Fujifilm means business with 27 new cameras

January 5, 2012 @ 8:30AM

Fujifilm means business with 27 new cameras

By Daniela Bowker

Entry-level compact: Fujifilm Finepix T400

According to my count, Fujifilm has just announced 27 - yes, 27 - new cameras today. Amongst the 30× optical zoom bridge cameras and the all-weather, go-anywhere, freeze-proof, and drop-proof snappers, there's a clutch of point-and-shoots that are suggesting Fujifilm, at least, is not going to take the relentless march of the camera phone into their market lying down. Oh no, they're determined to show anyone who's surgically attached to their Facebook account that a compact camera is better than a camera phone.

Point-and-shoots

The Finepix Z1000EXR is definitely intended to be just as much an accessory as it is a camera. It might have a 16 megapixel CMOS sensor, 5× optical zoom, and 30 frames-per-second video capability, but it has a touchscreen, a mirror for self-portraits, face-tracking, a self-portrait timer that responds to the number of faces in the shot, and it wirelessly transfers images from camera to Android phone, iPhone, iPad, or any kind of tablet. And it comes in pink, champagne, white, or jade green.

I was a fan of the Z90 as a camera for kids. Whether or not I'll feel the same about its replacement, the Finepix Z110, I'm not sure, with its target market clearly party-going people. The Z110 has blue LED-lit buttons, a maximum ISO 3,200, and a special 'Night Out' mode for low light situations. Not forgetting face detection, 720p HD video, motion panorama mode, and a face retouching feature that allows you to smooth skin, brighten tones, and even enlarge eyes. You might be able to take photos with your camera phone, but you can make people look better with this one! It comes in pink, purple, white, blue, black, and green, and has a 14 megapixel sensor and 5× optical zoom, for the record.

When it comes to the Finepix JX-series (700; 580; 550; 520; and 500) the killer feature is the capability to edit your 720p HD 30 frames-per-second video in-camera. And don't forget that it comes with automatic scene recognition and motion panorama mode.

The Finepix JZ250 and JZ100 come with 8× optical zooms, as opposed to 5× optical zooms, which seem to be standard on the new point-and-shoots. And there's also 720p HD video, face detection, an ISO ranging from 100 to 3,200, and macro focusing as close as 5cm.

Finally, there are the Finepix T350 and T400, which might not be as pretty to look at as the others, but they come with 14 or 16 megapixel CCD sensors respectively, 10× optical zoom, motion panorama capability, 720p HD video, face recognition, and ISO 100 to 3,200.

All-weather

There are three all-weather, all-terrain cameras in the new line-up; the Finepix XP150, the XP100, and the XP50. Whilst they all come with 14 megapixel CMOS sensors, 5× optical zoom, and can make 1080p HD videos at 30 frames-per-second, and are dust- and sand-proof, the XP150 and XP100 are certainly the bigger siblings. They can withstand 10 metres underwater, can be dropped from 2 metres, and cope with temperatures of -10 Celsius. The XP50 is not quite that intrepid: going five metres underwater and coping with drops of 1.5 metres.

If you want really push out the boat, the XP150 has GPS, too. So whichever ocean you're sailing, you can locate your images.

And they're not quite as ugly as the rugged cameras so often seem to be.

Bridges

A staggering 10 new bridge cameras debuted for Fujifilm today. Topping the bill are the Finepix HS30EXR and HS25EXR. They've 16 megapixel CMOS sensors, 30× optical zoom that can be upped to a 60× 'intelligent zoom', 1080p video capability, full manual control, RAW function, and can get as close as 1cm for macro work.

The Finepix S4500, S4400, S4300, and S4200 all run off of four AA batteries, have 14 megapixel CCD sensors, and can make 720p HD videos. All that sets them apart is their zoom capability, the S4500 has a 30× optical zoom capability, dropping incrementally to 24× for the S4200.

Again, it's only the zoom capability, starting with 30× and ending at 24×, that sets apart the SL300, SL280, SL260, and SL240 from each other. They all have 14 megapixel CCD sensors, ISO 100-6,400, and make 720p HD videos. Unlike the S-series, the SL-series is Li-ion battery powered.

Superzooms!

Last of all, bring on the superzooms, with their impressive zoom capability, as well as RAW capability, fully manual operation, 1080p HD video, motion panorama mode, and an impressive ISO range, which all fits in your pocket.

The Finepix F770EXR and F750EXR have 20× optical zoom, 16 megapixel EXR-CMOS sensors, should be ready to within 1.5 seconds of pressing the 'on' switch, and can autofocus with 0.16 seconds. With the F770EXR, you also have GPS capability and can shoot upto 11 frames-per-second (but you need to drop your photo size for that).

The Finepix F660EXR is an upgrade on the F600. It's pretty similar to the F750EXR, but has only a 15× optical zoom. So instead of having the 35mm equivalent of a 25-500mm, it's 24-360mm instead. Ah well!

Right, I hope that you've made it this far. I'm ready for a lie down now, and my inbox needs clearing out!