Fujifilm targets sensitivity over megapixels

Fujifilm has been pushing the idea that megapixels are no longer the key importance for high quality digital photography, and that people should in future judge their camera by its ISO sensitivity. 

This will be a new idea for many casual snappers - and a tough concept to sell - although something that, along with sensor size, serious photographers have long looked at anyway.

Fujifilm's argument is that resolution is now fine for most people, and that higher megapixel counts on the small sensors used in most compact cameras will not improve the final image quality of the picture.

Its latest digital camera, the Finepix F30 Zoom, has an ISO rating of 3200, double what you would usually get from a compact camera.

Higher ISO ratings are useful in low light conditions when flash isn't an option, but do produce far noiser images than at lower ISO settings.

Fujifilm claims the F30 still produces sharp images with little noise at 3200ISO.

Adrian Clarke, Fujifilm's director of Photo Products, said: 'In the past, compacts could only really achieve good image quality in ideal light conditions - however the F30 Zoom is in its element in all light conditions.'

Despite its claims that the battle is now over ISO, not megapixels, the camera sports a 6.3megapixel Super CCD, plus it has a 3x optical zoom and can shoot video at 30 frames per second.

It also has a 2.5in LCD screen and a claimed battery life of 500 shots.

It comes out in May, at which point pricing will also be announced.

Along with the F30, Fujifilm is bringing out another two digital cameras.

The Finepix F650 Zoom boasts a slightly larger LCD of 3in, and has a 5x optical zoom - its biggest to date.

However, it is not pushing ISO settings with this 6megapixel camera, which has a sensitivity of 64 to 400.

This, the company says, allows it to 'handle everyday lighting conditions'.

Finally, it plans to release the entry level Finepix A600 Zoom in June. It is the first time this range has used Fujifilm's Super CCD, and it can store up to seven photos on internal memory.

Otherwise, this is a very ordinary sounding camera, with a poor 10 frames per second video capability - which will result in jerky movie clips - a 2.4in LCD and 3x optical zoom.