Fuji FinePix 6900 ZoomFuji updates their uniquely-styled "electronic SLR" with a 3.3 megapixel SuperCCD chip and improved color!<<Optics :(Previous) | (Next): Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests>> Page 6:Exposure & FlashReview First Posted: 7/19/2001 |
Exposure
The 6900 Zoom offers a lot of exposure control, with Full Automatic, Program, Scene Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority and Manual exposure modes available. The camera's exposure mode is controlled by a Mode dial on the top panel, and an icon in the top left corner of the LCD display reports the current mode setting.
Auto Exposure mode places the camera in complete control over the exposure, choosing both the shutter speed and lens aperture settings, based on the current light level. No options are provided for exposure compensation, ISO adjustment, metering, or white balance.
Program mode leaves the camera in control of both shutter speed and aperture, but allows you to select from a range of equivalent exposure setting combinations, accessed by rotating the Command dial on top of the camera. Referred to as Program Shift, this function adjusts the aperture up or down and varies the shutter speed to match and maintain the same exposure level. We found this mode very useful when we wanted to gain some control over depth of field or motion blur in the subject, but didn't want to have to deal with the separate aperture or shutter priority options. (Note: Program Shift does not work if the Flash chamber is in the open position.) Program mode also lets you control other camera settings, such as flash, white balance, ISO, photometry (metering), auto bracketing, and exposure compensation.
Shutter Priority mode allows you to control the shutter speed while the camera selects the best corresponding aperture setting. In this mode, you can select fast shutter speeds to freeze action or slow shutter speeds to blur movement. Shutter speeds range from 1/1,000 to 3 seconds, with the slowest available shutter speed determined by the ISO setting. When the ISO is set on 100 or 200, the slowest shutter speed is 3 seconds. At 400 ISO, the slowest shutter speed is 1.6 seconds. As in Program mode, Shutter Priority allows you to control flash, white balance, ISO, photometry (metering), auto bracketing, and exposure compensation.
Aperture Priority works along the same lines as Shutter Priority, except that you control the aperture setting (from f/2.8 to f/11.0) while the camera selects the best corresponding shutter speed. By selecting a large or small aperture setting, you can control how much of your scene is in focus and how much is out of focus. Small apertures (or large f/stop numbers, like f/11) give you the greatest range of focus or depth of field. Large apertures (or small f/stop numbers, like f/2.8) give you the minimum depth of field. Exposure controls in Aperture Priority are the same as in Shutter Priority mode.
Scene Program mode offers five special shooting modes: Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night Scene, and Black-and-White. Portrait mode uses a large aperture setting, keeping the subject as the primary focus, with background areas out of focus. Landscape mode uses a smaller aperture setting for greater depth of field, perfect for daytime scenic shots where you want both the foreground and background areas to be in focus. Sports mode uses fast shutter speeds (up to 1/2,000 second) to freeze fast-moving action. Night Scene mode does just the opposite of Sports mode, using slower shutter speeds to allow more ambient light into the image (best used with a tripod or other stable surface to prevent camera shake). Night Scene mode can be used in combination with the Red-Eye Reduction & Slow Synchro flash mode for portrait subjects in dark surroundings. Black-and-White mode removes all color from the scene to give you a black-and-white image.
Manual mode provides full control over both aperture and shutter speed settings. To adjust shutter speed, turn the Command wheel under the Exposure Mode dial until you see the desired setting in the lower left corner of the LCD monitor. To adjust the aperture setting, hold down the Exposure Compensation button on the camera's lens barrel as you turn the Command wheel. An exposure indicator on the lower right of the LCD screen can be used as a guide for setting exposure. Moving the indicator toward the plus sign produces an overexposed image (when the plus sign turns yellow) and moving the indicator toward the minus sign results in an underexposed image (when the minus sign turns yellow). If the plus and minus signs remain blue, the image should be within an acceptable range of exposure.
