Overview
For the past couple of years, cameras offering a broad focal range shoehorned into a pocket-sized chassis have helped prevent point-and-shoot models from being totally killed off by smartphones. Enter the Fuji FinePix F600 EXR, upgrading the FinePix F550 EXR.
It may not offer the longest reach of its rival cameras, with a 15x optical zoom equivalent to 24-360mm in 35mm terms, yet with curved edges and glossy fascia we'd argue it's the most attractive travel zoom compact camera to date.
Beneath that sports car-like exterior, the Fuji FinePix F600 EXR is neither a professional nor enthusiast photographer's camera, but rather a mass-market point and shoot. The £250 model aims to punch above its weight, however, via raw capture alongside JPEG (or in addition to), a feature buried deep within the set-up menu. Then there's the secret weapon of a back-illuminated and image stabilised 1/2-inch EXR CMOS sensor that can be used in three ways.
There's the choice of full 16MP resolution shots in HR (High Resolution) mode, 8MP high sensitivity low noise images in SN (Signal to Noise) mode, or an 8MP high dynamic range DR mode to theoretically avoid the bright background with dark foreground syndrome. The camera achieves the latter by automatically capturing and combining two separate shots. There's also an EXR Auto option, if you can't decide on the best fit for a scenario.
A hump above the lens signals that, like the competing 16x Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20 that costs £50 more, the Fuji FinePix F600 EXR marries its big zoom power with built-in GPS, whereby each image is tagged with longitude and latitude coordinates.
Moreover, its maker claims to have taken GPS to the 'next level' with an additional Augmented Reality Landmark Navigator. This uses GPS to flag up famous sites near your position that might be worth a photo.
Also new is an Intelligent Digital Zoom feature. Best practice is normally to shy away from using digital zooms, which effectively cropthe image, but Fuji claims a reach equivalent to 30x and selective sharpening, so noise doesn't increase across an image as a whole. A new Motion Detection feature also, naturally, detects if the subject is moving and cranks up the settings (such as ISO) to compensate. This isn't just hyperbole and actually appears to work, providing usable results, if not quite pin-sharp ones.
EXR modes and separate regular auto mode aside, a full complement of additional shooting modes include Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority and Manual, plus a 360-degree panorama, background defocus or low-light option.
We also get scene modes that only omit the miniature, fish-eye and pinhole-type digital effects that are otherwise all the rage with competing brands.
Full HD 1080p video gets a dedicated record button, plus stereo sound and slow motion options.
There's more to the Fuji FinePix F600 EXR than one might expect at first glance, even if headline resolution, sensor size and pixel count are identical to its predecessor.
Build quality and handling
A firm press of the top plate power button and with a mechanical whirr and bleeps the Fuji FinePix F600 EXR is ready for the first shot in two to three seconds. Although the lens starts out at maximum wide angle and completely retracts within the camera body when inactive, a broader than average focal range necessitates a slightly broader than average compact camera.
That said, the camera still slips into the pocket of your jeans, even if it does feel much heavier than its fully loaded 220g weight suggests. It's surprisingly solid and feels built to last.
With a rubber pad nudging against a subtle curve to the left-hand side of the Fuji FinePix F600 EXR's faceplate – viewed lens-on – the compact camera attempts to provide a means of hand holding the camera steady enough for blur-free maximum telephoto shots.
We reviewed the high gloss white F600, which was a tad slippery, producing distinctly shaky results in less than perfect light. The black model offers a more practical rubberised body coating, while red gloss is the third alternative.
On our review camera, the thumb of the left hand ended up partially obscuring and inevitably smudging the 3-inch, 460k-dot 4:3 ratio LCD screen. This is due to a thin bezel and lack of anywhere else to place your thumb.
The Fuji FinePix F600 EXR also embeds a pop-up flash in the top plate. Unusually, there's a small physical shooting mode dial to the far right of the LCD display, which slopes sharply backwards so that it automatically nudges the photographer's right thumb.
This positioning tempted us to experiment with other settings on the dial, but also means that it's easy to slip onto adjacent shooting options when getting the camera out of your pocket.
With video and playback getting their own controls, and a familiar four-way control pad with exposure, flash, self timer and macro options, core functionality falls readily to hand.
As well as a useful Back function for seamless navigation that doubles up as a display button, this being a Fuji camera we also get an enigmatic 'F' (for 'Foto') button as a shortcut to the most widely used settings. These are ISO (the F600, like the F550, offers up to a semi pro-like ISO 12800), image size and film simulation modes, with our favoured colour saturation-boosting Velvia.
Here we also find GPS options, including the location search and info. There's the option to turn these off if you don't want them on permanently draining power.
Handling-wise there's little to fault on the Fuji FinePix F600 EXR, save for the niggles we've just mentioned.
Performance
We were testing the Fuji FinePix F600 EXR in gloomy winter weather and what looked drab in reality looked even more so on the back screen, which struggled to shine even with its reasonable 460k dot resolution retained from the Fuji FinePix F550 EXR.
Usually we find with Fuji EXR models that style tends to triumph over substance, and here visible difference between the switch-able EXR settings and regular intelligent auto or program modes are sometimes subtle at best. Plus, by virtue of its metering automatically trying to balance exposure in tricky lighting situations, if you have the relevant EXR mode selected, you're often left with a very flat-looking JPEG.
Also, despite all the gadgetry and gimmickry under the bonnet, the Fuji FinePix F600 EXR is still a point and shoot camera, and if you're expecting results that for the vast majority of images look like anything other than snapshots, you'll be disappointed.
If you're looking for a point and shoot with ideas above its station with a better chance of delivering, then investigate Fuji's own X100. Used side by side with this camera, it knocks spots (or should that be pixels?) off the F600 EXR's output, albeit with a sensor and price tag both twice the size of this model.
