Fuji MX-2900 digital camera (Review first posted 29 September, 1999) |
 |
|
2.3 Million pixel sensor |
|
|
1800 x 1200 resolution | |
|
|
3X optical plus 2.5x digital zoom | |
|
|
Full manual exposure control | |
|
|
Internal or external (hot shoe) flash | |
|
|
Provision for external auxiliary lenses |
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 a unique macro attachment with built-in flash that
made it a runaway favorite for oral surgeons documenting patient treatments.)
Their latest lineup is one of the broadest in the industry, including a very
affordable and surprisingly full-featured 0.8 megapixel mode (the DX-10), two
1.5 megapixel models (the inexpensive MX-600, and the sleek & sexy MX-1700),
a tiny 2.3 megapixel model with a fixed focal-length lens (the MX-2700), and
now a very flexible "enthusiast's" camera, the 2.3 megapixel MX-2900.
We call the MX-2900 an "enthusiast's camera", because its rich
reature set is clearly aimed at people for whom picture-taking is more than
an idle passtime: If you're just looking for a simple point & shoot digicam
to pack along on daytrips, you'd probably be better served by the DX-10, MX-1700
or MX-2700. On the other hand, if you're interested in using auxiliary lenses
or an external flash unit with your digital camera, the MX-2900 could be just
the ticket. What's more, it brings fully manual exposure control to the digital
photographer (allowing fully independent control of aperture and shutter speed),
a feature that's become something of a holy grail for more-advanced photographers
considering digital. With the MX-2900 topping their current "prosumer"
lineup, Fuji literally has a digital camera for every need, at least in the
under-$1,000 marketplace.
Major Features
- 2.3 megapixel CCD sensor with resolution up to 1800 x 1200 pixel resolution
- Sturdy, magnesium alloy body
- 2.0 inch 130,000 pixel low temperature polysilicon TFT LCD monitor for preview and image replay plus a standard optical viewfinder
- Glass Fujinon optical 3x zoom lens (f3.3/f7.6 wide angle, f5/f11 telephoto) (equivalent to 35-105 on a 35mm camera)
- TTL autofocus from 35.4 inches to infinity and 9.8 inches to 35.4 inches in Macro
- Wide angle field of view with macro position and autofocus function
- ISO equivalent 125
- Shutter speed from 1/4 to 1/2,000 seconds using AE and three seconds to 1/1000 in Manual mode
- Four image quality modes from Hi to Basic
- Full manual photography functions (manual exposure, aperture priority AE, slow shutter speeds, light metering mode selection and manual focusing)
- Automatic popup flash with high precision wide range flash control sensor
- Hot shoe for mounting an external flash unit
- Continuous shooting at three frames per second (in 640 x 480 pixel mode)
- Framing Guideline Function makes it easy to compose professional looking shots
- Special effects functions so you can quickly and easily modify images in the camera
- Mode dial and four direction button for simple operation
- Compatible with 3.3V, 2MB to 32MB SmartMedia
- Runs on a rechargeable lithium-ion battery
- Digital Print Order Format (DPOF) compatibility makes it easy to order prints
"Executive Overview"
We really liked the "35mm" styling of the MX-2900: The hand grip is
comfortable and natural, giving you a solid hold on the camera. The addition
of an external flash hot shoe is a definite plus as well. Overall, the camera's
design replicates the look and feel of a standard 35mm camera, immediately setting
most camera buffs at ease. You still have to deal with a lens cap on this one,
but at least it ties to the wrist strap lug so you don't have to keep up with
it.
Both an optical and LCD viewfinder help you compose each shot with the
added bonus of a dioptric adjustment slide control next to the optical viewfinder.
We found that the LCD panel's color display was almost accurate, except when
shooting under incandescents, where some of the color information got lost.
(It tended to show the images as having a more neutral color balance than they
actually did.) The LCD records almost exactly 100 percent of the full frame
coverage as opposed to the optical viewfinder's 76.5 percent coverage.
The Fujinon lens is a true 3x zoom lens with an aperture range from f3.3
to f7.6 in wide angle and f5 to f11 in telephoto. Focal length ranges from 7.4
to 22mm, equivalent to a 35-105mm lens for a standard 35mm camera. There's a
built in option for auxiliary lenses via mounting tabs on the camera body, at
the base of the lens. An optional lens adapter that ships with the 0.85x wide
angle adapter has 43mm filter threads.
Exposure-wise, the Automatic setting is fairly typical with the camera
controlling the aperture, shutter speed, white balance and metering. We got
really excited about the full manual exposure control however. You have control
over virtually everything with a variety of aperture and shutter speed options
at your fingertips. There are also seven white balance settings but it reverts
back to Auto when using the flash. The flash options are pretty standard as
well, but we were perplexed that the Night/Slow Synchro option as only available
in the Automatic capture mode.
The Self-Timer mode on the MX-2900 gives you 10 seconds to get into the
picture. A red light beside the lens lights solid for the first five seconds,
then flashes during the remaining five seconds. There's also a countdown on
the LCD panel so you have two visual cues while getting in position. Only one
delay setting is provided though, making it tedious to use the self timer in
place of a cable release for long exposures on a tripod.
The Macro function on the camera allows image captures from 9.8 to 35.4
inches and is initiated and cancelled by hitting the Macro button on the camera's
back. The Auto flash setting is unavailable in this mode, but Red-Eye Reduction,
Forced and Suppressed modes are all accessible.
The MX-2900 also features a 2x "Digital Telephoto" mode, which
is basically a digital zoom option. Remember that digital zoom compromises the
quality of the image. We found this feature most useful when trying to manually
focus on difficult-to-focus subjects.
