Fujifilm FinePix T200 Digital Camera Review

Features
Handling
Performance
Verdict
Specification


Lens extended

The Fujifilm FinePix T200 was released in January 2011 and is a 10x optical zoom compact digital camera. It is available in black, gun metal, blue and red for little more than £100.


Front

Fujifilm FinePix T200 Features

The T200 has a 14 megapixel sensor with ISO up to 3200 and CCD Shift Image Stabilisation to help take images without blur. The 10x optical zoom lens is a 35mm equivalent of 28 - 280mm, ideal for landscapes and close-up shots.

In SR AUTO mode the camera automatically detects from six scenes (portrait, landscape, night, macro, night portrait and backlit portrait) and sets the appropriate camera settings. Other modes include AUTO, Program Auto, Natural Light & with Flash, Natural Light, Baby, Motion Panorama, Sport, Snow, Sunset, Night (Tripod), Beach, Flower, Fireworks and Text.

There are a handful of features that help take perfect portraits. Face Detection automatically identifies faces and adjusts the focus and exposure, Red-eye removal detects and corrects flash reflection, the camera will also warn you when people are blinking. Face Detection can recognise up to 10 faces in a photo, which each cropped and saved individually. Smile & Shoot Mode automatically releases the shutter when a smile appears.


Top

Key Features

• 14 megapixel sensor
• 10x optical zoom lens (35mm equiv: 28 - 280mm)
• Slim metal body
• Easy Web Upload function for YouTube/Facebook
• CCD Shift type Image Stabilisation
• 2.7 inch TFT Colour LCD screen
• Full 1080p HD Photo & 720p HD video output
• Scene Recognition Auto
• Tracking Auto Focus
• Smile & Shoot mode
• Blink Detection mode
• Face Recognition and Image Search
• ISO 100 - 3200
• Super slim body
• Motion Panorama mode
• SD/SDHC memory card compatible

Rear

Fujifilm FinePix T200 Handling

The T200 is a good looking camera, particularly the gun metallic colour that has been used in this review. It is also extremely compact, surprising given the amount of zoom on offer. On the front is a rubber grip, making it easy to hold the camera. As well as the buttons you'd expect to see on a digital compact, the T200 has a mode dial, with SP1 and SP2, where you can quickly toggle between your two favourite scene modes. The camera's menu system is easy to navigate.

The battery has a CIPA rating of 180 shots which is quite low and you may consider the purchase of a spare if you like to spend long periods of time out shooting. The camera is ready to use within two to three seconds of switching on and focus speed is not an issue. The camera has a modest continuous shooting rate of just 1.2 fps allowing just three shots to be taken at any one time.


Battery

Fujifilm FinePix T200 Performance

Image quality is impressive, with good detail in images at both ends of the lens. The T200 also produced well exposed images with pleasing colour reproduction. The minimum focus distance in macro mode is 5cm but this doesn't stop you from being able to take a superb macro shot.

Fujifilm FinePix T200 Lens test images

At ISO 100 there is very little noise, with good sharp images produced. Noise increases at ISO 200, more visible in the darker areas of the images and at ISO 400 images are starting to become softer. There is a clear loss of sharpness at ISO 800, with image quality really suffering at ISO 1600. Noise is quite bad at ISO 3200 but the image size is limited to 3 megapixels at this setting.

Fujifilm FinePix T200 ISO test images

The landscape image below shows the excellent colour reproduction on the T200, creating this fantastic looking scene. Portrait shots have pleasant skin tones without any red-eye.

Fujifilm FinePix T200 Scene modes

The first two images below having been taken using the full 10x optical zoom. The T200 makes it easy to take panoramic pictures by sweeping the camera to meet certain points on the image to match them up.

Fujifilm FinePix T200 Sample Photos

Panoramic | 1/100 sec | f/8.4 | 5.0 mm | ISO 100

The auto white-balance copes really well which can be seen under our studio lights. Under both the incandescent and fluorescent presets the images had colour casts but the AWB preset gave the better results.

Fujifilm FinePix T200 White-balance test images

As well as Standard, the T200 can shoot pictures using Chrome and Black and White filters.

Fujifilm FinePix T200 Digital filters

Video Mode

The T200 shoots videos at 720p HD and allows the use of optical zoom, but not as well as sound. If you want to record with sound you have to switch the optical zoom off. An example video using zoom can be found on the ePHOTOzine Youtube page.

Value For Money

There are a variety of cameras with a 10x optical zoom lens which range from budget to high-end premium compacts. Cheaper cameras are the Pentax Optio RZ10 at £98.99 and the Olympus VR-310 at £99.99. If you have a higher budget you may like to consider the Sony Cybershot H70 at £178.99, Ricoh CX3 at £179.99, Ricoh CX4 at £199.99, Canon IXUS 1000 HS at £249.99 and Sony Cybershot HX7V at £269.00.

Fujifilm FinePix T200 Verdict

Other than its 10x optical zoom lens the T200 doesn't have a big range of features, but it does deliver surprisingly good image quality given the camera's low price. Images have plenty of detail, good colour reproduction and noise performance is fine even at high ISO settings. Overall it is really easy to recommend the Fujifilm FinePix T200.

The Fujifilm FinePix T200 has a large 10x optical zoom lens and excellent image quality all for a very reasonable price.

Fujifilm FinePix T200 Pros

Really good image quality
Good value for money
Compact size
Good noise performance

Fujifilm FinePix T200 Cons

Limited set of features
Battery has a low CIPA rating of just 180 shots

FEATURES
HANDLING
PERFORMANCE
VALUE FOR MONEY
OVERALL

Fujifilm FinePix T200 Specifications

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