Fujifilm FinePix Z700EXR

Slim is in and that is exactly what most camera manufacturers are swearing by these days. With a whole new range of cameras Fujifilm is not that far behind other well known camera manufacturers. The FinePix Z700EXR makes its presence felt with a nice slim body along with a fully sized touch interface.

The Z700EXR pretty much resembles Sony’s TX series line up of cameras – sporting a full metal body, a front sliding lens cover that also doubles up as a power button. In terms of looks the Z700EXR is quite a stunner and measures in at 98 x 59 x 20 mm which makes it slim and pocketable. The camera weighs in at 160 g which is quite justifiable since the metal body adds a certain degree of ruggedness. However it isn’t resistant to scratches – kind of sad since the nice polished look will only last a few days. The camera comes with an acceptable 5x of optical zoom along with a standard 35mm lens. In addition to this the Z700EXR comes with an effective resolution of 12 MP.

Now take a closer look at the camera and you will notice that it is literally devoid of buttons. In other words, it features a buttonless interface and comes with just a shutter release and preview button. Here you will also find the conventional zoom rocker encircling the shutter release button. Having said that, the Z700EXR comes with a wide 3.5-inch touch sensitive screen that performs well even under broad daylight. Nevertheless the screen is extremely prone to fingerprints forcing you to clean it from time to time - this also hinders overall viewability.

 

Apart from its drawback the Z700EXR features one of the most responsive and accurate touch interface. Moreover with a screen resolution of 460K dots per inch the overall interface is extremely bright and crisp. The cameras interface is neatly laid out with settings placed on both sides of the screen. Icons are decently large thereby easing out overall user accessibility. Apart from the 15 scene modes to choose from the Z700EXR features a film simulation mode that includes a Standard mode (Provia), Vivid mode (Velvia), Black and White and Sepia mode. That apart there is also a touch and shoot function that allows you to focus on the subject that need to shot. There is also the Dual Direction GUI that rotates the display to either portrait or landscape view – this however depends on the way the device is held. There is also a manual mode but for some unknown reason the aperture as well as the shutter speed cannot be changed. The settings that you get are more like the program mode that most other cameras offer. What you get to change are basic settings such as ISO, White Balance and Exposure.

Other features include folder management that basically allows you to stack your pictures in three different folders with the third being a protected folder – where you can lock away pictures using a password. The Z700EXR also comes with an image search feature – you can either search by date, face, scene or by data type (still images / videos).