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Back to Full MX-2700 Review
Go to MX-2700 Data Sheet
Go to MX-2700 Pictures Page
Up to Imaging Resource Cameras Page
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(Review first posted 8 June, 1999) |
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2.3 Million pixel sensor (!) | |
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1800 x 1200 resolution | |
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1.2x, 2.5x digital zoom | |
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Autofocus lens w/macro | |
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Built-in flash | |
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Flexible "manual" exposure mode | |
Preface
Fuji is a longtime player in the digicam marketplace, having produced
some excellent units over time, and finding some unique market
niches. (For instance, their VGA-resolution DS-220 had an exceptional
macro attachment with built-in flash that made it a runaway favorite
for oral surgeons documenting patient treatments.) Recently, they've
been made significant inroads in the megapixel-plus market, with
the petite (may we say "sexy"?) MX-700, and the 1.5
megapixel MX-500, one of the true bargains in the megapixel-plus
market.
A consistent innovator, with the MX-2700, Fuji has taken
their sleek (may we say "sexy"?) MX-700 form factor,
and increased the resolution to a huge 2.3 megapixels. (This ties
for the highest sensor resolution among cameras we've tested to
date June, 1999.) At the same time, they've added a much-requested
automatic lens cover, increased the LCD size, and even shrunk
the already-small package slightly. The result is a very capable,
very high-resolution digicam that truly deserves the "pocket
sized" designation.
High Points Overview
"Executive Overview"
In response to reader requests, we've begun including brief overview
sections with all our digital camera reviews, to let people quickly
get a sense of what a digicam is like, without having to read
the full 15+ page review to do so. Herewith our "executive
overview" of the MX-2700: (Click here
to go directly to the main review, which will cover all of the
information below, but in much greater detail.)
The first thing that strikes you about the MX-2700 is how
small it is: At only 3.1 x 3.8 x 1.3 inches (80 x 97.6 x 33 mm),
and weighing only 8.1 ounces (230g) without the battery, it fits
easily into most shirt pockets. In the large hands of our tester,
we found we could almost completely conceal the camera while shooting,
making for interesting candid-photography opportunities! Some
US reviewers complained that the earlier MX-700 was too small
to hold comfortably, but we found little trouble hanging onto
the MX-2700 in our own testing. The grip that worked best for
us definitely had us grabbing the camera by its edge, but we had
no difficulty holding onto it, and its light weight and small
size make single-handed shooting easy.
The 2.3 megapixel resolution represents the current (June,
1999) state of the art in consumer-level digicam sensor technology,
and the images captured by the MX-2700 can easily be printed at
full-page sizes on high-quality inkjet printers. Images can be
captured in either the full 1800x1200 format, or in a smaller
640x480 size, and three image-compression levels are provided
for each image size. The autofocus lens does a good job from infinity
to macro distances. (You manually switch to macro mode for subjects
closer than about 20 inches or 0.5m.) With a 35mm equivalent focal
length, the lens is a moderate wide-angle, typical of both digital
and film-based point & shoot cameras. Two "digital telephoto"
settings are provided, the 1.25x level taking the effective focal
length to roughly that of a "normal" lens, at a image
resolution of 1280x1024 pixels, and the 2.5x setting resulting
in a mild telephoto, albeit restricted to the 640x480 image size.
The camera has both optical and LCD viewfinders, and you
can turn the LCD off when not needed, to (dramatically) increase
battery life. The optical viewfinder is about typically accurate
among digicams we've tested, while the LCD finder registers precisely
100% of the final image captured by the CCD.
The camera has an equivalent "ISO" light-sensitivity
rating of 120, which combines with the f/3.2 lens and 1/4 second
maximum exposure time to result in a unit that's usable in typical
indoor lighting situations, but not really suited to night photography
outdoors. The onboard flash works well, with a range of roughly
8.2 feet (2.5m). Like the other Fuji digicams we've tested, the
MX-2700 has excellent exposure-control abilities, with an exposure-compensation
range of +1.5 to 0.9 EV for normal lighting, and even a +/-
0.6EV adjustment on the flash output! All the usual white-balance
settings are available, plus a few extra ones: Auto, sunny, cloudy,
two types of fluorescent, and incandescent.
As with the other Fuji cameras we've tested, we liked the
user controls on the MX-2700: We found them clear and easy to
navigate in "manual" capture mode, and the auto mode
is pure point & shoot. The large "mode dial" makes
selecting various operating modes easy, and keeps the LCD menus
simple. In auto mode, the small LCD data readout provides feedback
on pictures remaining, flash setup, and image size and compression
mode. For most normal operation, you never need to delve into
the full-size LCD menu system.
