I love Fuji cameras, this is my 9th one! This camera takes the best of the former Z-series cameras, (except this model is not waterproof), and combines it with an affordable price and HD movie capability.
I love the fit and finish on this camera (I own the black one). The lens is protected by a sliding cover which also powers the camera on and off. It is sleek-looking and it's rare to find a fairly inexpensive camera that is made of METAL nowadays. The lens zooms in and out INSIDE the camera so you don't have to be as careful when you handle this. Unless you drop it you probably won't get a zoom error that commonly happens with cameras where the lens protrudes outward when the power is turned on.
One thing I like better about this Z70 than some of the older Z series is the USB connector on this camera is not located inside the battery compartment, it's on the side of the camera where it should be. The older Z30 (and some of the other Z's) had the USB inside the battery compartment and that would have eventually caused the battery door to wear out from constantly opening/closing it.
I didn't care for the buttons on the older Z cameras as they were too close together and it was easy to press the incorrect button, this new Z70 looks more like a conventional digital camera on the back, and the buttons are lit up, so if you're taking pictures in a dimly lit area, it's easier to see the buttons to press. I also like the feature that you can instantly turn it on to take a movie, there is a button on top you just press it and start filming, it's next to the shutter release button.
My only complaint with this camera is the start-up time when you first slide the lens cover open. It feels like a 3 or 4 second wait. So if that is a concern for you, you may want to avoid this camera, or just leave the lens cover open (but it may get scratched if you do).
Pictures are sharp and the colors are, if anything, a little brighter than normal, but I like that. Response time after taking a picture without using the flash was just about a second; response time between pictures with the flash firing was around 2 seconds or less before ready to take another flash shot...this was a lot better than some other cameras I've tried recently. Response time also depends on the class of your SD card.
The optical wide angle zoom on this camera is 5X (most cheaper cameras have 3X). It uses the standard NP45 lithium battery. I was able to shoot around 200 pictures and some short movies before it needed recharging the plug-in battery charger comes with this and you can fully recharge the battery in under an hour. I love the lithium battery over AA-type batteries because you get so many more shots out of one charging. You just have to plan ahead in case you are going somewhere so you have a fully charged battery, or buy a spare.
You can take the camera out of the box and be taking pictures as soon as the battery charges. SR-Auto automatically senses the scene and adjusts itself accordingly: Portrait, Landscape, Night, Macro, Backlit Portrait, or Night Portrait. There is no dial to change settings, everything is accessed thorough menu navigation, except for the movie button which is on top of the camera.
This camera has a new feature called AF Tracking, which helps keep the subject in focus while the subject is moving. This works well sometimes, and at other times it doesn't. Sometimes I think it's "just me" not holding the shutter button down correctly so this will work the way it's intended. To have it work correctly, you have to remember to hold the shutter button down halfway, while continually keeping the subject in the LCD screen.
This camera has Image Stabilization (somehow built into the camera's software), but it is NOT optical stabilization. Also you can choose this in the set-up menu to be "on" all the time, unlike other previous (cheaper) Fuji models, which is a definite improvement.
Next, you have your movie modes 3 to choose from HD, 640 and 320 in the AVI format. The HD video with this camera is just as good visually as my Flip Mino HD camcorder. Optical zoom needs to be set before recording starts, it cannot be changed after the button is pushed. Focus is also set when recording begins, but exposure and white balance are constantly adjusting during the recording.
If you want to play the movies back on your TV, you will need to purchase an additional A/V cable (AV-C1) if you don't already own one. If you want to play an HD movie back on your HDTV, you will need to purchase an additional HDMI cable. There is also an optional Model HDP-L1 player available on Fujifilm's web site, which includes an HD card reader and a remote. Since I don't have an HDTV myself, I didn't purchase this so I can't comment on it.
This camera comes with very basic Fuji MyFinepixViewer photo editing software. It's compatible with Windows 7, Vista, XP and Mac. This is a new version of the Fuji software and it's better than the previous, but still not as good as Picasa.
This camera has only 13 MB of internal memory, so pick up an SD card if you don't already have one.
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