When the on-screen Display mode is activated in any Photography mode, the LCD monitor reports the shutter speed and aperture settings in the lower left corner of LCD screen. In all three of the manually adjustable exposure modes (Manual, Shutter Priority, and Aperture Priority), the value turns red in the display if the setting you select is out of the correct exposure range. (For example, a shutter speed too fast for the available lighting, even with the lens aperture all the way open.)
In all of the exposure modes except Manual, the AE Lock button on the back panel allows you to set the exposure on a specific area of the subject. You do this by framing the area of the subject on which you want to base the exposure in the center of the autofocus target marks, and then pressing and holding the AE Lock button until you snap the picture. Notably, you cannot only reframe the image, but you can also zoom the lens and change the focus, as long as you continue to hold down the AE Lock button. Autofocus lock works along the same lines, by depressing the shutter button halfway to set focus and holding it down while you recompose the shot. Normally, autofocus and autoexposure lock are set simultaneously by half-pressing the shutter button. By separating these two functions, you can move in closely to take an exposure reading off your subject, and back away again to reframe the image, without jeopardizing the autofocus lock.
In any Photography mode, a Preview or Postview option can be enabled through the Setup menu (Image Display submenu), which displays the most recently captured image on-screen. Postview displays the image for two seconds and then automatically records it to the SmartMedia card. Preview provides the option of deleting an image immediately if you don't like it (by pressing the Back button) or saving the image to the card (by pressing the Menu / OK button).
Exposure Compensation can be adjusted in the Program, Aperture Priority, and Shutter Priority exposure modes, from -2 to +2 exposure values (EV) in one-third-step increments. We liked Fujifilm's implementation of the exposure compensation function. When the viewfinder / monitor displays the exposure information overlay, pressing the Exposure Compensation (+/-) button on the side of the lens barrel brings up an exposure indicator bar at the bottom of the screen. Rotating the Command dial while holding down the Exposure Compensation button adjusts the compensation setting, showing the new value on the exposure indicator bar. This function is particularly useful for high-contrast scenes with backlit subjects, very bright or dark scenes, or when copying printed text.
White Balance is adjustable in all exposure modes except Scene Program and Automatic, with eight options available: Automatic, Custom (manual), Outdoors-Sunny, Outdoors-Cloudy, Daylight Fluorescent, Warm White Fluorescent, Cool White Fluorescent, and Incandescent. We like the variety of fluorescent settings available, as well as the manually adjustable Custom mode, which makes the camera extremely flexible with color balance. Under the Custom setting, you simply hold a white card in front of the camera and press the Custom White Balance button on the left side of the camera to set the value. If the white card is too bright or dark, the LCD will indicate "Over" or "Under," prompting you to reset the value again.
The 6900Z offers three Photometry (metering) modes, which are available in all Photography modes except Automatic and Scene Program. The Average setting takes several readings from across the entire image area and averages them to determine the proper exposure. Spot metering mode bases the exposure on the very center of the image. Multi metering independently evaluates multiple points within the image and selects the optimum exposure based on a sophisticated algorithm. (Multi will be the best choice for most shooting conditions.)
ISO can also be manually adjusted, with options for 100, 200, and 400 sensitivity equivalents. The higher ISO settings give increased light sensitivity, but at the cost of higher image noise, visible as "grain" in your images. As with the Photometry option, ISO can be adjusted in all exposure modes except Automatic and Scene Program.
Image Sharpness can also be adjusted in the Photography menu. Options include: Hard, Normal, and Soft settings. Hard emphasizes the edges of objects in the picture, while Soft turns off all in-camera sharpening. The Soft setting is recommended for images you intend to manipulate in retouching programs such as Photoshop.
A Self-Timer button on top of the camera activates either a two- or 10-second self-timer countdown function. When activated, the Self-Timer (clock) icon is displayed in the LCD monitor -- with a "2" next to it to indicate the two-second countdown and the traditional symbol alone to indicate a 10-second countdown. The countdown is triggered by fully pressing the shutter button, and a red LED on the front of the camera blinks during the countdown.