Probably in the interests of stretching battery life, the
processor in the MX-2700 isn't the fastest we've seen, but neither
is it the slowest: It takes about 5-6 seconds for the camera to
power-up, and about 12 seconds to digest one full-resolution image
and be ready for the next one. This drops to about 5 seconds between
shots for low-resolution, maximum-compression images. Despite
this battery-saving measure though, we found battery a bit on
the short side: We don't have a "scientific" test for
battery life, but our distinct impression was that the battery
in the MX-2700 ran out more quickly than we're used to. One advantage
of the Li-Ion batteries used by the MX-700 though, is that they
will retain their full charge more or less indefinitely. Thus,
you could buy several, charge them one by one prior to a trip
of special occasion, and be well-prepared for extended shooting.
Overall image quality with the MX-2700 was very good, with
the resolution you'd expect from a 2.3 million pixel sensor. Color
and tonal range were very good, but we did notice a tendency to
produce an odd "zipper" artifact in images with strongly-contrasting
horizontal lines. This effect was reduced when we decreased the
"sharpness" setting in the camera's Setup menu, at some
cost to overall image sharpness. Overall though, we were quite
pleased with the pictures the MX-2700 captured, and their high
resolution means you can obtain "photo quality" prints
at much larger sizes than would be the case with lesser digicams.
Read the full review for our detailed conclusions, but
we felt the MX-2700 was an excellent camera, and one that's compact
enough to make it easy to bring along. (The pocketability further
enhanced by an automatic lens cover.) We're big believers in the
value of cameras that get brought along, rather than sitting in
a drawer at home, and the MX-2700 is clearly one of the former!
We invite you to read our full review, and study the sample pictures
for yourself. If you're looking for the ultimate in a portable
digital camera, the MX-2700 is clearly it!
Design
As we noted in the overview, the first thing that strikes you
about the MX-2700 is how small it is: At only 3.1 x 3.8 x 1.3
inches (80 x 97.6 x 33 mm), and weighing only 8.1 ounces (230g)
without the battery, it fits easily into most shirt pockets. People
with large hands, who are interested in candid photography will
find that they can almost completely conceal the camera while
shooting, making for interesting opportunities! Some US reviewers
complained that the earlier MX-700 was too small to hold comfortably,
but we found little trouble hanging onto the MX-2700 in our own
testing. (The grip that worked best for us definitely had us grabbing
the camera by its edge, but we had no difficulty holding onto
it, and its light weight and small size make single-handed shooting
easy.) This may ultimately come down to a personal preference
item: Certainly there's no problem operating the camera, even
if you have rather large hands. Even so, some people prefer big,
beefy hunks of technology you can really get a grip on, and the
MX-2700 isn't one of those.
Although we've been fooled before by cleverly finished
structural plastic, the MX-2700 appears to have an all-aluminum
body, a feature many people find attractive. Other nice design
details include the automatic lens cover, which snaps open whenever
you enter "record" mode, and that snaps back shut again
when the camera is turned off. Although we didn't prod it too
aggressively, we were pleased to find that the lens cover stays
shut pretty well, even in the face of being deliberately poked
with fingers. This suggests to us that it will do a good job of
protecting the lens as the camera is slipped in and out of pockets.
Another small item, but one that we really appreciate seeing
on a digicam is an all-metal tripod socket. While standard tripod
threads are fairly coarse, we have seen tripod sockets that were
inadvertently cross-threaded and damaged. The metal threads on
the MX-2700 should be pretty well immune to this. (Kudos to Fuji
for delivering quality even in such small details!)
As with basically every digital camera we've tested, the
MX-2700 is "right-handed," with most of the controls
set up for use by the thumb and fingers of the right hand. Overall,
we found its design, ergonomics, and user interface to be very
good: The camera controls and menus are easy to navigate in normal
shooting, and even the complexity of "manual" mode was
quite easy to maneuver through. As noted above, the camera can
fairly easily be operated with one hand, but setting options such
as image size and quality level does require the use of two hands,
to actuate the "Shift" button.