As we mentioned, we really liked the addition of an external flash hot
shoe. The camera's popup flash reaches from 1.3 to 8.2 feet in telephoto and
1.3 to 11.5 feet in wide angle. Flash is available in five modes: Auto, Red-Eye
Reduction, Forced, Suppressed and Night/Slow Synchro. As we said earlier, the
Night/Slow Synchro option is only available in Automatic capture mode, but the
others are all controlled by the Flash button.
The MX-2900's user interface was overall pretty easy to use. With all
the controls on the back panel, you're not fumbling around to find them. We
like the idea of a rocker toggle button (as on the Fuji MX-1700 and MX-2700)
better than the four individual arrow buttons used on the MX-2900, but the buttons
didn't present any navigational problems. The SmartMedia and input/output sockets
are in their usual side positions and the battery slot is still accessible from
the bottom of the camera (which as we've noted on other digicams, is somewhat
annoying when using a tripod).
Images are stored on standard 3.3V SmartMedia cards (an 8MB card comes
with the camera). An exciting note is that the MX-2900 offers a true, uncompressed
TIFF mode. Another interesting feature is that you have the ability to perform
minor image manipulations right on the camera (black and white, sepia tones,
silver cross and rainbow cross options).
The MX-2900 shows a relatively high power consumption level, although
well within the normal range among other two megapixel digicams out there. We
found battery life to be a bit short, likely due in part to the somewhat limited
3.76 watt hour capacity of the NP-80 battery. (We suggest keeping up a few spares
around.)
The camera comes with Picture Shuttle and EZtouch software, which give
you limited manipulation capabilities, and Adobe PhotoDeluxe which provides
a wider range of options (like greeting card formats and extra filters).
The MX-2900 offers features and a range of control over the creative
process that photo buffs should love. People looking for a simple, fit-into-your-pocket
type camera may be interested in a more sleek design, such as Fuji's MX-1700
or MX-2700 models.
Camera Design
The MX-2900 looks and feels more like a standard 35mm camera than most digicams.
The bulkier hand grip gives you more to hold, but at the expense of the camera's
portability. (Given the decision to make a physically larger camera, we're puzzled
why Fuji didn't include a larger battery pack.) The design also includes a popup
flash and hot shoe for an external flash connection, both familiar traits of
35mm design. A relatively light weight magnesium alloy body weighs in at about
12.2 oz (345 g) excluding all accessories, battery and attachments. Dimensions
are 5.1 x 2.7 x 2.4 inches (129.5 x 68.5 x 59.8 mm) also excluding accessories
and attachments.
A protective shield covers the lens at all times and the lens cap is
attachable to the camera via a cord that ties in at the same place as the wrist
strap. This makes it hard to lose but you also have to deal with it swinging
around when off of the lens.
All of the camera controls are easily accessible but still require two
handed operation. Four arrow buttons control the menus and a Shift button gives
some of the buttons extra functions. In addition to the large color LCD screen
on the back of the camera, a smaller, black and white LCD readout rests beside
the Mode dial and displays the camera's settings when the camera is on. When
the camera turns on, the lens comes out of its "storage" space and
likewise retracts once the camera is turned off. Power on the MX-2900 is controlled
by a power switch separate from the Mode dial. A playful, red light display
occurs around the arrow keys when the camera is turned on, accompanied by a
musical series of beeps.
Viewfinder
The MX-2900 offers both an optical and LCD viewfinder. The LCD is a 2.0 inch
low temperature polysilicon TFT design, featuring 130,000 pixel resolution.
The LCD accurately records 100 percent of the full frame coverage, while the
optical viewfinder shows about 76.5 percent of full frame at both wide angle
and telephoto settings. In Manual mode, the LCD never turns off completely because
you need the LCD screen to control the Manual menuósomething to be aware
of for power consumption. The LCD panel defaults to off in Auto mode and is
called back to action by the Display button.
The LCD panel displays reasonably accurate color, but tends to be less
so when shooting under incandescents. Regardless, we still found it helpful
as a relative indicator for choosing the best white balance setting. What's
more annoying is that the LCD seemed to show our indoor images as brighter than
they ended up in the actual file. This seemed to have more to do with image
contrast than just backlight LCD brightness. You could certainly get used to
this, "calibrating your eyeballs" to recognize proper exposure, but
really, the camera should do this for you.
A big plus on the camera for some people is the dioptric adjustment for
eyeglass wearers on the optical viewfinder.
Optics
The MX-2900 features a Fujinon 3x zoom lens with an aperture range of f3.3 to
f7.6 in wide angle and f5 to f11 in telephoto. Focus length ranges from 7.4
~22mm (equivalent to 35 to 105mm on a 35mm camera), and you can focus from 35.4
inches to infinity in the normal setting and 9.8 inches to 35.4 inches in Macro
mode.
In our testing, we found the lens to be optically good with only 0.3
percent barrel distortion at the wide angle end and 0.0 percent (no barrel or
pincushion) at the telephoto end. (In our earlier tests, we didn't measure this
distortion: Thus, you may not find it mentioned in some reviews, even though
it is present.) The zoom appears to have small "steps" to it, in that
there appear to be some focal length settings you can't get to. The focal length
resolution is still quite good, perhaps having from 10 to 15 steps across the
full range. For tight framing, this could be a bit of a nuisance which professionals
might notice, however we doubt most amateurs will really care. Another point
we haven't commented on, but that one reader pointed out could be important
in "candid" shooting situations, is that the autofocus/shutter mechanism
is quite noisy. There's quite a range of variation in digicams in this respect
and the MX-2900 lands toward the top of the range.
