Fuji FinePix 6900 ZoomFuji updates their uniquely-styled "electronic SLR" with a 3.3 megapixel SuperCCD chip and improved color!<<Video, Power, Software :(Previous) | (Next): Reference: Datasheet>> Page 12:Test Results & ConclusionReview First Posted: 7/19/2001 |
Test Results
In keeping with our standard policy, our comments here are rather condensed, summarizing our key findings. For a full commentary on each of the test images, see the 6900's "pictures" page.
As with all Imaging Resource camera tests, we encourage you to let your own eyes be the judge of how well the devices performed. Explore the images on the pictures page, to see how well the 6900 performed, and how its images compare to other cameras you may be considering buying.
Overall, the 6900 produced good looking shots, with nice color and saturation on most of our test targets. The camera's White Balance system handled a variety of light sources well throughout our testing, though in some instances we noticed slightly greenish color casts from the Auto and Manual settings. Color balance looked pretty good on our Davebox target, though the 6900 overexposed the shot just a tad, which washed out color and lost some highlight detail. The 6900 handled the difficult blues in the flowers of our Outdoor Portrait well, producing only faint purple tints, though the camera produced slightly magenta skin tones in both Outdoor shots. Apart from a few minor color issues, the 6900 did a great job.
The 6900 also performed well on our "laboratory" resolution test chart. It showed artifacts in the test patterns at resolutions as low as 900 lines per picture height, in both horizontal and vertical directions, but we found "strong detail" out to at least 1,300 lines, and "extinction" of the target patterns didn't occur until about 1,600 lines. A nice job.
Optical distortion from the 6900's lens is higher than average at the wide angle end, where we measured an approximate 1.29 percent barrel distortion. The telephoto end fared a little better, as we measured a 0.56 percent pincushion distortion. Chromatic aberration is quite low, showing only about one or two lightly-colored pixels in the far corners (though the corner softness in the image somewhat masks this phenomenon).
The 6900 low light performance was acceptable rather than remarkable, producing usable images down to about one-half foot-candle (a little darker than a well-lit city street at night) at the 200 and 400 ISO settings. At 100 ISO, the camera captured reasonably bright images as dark as one foot-candle (average night street lighting). Noise remains moderate at the 100 ISO setting, becoming more pronounced with the 400 ISO setting (though overall, the 6900's noise levels are pretty good).
The 6900's "optical" viewfinder (actually an eye-level LCD) is just a little tight, showing approximately 89 percent frame accuracy at wide angle, and about 92 percent at telephoto. The LCD monitor fares slightly better, showing approximately 95 percent of the image area at wide angle setting, and approximately 96 percent at telephoto. We generally prefer LCD monitors to be as close to 100 percent accuracy as possible, so the 6900's LCD monitor could perform a little better in our opinion. Still, overall pretty good viewfinder accuracy.
The 6900 also handles the macro category quite well, capturing a minimum area of just 2.41 x 1.81 inches (61.29 x 45.97 millimeters). Resolution was high, though details were slightly soft. Corner softness was again evident, and overall color was rather warm. We were pleased to see that the 6900's long lens barrel didn't block the flash, which throttled down for the close-in macro shot quite well.
Throughout our testing, the 6900 performed consistently well. We'd like to see a slightly more accurate LCD monitor and better low-light performance, but all things considered, we were pleased with the 6900's performance. Color is good, with accurate saturation in most instances, and resolution is quite high. Good pictures!
Conclusion
Overall, the 6900 Zoom is a fine digicam, combining a great deal of exposure control with an excellent 6x optical zoom lens. It also offers a host of innovative features, ranging from the excellent focus-assist magnifier function to its highly useful autoexposure lock function, new histogram display, and high-magnification playback zoom option. Overall, a very interesting camera for the true "enthusiast," yet one that can also be used in a fully automatic mode for the technology-challenged. A great package of features that significantly extends Fujifilm's consumer digicam line into the higher end of the product spectrum.
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