We got the best results here by selecting the Velvia setting from among the Fuji film simulation modes, which better mirrored the scene before us than the default Provia option. We did find, however, that the camera's auto white balance biased to correcting whichever colour was most abundant in the scene, so that a shot of bright orange berries produced an overall mauve tint.
However, we found the camera coped with tungsten lighting well - with drab weather outside we took it to a shopping mall and got respectable results shooting handheld, even with movement in the frame. However, images aren't always uniformly sharp over the entire frame at every focus setting, with some noticeable fall off towards the corners.
While colour casts and dull exposures are easily corrected in Photoshop, if you venture above ISO 3200 on the Fuji FinePix F600 EXR then resolution drops to 8MP at ISO 6400. It drops further still, to 4MB at the top ISO 12800 setting to further disguise progressively intrusive image noise. So we stuck at ISO 1600, but preferred the most noise-free results that were to be had at ISO 800, which is fairly par for the course.
To be critical, this Fuji is only the ideal travel companion it's pitched as if you're staying somewhere bright and sunny, but the same is true of most snapshots.
Image quality and resolution
As part of our image quality testing for the Fuji FinePix F600 EXR, we've shot our resolution chart.
If you view our crops of the resolution chart's central section at 100% (or Actual Pixels) you will see that, for example, at ISO 100 the Fuji FinePix F600 EXR is capable of resolving up to around 18 (line widths per picture height x100) in its highest quality JPEG files.
Examining images of the chart taken at each sensitivity setting reveals the following resolution scores in line widths per picture height x100:
ISO 100, score: 18 (see full image)
ISO 200, score: 18 (see full image)
ISO 400, score: 18 (see full image)
ISO 800, score: 16 (see full image)
ISO 1600, score: 16 (see full image)
ISO 3200, score: 14 (see full image)
ISO 6400, score: 12 (see full image)
ISO 12800, score: n/a (see full image)
For a full explanation of what our resolution charts mean, and how to read them please click here to read the full article.
Noise and dynamic range
We shoot a specially designed chart in carefully controlled conditions and the resulting images are analysed using DXO Analyzer software to generate the data to produce the graphs below.
A high signal to noise ratio (SNR) indicates a cleaner and better quality image.
For more more details on how to interpret our test data, check out our full explanation of our noise and dynamic range tests.
Signal to noise ratio
JPEG images from the Fuji FinePix F600 EXR (without EXR) show a good signal to noise ratio up to a sensitivity of ISO 800, despite this the Canon IXUS 220 HS, Nikon Coolpix S9100 and Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20 all have better results from around ISO 200.
Dynamic range
This chart indicates that the Fuji FinePix F600 EXR's JPEGs (without EXR) only just beat the Nikon Coolpix S9100 at ISO 200, at sensitivities above this the Canon IXUS 220 HS, Nikon Coolpix S9100 and Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20 greater dynamic range results.
Sample images
VELVIA: Selecting Velvia film simulation mode allows the deep hues of autumn foliage to be captured in their splendour, but this wide-angle shot also displays obvious distortion.
CLEAR: Find yourself with the benefit of clear blue skies and, like any snapshot camera, the Fuji FinePix F600 EXR delivers its very best performance, with good levels of sharpness here from front to back of frame.
EXR: This 'EXR' mode image has commendably kept detail in the foreground and the sky, producing an image closer to what the eye sees if, to be picky, a little flat overall.
PANORAMA: This automatically generated handheld panoramic image reveals some lens flare – OK, we were shooting almost directly into the sun at one point – but is free from obvious overlaps and the colours are lovely too, if detail is unsurprisingly not quite pin sharp.
BLUR: A slightly otherworldly looking result from the Fuji with some serious loss of focus top left of frame plus pixel fringing in the same corner.
ZOOM: Having a 15x lens reach enables you to get closer to your quarry than the average point and shoot compact, if, when light levels are less than ideal, results are not always razor sharp at the telephoto end when shooting handheld.
Sensitivity and noise
Full ISO 100 image. See the cropped (zoomed to 100%) versions below.
ISO 100
ISO 200
ISO 400
ISO 800
ISO 1600
ISO 3200
ISO 6400
ISO 12800
Verdict
In terms of build quality and feature set, the Fuji FinePix F600 EXR betters most propositions around the £250 mark. Design-wise too it makes the leader among travel zooms - the Panasonic Lumix TZ20 - look almost utilitarian. Ironically this led us to expect the camera to deliver perhaps more than it was capable of.
What counts the most is image quality, and we can't claim the Fuji's performance is spotless on this score, with the rival Lumix range being more consistently reliable overall. While enthusiast-enticing gimmicks such as high light sensitivity settings look good on paper, in use a small sensor and high resolution don't do the Fuji FinePix F600 EXR many favours.
We liked
The build quality and styling of the Fuji FinePix F600 EXR suggest that here is the Ferrari of the digital camera world, and it's crammed with a box-ticking variety of latest tech, including GPS, stereo video clips, 360-degree panoramas et al. The £250 asking price therefore seems very fair indeed.
We disliked
Burnt out highlights and pixel fringing, rather flat-looking images straight out of the camera unless Velvia mode is constantly deployed, and noisy results at higher ISOs make the likes of ISO 12800 look like something that was only added to bolster the spec sheet. But similar accusations could be levelled at most point-and-shoot cameras.
Final verdict
We can see the ideal audience for this camera being young families who want an unfussy point and shoot camera that doesn't cost a packet but does a bit of everything and has the advantage of full HD recording with stereo sound at the press of a button - albeit not a dedicated record button.
Luckily for Fuji, the flashy exterior is bound to entice the gadget fan first, and camera enthusiast second, and in that respect the Fuji FinePix F600 EXR can be deemed a success.
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