Viewfinder
As with most digital cameras today, Fuji has chosen to provide
both optical and LCD viewfinders in the MX-2700. The optical viewfinder
on the MX-2700 is clear and bright, but crops the image relative
to the CCD's field of view somewhat more than we'd like, showing
only about 82% of the area actually captured by the camera. The
LCD viewfinder is much better though, showing essentially 100%
of the final image area. (Surprisingly, it's common for LCD viewfinders
to crop the image as well, even though you'd think they could
easily show the full output of the CCD.) One quirk to be aware
of though, is that the camera's two resolution modes (1800x1200
and 640x480) have different "aspect ratios" (the ratio
of height to width). The optical viewfinder is set up to show
the 3x2 ratio of the higher-resolution image, so you'll need to
be careful when shooting in 640x480 mode not to lose parts of
the subject off the edges off the frame. A small circle in the
center off the optical viewfinder indicates the area used by the
autofocus system: If your subject is outside this area, you'll
need to use the autofocus/exposure lock, as described later.
The optical viewfinder is quite bright, and works reasonably
well with eyeglasses, although we found it to have a slightly
low "eyepoint," meaning you may need to press your glasses
against it to see all of the frame. There also is no diopter adjustment
for people who are near- or far-sighted.
The LCD screen is quite bright and very sharp (the 130,000
pixel resolution of the LCD is higher than most cameras), but
shares the tendency of all such units to wash out badly in direct
sunlight. In truth, the MX-2700's LCD isn't the worst we've seen
in this regard, but if you're shooting in direct sun, you'd still
better plan on using the optical viewfinder to frame your shots.
You can adjust the LCD brightness by pressing the Shift and Disp
buttons simultaneously, and then using the < > keys on the
4-way rocker control to adjust the brightness up or down. The
LCD brightness adjustment actually covers quite a range of variation,
and the brightest setting helps a fair bit with daylight washout.
Pay attention to battery life though, as we suspect that the highest
brightness setting draws a lot more power
Optics
The MX-2700 sports an autofocus lens with a focal length roughly
equivalent to a 35mm lens on a 35mm camera. This is a moderate
wide-angle, typical of most non-zoom point & shoot cameras,
whether film or digital. Normal focusing distance is from 19.7
inches (0.5m) to infinity, while the macro mode covers from 3.5
to 19.7 inches (9 to 50cm). The lens apparently has a dual aperture,
switching between f/3.2 and f/8.0 under control of the exposure
system. No filter threads are provided for accessory filters or
lenses, although some third-party companies developed filter adapters
for the MX-700, and we expect the same will be the case for the
MX-2700. A very nice touch is the automatic lens cover, that snaps
shut when the camera is turned off: No more lost lens caps, nor
smudged/scratched lenses!
In our testing, we found the MX-2700's lens to be surprisingly
free of distortion, having only 0.4% barrel distortion, and virtually
no chromatic aberration. Overall, this appears to be an excellent
lens!
Exposure
The MX-2700 carries an official ISO rating of 120, which combined
with the F/3.2-f/8 aperture range and 1/4 1/1000 second
shutter speeds should result in a usable exposure range of EV10
to EV20.5. This corresponds to light levels from fairly dim residential
interiors to full sun outdoors. The lower end of this range agrees
fairly well with our own testing, although we felt we could get
usable pictures at slightly lower light levels, perhaps down to
EV9.
The autoexposure system was quite accurate in our tests,
most likely thanks to its 64-segment evaluation system. It still
can be fooled by subjects with unusual overall tonal balances
though, such as our "high key" outdoor portrait shot,
or backlit subjects. To accommodate such situations, an exposure-adjustment
control is provide when in "manual" capture mode, that
lets you adjust the exposure up by 1.5 EV units or down by 0.9
EV units to compensate for unusual lighting conditions. (An EV
unit corresponds to one f-stop of exposure difference.) Only the
64-segment autoexposure is offered (that is, there is no option
for spot metering), but the MX-2700 does support an exposure/focus
lock capability, to handle off-center subjects in difficult lighting
situations. Whenever you half-press the shutter release, the exposure
and focus systems are triggered, but the shutter itself doesn't
release until the button is pressed all the way down. Thus, you
can handle an off-center subject by turning so the subject is
centered in the viewfinder, half-pressing the shutter release,
and then turning back to re-frame the image, all the while holding
the shutter button halfway down. Once you've got the shot properly
framed, pressing the shutter button the rest of the way down will
trip the shutter, exposing the image based on the settings computed
when you first half-pressed the shutter button. (That sounds more
complicated than it is: In practice, this is quite easy, and is
a common digicam feature.)
White Balance
The MX-2700 provides five different white-balance settings, including
auto, sunny, cloudy, warm fluorescent, cool fluorescent, and incandescent.
