Fujifilm Finepix Z33WP Digital Camera - Pink (10MP, 3x Optical Zoom) 2.7" LCD

Product Information

High ISO settings allow you to shoot in low light without using a tripod or the flash and has become one of the key differentiators between digital SLRs (which, whith theit much larger sensors, are usually pretty good at higher sensitivity settings) and compacts (which aren't). In the studio scene test we saw that none of these cameras performed remarkably well at ISO 1600, and it's the same situation with the night scene test. The Canon, Panasonic and Pentax W60 (all of which performed relatively well in the daylight test) apply quite a lot of noise reduction to the image, leaving them less noisy than the other three cameras in this test, but also destroying a fair amount of fine detail and leaving many noise reduction artefacts, which are most prominently seen in the sky area to the top left of the image. The best of the three is the TS1 which applies much less noise reduction than the D10 and manages to retain quite a lot of detail in the stonework. Underwater gets its own shooting mode and we found few problems using the camera in the water. It doesn't float, however, so a wrist strap is highly recommended. One issue we did have was with that glass lens cover. Water tends to sit on the lens, obstructing shots if you are dipping in and out of water – not a problem if you are taking a succession of submerged shots, but worth remembering. The lens arrangement also means it is prone to lens flare. The screen on this camera is relatively large, taking up most of the rear of the camera, so you get a good preview of any image you’ve taken with it. It has so many features that I’ll never make use of them all (You can read about some of them here – http://www.fujifilm.co.uk/consumer/digital/digital-cameras/slim-compact/finepix-z33wp/Features ), but suffice to say it has a timer and screw fitting for a tripod, making self-take photos relatively simple. It also has a good movie facility, which can be good fun if you want to share a moment with the world. Towards the edge of the frame the TS1 performance remains better than the D10 due to the less aggressive noise reduction used. You can clearly see more fine detail on the front of the Martini bottle (along with more noise). Though worse than that TS1, with the Canon D10 you can at least still get a basic idea what it's supposed to be a picture of (even if all texture, contrast and fine detail has gone). The other cameras offer varying combinations of noise, artefacts and blurred detail - in other words just what you'd expect from a high resolution compact viewed at a pixel level.

While the output from all five of these cameras falls off towards the edges of the frame (as seen in the studio shot at base ISO), overall image quality is similar to each camera's performance at 35mm, with the TS1 producing the sharpest and most detailed results (the strength of the TS1 is at the wide end of the zoom range), with the W60 and W80 falling a little behind. The W80 shows extensive CA at its wide-angle setting, however. Of the two Olympus cameras (which are the worst performers of the group on the wide end), the Tough 6000 retains better image quality than the Tough 8000 at the widest zoom setting. Olympus Tough 6000 Unfortunately you cannot control the ISO settings in Auto either, that being an option in the Manual mode. However, you can, at least, leave everything in Manual on auto and set the ISO to a lower value if this seems a persistent problem.The four other cameras in this group are not completely useless; certainly if you only need to produce small (5x7) prints or display images online, then all of these cameras will produce decent enough results. But considering that most of these lenses only extend to 100mm on the telephoto end, there may be situations where you might want to crop the image (and all these cameras allow you to do this in camera), or if there is that once-in-a-lifetime shot that you capture that you want to print really big it's nice to know you've got the best image quality available for your money.

The Canon PowerShot D10 certainly put in an impressive performance both in and out of the water. It was one of the most responsive cameras to use, and at the same time it produced some of the sharpest and most detailed images of all the cameras in the group at lower ISO settings. On the downside the 3x zoom with no wide-angle capability might be a bit limiting in some situations. it is also the least compact camera in the group. February 17, 2009 - If you’re an adrenaline junkie and you want a camera that’s as brave as you, then look no further than Fujifilm's ultra-stylish and equally adventurous FinePix Z33WP waterproof compact camera.

Comments

The cheapest camera of the bunch was the Fujifilm Z33, and it showed. It was the least well specified camera in the group, though it was also the most compact. While good-looking on the surface it produced some of the worst images of the group, as well as being relatively slow shot-to-shot. You should only consider this camera if your budget is tight and you're looking for something that will survive the beach (rather than actually getting well below the surface to shoot underwater).

MB minimum required for installation with 600 MB available when FinePixViewer is running (15 GB or more recommended with Vista, 2 GB or more recommended with XP) Shutter lag isn't bad, i.e., you press the button and get pretty much what you were looking at. Buffering is a little slow however, even in the continuous shooting mode, which skips the image preview but doesn't rattle off pictures at any great rate, so forget about getting sequential images of anything moving at any sort of speed. The two Pentax cameras produce less sharp and detailed results than the TS1 and D10, but more than the other cameras in this group test. Of the two, the lower resolution W60 is better across the frame than the W80 which resolved much less fine detail in the bridge and the trees than the W60. The processing in the W60 seems much more sophisticated, producing more convincing results. The color balance of the two Pentax cameras are similar and lean towards the warm end of the spectrum (but not quite as warm as the Canon). Here the winner is clear. The D10 managed to get the balance between ambient light and flash illumination just right to produce the most pleasing image of the whole group. This was the one areas in which the Panasonic really disappointed. Mode dial: : SR AUTO (Scene Recognition), Auto, Natural Light, Natural Light with Flash, Manual, Anti-blur, MovieBoth Pentax cameras perform relatively well in this test, despite the higher ISO setting producing more visible noise. They are both let down (especially compared to the TS1 and D10) by the slightly harsher overall appearance, and the poor red eye performance. In terms of sharpness the Z33 is on par with the Pentax and the Olympus Tough 6000.