Producing consistently correct exposures is the Z5fd's biggest issue. Though not uncommon among budget cameras, poor exposure of backlit subjects is unnecessary. All the manufacturer has to do is link spot metering to the centre-point focus setting, an option which many of them, including the Z5fd, provide. It doesn't need to be user selectable.
Using fill flash is a poor substitute, especially given the Z5fd's limited range of up to just over three metres -- wide angle, auto ISO. The Z5fd also has problems with any unevenly lit scene, something that can't be solved by increasing the ISO sensitivity setting.
Furthermore, the Z5fd doesn't fare very well shooting movies. They look okay played at actual size (640x480 pixels). They should, given the Motion JPEG AVI file's somewhat piggy megabyte per minute of storage. But the camera can't optically zoom during capture, and doesn't even refocus if you pan across a scene.
Image quality
Though its photos can be pretty good, the Z5fd performs inconsistently.
On one hand, we see no lens distortion or focus problems, nary a
compression artefact and only the occasional case of purple fringing.
Photos look relatively sharp and white balance reasonably neutral. If you want that typical vivid snapshot appearance, you'll have to switch into Chrome -- as in slide film -- colour mode, because the standard mode looks a little flat relative to most point-and-shoot models.
Conclusion
All
of this adds up to a pretty typical, not particularly notable addition
to the budget-camera pantheon. The Fujifilm FinePix Z5fd probably ranks
as one of the smaller, cuter budget models, but it's ultimately your
call as to whether the marginally slimmer build makes up for the
missing features and inconsistent photo quality. We don't think it
does.
Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday
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