We got an evaluation unit of the 0.85x wide-angle accessory lens along
with the camera and played with it briefly. This extends the normal 35mm wide
angle limit of the zoom lens all the way out to 29.5 mm, a pretty good wide
angle. This could be useful for the always mentioned real estate market, taking
pictures in cramped quarters, indoors, etc. This auxiliary lens appeared to
be of fairly high quality, with an all-glass, multi-element construction, and
anti-reflection coatings on the lens' outer surfaces.
As is common with telescoping lens designs, the MX-2900's lens doesn't
have filter threads to use in attaching auxiliary lenses or filters. There is
a fairly robust provision for auxiliary lenses though, in the form of
mounting lugs hidden beneath a cosmetic cover, on the body of the camera around
the base of the lens assembly. The wide-angle accessory lens mentioned above
came with an adapter ring that mated with the body lugs and provided 43mm filter
threads which the accessory lens attached to. We don't know whether Fuji intends
to sell this adapter ring separately, but certainly hope they will. Given the
sophistication of the MX-2900, we suspect that many owners will want to use
it with auxiliary lenses and filters, and it would be a shame if they had to
purchase a (probably expensive) lens just to get the adapter ring.
Exposure
We experienced good control over both ambient exposure compensation and the
flash settings. The Night/Slow Synchro flash mode does a good job of letting
more ambient light in to affect the exposure, but surprisingly is only available
from the Auto mode. This means you can't use any of the exposure compensation
adjustments with it. We give Fuji big kudos for the full Manual exposure setting
and the provision for the external flash. The combination of the two gives great
control when using an external flash unit. Any garden variety hot shoe auto
flash unit will work, but the camera's limit of only two aperture settings means
you need to pick a flash whose indicated apertures for ISO125 match the f/4
and f/8 aperture options. The manual white balance settings appear to also be
functional when the external flash is used, again allowing much greater creative
control than would otherwise be the case.
A minor annoyance is that there is apparently no way to turn off image
confirmation in Manual mode. We often wanted to just set the exposure compensation
etc., then shoot a bunch of frames, but the camera insisted on making us press
the Menu/Exe button to confirm that we really wanted to keep each one. The process
is somewhat time consuming, and we'd like to see a menu option to bypass it.
The camera does feature a manual focus option, available in both Auto,
Manual and Self-Timer modes. To access manual focus, hold down the Shift button
and the Shift menu explains what buttons have extra Shift capabilities. For
manual focus, push either the up or down arrow buttons to adjust the focus and
MF will appear in the LCD panel. To cancel, hit the Cancel/Back button. Manual
focus is useful when the AF feature cannot focus on a subject but only works
when the LCD monitor is on. We particularly appreciated that the MX-2900's manual
focus provided a continuous range of adjustment, rather than the discrete steps
common in even high-end consumer digicams from other manufacturers. (About the
only added manual-focus feature we'd ask for would be a readout in feet and/or
meters, showing what the current focus setting was. This would make it easier
to achieve correct focus in situations where the light level was too low to
see the results of your manipulations clearly on the LCD screenÖ)
Automatic Mode
Auto mode is the quintessential point and shoot mode. You simply focus the camera
by halfway pressing the shutter button and fire when ready. You can control
zoom in this mode by pressing up or down on the zoom lever (just above the arrow
buttons). A small light by the optical viewfinder will tell you when the camera
is finished focusing and ready to take an exposure by showing solid green. If
it's green and flashing, it's still trying to focus or there's a camera shake
warning and you need a tripod. The same light glows orange while the data is
recorded and no pictures can be taken at that time.
The manual states that you can control AE and AF lock while in Auto,
but not through the use of buttons. Instead, it suggests composing your image
and then moving the camera to focus on the part of the image that is most important
to you. While halfway holding the shutter down, let the camera focus and then
move back to your original composition and press the shutter button all the
way to take the picture.
You do have a framing guideline function available while in Auto mode
(as well as in self-timer mode). When you hit the Display button on the back
of the camera, you can use the arrow buttons to choose between Scene, Group
Shot and Portrait (vertical shot frame). For each selection, a grid or guidelines
will appear and help you compose your shot. The manual notes that the lines
in the Scene frame guide roughly divide the recorded pixels into three equal
parts horizontally and vertically. When the image is printed, the resulting
print may show a slight shift from the original Scene framing. (We didn't test
this explicitly, but apparently the framing guides can't be counted on to exactly
correspond to the same parts of the final image as they do on the LCD display.
- This seems odd to us, given the near-100% overall framing accuracy of the
LCD viewfinder in our tests.)
Manual Mode
We loved the Manual mode on this camera. You get a lot of control through relatively
clear menus. As soon as you set the mode dial to Manual, the settings menu appears
on the LCD panel. If you hit the Display button, the image disappears and only
the setting menu remains. Hit Display again to bring back the image. All the
menu items are accessible by hitting the right and left arrow buttons, while
hitting the up button activates an individual menu. To confirm menu selections,
hit the Menu/Exe button or cancel with the Cancel/Back button. You can control
White Balance, Brightness (EV), Manual Exposure, Flash intensity, Photometry
(metering) and the Continuous Shooting mode from this menu. EV compensation
has nine levels in approximately 0.3 EV increments from -0.9 to 1.5. The EV
setting is disabled automatically when using the flash. (We found the user interface
confusing in this respect, in that it allows you to change the exposure compensation
settings when the flash is activated, just as you would normally: There's no
indication that the control is actually disabled!)