The white-balance settings are available in the "Manual"
record mode, accessible via the 4-way rocker control on the camera's
back panel. We found the MX-2700's automatic white balance operated
rather subtly, relative to those of most other cameras we've tested.
It would correct for relatively minor color casts fairly well,
but wouldn't completely remove the strong yellow cast of our "indoor
portrait" test shot. The "incandescent" setting
did a little better, but still left a lot of yellow. We discovered
though, that a quick "auto levels" operation in Photoshop
cleaned up the images beautifully, meaning that the data captured
in the camera's three color channels was quite well preserved,
but the relative amounts of each weren't properly balanced. This
is better than some other (even much more expensive) cameras,
which introduce more noise in the blue channel under incandescent
lighting conditions than does the MX-2700.
We overall found that the MX-2700 tended to be a bit conservative
in its use of the upper end of the tonal range, slightly underexposing
all of its shots. This left the images a little flatter than they
could have been, but did a good job of preserving highlight detail.
There was also a slight yellowish cast to the images, which again
was easy to correct in Photoshop.
PhotoGenetics(tm) - a Perfect
Match!
As we'll mention again below in the test results summary, we tested
the MX-2700 shortly after reviewing
a little software program called PhotoGenetics. (A very inexpensive
piece of software, at only $30 retail.) One of PhotoGenetics'
unique capabilities is to apply sophisticated color corrections
(which are also very easily arrived at) to entire folders of images
at once. We said in our review of the software that a great use
of this would be to correct for the consistent color biases some
digital cameras or scanners have. The Fuji MX-2700 and PhotoGenetics
look like a match made in heaven! The camera is very consistent
in its handling of white balance, and even images shot under incandescent
lighting and having fairly strong color casts, have good data
preserved in all three color channels. The result is that a $30
program can turn an excellent $700 or so (June, 1999) digital
camera into a really exceptional one! The nice thing about
this is that PhotoGenetics' automated processing makes the task
of adjusting your images almost totally painless & automatic.
Check out our review of
PhotoGenetics if you're thinking about buying an MX-2700: We feel
they're a natural pair, and the combination would make an already
excellent camera into a really extraordinary one...
Flash
The MX-2700 also incorporates an on-board flash unit, for use
in either dim lighting, or when "fill" light is needed.
Four operating modes are provided, including always off, always
on (fill), red-eye reduction, and automatic. While most digicams
these days include an on-board flash unit, the MX-2700's is unique
in at least two respects, both of which it shares with other Fuji
cameras we've tested. First, it does a surprisingly good job of
blending-in with incandescent ambient lighting, avoiding the problems
of too-blue highlights we've seen in so many digicams. The second
major feature is that Fuji has provided an exposure compensation
adjustment for the flash itself, a very unusual feature in prosumer
digicams. In "manual" record mode, you can adjust the
flash exposure up or down by about 2/3 of an f-stop (0.6 EV units).
This ability to adjust the flash output is very welcome, and makes
for a lot more creative control over flash exposures.
A final flash-related option on the MX-2700 is the "slow
sync" mode. This option leaves the shutter open longer, and
throttles-back the flash somewhat. The net effect is that the
ambient lighting makes a much greater contribution to the final
photo, helping avoid the dark backgrounds that are typical of
many digicam flash shots.
The MX-2700's flash is rated to perform at distances ranging
from 11.8 inches (0.3m) to 8.2 feet (2.5m). In practice, we found
that it did a good job of throttling-back its output, working
surprisingly well even in fairly close macro shooting. (The main
problem was getting even illumination across the subject when
working at very short camera/subject distances.)
Shutter lag and cycle times
When you press the shutter release on a camera, there's usually
a lag time before the shutter actually fires. This time is to
allow the autofocus and autoexposure mechanisms time to do their
work, and can amount to a fairly long delay in some situations.
Since this number is almost never reported on, and can significantly
affect the picture-taking experience, we now routinely measure
it, using a little Windows utility developed by Digital
Eyes.
We found the MX-2700 to be relatively speedy relative to
other cameras we've tested, requiring only 0.65 seconds for a
full autofocus cycle before the shutter tripped. Prefocusing by
half-pressing the shutter release in advance of the exposure itself
reduced the lag time to about 0.2 seconds, fairly typical of the
current range of cameras shooting under that condition. Shot-to-shot
cycle times range from 7.5 seconds in large/fine mode, to 3.5
seconds in 640x480 mode with "Basic" image quality selected,
also fairly fast times. (These timings were done with the LCD
off and no post-exposure "review.")
