Fujifilm FinePix T400 Digital Camera Review

Features
Handling
Performance
Verdict
Specification


The Fujifilm FinePix T400 was announced in January 2012, it has a similar specification to the T200. It has a 10x optical zoom lens and is available in black, blue, pink and purple for £89.95.

Fujifilm FinePix T400 Features

The T400 has a 16 megapixel sensor and 10x optical zoom lens, a 35mm equivalent of 28-280mm. To keep blur to a minimum there is CCD shift image stabilisation and sensitivity up to ISO 3200.

6 scene SR-Auto mode automatically detects and selects the appropriate camera settings from the following: portrait, landscape, night, macro, night portrait and backlit portrait. Face Detection (up to 10 faces, 8 can be registered in the camera) adjusts focus and exposure to ensure bright, clear results for detected faces, with red-eye removal and blink detection. Smile and shoot mode releases the shutter when a face is detected. Other shooting modes include motion panorama, natural light & with flash and tracking auto focus.

Pictures and videos can be tagged to upload to Facebook and YouTube when the camera is connected to your home computer. Images can also be ranked from 0 to 5 so you can easily find your favourites.

Movies are recorded at 720p HD with optical zoom available. Recorded videos can be edited, trimmed and joined in camera. There is also an optional kit so you can connect the camera to a HDTV to playback images and videos.

Key Features

• 14 megapixel CCD sensor
• 10x optical zoom (35mm equiv: 28-280mm)
• CCD shift image stabilisation
• 3.0 inch LCD 230k dot screen
• Motion Panorama Mode
• 720p HD video recording
• ISO 100-3200
• 3cm minimum focusing distance
• Slim metal body
• Available in black, blue, pink and purple

Fujifilm FinePix T400 Handling

The T400 has a slim, plastic body, small enough to carry in your pocket. It doesn't offer much in the way of grip, the Fujifilm logo on the front is ridged, with a dotted area for your thumb on the rear. At 3 inches, the screen is a decent size, but its 230k dot resolution doesn't make your pictures look as good as when viewed back on your computer.

The menu system is easy enough to navigate, with many of the camera settings changed by pressing the menu button. Other buttons on the camera include the d-pad, display / back, movie record, playback and zoom rocker, all placed on the rear. On top is the power button and shutter release.

The battery has a CIPA rating of 160 shots, we managed just over 100 and a small number of HD videos during testing. We tested the camera's performance at focusing, shutter response, shot-to-shot time, continuous shooting etc. and have posted the results below. To test this we took 6 or more shots and calculated the average.

Shutter Response		0.125 secs
Wide - Focus / Shutter Response		0.45 secs
Full zoom - Focus / Shutter Response		1.0 secs
Switch on Time to Taking a Photo		2.5 secs
Shot to Shot (without flash)		3.5 secs
Shot to Shot with Flash		4.0 secs
Continuous Shooting		1 fps

Continuous shooting records at full 14 megapixel resolution, but only three shots at a time.

Fujifilm FinePix T400 Performance

Additional sample photos and product shots are available in the Equipment Database, where you can add your own review, photos and product ratings.

Fujifilm FinePix T400 Sample Photos

Portrait | 1/75 sec | f/5.2 | 14.9 mm | ISO 100 High-Res	Landscape | 1/125 sec | f/8.4 | 5.0 mm | ISO 100 High-Res
Drive | 1/140 sec | f/3.4 | 5.0 mm | ISO 100 High-Res	Pet Portrait | 1/210 sec | f/5.3 | 18.9 mm | ISO 160 High-Res

Sample Photos - The T400 takes a well exposed, colourful pictures. Portraits have good skin tones and a free of red-eye when using the flash, with landscapes having decent blues and greens.

Fujifilm FinePix T400 Lens test images

Wide Angle | 1/170 sec | f/8.4 | 5.0 mm | ISO 100 High-Res	Full Optical Zoom | 1/600 sec | f/5.6 | 50.0 mm | ISO 100 High-Res
Digital Zoom | 1/450 sec | f/5.6 | 50.0 mm | ISO 100 High-Res	Macro | 1/20 sec | f/3.4 | 5.0 mm | ISO 100 High-Res

Lens Performance - Images have a good amount of detail, although they are a little soft around the edges at both ends of the lens. Purple fringing is evident in contrasting areas, but is fairly well controlled. The lens has a minimum focusing distance of 3cm, we struggled to get as close as that, but we did manage a good macro shot.

Fujifilm FinePix T400 ISO test images

ISO100 | 1/18 sec | f/5.0 | 10.5 mm High-Res	ISO200 | 1/34 sec | f/5.0 | 10.5 mm High-Res	ISO400 | 1/75 sec | f/5.0 | 10.5 mm High-Res
ISO800 | 1/150 sec | f/5.0 | 10.5 mm High-Res	ISO1600 | 1/300 sec | f/5.0 | 10.5 mm High-Res	ISO3200 | 1/100 sec | f/12.0 | 10.5 mm High-Res

ISO Noise Performance - There is no noise at ISO 100, with a little appearing at ISO 200 and a little more at ISO 400. The step up to ISO 800 sees a significant decrease in image quality, with some white dots and chroma noise appearing. The white dot issue disappears at ISO 1600, but a very soft image is produced with plenty of detail missing. As you'd expect, noise worsens even more at ISO 3200, but the image size is restricted to 4 megapixels.