Under the Manual Exposure menu, you have the option of Program/Auto,
Aperture Priority and Manual Setting. Program allows the camera to dictate aperture
and shutter speed based on the conditions. Aperture Priority allows you to choose
between f4 and f8 while the camera selects the appropriate shutter speed. The
Manual Settings option gives you the freedom to set both the aperture and shutter
speed independently, regardless of lighting conditions. With an aperture setting
of f/4, you can choose an automatic shutter speed of from three to 1/500 seconds.
For an aperture of f/8, you can do the same but up to 1/1000 seconds. Note that
for any other aperture setting than Program, the flash will only operate in
either Red-Eye Reduction or Forced mode. If the shutter speed is not set to
Auto (that is, when in full manual mode), the Exposure Compensation and Metering
Mode functions are disabled. At shutter speeds slower than 1/4 seconds, noise
may appear in the image: We found the MX-2900 was capable of capturing images
at very low light levels, but 3-second exposures invariably contained large
amounts of noise. (This noise is mostly of the "fixed pattern" type
though, which means you can manually subtract much of it out of your images
in Photoshop(tm), given a "black reference" image and some patience.)
Manual mode also gives you control over the flash intensity. Under the
Flash option in the Manual menu, correction levels go from -0.6 to +0.6 in 0.3EV
increments. Note that this only controls the camera's popup flash, not any external
attachment.
Under the Metering Mode option of the Manual menu ("Photometry"
in Fuji's parlance), you can select between Average, Spot and Multi. Average
simply takes an average of the entire image. Spot optimizes the exposure for
the center of the image and Multi automatically assesses the scene and selects
the optimum exposure available.
Also only available in Manual mode is the Continuous Shooting option,
where the camera captures successive frames as long as the shutter button is
held down. The file size in this mode is fixed at 640 pixels. A total of nine
continuous shots can be recorded, at up to three frames per second. Flash and
Digital Telephoto (explained later) are unavailable during Continuous Shooting
and the focus and exposure are fixed at the values selected when the shutter
was opened. At the end of the exposures, all the frames are displayed on a nine
image screen.
Self-Timer
The Self-Timer is controlled by the mode dial. You don't have any timing options
here, the only countdown is 10 seconds. Once you've adjusted the exposure and
focused the image, fully press the shutter button. A red light next to the lens
lights solid for five seconds and then blinks for five more. A countdown is
displayed on the status display on top of the camera as well as the back LCD
panel. Cancel the Self-Timer by hitting the Cancel/Back button. As we mentioned
earlier, we'd like to see an option for a shorter delay added to the MX-2900's
self-timer function. It's often useful to employ the self timer to avoid camera
vibration when taking longer exposures on a tripod: A delay of a couple of seconds
will let any vibration resulting from pressing the shutter button die out before
the picture is actually captured. You can certainly still do this with a 10-second
self timer, but it requires more patience.
White Balance
The MX-2900 has seven white balance settings available, only controllable in
Manual mode. You have the option of Automatic adjustment, Outdoors in fine weather,
Outdoors in shade, Daylight fluorescent lamps, Warm White fluorescent lamps,
Cool white fluorescent lamps and Incandescent light. The MX-2900's Auto white
balance setting proves somewhat weak under strong incandescent lighting, but
the Incandescent setting does very well under household lights. This is somewhat
unusual in that most digicams seem to have the Incandescent setting adjusted
for professional lighting, which has a much higher color temperature than household
bulbs. Another note is that the white balance setting apparently disables when
using the flash and reverts to Auto, even though the back-panel LCD menu will
continue to indicate whatever setting you had previously chosen. The manual
suggests switching to Suppressed flash mode to fully utilize white balance.
(We found the MX-2900's tendency to change its behavior without alerting the
user via the menu system to be rather annoying: If a mode or setting has been
changed or disabled, the camera clearly should show you that this has happened.)
Macro
The Macro feature on the MX-2900 is controlled by a button on the back of the
camera, right next to the Flash button (indicated by a flower symbol). Once
you press the button, the same flower symbol appears on the LCD display (which
will automatically come on if it was turned off). Press the same button again
to cancel the setting. In this mode, you can photograph subjects between 9.8
inches to 35.4 inches (25cm to 90cm). Flash is automatically set to Suppressed
mode, but you can change this setting by popping up the flash and then selecting
the mode you want. When you cancel Macro mode, the flash is automatically returned
to its original setting. Auto flash mode is unavailable while in Macro.
Digital Telephoto
A Digital Telephoto option is available in all photography modes by simply pressing
the up and down arrow keys. Press the up arrow once for 1.2x enlargement and
twice for 2.5x (displayed on the LCD panel). The down arrow cancels each enlargement.
It's still better to use the true zoom on the camera, for quality's sake. If
the file size is set to 1800, then the recorded file will be 1280 x 1024 pixels
at 1.2x and 640 x 480 pixels at 2.5x. If the file size is already at the 640
pixel setting, the digital telephoto does not change the recorded file size.
One good use of this digital zoom is in the manual focus setting when you're
having trouble focusing on a subject. Don't forget to cancel before exposing
the image.
Flash
An exciting feature of the MX-2900 is the popup flash and the additional hot
shoe for an external flash connection. The built-in flash reaches from 1.3 to
8.2 feet (0.4 to 2.5m) in telephoto and 1.3 to 11.5 feet (0.4 to 3.5m) in wide
angle. You have five options for controlling the flash, four of them triggered
by the Flash button on the back of the camera (Auto, Red-Eye Reduction, Forced
and SuppressedóSlow Synchro is operated through the menu button on the
back of the camera. To get to the mode that you want, simply hit the Flash button
until the correct icon appears in the LCD panel. For Automatic, no icon appears
and the camera will judge for itself how best to use the flash. Red-Eye Reduction
emits the typical preflash before popping the real one. Forced is good for backlit
subjects and Suppressed means the flash doesn't fire at all. You'll more than
likely get a camera shake warning on this one and a tripod is recommended in
low light situations.
