Back in July, Fujifilm made a few waves in the big pond of digital imaging with the release of the Finepix S6000fd, a camera that had hardware based face detection to improve focus and exposure based on people in the scene. This ability was hardly new having been in digital SLRs for a few years, but it was the first time a hardware based method had found its way into a Bridge camera.
Fast forward to today, and Fujifilm are making waves again with the FinePix F31fd which now moves the Face Detection into compacts. The Canon Powershot G7 bought this to a compact a few months ago, but the Fujifilm claims that its hardware is the fastest into the world - identifying up to 10 faces, choosing the most significant face and optimising settings all within 0.05 seconds.
Like them or loathe them, Face Detection also plays a part in the camera's in-camera editing functions. In conjunction with Playback mode, FD will allow you to crop photos easily according to face placement in the sceene.
Other than bringing Face Detection to the mix, there aren't many differences from the FinePix F30 which the camera is heavily based on. The same 6MP sensor is there, the same ISO maximum of 3200, the same lens and even the same underwater housing. Not that this is a bad thing, since the F30 itself is a very competent camera, with a range of features like Intelligent Flash or Natural Light & Flash mode (that takes two photos with and without flash).
The FinePix F31fd will be available in November 2006. Unfortunately no pricing details have been announced yet.
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