Fujifilm FinePix T400 White-balance test images

AWB preset - incandescent lighting | 1/10 sec | f/4.5 | 7.4 mm | ISO 100 High-Res	Incandescent preset - incandescent lighting | 1/12 sec | f/4.5 | 7.4 mm | ISO 100 High-Res	AWB preset - fluorescent lighting | 1/4 sec | f/4.5 | 7.4 mm | ISO 100 High-Res
Fluorescent preset 1 - fluorescent lighting | 1/4 sec | f/4.5 | 7.4 mm | ISO 100 High-Res	Fluorescent preset 2 - fluorescent lighting | 1/4 sec | f/4.5 | 7.4 mm | ISO 100 High-Res	Fluorescent preset 3 - fluorescent lighting | 1/4 sec | f/4.5 | 7.4 mm | ISO 100 High-Res

White Balance Performance - Under the incandescent lights, both the AWB and incandescent presets have taken excellent pictures. The AWB preset has also coped well with our fluorescent lights, with fluorescent preset 1 having an orange cast present, preset three has a green cast, but preset 2 has taken a decent picture.


Panorama | 1/125 sec | f/8.4 | 5.0 mm | ISO 100

Panorama mode - Panoramas are impressive, with a good amount of detail when viewed full size - they are stitched together perfectly.

Fujifilm FinePix T400 Digital filters

Colour Standard | 1/5 sec | f/5.3 | 16.8 mm | ISO 100 High-Res	Colour Chrome | 1/5 sec | f/5.3 | 16.8 mm | ISO 100 High-Res	Colour Black And White | 1/5 sec | f/5.3 | 16.8 mm | ISO 100 High-Res

Digital Filters - The T400 has three colour modes to select from, those being standard, chrome and black & white, examples of each are above.

Video - Below is a video recorded at 720p HD, optical zoom is available for use during recording, you have to dig through the settings to enable it, an example is on the ePHOTOzine Youtube Page.

Value For Money

The Fujifilm FinePix T400 is available for £89.95. Below are a number of cameras with 10x optical zoom, the Canon IXUS 500 HS has 12x zoom. The T400 is cheaper than all of the given options.

Olympus VR-340	Panasonic Lumix DMC-SZ1	Nikon Coolpix S6300	Sony Cybershot DSC-W690	Canon IXUS 500 HS
£99.00	£116.00	£129.95	£134.00	£224.00

You'll also need to buy a memory card and a case or bag to keep your camera safe and protected - have a look at our complete guide to camera bags.

Fujifilm FinePix T400 Verdict

The T400 is a budget compact camera, packing an ample 10x optical zoom, good image quality and impressive panoramas. Having previously recommended the T200 we were expecting big things from this model, but the build quality is a bit disappointing. The T400 is plastic, lacks the rubber grip on the front and there isn't a mode dial, as on the T200. The T400 is also let down by its low resolution screen and poor battery life. Putting this aside, at its price level, the Fujifilm FinePix T400's image quality and optical zoom makes it a respectable camera at this price.

Fujifilm FinePix T400 Pros

Superb panoramas
AWB performs well
Image quality is good for a budget camera
Good amount of optical zoom in a compact body
Available in a good range of colours

Fujifilm FinePix T400 Cons

Battery life is poor
Body isn't as good as the T200
Screen resolution isn't particularly high

FEATURES
HANDLING
PERFORMANCE
VALUE FOR MONEY
VERDICT

Fujifilm FinePix T400 Specifications

Manufacturer	Fujifilm
Lens
	Max Aperture	f/3.4 - f/5.6
	35mm equivalent	28mm - 280mm
	Optical Zoom	10x
Image Sensor
	CCD pixels	16Mp (Megapixels)
	Pixels (W)	4608
	Pixels (H)	3440
	Sensor Type	CCD
	Sensor Size	1/2.3 inch
	Sensor Size (width)	6.16mm
	Sensor Size (height)	4.62mm
	Aspect Ratio	4:3 3:2 16:9
LCD Monitor
	LCD Monitor	3in
	Screen resolution	230,000 dots
	Touch Screen	No
Focusing
	Min Focus	3cm
	Focusing modes	Autofocus Multi Centre
Exposure Control
	Shutter speeds shortest	1/2000sec
	Shutter speeds longest	8sec
	Exp modes	Program Scene modes
	Metering	Spot TTL Multi Pattern
	ISO sensitivity	100 - 3200
	White balance	Auto Incandescent Fluorescent Shade
	Exposure Comp	+/-2
Shooting Options
	Continuous shooting	1.1fps
Video
	Movie mode	Yes
	Video Resolution	1280x720 720p 640x480 VGA 320x240 QVGA
	Video FPS	30
	Stereo Sound	No
	Optical Zoom with Video	Yes
Other Features
	Image Stabilisation	Yes
Interface
	HDMI	Yes
	USB	USB 2
	Wi-Fi	No
Storage
	Card Type	SD SDHC SDXC
	File Type	JPG
Power Source
	Battery Type	NP-45A Li-ion battery or NP-45B Li-ion battery
	CIPA Rating	160
Box Contents
	Box Contents	Li-ion battery NP-45A or NP-45B, AC power adapter, USB cable , Hand strap, CD-ROM, Owner's manual
Dimensions
	Weight	159g
	Width	104.2mm
	Height	58.5mm
	Depth	28.5mm

View Full Product Details