As we mentioned earlier, the Slow Synchro mode is controlled elsewhere
on the camera, however, it's only available in Auto and Self-Timer modes, meaning
you can't apply any exposure compensation adjustments. While the camera is in
either of these modes, hit the Menu/Exe button and use the arrow keys to turn
Slow Synchro either on or off. You can cancel the mode through the same process
or merely by closing up the flash. If the camera is turned off with the flash
up while in Slow Synchro, the mode setting will be saved.
The external flash option on the MX-2900 is particularly well-implemented,
in that you can combine it with the full-manual exposure mode. This lets you
select fast shutter speeds for use in conjunction with the flash, reducing the
effect of the ambient lighting, and insuring sharper photos of moving subjects,
even under fairly bright lighting conditions. (We didn't experiment with this
too much, so can't say what the fastest flash-sync speed is, but it's at least
1/125, and likely higher.)
Shutter Lag/Cycle Times
The MX-2900 comes alive in about three to four seconds and the quickest we could
get a shot off was at about 3.8 seconds from power up. It took anywhere from
two to eight seconds to switch from one of the capture modes to Playback. This
time will be longer with fine/high resolution shots and shorter with basic/low
resolution shots.
The shutter lag at full autofocus was about 1.0 seconds and 0.32 seconds
with prefocus. The full autofocus is a little slow compared to many competing
cameras which run about 0.8 seconds. Prefocus is also a bit slow with many competing
units running about 0.2 seconds.
At 11 seconds, shot-to-shot cycle times were very fast in uncompressed
TIFF mode when compared to other 2 megapixel cameras we've tested. High resolution
images required about seven seconds, much better than most two megapixel cameras,
but still not as good as some. Speed stayed pretty consistent from shot to shot,
so buffer memory apparently isn't being used to store images before processing
and saving them on the SmartMedia memory card. The bad news is that high-resolution
cycle times never get faster than seven seconds. The good news is that they
never get worse either, even if you're shooting a long series of exposures.
Low resolution images required about five seconds between shots.
In Continuous Shooting mode, shot-to-shot speed was about eight shots
in 3.2 seconds, or 2.5 frames per second.
User Interface
We found the user interface for the MX-2900 to be pretty good overall. The mode
dial is similar to those of other digicams but doesn't control the power. A
small display panel sits on top of the camera, just to the left of the mode
dial and displays the camera settings when it's on. The shutter button is placed
just in front of the mode dial, right on top of the handle grip.
All the controls are on the back panel of the camera and pretty simple
to negotiate. The camera turns on with a slide power switch on the back, just
above the LCD viewfinder, and a small light and audio display occurs to let
you know the camera is "awake". The radially arranged push buttons
which steer the menus aren't as convenient to operate as a rocker toggle button,
but the menus themselves navigate well. A Cancel/Back and Menu/Execute button
lie just beside the arrow keys, taking a step out of the menu navigation process.
A nice touch we found is that if you've been adjusting one of the manual controls
(such as EV compensation), take a shot and then want to adjust the same control
again, pressing the Menu/Exe button takes you right to that menu. This eliminates
having to search through the list of other menu options again.
The Zoom, Macro and Flash controls are above the radial arrow keys. The Display
button sits directly to the right of the LCD panel and on the opposite side
is a Shift button, which allows you to access many of the camera's setup features
without going into Setup mode.
A dioptric adjuster for the optical viewfinder is also on the back of
the camera, right next to the viewfinder itself. It simply slides back and forth
to adjust.
Both the SmartMedia slot and I/O jacks are on the sides of the camera. The
SmartMedia slot has a plastic cover with a slide latch to keep it in place at
all times. On the other side, the Digital, Video Out and DC input jacks are
exposed, unlike many other digicams which have a plastic cover. A metal tripod
mount is on the bottom of the camera as well as the battery slot. (Kudos to
Fuji for the metal tripod socket: Most digicams these days use plastic for these.)
Mode Dial
From here you can choose between six options to operate the camera with. Counterclockwise
from upper right, the options are:
Self-Timer:
allows you to set up the shot and then get in it.
- Setup: allows you to change things like the date and time as well
as other camera settings like image quality and sharpness.
- Manual: (also designated by a small red camera but with an M next
to it) gives you complete control over the exposure.
- Automatic: (designated by a small red camera) allows you to point
and shoot with no thought about settings involved.
- Playback: (denoted by a small green arrow in a green box) allows
you to view and erase images.
- PC: allows you to connect to your PC and transfer images.
Shutter Button
A two stage shutter button sits right on top of the camera in the usual right
hand location. Press the shutter button down halfway to focus the camera and
then all the way to make an exposure. This is also where you control the autofocus
lock function, by moving the camera to the section of the image you want to
focus on and then back to the subject.
Flash Button
You can select the flash mode you'd like to use, except for the Night/Slow Synchro
which is controlled elsewhere.
- Auto Mode: The camera controls when and how much flash is used based
on existing light levels.
- Red-Eye Reduction: Fires a small pre-flash before the shutter opens
to reduce the Red-Eye effect on the subject.
- Forced: The flash always fires, no matter what the lighting conditions
are.
- Suppressed: Completely disables the flash, regardless of dark conditions.
