Review: Fujifilm FinePix F20 digital camera

Looking to have all price points and markets covered, Fuji has slotted another stylish camera into its range of snapshots that, in theory, are able to take pictures without a flash in conditions hitherto impossible because of a lack of available light.

Whereas its bigger brother the F30 offers light sensitivity up to ISO3200, the F20 is capped at a still impressive ISO2000 (most compacts stick at a maximum of ISO1600), accessible via its Natural Light mode.

The 6.3 megapixel, 3x optical zoom camera looks and feels more like a traditional compact than some comparable devices, which is no bad thing. The metallic build quality is high and it’s reassuringly weighty in the palm.

Apart from an increased sensitivity to light, the F20, like the F30, also features an intelligent flash system to evenly expose foreground and background, should you need flash to fall back on. Equally usefully, there's a dedicated anti-shake button to avoid blurred images.

It also includes the standard ‘F’ mode (for ‘photo’) that allows quick on-screen access to different resolutions, ISO settings, and colour modes – ‘chrome’ being our preferred option for adding punch to a shot.

There’s no optical viewfinder here to save on battery life, but the bright and clear 2.5in screen on the back ensures it’s not missed.

We shot stills and video without a noticeable dip in power and performance, though the compact's 300 images from one charge is fairly average (the F30 boasts up to 580 images from one charge). It is, however, fast to react, powering up in just over a second and having only a slight shutter delay between pressing the button and taking a picture.

As the camera only comes with a small 10MB internal memory, users will immediately need to supplement this with a high-capacity xD-Picture Card.

Image-wise, the drop in ISO sensitivity compared to the F30 isn’t a hindrance: we found it just made for less noisy, or grainy, images – and therefore more readily usable ones – at the highest setting. With a street price that looks likely to be around the £200 mark, the F20 is also very attractively priced. Now all that’s left for Fuji to do is produce a waterproof version.

Also Consider
Olympus Mju 810
Offering light sensitivity up to ISO3200 plus 8 megapixels, this more expensive camera is additionally weatherproof.
Overall rating: 4
Price: £330

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