Fujifilm FinePix S602 Zoom Review: Digital Photography Review

Rear of camera controls

Fujifilm has used the colour-coding on the rear of the camera to clever effect. The controls on the left (light grey) are used to control the LCD and EVF (electronic viewfinder). The black controls are used to control the camera and navigate menus. The LED beside the compartment door indicates camera status: green: camera on / ready to shoot, green blinking: slow shutter / no focus, orange blinking: flash charging, green/orange blinking: storage card write activity.

Buttons (Record mode)

W / T	Zoom Zooms the lens focal length towards either wide angle (35 mm equiv.) or telephoto (210 mm equiv.). A full zoom from wide angle to telephoto takes just 2.2 seconds. The zoom motor actually has two speeds, if you hold your finger on W or T for more than a second it switches into its higher speed zoom.
AE-L	Auto Exposure Lock Locks the currently displayed exposure, this can be held for the current shot or for all subsequent shots. Unfortunately you have to remember to keep the button pressed, this is a little inconvenient if you're shooting a sequence of shots. It would have been better to offer a push-on push-cancel operation which could be enabled through a menu option.
	Focus Check Button Press this button (Manual Focus mode only) and a quarter screen size magnified loupe will appear in the middle of the screen which provides you with a close up look at the center detail. This is perfect for checking manual focus and unlike other similar magnified loupes on other cameras this one actually delivers more detail rather than just blowing up existing pixels.
BACK	Back No function in record mode. Used to step back out of menus.
	4-way controller (arrow buttons) No function in record mode. Used to navigate record menu.
MENU / OK	Menu / OK Enter record mode menu (described later in this review). Also used to confirm menu option settings.
EVF/LCD	Electronic Viewfinder / LCD toggle Switch between the electronic viewfinder and the LCD monitor.
DISP	Display Mode Record view display mode: • Simple preview (no information overlaid) • Detailed preview (settings, exposure information overlaid) • Detailed (as above) plus a "thirds" composition grid overlay

Buttons (Play mode)

W / T	Magnify Pressing the T button on the zoom controller magnifies the displayed image in many steps up to a huge 18x magnification. Use the 4-way controller to scroll around the image. Press BACK to return to full view.
BACK	Back No operation in play mode. Used to step back out of menus or cancel magnify view.
	4-way controller (arrow buttons) Left and right arrows are used to browse through images. Up and down arrows have no function. Also used to navigate play menu.
MENU / OK	Menu / OK Enter play mode menu (described later in this review). Also used to confirm menu option settings.
EVF/LCD	Electronic Viewfinder / LCD toggle Switch between the electronic viewfinder and the LCD monitor.
DISP	Display Mode Play display mode: • Image review with information overlaid • Image review with no information overlaid • Display 3 x 3 thumbnails

Lens barrel controls

In addition to the controls on the top and rear of the camera the S602Z features a set of buttons on the left side of the lens barrel, these are perfectly placed to be easily pressed with your left thumb.

Barrel buttons

INFO	Information In record mode displays the current camera settings over the preview display (only while you hold the button). In play mode displays exposure information about currently displayed image.
	Macro Focus Select macro focus mode: • Normal focus • Image review with no information overlaid • Display 3 x 3 thumbnails
SHIFT	Shift (additional button functions) Holding the SHIFT button in combination with other buttons allows you to control things such as white balance and ISO sensitivity directly from the exterior of the camera (without having to enter the menu system). All of the possible SHIFT functions are listed below.
AF MF	Auto Focus / Manual Focus Physically switches the autofocus system on or off. When autofocus is disabled the front focus ring (that large ring around the front of the lens barrel) becomes a "fly by wire" focus system. On the LCD display (or EVF) there's a focus indicator > o < which indicates how close your manual focus is to the autofocus point. In Manual Focus mode you can also make use of the Quick Focus button (below).
	Select AF Area / Quick Focus Auto Focus mode: Select AF Area (when enabled), hold this button and press the 4-way controller left, right up or down to select any one of 49 AF points (7 x 7 grid) around the screen. Manual Focus mode: The Quick Focus button is used in Manual Focus mode to quickly shift the focus position to the currently measured auto focus position.

Shift functions (Record mode)

SHIFT+ OK	Image Quality Enters the Image Quality menu: • 6 MP (High / Fine / Normal / Basic) • 3 MP (Fine / Normal) • 1 MP (Fine / Normal) • VGA (Normal)
SHIFT+	ISO sensitivity * Select ISO sensitivity equiv.: • ISO 160 • ISO 200 • ISO 400 • ISO 800 (1 MP - 1280 x 960 only) • ISO 1600 (1 MP - 1280 x 960 only)
SHIFT+	Photometry (metering) * Select metering mode: • Multi-Area • Spot • Average
SHIFT+	White Balance * Select white balance: • Auto • Manual preset 1 • Manual preset 2 • Fine • Shade • Fluorescent: Daylight bulb • Fluorescent: Warm White bulb • Fluorescent: Cool White bulb • Incandescent
SHIFT+ AE-L	Self Timer Select self timer: • 10 second self timer • 2 second self timer • None
SHIFT+ DISP	LCD Brightness Set the LCD Brightness in a total of 10 steps.

* Requires SHIFT + Button to be held while rolling command wheel to select options

Shift functions (Play mode)

SHIFT+
DISP

LCD Brightness / Volume

Set the LCD Brightness and/or Speaker Volume in a total of 10 steps.