Macro Button
In all camera modes, this button allows you to capture a subject from 9.8 to
35.4 inches (25cm to 90cm). The flash is automatically set to Suppressed, but
can be changed by popping up the flash and then selecting the flash setting
via the Flash button.
Zoom Lever
(Upper right-hand corner of camera back.) This button controls zoom up to 3x
through three settings (equivalent to a 35 - 105mm lens on a 35mm camera). The
zoom is automatically set to 80mm when the camera is turned on.
Shift Button
In the various capture modes (Self-Timer, Manual, and Auto, Shift allows you
to change the following settings. (LCD brightness and manual focus are only
available when the LCD is turned on though.)
- Adjust the LCD brightness (Shift + Display)
- Adjust image quality (Shift + Flash)
- Adjust file size (Shift + Macro)
- Turn on Manual Focus (Shift + up or down arrows)
In Playback mode, Shift controls LCD brightness and Panning during "zoomed"
playback. (Shift + any combination of the arrow buttons).
Display Button
In PC mode, the Display button turns the LCD panel off and on.
In Auto and Self-Timer mode, the Display button turns the LCD panel on
and off, and also activates the Framing Guideline Function, with specific framing
setups chosen by the left and right arrow buttons.
In Playback mode, hitting Display twice brings up a nine shot, multi
frame playback screen.
Cancel/Back Button
In any mode, allows you to cancel previous menu selections or back out of menus.
Once you've taken an exposure in Manual mode, the Cancel/Back button allows
you to delete the image without saving it to the SmartMedia card.
Menu/Exe Button
Allows you to access the Playback menu while in Playback mode and confirm menu
selections in all other modes.
- In Auto mode, the Menu/Exe button allows you to access the Night/Slow Synchro flash mode when the flash is popped up.
- In Manual mode, the Menu/Exe button allows you to confirm saving
an image after an exposure.
Radial Arrow Keys
Key controls for navigating the menu system and selecting camera options:
In
Recording modes:
- In both recording modes, allow you to move up, down, left and right
within menus. Also control Digital Telephoto by moving up and down to
digitally zoom in and out. When combined with the Shift key, up and down
arrows control the Manual Focus option.
- In both recording modes, allow you to move up, down, left and right
within menus. Also control Digital Telephoto by moving up and down to
digitally zoom in and out. When combined with the Shift key, up and down
arrows control the Manual Focus option.
- In Playback mode:
- The up and down arrows allow you to zoom an image up to 4x in 2x increments and the left and right arrows cancel the action (except when combined with the Shift key, which allows you to move around in a zoomed image).
- The left and right arrows let you scroll through previously-captured
images images.
Pop-Up Flash Button
(Top of camera, next to the flip-up flash head.) Once pressed, releases the
flash.
Dioptric Adjustment Control
(Rear of camera, just to the right of the viewfinder itself.) Slides either
left or right to adjust the optical viewfinder for your eyes.
Lens Adapter Mount Lock Release Button
(Front of camera, just to the right of the lens.) When pressed, releases the
lens adapter mount cover.
Camera Modes & Menus
Following is a description of the major camera modes and the LCD menu options
associated with them (all mentioned briefly above in the description of the
mode dial).
Setup
Mode
The Setup menu is automatically displayed when the mode dial is placed on Setup.
Options here are:
- Quality: Sets the compression ratio for recording. Choose between
Hi, Fine, Normal and Basic. Default is the Normal setting.
- File Size: Sets the number of pixels for each image, either 1800
x 1200 or 640 x 480.
- Sharpness: Five levels available from no sharpening to extremely
sharp.
- Auto Power Off: Sets the Auto Power Off to either on or off. If on,
the camera shuts down when unattended for two minutes. This function does
not operate in Automatic Playback or PC mode. (The camera stays indefinitely
in those modes.)
- Frame Number: Specifies which frame numbering option is used. Choose
between:
- Renew: Pictures are stored on each SmartMedia beginning with file number 0001.
- Continue: Pictures are stored beginning from the highest file
number stored on the last SmartMedia used.
- Beep: Sets the buzzer volume for camera operation with choices of
high, low and off.
- Date/Time: Sets the date and time.
- Reset: Pressing the Menu/Exe button here resets the settings in the
Setup menu, excluding the date and time, to their defaults.
Self-Timer Mode
Gives you 10 seconds once the shutter button is pressed before the shutter is
released. Once the shot is composed and the shutter button fully pressed, an
LED beside the lens lights solid red for five seconds and then flashes for the
remaining five seconds. A countdown is also displayed in the back LCD panel
and the status display on top of the camera. The Cancel/Back button cancels
the self-timer midway. Hitting the Menu/Exe button in this mode gives you access
to the Night/Slow Synchro flash mode, with the choices of on or off. As in other
exposure modes, the automatic exposure and focus systems lock-in values as soon
as the shutter button is half-pressed, retaining these settings until the exposure
is finally taken.
Manual
Mode
Allows you to control your exposure through aperture and shutter speed settings,
white balance, flash intensity and exposure compensation (EV). The settings
menu is automatically displayed at the bottom of the screen upon switching to
Manual mode. Here are the options:
- White Balance: Gives you the choice between Automatic, Shooting Outdoors
in Fine Weather, Shooting Outdoors in Shade, Daylight Fluorescent, Warm White
Fluorescent, Cool White Fluorescent and Incandescent. In Auto mode, the correct
white balance may not be obtained in situations like closeups and special
lighting.
- Brightness (Exposure Compensation): Allows you to select the amount
of exposure compensation needed in 0.3 EV increments from -0.9 to +1.5. This
setting is disabled when using the flash.
