with no light reflection issues when used in strong sun. The movie mode, whilst not HD, is very good and you can also zoom whilst in movie mode, which is a nice bonus. We have been very happy with this camera and with it my daughter will have lots of embarrising picture albums to look through when she grows up!! Would recommend as an alternative to the similar spec/size panasonic range.

This camera is impressive - it fits in your pocket so you can take it everywhere with you - and it features a 10x optical zoom lens yet it's the same size as cameras with only 4x optical zoom! I think the camera looks best in gun metal grey (dark grey) Fujifilm Finepix F70EXR Digital Camera - Gun Metal (10MP, 10x Zoom) 2.7'' LCD, and the camera is stylish with a solid feeling metal body, although it's a little bit slippery so a wrist strap is recommended.

The camera takes SD / SDHC cards - and a 4GB one will store about 950 photos at the highest resolution and quality. Battery life is okay - I was able to get 225 shots from a full charge - it would be nice if this was higher.

But enough about that - how good are the photos? Well, Fuji have the EXR sensor, this give you 10 megapixel photos (HR High Resolution mode), or 5 megapixel photos. The 5 megapixel modes are called SN High ISO and Low Noise - this takes a photo and gives you lower noise than if you were using the 10mp mode, and there's also the D-Range Priority mode - this exposes for both bright subjects and dark subjects giving you detail in both. It works well, but can be confusing at times trying to set the best mode - alternatively you can set it to EXR Auto and hope for the best. The results can be very impressive, with extra Dynamic Range meaning you will have less over-exposed skies, and lower noise.

Fuji have perhaps gone overboard with features - there's a manual mode - useful for concerts (set a high shutter speed), there's a pro-focus mode that will blur the background of an image, and there's also a pro low-light night mode that will take 4 photos (tripod needed) and combine them to make an impressive low noise, high detail image (both of these are at 5mp).

Image quality can be very very good - especially if you can work out which settings and modes work best for you. If left on auto it's possible that you won't get the best results. There's also some purple fringing in images especially around trees or areas of high contrast. The macro mode is very good, colours are very good, and VERY colourful on Velvia, and detail is good.

Overall I think this is a very appealling camera - it can do so much stuff - more than you'll probably ever need (and therefore can get confusing) - but it also takes some great photos and fits very nicely into your pocket. The fact that this is the world's smallest 10x optical zoom camera, means that whenever I go out I'm most likely to take this camera with me, and I'm regularly impressed by the results. Forget about the megapixels race - pick a camera that works for you, and use the 10mp or 5mp mode (depending on the scene), to get the best results from this camera.

For some time I had been debating buying this camera or the Panasonic Lumix T27. Then they brought out the new F80EXR which did really turn my head.

However I was offered an ex-display model of the F70 at half price. The F80 is rated at 12MP and has HD movie recording, but is basically the same camera so I took the deal. It was a GREAT deal.

The camera is easy to use, has a really nice feel in your hand and compared to my old compact is very quick in operation with minimal lag. Yes HD movie would be nice but I have a camcorder anyway. 10MP is more than sharp enough for most uses unless you are a pro, which I'm not. My hubby has a new 12MP compact and comparing images it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference when veiwed full size on a 17inch monitor.

I'm really looking forward to getting out and about with this camera to fully test the range of photo options and put the EXR sensor and 27mm wide angle lens through it's paces.

Initial test shots at home using natural light indoors with no flash, macro and pro focus have been impressive. Practice will highlight which modes on the camera work best.

A quick read of the manual (a basic one comes in paper form with a more comprehensive guide on CD) and I was up and running. The menus are easy to navigate (nothing worse than missing a shot because you are setting up your camera)

The camera looks good. It really is no bigger than most compacts, despite the lens. The LCD is very clear and sharp, even in bright light. It feels well built.

The only reason I've rated it a 4star is that it has now been superceeded by a new model that has HD movie. But if you want a small compact with powerful zoom and good image quality this camera ticks all the boxes.

Spent some time researching compact cameras with good zoom capability, finally deciding that this was the best buy combination of useful features and price. The camera lives up to its promise and I'm very pleased with it. In particular the zoom capability is excellent.

Read many reviews and image quality was best with the Fuji F70exr,and i am not disappointed,you need to read the manual and get to know what this fantastic little compact can achieve, low light and night shots are great, landscape and portrait are out of this world, i sold my dslr basically because too large to cart around, and this little camera to me is just as good.well done fuji

Bought this camera after reading all the good reviews on the Internet. Found the out of the box settings did not give good results and I am still experimenting with modes/setting in an attempt to improve indoor image quality. I am a little disappointment with the Fuji Finepix F70EXR, as was expected an easy to use point and shoot camera, not one I would have to spend weeks trying to reduce noise issues on indoor images. On the plus side, I have had some good results using the zoom outdoors and the camera is very compact.Battery life is good.
I previously have had a Canon Ixus 400 and Canon Ixus 950IS, both of which gave some superb results indoors and outdoors before failing through punishing use. Both cameras were very easy to use compared to the F70EXR. I'm beginning to wonder if I should have bought another Canon Ixus?
Anyway, I'm going to keep persevering with the F70EXR's modes/settings and who knows, may just get the results I'm looking for.