Camera startup is fairly fast, at just under 2 seconds
if the flash is disabled, or about 6 seconds if it's turned on
(the additional time is that required for the flash circuitry
to charge), and shutdown occurs almost instantly. Switching from
record to playback mode (with a large/fine resolution image to
be displayed) requires about 7 seconds, while the change back
to record mode requires only about 2 seconds.
Operation and User Interface
Overall, we found navigating through the different options available
on the MX-2700 to be quite easy, despite the range of features
provided. All of the control buttons are readily accessible on
the back side, along with a small grip area that makes it easy
to hold the camera snug with your right hand for one-handed operation.
On first usage, it took us only a few minutes to get a
handle on the major control functions of the camera by just experimenting
with the various dials and buttons. The back of the camera is
equipped with both an optical viewfinder and LCD viewfinder, a
mode dial to switch between the six different modes that the camera
supports, and what Fuji calls a 4-direction button, used to navigate
through LCD menu options and to enable digital zooming. (We'll
refer to the 4-direction button as just the 4-way control from
here on out.) The photo below shows the control area on the back
of the camera.
On the back of the camera, you'll
also find the Status Display which shows icons for all the different
camera settings, if the settings are enabled. It's an easy reminder
of which menu options you have enabled, the battery power status,
and pictures remaining on the SmartMedia card, among other things.
The Shutter button and the Power buttons are also close at hand
(close at finger?) on the top side of the camera.
The left side of the camera contains easily-accessible ports
for the AC Adapter, Video Out, an RS-232C port for connecting
to a personal computer, along with the in-camera storage slot
for the SmartMedia card.
The camera operates in one of six different
mode settings: Self-Timer, Setup, Manual Record, Normal (Auto)
Record, Playback, and PC Mode. You select which mode you want
with the Mode Dial on the rear of the camera. Depending on which
mode you select, pressing the Menu/Exe button-also on the rear
of the camera-displays a set of menu options that are specific
to that mode. As mentioned previously, the 4-direction button
is used to scroll through the different menus and options. (We've
said it before, but it's worth repeating: We really like camera
user interfaces that employ mode dials, as their operation tends
to be clearer and more intuitive, and the remaining LCD menus
are much less cluttered.)
The LCD viewfinder doesn't automatically turn on when in
either Manual or Normal (Auto) mode, but does automatically activate
whenever you select macro operation. In the normal recording modes,
you need to turn it on manually using the Disp button. The LCD
does illuminate in Manual record mode, showing the current settings
for white balance, exposure compensation, and synchro mode, but
doesn't show the image coming from the CCD unless you press the
Disp button. (Power consumption is a good bit lower when the LCD
is only showing the menu items.) The LCD is always on in Playback
mode, even when the external video output is also being used.
You can adjust the LCD brightness by pressing the Shift and Disp
buttons at the same time to access the LCD brightness control.
Then, use the Left/Right arrows on the 4-way control to set the
brightness to your liking.
When in Setup mode, you can control a number of persistent
camera settings to meet your needs. Settings here include image
quality, file size, sharpness, auto power-off, frame number in
memory, annunciator tone, and date and time. You can also reset
the camera to the factory-default settings.
Manual record mode lets you capture an image and review
it before saving it to the SmartMedia card: After you snap each
shot, the just-captured image appears on the LCD screen until
you either hit the "Cancel/Back" button to discard it,
or the "Menu/Exe" button to save it to the memory card.
If you don't save the image before the auto power-off occurs,
the image will be lost. (We'd commented on this behavior on other
Fuji cameras: Overall, we'd prefer for the default to be for the
camera to save the image, rather than discarding it, to prevent
possible inadvertent loss of a photo.) As noted earlier, manual
mode also lets you set the white balance, exposure settings, flash
brightness, and slow-synchro mode when capturing night scenes.
Normal (Auto) mode provides basic "point and shoot"
functionality. The camera automatically controls the settings
needed to provide the best quality capture under the existing
conditions. No allowance is made for exposure compensation or
white balance adjustment. You can still change image size, resolution,
flash mode, and enable the macro mode, however, as well as turn
the LCD viewfinder on or off.