FlashFujifilm estimates the effective flash range of the 6900Z's pop-up flash to be 1 to 11.8 feet (0.3 to 3.6 meters) at the wide-angle lens setting, and 1 to 10.5 feet (0.3 to 3.2 meters) at telephoto. In our own testing, we found that the flash intensity fell off only slightly all the way out to the 14 foot limit of our test. We'd thus say that Fuji's 11.8 foot rating for wide angle is fairly conservative.
The five Flash operating modes include: Auto, Red-Eye Reduction, Forced Flash, Slow Synchro, and Red-Eye Reduction & Slow Synchro. The Auto flash mode puts the camera in charge of when to fire the flash, based on the exposure information and light level. Red-Eye Reduction also fires automatically, but flashes a quick pre-flash before firing the full flash to reduce the occurrence of red-eye effect. Forced Flash prompts the flash to fire with every exposure, regardless of the light level. Slow-Synchro combines the flash with a slow shutter speed to allow more ambient light into night and twilight images. Red-Eye Reduction & Slow-Synchro combines the two flash modes for night portraits. To completely disable the flash, simply push it back down into its compartment. A small button on the side of the flash compartment serves as the release mechanism. The internal flash is not available in Landscape, Movie, Continuous Shooting, or Auto Bracketing shooting modes. Flash intensity can be adjusted through the record menu, from -2 to +2 exposure values in one-third-step increments.
A standard external flash hot shoe on top of the camera accommodates a more powerful flash unit. In order to use it, the External Flash setting must be enabled in the Photography menu (automatically disabling the internal flash) and the camera must be set in Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, or Manual exposure mode. The camera can synchronize with the external flash at any shutter speed up to 1/1,000 second. Additionally, The camera manual recommends shooting with either Aperture Priority or Manual exposure modes to keep the lens aperture at the fixed setting required for correct exposure with the flash in use. The 6900's hot shoe is of the "plain vanilla" variety, meaning it will be compatible with the majority of shoe-mount auto flash units on the market.
Movie Mode
Accessed through the Exposure Mode dial (marked by a movie camera symbol), the Movie mode captures up to 160 seconds of video (without sound) per movie, at approximately 10 frames per second. Movies are shot at 320 x 240 pixel resolution and files are saved in Motion JPEG format. Actual recording time varies, depending on the amount of SmartMedia space available and the memory card capacity. (Fujifilm estimates that the included 16MB card can hold approximately 94 seconds, while a 128MB card can hold up to 774 seconds.) Once in Movie mode, the lens is locked at the wide-angle setting, focus is fixed at infinity, and only digital telephoto is available (up to approximately 1.88x). Shooting begins by fully depressing the Shutter button, and continues until the Shutter button is pressed a second time. Movie quality looks pretty good, with good resolution and not too many JPEG artifacts.
Continuous Shooting
A Continuous Shooting mode is available in all exposure modes except for Movie, and captures up to five consecutive frames with intervals as short as 0.2 seconds. We clocked the FinePix 6900 at 4 frames in one second, a frame rate of 4 frames per second, or 0.25 seconds per frame. Shot to shot time in continuous mode seemed not to depend on image content at all (as it does in some cameras). The 6900 consistently captured images at intervals of 0.25 seconds regardless of subject matter. If the Preview display mode is enabled, the series of images is displayed in the LCD monitor, in chronological order (pressing the Menu button records them to the memory card).
Auto Bracketing
In all exposure modes except Automatic and Scene Program, the Auto Bracketing feature allows you to take a series of three exposures of the same image with different exposure settings. You can set the amount of exposure variation in the Photography menu, with options of +/- 1, 2/3, 1/3 EV. Once the exposure variable is set, the auto bracketing feature takes three images -- one at normal exposure, one overexposed, and one underexposed by the designated EV amount. If the Preview function is enabled, all three shots are displayed on the LCD monitor at once for confirmation.
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