Fujifilm FinePix S7000 Zoom Review: 5. Operation & Controls: Digital Photography Review

Top of camera controls

At the top front of the camera is the shutter release button with it screw-in remote release cable thread. Surrounding this is the off / play / record button. There are three settings buttons for exposure compensation, flash and drive mode which must be held and the command dial turned to change setting. To the left of the command dial is the mode dial.

I did find the power switch occasionally frustrating, if you turn from record to play and accidentally nudge past the play position the camera will power off. Even if you put the switch back to the play position it will not power back up again and requires you to turn the switch completely to off, wait for the camera to shutdown completely and then turn back to play.

Mode Dial

Movie Clip mode

Record movie clips in AVI (Motion JPEG) format with audio. The S7000 carries the S602 Zoom's excellent video recording capability, VGA video (640 x 480) at 30 frames per second with audio. The camera records directly to storage card and is therefore limited only by the amount of space on the storage card. This means using a 1 GB Compact Flash card you can record up to 15 minutes of 640 x 480 video or 37 minutes at 320 x 240 (both with audio). Lets hope Fujifilm can squeeze an MPEG-4 encoder into the next prosumer model...

• 320 x 240, 30 fps with audio (unlimited length)
• 640 x 480, 30 fps with audio (unlimited length)

Scene Position Auto Exposure

Each pre-programmed automatic scene exposure mode is selected by turning the command dial. Macro is unavailable in all these modes except Black & White.

	Portrait	Uses large apertures to create soft backgrounds (narrow DOF).
	Landscape	Uses the smallest possible aperture to create a large depth of field. Flash cancelled.
	Sports	Attempts to keep shutter speed as high as possible for shooting movement.
	Night Portrait	Gives priority to slowest shutter speeds. Flash can be used to produce a 'slow sync' flash effect.
	Black & White	Produces a black and white image by 'desaturating' the image (no particular channel mixing).

AUTO

Full Auto Exposure

Camera automatically controls exposure, flash and white balance, you cannot override white balance, set exposure compensation or change flash modes. The only menu options are to change self-timer length (2 or 10 seconds) and additionally choose voice memos to be recorded. This is the camera's point-and-shoot mode. Minimum shutter speed is 1/4 sec.

Program Auto Exposure (with Program Shift)

Very similar to AUTO exposure but you have access to all the normal manual controls, access to menus, exposure compensation etc. Minimum shutter speed is 3 seconds. The S7000 has flexible program auto exposure, simply turn the command dial to select other equivalent exposure values, the exposure value turns to yellow to indicate a flexible program selected exposure.

• 1/160 sec, F5.0 (dial turned clockwise one click)
• 1/200 sec, F4.5 (metered)
• 1/250 sec, F4.0 (dial turned anticlockwise one click)

Shutter Priority Auto Exposure

In this mode you select the shutter speed and the camera will calculate the correct aperture depending on metered exposure, exposure compensation and ISO sensitivity. Turn the command dial change shutter speed. If the exposure is outside of the cameras exposure range (for instance trying to take a shot at 1/500s in darkness) the aperture will appear in red. Available shutter speeds:

3, 2.5, 2, 1.6, 1.3, 1, 1/1.3, 1/1.6, 1/2, 1/2.5, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 1/8, 1/10, 1/13, 1/15, 1/20, 1/25, 1/30, 1/40, 1/50, 1/60, 1/80, 1/100, 1/125, 1/160, 1/200, 1/250, 1/320, 1/400, 1/500, 1/650, 1/800, 1/1000 sec

Aperture Priority Auto Exposure

In this mode you select the aperture and the camera will calculate the correct shutter speed depending on metered exposure, exposure compensation and ISO sensitivity. Turn the command dial change aperture. If the exposure is outside of the cameras exposure range the shutter speed will appear in red. Minimum shutter speed is 3 seconds. Available apertures:

• Wide: F2.8, 3.2, 3.6, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.6, 6.3, 7.0, 8.0
• Tele: F3.1, 3.2, 3.6, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.6, 6.3, 7.0, 8.0

I was glad to see Fujifilm has fixed a bug from the S602 which allowed you to select F2.8 at telephoto.

Full Manual Exposure

In this mode you select the aperture and the shutter speed from any combination of the above. Turn the command dial to select shutter speed, hold the exposure compensation button and turn the command dial to select aperture. A metering bar is displayed indicating the difference to the metered exposure in the range -2.0 to +2.0 EV.

SET

Setup Menu

Enters the setup menu which is described later in this review.

Buttons (Record mode)

All of the buttons below are used in combination with the command wheel. To change a setting you hold the button and turn the command dial at the same time. These buttons have no function in play mode.

	Exposure Compensation Set the exposure compensation (+/-2 EV in 0.3 EV steps), a metering bar is displayed on the LCD (or EVF) to indicate current exposure compensation.
	Flash Mode Select flash mode (only with flash open): • Auto Flash (Auto exposure mode only) • Flash with Redeye reduction • Flash On • Slow Sync • Slow Sync with Redeye reduction
	Drive Mode The S7000 carries over the rather unique "Final 5" continuous shooting mode, in this mode the camera will take up to 40 frames but records only the last 5 frames (which appears to be its buffer maximum). This mode could be very useful at sporting events allowing you to predict the action and stop shooting just after it happens, thus capturing the moment. Select drive mode: • Off (Single Frame) • "Top 5" (3.3 fps up to 5 frames) • Auto Bracketing (3 frames) • "Final 5" (2 fps, up to 40 frames, records last 5) • "Long period" (1 fps, up to 40 frames at 1 MP / 2 MP / 3 MP only) * * Only available in Auto exposure mode

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