Playback mode lets you review captured images, and offers
a series of operations that you can perform on images stored on
the camera's SmartMedia card. The MX-2700 is a bit unusual, in
offering several "special effects" that can be applied
to images when in playback mode, without having to resort to an
external computer. These effects include either rainbow or white-only
("silver") cross patterns applied to highlights in the
image and sepia or black & white color effects. Another useful
function is the ability to resize images in-camera, from the large
1800x1200 size down to either 1280x1024 or 640x480. (Note that
the smaller image sizes have different aspect ratios, so the MX-2700
has to crop some of the original image from either side, to make
it fit the shape of the new file size.)
PC mode enables the serial port on the camera, to transfer
images to a host PC under control of the Mac or Windows software
provided by Fuji.
Control Enumeration
Menu/Exe Button
Displays menu options on the LCD and confirm menu selections.
The menu options vary depending on the mode to which the camera
is set.
Cancel/Back Button
Cancels selections and return to the previous menu.
Disp Button
Turns on the LCD for viewing when capturing images, and to switch
between viewing thumbnail or full-screen images when viewing pictures
in playback mode.
Flash Button
Selects one of three different flash options for individual picture-taking
needs:
Macro Button
Disables the optical zoom capability of the camera and sets the
lens to focus between 3.5 and 19.7 inches (9 and 50 cm). In Macro
mode, the LCD is automatically turned on to help you frame your
image, since the optical viewfinder isn't accurate that close.
Shift Button
In combination with other buttons, provides rapid access to several
camera functions. (Quality and Image Size are also available in
the Setup menu this is a faster way to make changes in these
settings than switching to setup mode and then back to record
again):
Self-Timer Mode
The Self-Timer mode provides a 10 second delay between when you
press the Shutter button and when the camera fires. You can use
Self-Timer mode in conjunction with other camera settings, including
file size and image quality, as well as macro mode, but not with
the special exposure settings available in Manual mode. (We welcome
the ability to use the self-timer for macro shots, as this is
frequently useful in conjunction with a tripod or copy stand,
to eliminate camera movement from a manual shutter release. It
would be nice though, to be able to also have access to the sophisticated
exposure controls of Manual mode when using the self-timer.) It
also appears that focus and exposure settings are made in self-timer
mode when the shutter button is first pressed, as opposed to when
the shutter actually fires. At first this seemed odd, but we subsequently
realized it would be important for handling off-center subjects,
since the half-press autoexposure/focus lock wouldn't be an option
if the photographer were trying to get into the picture him/herself.
Setup Mode
With the Mode Dial on the rear of the camera set to Setup, eight
customizable options appear on the LCD display. You can use the
Up/Down arrows on the 4-Direction button to scroll through these
options, and the Left/Right arrows to change the settings for
each option:
Manual Mode
As mentioned earlier, Manual mode lets you control a number of
camera exposure settings, as well as review captured images on
the LCD before storing them to the SmartMedia card. This is in
contrast to Normal mode, in which the images are stored automatically.
You can change the following camera settings in Manual mode:
Normal (Auto) Mode
With the Mode Dial on the rear of the camera set to Normal Mode,
the camera becomes a true digital "point-and-shoot"
camera. The camera automatically chooses all exposure settings,
and automatic white balance is used.
Playback Mode
Playback mode lets you review images you've already captured.
When you change from Normal or Manual mode to Playback mode, the
LCD automatically activates and displays your images. Use the
left/right arrows on the 4-way control to scroll through and view
all the images currently stored to the SmartMedia card.
In playback mode, pressing the Disp button changes what
is displayed on the LCD. You can change from "full-screen"
viewing of individual images on the LCD to smaller, thumbnail
versions of the images that you have captured (if there's more
than 1, of course). In Thumbnail mode, the left-right arrows on
the 4-way control move a cursor over the small images, letting
you quickly select the photo you're interested in. Once you've
chosen a particular image, pressing Disp again will bring it up
full-screen.
When in Playback mode, pressing
the Menu/Exe button provides access to the following features,
arranged in an iconic menu across the bottom of the screen:
Connect Mode
When you want to connect the camera to a PC for downloading of
images, you first need to place the camera in PC mode. PC mode
enables the serial port on the side of the camera for image transfer.
The MX-2700 package comes equipped with a software CD ROM that
includes TWAIN drivers for accessing the images on your camera,
and Adobe PhotoDeluxe software for you to use to edit your images
once transferred to your PC.