- Manual Exposure: Selects from Program, Aperture Priority AE or Manual
exposure settings:
- Program: The camera automatically selects the aperture and shutter speed.
- Aperture Priority (AE): Allows you to fix the aperture at f4 or f8.
- Manual Settings: Gives you the ability to set both the aperture
and shutter speed. An aperture of f4 can choose from Auto, three
to 1/500 seconds shutter speeds. An aperture of f8 can choose from Auto,
three to 1/1000 seconds.
- Flash Brightness: Sets the flash power for optimum brightness with
correction levels in 0.3EV increments from -0.6 to +0.6.
- Metering Mode: Only available when Manual Exposure is selected and
shutter speed is set to Auto. Choose between:
- Average: An average exposure value for the entire image is taken.
- Spot: Meters for the center of the image.
- Multi: Evaluates contrast and brightness across the entire scene
and then selects the optimum exposure setting.
- Continuous Shooting: When turned on, up to nine shots are taken at
about three per second while the shutter button is held down. Flash and digital
telephoto are not available. The file size automatically changes to 640 pixels.
(In our own measurements, we clocked the frame rate at 2.5 frames per second,
the camera capturing 8 frames in 3.2 seconds.)
Auto Mode
Best for taking pictures under average light conditions. The camera controls
flash, aperture, shutter speed, focus and white balance. Hitting the Menu/Exe
button in this mode displays the Night/Slow Synchro flash menu with the options
of turning it on or off.
Playback
Mode
Turning the mode dial to the Playback symbol allows you to view your captured
images as well as perform some minor image manipulations. Once in Playback you
hit the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the images. You can zoom
into a particular section of an image by using the up or down arrow buttons.
The zoom scales up to 4.0x and can be set in 0.2x increments. Pressing the left
or right arrows cancels the zoom and advances to the next image. Once you've
zoomed an image, you can move around the image by holding down the Shift key
and any of the four arrow buttons. The Cancel/Back button returns you to the
normal, non zoom display.
Pressing the Display button twice gives you a nine shot multi frame display,
navigable by the arrow buttons. To view a selected frame, push the Display button
again. If you have more than nine images, hit the Shift button in conjunction
with the left or right arrow button to change pages. You can also view images
by connecting to a television set via the video playback cable included with
the camera.
Pressing the Menu/Exe button in Playback mode gives you these options:
- Erase: Gives you the option of erasing a single frame, all frames,
or formatting the memory card. Formatting erases all of the data on the SmartMedia.
- Effect: Gives you four options for altering the image but requires
ample space on the SmartMedia to save the effects. (The original file is not
overwritten.)
- B/W: Converts the image to black and white.
- Sepia: Converts the image to sepia tones.
- Silver Cross: Adds shining highlights to the image, similar to a star filter.
- Rainbow Cross: Adds rainbow highlights to the image.
- Automatic Playback: Plays all the images recorded frame by frame
(cancelled by hitting the Cancel/Back button).
- Resize: Allows you to resize the image from 1800 to 1280 or from
1800 to 640 (only images already at 1800 can be resized).
- Protect: Gives you the option to protect or unprotect a single frame,
all frames, or unprotect all.
- DPOF: Allows you to set up prints for ordering, compliant with the
Digital Print Order Format (DPOF). You can set the date and time, select individual
frames for printing, preview selections, select all frames or cancel all.
- Date/Time: selects whether or not the date and time are displayed on the shots.
- Frame: Use the arrow buttons to find a specific frame. Once found you can set the number of prints to be made and specify any cropping that needs to be done.
- Set All: Specifies one print to be made for each image.
- Cancel All: Cancels all DPOF selections.
PC Mode
When you're ready to transfer images to a PC or Macintosh, turn the dial to
the transfer selection and connect with the appropriate cable (AppleTalk or
serial RS-232C) to your machine. A CD packaged with the camera includes image
transfer software compatible with Windows 95, 98 or NT 4.0.
Image Storage and Interface
The MX-2900 utilizes SmartMedia for image capture and storage. An 8MB card comes
standard with the camera, but you can purchase additional cards at 4MB, 16MB
and 32MB. Be sure to only use the 3.3V SmartMedia (sometimes only labeled as
3V) and stay away from the 5V versions. The 8MB card can hold anywhere from
one to 12 Hi quality images depending on the compression ratio and from 35 to
141 Basic quality images. The table below shows average file sizes, compression
ratios, and the maximum number of images per 8 megabyte card for each of the
possible combinations of image quality and size settings:
| Resolution/Quality vs Image Capacity |
|
|
||
| Images |
Compression |
Images |
Compression |
|
| High Quality |
|
|
|
|
| Fine Quality |
|
|
|
|
| Normal Quality |
|
|
|
|
| Basic Quality |
|
|
|
|
SmartMedia should never be removed while the camera is on and neither
should the camera be turned off while performing operations to avoid damaging
the media. Always load the SmartMedia with the gold electrodes going into the
camera first.
You can write protect SmartMedia by placing a write protection sticker
in the designated area. Write protection stickers can only be used once and
must be clean to be effective. You can protect individual images through the
Playback menu in Playback mode. The MX-2900 gives you the freedom to select
one image or all of them to protect from deletion, file resizing or any other
manipulation.
Frames are stored on SmartMedia and assigned file numbers from 0001 to
9999 with a preceding directory number. Once 9999 is reached, the directory
number goes up by one. Setup mode allows you to alter the frame numbering sequence
by selecting Renew or Continue. Use Renew to start images at 0001 each time
a new SmartMedia card is used, or all images on the current card erase. Continue
stores images beginning from the highest file number recorded on the last SmartMedia
used. The Continue option ensures that images are not duplicated when downloaded
to a computer.
