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Summary
Do I like this camera? Well I want one. The Fuji F30 is on my birthday list. That answers your question.
How Easy is it To Use?
The answer to that is very. I handed it to my grandson set on auto and he took this photo.
That's where I think the Fujifilm F30 comes into its own. It's a good all-rounder family camera. You can pick it up and start snapping straight away. It feels solid; you're not scared to hand it to your grandson(!) It has a metal case and a built in lens cover so there's nothing to lose.
Buttons
For a small camera the F30 has a lot of buttons. On the back:- The zoom/tele rocker, Fmode, 4 direction rocker, which has 4 symbols around it Bin, Macro (a flower) timer and flash. In the middle of the rocker is the Menu/OK button. Above that is the FMode button and to the left the play button (for reviewing photos). Underneath is the Disp/Back button that cycles through different displays on the playback screen and on the photo review screen. To the right at the bottom is the Exposure Compensation button.
On the top there is the shutter button, mode dial and power on off.
RTMF
Read the manual first. Ok you don't really need to read it all first but if you are new to digital cameras you might want to see what all these buttons do. The manual is very comprehensive and you should be able to find anything in there that you need to know.
Don't make a Scene
Along with the usual Auto, A/S and Manual the Fuji F30 has tons of scene settings. Here goes - Natural Light - as you'd expect - no flash, Natural and Flash (more about that one later), Portrait - self explanatory, Landscape - no flash, Sport - faster shutter speed, Night - high ISO. (this camera goes up to 3200), Fireworks - lets you set the shutter speed with clear settings showing on the screen - up to 4 seconds, Sunset, Snow - I couldn't check this one out but I guessed it will increase the exposure a little so that the white snow really is white, Beach, Underwater (an optional accessory is a waterproof case as is the xd card but more about that later too), Museum - not just for museums! It turns off the beep so you can take photos discreetly, Party - uses balanced flash, Flower - the macro and last but not least Text - again a macro setting. It also has Anti Blur. Like other Fujis it sets a higher ISO to overcome blur and with the highest ISO of 3200 it does a decent job.
My favourite thing
My favourite thing isn't mittens on kittens but the Natural and Flash setting. Press the button and the Fujifilm F30 will take not one but two pictures - the first without flash and the second one with.
Leave the camera set on that scene and it's ready to shoot as soon as you turn it on. No fiddling with the right setting. You could leave it on Auto I suppose but I really like the option of having natural light and flash. It's fascinating to compare the photos afterwards and choose the one that looks the best. And if your grandson has a policeman's helmet on and bends down to smell the flowers your camera will capture that moment. It has a very quick start up and you're almost guaranteed to get the shot you want.
A Close Up Look
The macro setting is great. As you'd expect from a Fuji it's nice and sharp and the colours are well saturated. You can get as close as 5 cm at wide-angle and 30 cm at telephoto. Because the flash is slightly offset to the side of the lens, when you are on macro and it fires it gives a slightly nicer shadowing effect in my opinion.
F Mode
The F mode button is accessible from the back of the camera. You can set the sensitivity (ISO), quality and colour setting.
ISO goes from 100 to a decent 3200. It's a bit noisy from 800 upwards but you would expect that. Photos taken on 800 ISO print fine at 6 x 4 with the noise not very noticeable although if you blew them up bigger than that it might be an issue.
Quality can be set from 0.3M up to 6Mb F (Fine) with 6Mb N (normal) available too. A 64Mb card will take 42 frames at 6Mb N and 21 at 6Mb F. You also have the option to choose 3:2 ratio at 42 frames.
Colour settings are Colour and B&W although I wouldn't ever bother using B&W as most editing packages will convert for you.
Long Life
On the front of the Fuji F30 is a sticker claiming a long life battery with 580 shots possible. I wouldn't be at all surprised. When I got the camera I charged it up. I've taken around 300 shots, uploaded to the pc several times forgetting once that it was still plugged in and turned on for at least 3 hours. I still have 2 bars showing on the battery display. When you take into account that probably 50% of the photos were taken with flash that's pretty impressive.
Is there Intelligent Life Out there?
I don't know but there is an intelligent flash on the F30 which means it will balance the foreground with the background. It has all the flash settings you would expect - Auto, Red Eye Reduction, Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Slow Synchro, and Red Eye & Slow. Not all functions are available at all times especially when in the scene modes but when they are you alter which flash you want by pressing the right side of the 4 direction button on the back of the camera. It's simple and intuitive to use.
You've Been Framed
This little camera even has movie mode. It takes a movie with sound that's quite acceptable. So if your husband is falling off the roof with a cat hanging on his back and there's a big muddy puddle below him you'll be able to film it and send it off to Harry Hill. I know I have.
Two Bugbears
Yes, only 2. One is that you don't get an XD card with the camera. It has some built in memory but only enough for a couple of photos. So build a card in when you budget for it.
The second bugbear for me was the USB connection. It's so fiddly. It has a smaller end that fits into the camera than I'm used to and the little flap over the connection on the camera wanted to shut all the time.
Really these are minor annoyances and wouldn't put me off buying it.
