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List price as of Nov 22, 2007:
S$559
S$559
Product Summary
Good
The good: Chic design; CCD-shift stabilization; useful auction tool; 5x optical zoom. 6.8
out of 10View score
The bad: Irksome menu; overexposed images.
The bottom line: The Z100fd is a good looker of a camera, but as they say, beauty is only skin deep.
Read full review of the Fujifilm FinePix Z100fd »
Average User Rating
CNET Asia Review
The compact camera seems to have reached the end of its tether. The megapixel race is largely over (consumers are seeing the relationship between increasing megapixel count at the same sensor size and increasing noise) and cameras can't seem to get any smaller.
So instead of practical additions, manufacturers are pushing out zany features. Some Nikon and Sony cams have Wi-Fi built-in. Olympus has digicams that are as tough as nails. Casio is partnering with YouTube. And the Fujifilm Z100fd, well, it's got a camera slider that glides… diagonally.
Functionally, the diagonal slider works the same as a sideward version--if you pull it from the side. It doesn't work when we tried from the top. But we like it for the glide mechanism moves with a smooth fluid motion.
But the Z100fd is more than a design aberration. It's one of the best-looking compact cameras to gallop out of the Fujifilm stable. In fact, we like to think that its brushed metal finish and straight utilitarian lines puts it on par with the best that Sony's got (the Cyber-shot T200).
It's solid in feel and weighty (138g). The two-tone color scheme chic. Buttons are functional in design with good tactile depth, and that's true even for the too-tiny Display and Playback nubs beneath the scroll wheel.
The menu is classic Fujifilm. There are tabs for fast browsing and the categorizing of camera settings is generally neat.
But we didn't like how the scene selection, camera modes and camera settings are all accessed through the same button. Unlike the F50fd, which splits up access among three buttons, and thus quick access; the Z100fd have them all cobbled up together. This makes menu navigation irritating.
To make an immediate change to the ISO means clicking on the Menu button, scrolling up three items, clicking through and scrolling down another five items before you arrive at the ISO control. These tedious steps apply to other essential adjustments such as white balance and exposure compensation.
Another irk is that the camera, like the older Fujifilms, will throw you out of the menu controls once you have changed a setting. For example, after you have adjusted the date and time, you will need to jump through the same hoops in order to set the LCD brightness.
So instead of practical additions, manufacturers are pushing out zany features. Some Nikon and Sony cams have Wi-Fi built-in. Olympus has digicams that are as tough as nails. Casio is partnering with YouTube. And the Fujifilm Z100fd, well, it's got a camera slider that glides… diagonally.
Design
Yes, the Z100fd is fearless in the face of common slider design philosophy. Sony do it vertically. The first Fujifilm FinePix Z1 and Casio does it horizontal. So the oblique slider must be Fujifilm for thinking out of the box.Functionally, the diagonal slider works the same as a sideward version--if you pull it from the side. It doesn't work when we tried from the top. But we like it for the glide mechanism moves with a smooth fluid motion.
But the Z100fd is more than a design aberration. It's one of the best-looking compact cameras to gallop out of the Fujifilm stable. In fact, we like to think that its brushed metal finish and straight utilitarian lines puts it on par with the best that Sony's got (the Cyber-shot T200).
It's solid in feel and weighty (138g). The two-tone color scheme chic. Buttons are functional in design with good tactile depth, and that's true even for the too-tiny Display and Playback nubs beneath the scroll wheel.
)
)
The stylized and illuminated Z; tiny nub of a button.
The menu is classic Fujifilm. There are tabs for fast browsing and the categorizing of camera settings is generally neat.
But we didn't like how the scene selection, camera modes and camera settings are all accessed through the same button. Unlike the F50fd, which splits up access among three buttons, and thus quick access; the Z100fd have them all cobbled up together. This makes menu navigation irritating.
To make an immediate change to the ISO means clicking on the Menu button, scrolling up three items, clicking through and scrolling down another five items before you arrive at the ISO control. These tedious steps apply to other essential adjustments such as white balance and exposure compensation.
Another irk is that the camera, like the older Fujifilms, will throw you out of the menu controls once you have changed a setting. For example, after you have adjusted the date and time, you will need to jump through the same hoops in order to set the LCD brightness.
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