FujiFilm FinePix 4700

Richard Price
12 September 2000

The only thing small about Fujifilm's FinePix 4700 digital camera is its size. It fits in the palm of your hand and weighs 255g, yet mimics the image quality of a 4.3 megapixel camera.

Skeptical of the claims made (and the sample photographs provided), I took some comparative outdoor photographs with a professional photographer using a Nikon FM2.

The FinePix 4700 is simple to operate.

In Manual Mode there is enough creative control to allow the serious photographer to adjust exposure, sensitivity (ISO 200, 400, 800), flash settings (5 levels) white balance (6 levels), sharpness and light metering (average, spot or multi-pattern).

The controls for manual focusing were awkward. The LCD monitor is good, but difficult to see in the sun.

I found Framing Guidelines displayed on the LCD monitor helpful when composing shots.

Auto Mode is easier --- the camera takes over and adjusts all the settings. Auto bracketing provides three consecutive exposures --- you push the button once, but three pictures at different exposures are made.

The flash only works when manually raised. As the FinePix 4700 has a maximum sensitivity equal to ISO800, it may not matter if you forget to raise it.

You can also shoot up to 3 frames at 0.2 second intervals in Continuos Shooting mode, or record an 80 second video clip with sound (10 frames/sec in AVI motion JPEG format with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels).

The 26mm deep lens is equivalent to a 36 to 108mm 35mm lens.

Images are easily downloaded to a PC using the USB interface. The camera comes with a 16MB SmartMedia card, hand strap, Ni-MH battery charger, 2 Ni-MH batteries, USB cable, AV cable and a CD ROM with a USB driver and viewing software.

A 64 MB SmartMedia card can store 47 images in Fine Mode and 189 in Basic mode.

Whether viewed on screen or printed out professionally, the pictures from the FinePix 4700 are impressive. I found all the images to be crisp and clear.

So how is this 4.3 megapixel output achieved?

Digital cameras use millions of CCDs (Charge-Coupled Devices) to capture the picture by recording the light falling on it. Traditionally these photodiodes have been rectangular in shape and arrangement.

After extensive research into human vision Fujifilm decided the human eye processes information better in horizontal and vertical directions than in diagonal directions and came up with an octagonal arrangement of photodiodes positioned at a 45 degree angle in a honeycombed pattern.

This arrangement of sensors on the Super CCD at a 45 degree angle improves the CCDs ability to capture images more pleasing to the human eye.

Fujifilm claim their new Super CCD achieves a horizontal and vertical resolution 60% higher than conventional CCDs.

It all sounds like the product of an overly creative copywriter and I don't believe it.

Turning an ordinary digital camera at a 45 degree angle doesn't suddenly improve picture quality. Conversely, turning the FinePix 4700 45 degrees doesn't result in poor quality photographs.

Holding your head at a 45 degree angle doesn't make the world any better.

A square array of points turned 45 degrees will have about 40 per cent more horizontal and vertical lines, BUT each line has about 30 per cent less points - EXACTLY the same number of points or pixels per square centimetre.

However Fujifilm have done it, the FinePix 4700 sure puts the magic back into photography.

www.fujifilm.com
www.hanimex.com.au
RRP AU$199

By Richard Price, Editor, EnergyME.com

For information on getting a product reviewed email richard@energyme.com