Image Storage and Interface
The MX-2700 uses the tiny SmartMedia memory cards for its image
storage, and comes with an 8 MB unit. (These cards are currently
available in sizes up to 32 megabytes, with 64 megabyte capacities
scheduled for availability in early 2000.) The table below shows
the MX-2700's memory card capacities for the 8 MB card with various
combinations of image size and quality setting. (PAGE 88 of the
manual)
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8 MB Card |
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As noted earlier, the MX-2700 connects to host computers via
a standard "RS-232" serial connection. While entirely
functional, like all such interfaces, it's SLOW. We clocked a
data-transfer time of about three minutes for a 823K maximum-resolution
file, a transfer rate of roughly 4 KBytes/second. This is rather
slow, even for a serial port, and the large file sizes the MX-2700
captures only further aggravate the problem. The optional FlashPath
floppy-disk adapter (typically available for about $80 or so,
as of this writing in June of 1999) can move the same file in
only ~30 seconds. Even better, Fuji is offering a coupon for a
free FlashPath with all their cameras through July 31, 1999. (Given
that this review will be on the 'net for at least the next year,
most of you will be reading this after the end of this particular
promotion. We suspect that there may be other similar offers in
the future though...) Card readers that attach to your PC's parallel
or USB port work much faster yet, and are often less expensive
to boot. The free FlashPath is a great offer, but if you fall
outside its time-frame, we'd recommend investing the $40-70 needed
for an external card reader.
Video Out
Like many digicams, the MX-2700 has a video-out port for viewing
your images on a standard TV equipped with a direct-video input.
When plugged in, it leaves the internal LCD monitor functional
(some cameras turn off the internal LCD when driving external
video), and mirrors the signal through the video port. We've found
this a very handy function for grabbing screen shots of whatever
would normally appear on the LCD screen, and it makes for a great
way to share images with friends or colleagues. US and Canadian
models of the MX-2700 support the NTSC standard, while European
models presumably support PAL.
Power
The MX-2700 is a bit different than most digital cameras, in that
it uses a rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery, rather than the much
more common AA cells. The advantages of the LiIon battery pack
are that it's very compact for the amount of power it delivers
(1100 mAh), has no "memory effect" as do NiCd batteries,
and no self-discharge tendency, as do NiMH cells. The only drawback
we see is that you can't get replacement batteries in a pinch
at the corner drugstore. Besides the battery pack, the MX-2700
includes an AC adapter, which will both power the camera and recharge
the battery pack. Fuji gives an official charge time for a fully-discharged
battery as 7 hours. An optional external battery charger is available
that cuts this time to 2.5 hours. (NOTE: Because the AC adapter
for the MX-2700 also functions as an in-camera battery charger,
we STRONGLY advise against using any power source other than the
official AC adapter. Adapters not designed to charge the particular
LiIon batteries used by the MX-2700 could cause severe damage
and even a fire hazard!)
The MX-2700 is fairly conservative of battery power, particularly
with the LCD turned off. As we write this review, we've just begun
directly measuring digicam power consumption, and the MX-2700
seems better than many. Like most digicams though, its LCD draws
a significant amount of power, and the total energy delivered
by the 3.6v/1100mAh battery pack is a fair bit lower than what
a set of high-capacity NiMH AA cells can provide (4.8v/1300mAh).
Thus, in our own shooting, which used the LCD screen pretty heavily,
we found that the battery tended to run down more quickly than
we were accustomed to. We recommend using the supplied AC adapter
(big kudos to Fuji for including this, normally a $40 option with
most digicams) whenever possible, certainly during image downloads
to the PC. We'd also suggest buying one or two extra batteries,
and keeping them charged and ready. As noted above, the LiIon
cells don't lose their charge in storage, so you can charge them
in advance, and have them ready when you need them.
Included Software
The MX-2700 ships with a basic software package, allowing image
acquisition and manipulation, on both Windows and Macintosh platforms.
Software on both platforms includes an application called "Picture
Shuttle" that handles communications with the camera, for
downloading images. Picture Shuttle maintains a "desktop"
metaphor, showing the camera and any "albums" it knows
about as icons in a desktop-looking window, as seen in the screen
shot below. (Screen shots here are borrowed from our MX-600 review,
since that camera ships with the same software.) We say "desktop-looking"
because it actually is a separate window, and not part of your
computer's normal desktop.
When the camera is "opened" in Picture Shuttle, you see an index display of the pictures it contains, as shown below. (You can choose to see thumbnails of the pictures as shown, or turn the thumbnails off to speed up the initial display of the camera's contents.)
When a picture is selected and downloaded, PictureShuttle automatically opens the "EZtouch" application, which provides for rudimentary image manipulation. The EZtouch screen is shown below.
