Fujifilm Finepix Z100fd Review
Review Date: December 12th 2007
Author: Mark Goldstein
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 8 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 3Mb.
Noise
There are 6 ISO settings available on the Fujifilm Finepix Z100fd which you can select at any time if the camera is in the Manual shooting mode. There is virtually no discernible noise at the slowest settings of ISO 64 and 100, but noise and slight loss of detail is already apparent at ISO 200, particularly in the shadow areas. At ISO 400 image quality has deteriorated quite a lot as the camera blurs detail to try and hide the noise, and ISO 800 and especially ISO 1600 should really be avoided at all costs. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:
ISO 64 (100% Crop) |
ISO 100 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 200 (100% Crop) |
ISO 400 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 800 (100% Crop) |
ISO 1600 (100% Crop) |
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Sharpening
Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are a little soft at the default sharpening setting, with further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop not really neccessary. Unfortunately you cannot change the in-camera sharpening levels, so you will always have to do some post-processing if you don't like the default results.
Original
(100% Crop)
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Sharpened (100% Crop) |
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File Quality
The Fujifilm Finepix Z100fd has 2 different image quality settings available, with Fine being the highest quality JPEG option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.
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8M
Fine (2.6Mb) (100% Crop)
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8M
Normal (1.48Mb) (100% Crop)
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Chromatic Aberrations
The Fujifilm Finepix Z100fd didn't suffer too badly from chromatic aberrations, which only appeared in areas of high contrast as shown in the examples below.
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Example
1 (100% Crop)
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Example
2 (100% Crop)
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Macro
The Fujifilm Finepix Z100fd offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is 9cms away from the camera. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject in Macro mode (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.
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Macro Shot |
Macro Shot (100% Crop) |
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Flash
The flash settings on the Fujifilm Finepix Z100fd are Auto, Red-eye Reduction (one of the Face Detection options), Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, and Slow Synchro. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.
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Suppressed Flash - Wide Angle (36mm) |
Forced Flash - Wide Angle (36mm) |
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Suppressed Flash - Telephoto (180mm) |
Forced Flash - Telephoto (180mm) |
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And here are some portrait shots. The Auto setting caused some red-eye, which the Red-eye reduction mode reduced but didn't completely remove.
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Auto |
Auto (100% Crop) |
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Red-eye reduction |
Red-eye reduction (100% Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Fujifilm Finepix Z100fd's maximum shutter speed is 4 seconds in the Night Landscape scene mode, which is not very good news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 1.7 seconds, aperture of f/3.8 at ISO 200. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
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Night Shot |
Night Shot (100% Crop) |
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Anti Shake
The Fujifilm Finepix Z100fd has an anti-shake mechanism (CCD-shift type), which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the ISO speed set to 100. The first shot was taken with anti shake turned off, the second with it turned on. Here is a 100% crop of the image to show the results. As you can see, with anti shake turned on, the images are sharper than with anti shake turned off. This feature really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.
| Shutter Speed / Focal Length |
Anti Shake Off (100% crop) |
Anti Shake On (100% crop) |
| 1/4th sec / 116mm |
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| 1/13th sec / 36mm |  |
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Overall Image Quality
The Fujifilm Finepix Z100fd produced images of average quality during the review period. The 8 megapixel images are slightly soft straight out of the camera and ideally require further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop. Unfortunately there are no in-camera sharpening options if you don't like the in-camera default results. The Fujifilm Finepix Z100fd handled chromatic aberrations fairly well, with some purple fringing effects appearing in high contrast situations. Macro performance is below average, allowing you to focus as close as 9cms away from the subject. The built-in flash worked well indoors with good overall exposure, and the Z100fd's Red-eye Reduction face detection setting also reduced the effects of red-eye quite effectively. The night photograph was not great, with the maximum shutter speed of 4 seconds limiting the potential for creative night photography. The Fujifilm Finepix Z100fd's has an extensive ISO range of 64-1600, but only ISO 64-200 is really usable, with lots of noise and blurring of detail at the higher ISO speeds of 800 and 1600.
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