Fujifilm is one of those camera manufacturers that isn't content to improve its cameras just by going for raw megapixels, hitting the 10 MP barrier and stopping there, in fact it hasn't even deemed it necessary to release a compact like that. Instead it chooses to develop the in-camera features, with its new Face Detection technology being its latest work of technical genius. Its FD technology is hardware based and can quickly find up to ten faces in a scene (providing they are face-on) and then determines focus and exposure settings to get the best possible result.
The technology first came to the bridge market with the S6000fd, then the compact market with the F31fd, and now Fujifilm is releasing a stylish ultra-compact with FD - the Z5fd. The Z5 is the latest in the Z range, and keeps the same slim design of its forebears: the 2.5 inch screen on the back and the sliding lens cover and non-extending lens. There are only some minor differences though, such as the Z5 logo on the front lighting up in operation and it doesn't come in bright pink like the Z3. It comes in “Raspberry” Red, “Mocha” Brown and (“Plain”?) Silver instead.
Inside there are no real surprises. The lens is still 3x and the sensor is 6.3MP although the camera does have Fujifilm's last Big Thing - Real Photo Technology. This combines lens quality, a 2nd generation processor and its hexagonal CCD sensor design which allows more light to hit the sensor than the traditional square shaped pixels, and this means colour reproduction is better, the camera is quicker and the camera works better in low-light situations. It has an ISO 1600 mode but no form of image stabilisation, but RPT makes up for this. All the scene modes you would expect are still there plus a new one which we haven't come across before - “Blog” mode. Since the world and his dog seem to have a blog this seems like a good feature, adjusting image settings without you having to on camera or later on PC.
Details on the Z5 are a bit sketchy and full technical and pricing details haven't been released yet. We do know it will be out in January 2007.
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