Besides the PictureShuttle application, two TWAIN drivers are
provided, which allow image acquisition directly into applications
supporting the TWAIN interface (which include most applications
on the Windows platform, and a few on the Mac). The normal TWAIN
driver functions much like Picture Shuttle, allowing downloading
of already-captured images. In addition to this, the SNAP TWAIN
driver allows you to "snap" (capture) pictures with
the camera while it is tethered to the computer. In our own testing,
our Windows machine had reached a rather delicate state of too-many-drivers,
and so we weren't able to successfully test the TWAIN software.
(For those lucky enough to be unfamiliar with Windows, it periodically
is necessary to completely "wipe" the hard drive and
re-install Windows, if you're in the habit of installing and removing
software applications on a regular basis. - We really needed to
do this on our main Windows box, but couldn't afford the time
out of our schedule to do so in time for this review.) We did
however, find Picture Shuttle to be a very functional downloading
application, although it was rather slow, as reported earlier.
(We strongly recommend the optional FlashPath adapter for any
serious users of the MX-2700: The difference in speed relative
to the serial port is dramatic, and ultimately makes the camera
much more usable.)
The final software package included with the MX-2700 is
Adobe's ever-popular PhotoDeluxe. This program provides a broad
range of image-manipulation and "project"-oriented capabilities,
and has versions for both the Mac and Windows platforms.
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 MX-2700'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 MX-2700 performed, and how its images compare to other
cameras you may be considering buying.
Overall, we felt the MX-2700 turned in an excellent performance.
Resolution and detail was exceptional, and color rendition very
good, although the camera had a tendency to produce images with
a slight yellowish cast to them. (Having just reviewed a software
package called PhotoGenetics, which will automatically process
files to remove consistent casts of this sort, we concluded that
it would make an ideal software companion to the MX-2700: For
$24.95 (limited special to IR readers), it painlessly transforms
the "very good" photos of this camera into "great"
ones!) We found the MX-2700's in-camera image sharpening algorithm
a little problematic, as it tended to produce an odd "zipper"
artifact along high-contrast horizontal edges in the images. Turning
the sharpening down to the lowest level produced softer images,
but with virtually no sign of the artifact. Sharpening in Photoshop
or other host software produced very detailed images, with little
evidence of the artifact. (We may be being a little overly-critical
in this respect, as we suspect that an artifact like this that
is obvious blown up pixel-for-pixel on the CRT may be almost invisible
when output at normal sizes from an inkjet printer.)
Flash exposure on the MX-2700 is very good: The onboard
flash does an excellent job of matching the color balance of incandescent
lighting, making for very naturally-colored images shot in typical
indoor settings. Almost as significant is that the flash power
can be adjusted up or down by +/- 0.6 EV units, giving an unusual
amount of control over the exposure process.
Resolution is extremely high, at about 750 lines per picture
height horizontally, and nearly 800 lines per picture height vertically.
(This is as good or better than anything we've measured to date!
- June, 1999) The MX-2700's lens is also very good, producing
very little geometric distortion, only about 0.4% barrel distortion,
and virtually no chromatic aberration.
The MX-2700's optical viewfinder is a little "looser"
than most, in that it only shows about 82% of the final image
area, meaning you'd tend to end up with the subject filling less
of the image than you'd expected. By contract, the LCD viewfinder
is exceptionally accurate, showing fully 100% of the final image.
Macro capability is quite good, but limited somewhat by
the wide-angle lens. Minimum area captured is 4.38 x 2.92 inches
(11.1 x 7.4mm).
See for Yourself!
Take a look at the test images from the
MX-2700 (with extensive comments), or jump to the Comparometer(tm)
page to compare its reference images with those from other digital
cameras.
Conclusion
The MX-2700 is probably the ultimate portable digicam, at least
as of this writing in June of 1999. It easily fits into a pocket
and has a nice automatic lens cover that zips up tight to prevent
the lens from being scratched. It provides great exposure control
in manual mode, yet exposes & focuses reliably and accurately
in auto mode, making it a true "point & shoot."
(In auto mode, you really can't find a camera that's any simpler
to use.) Best of all, it takes giant-sized 2.3 megapixel photos
that hold up well even at very large print sizes. If you want
a camera that you can truly take anywhere, pull out and snap pictures
at a moment's notice, and get great shots from, the MX-2700 could
be what you've been looking for...
Reader Comments!
See what
other Imaging Resource readers have had to say about the MX-2700, or
add comments of your own. (Read what's here, then
add your own! - If you buy an MX-2700, come back and tell the rest of us what
you thought!)