You can conserve memory by resizing images, which is also controlled
in the Playback menu in Playback mode. Note that you can only resize images
that were originally set to 1800 pixels down to 1280 or 640 pixels. You can
only do this one image at a time.
You can erase images via the Playback menu while in Playback mode. Here
you have the option of erasing a single frame or all images on the card. Additionally,
after making an exposure in Manual mode, you are asked to delete or record the
image.
Video Out
The MX-2900 features a Video Out terminal for connection to your television
set in NTSC format (European models feature PAL). The camera must be in Playback
mode on the mode dial to see images on the screen. All the options of the Playback
menu are available during video playback.
Power
The MX-2900 shows a moderately high level of power consumption, on par with
other two megapixel digicams out on the market. Battery life seems pretty short,
due to the small 3.76 watt hour capacity of the LiIon battery. We definitely
suggest picking up a few extra batteries to keep with you. Here's what we found:
|
|
|
| Capture Mode, w/LCD |
|
| Capture Mode, no LCD |
|
| Capture Mode, manual recording |
|
| Half Pressed Shutter, w/LCD (1290 transient) |
|
| Half Pressed Shutter, no LCD (900 transient) |
|
| Memory Write (transient) |
|
| Flash Recharge (transient) |
|
| Image Playback |
|
| "Sleep" Mode |
|
These numbers are for the most part fairly typical of the current crop of 2
megapixel digital cameras. The only one that stands out somewhat is the figure
for manual recording mode, which is higher than many cameras we've tested. (Also
note that these measurements were made while the camera was powered by a 5-volt
external power supply, and the
Included Software
A software CD comes with the MX-2900 and includes the data transfer software
Picture Shuttle, a DS-Serial TWAIN driver, EZtouch and Adobe PhotoDeluxe. Software
is compatible with both Macintosh and Windows operating systems (Windows 95,
98 and NT). A separate software manual fully explains the system requirements
for each operating system. A noise suppression core is also included with the
camera and clips onto the serial cable, in case your PC has difficulty maintaining
the connection with the camera while transferring files.
Once you connect the camera (in PC mode) to your machine and open up
Picture Shuttle, images can be transferred. A picture index window is displayed
from which you can view images or open them for editing. Opening an image triggers
EZtouch, where you can perform some minor image manipulations (such as the white
vignette and emboss filters). You can also crop, color correct and take out
Red-Eye. You can save images in either BMP; high, medium or low quality Exif-JPEG
files or in Exif-TIFF.
A couple of important notes about the Fuji software: EZtouch is handy,
but unfortunately re-compresses JPEG images from the camera, when saving them
back to disk. That is, if you open images using EZtouch, and save them to disk
using the JPEG format, you'll lose some picture information relative to the
original JPEG file on the camera's memory card. You can avoid this by either
(a) using an external card reader to copy images to your PC, or (b) use PictureShuttle
to just drag & drop images from the camera to your hard drive. Either of
these approaches will avoid any unintended modifications to the files themselves.
The second important note about the MX-2900 is that the uncompressed
TIFF format the camera uses can't be opened by most imaging programs, apparently
because the data it contains is stored in some unusual color space. We've seen
several complaints on the internet of users being unable to read these files
in Photoshop(tm) etc, but fortunately the solution is straightforward if a little
laborious. All you need to do is open the files first in EZtouch, then save
them back to disk, using the "Exif-TIFF" file format. The newly-saved
TIFF file will be in a standard TIFF format that most imaging programs should
be able to read. (In a related issue, we'd also heard of some readers being
unable to open the Fuji software without the camera connected. On our Mac, PictureShuttle
did complain about not finding the camera, but clicking "OK" on the
alert box let us proceed normally. We were then able to proceed normally. The
one tricky thing is that PictureShuttle has to be "told about" a hard
drive folder before it will display it in its window. Thus, to be able to translate
TIFF images read via an external card reader, you must first us the "new
folder" command in PictureShuttle to identify the folder containing the
images. Working directly in EZtouch though, we simply opened the images we wanted
to and saved them where we liked...)
Adobe PhotoDeluxe expands your image manipulation capabilities even further
with a wider selection of filters and the option to put images on cards, calendars,
etc. There's also an Internet connectivity option where you can email images
and set up electronic greeting cards.
Test Results
See for Yourself!
Take a look at the test images from the MX-2900
(with extensive comments), or jump to the Comparometer(tm)
page to compare its reference images with those from other digital cameras.
Conclusion
Overall, we liked the MX-2900 a lot. The handgrip design was very comfortable
and natural to hold, and the larger dimensions and "heft" made it
feel more like a "real" camera. On the other hand, the larger size
is in sharp contrast to Fuji's tiny MX-700, MX-2700 and recent MX-1700 cameras.
Together with its rather sophisticated exposure controls and provision for external
flash and optional add on lenses, this camera is more suited to the camera buff
than the person just wanting a "take anywhere" camera to stick in
their pocket on a whim. We'd like to see Fuji sell the lens adapter gadget separately
from the wide angle accessory lens. A lot of people would probably like to use
it to add macro lenses, etc. and shouldn't be forced to buy the (presumably
not inexpensive) Fuji wide angle lens to have that ability.
Reader Sample Images!
Do you have a MX-2900 camera? If you'll post an album of your samples
on one of the photo-sharing services and email us at [email protected],
we'll list the album here for others to see!
For More Info:
View the data sheet for the MX-2900
View the test images from the MX-2900
Follow Imaging Resource: