How can I control the apature on a point-and-shoot ?

Hello. I'm thinking of buying the new Fuji M603 (it has a nice video mode).
But I would also like to take nice portrait shots with a large apature
(throwing the background out of focus). This camera does not have an
apature priority mode. It seems (looking at the manual on the fuji
website) that it doesn't even have a "portrait" mode.

Is there any way I can cheat, forcing the camera to choose a large
apature / high shutter speed? I thought about changing the ISO to
something like 800. Would this work?

Pleeease don't tell me my only option is to blur the background in
Photoshop ;-)

Thanks.
Vince.

Using a high ISO effectively makes the CCD more sensitive meaning you would generally get smaller apertures and/or faster shutter times.

Using the lowest ISO setting might give you the effect you want but it's going to depend on whether the camera adjusts shutter speed first or aperture to get the exposure right. Then you would still be relying on light intensity to get the aperture you want.

I'm surprised this camera doesn't have aperture priority etc. I though it was an F601 replacement.

I don't know why so many manufacturers don't include at least a portrait mode on their point and shoot cameras. I personally don't generally want all the manual features associated with a high-end camera but I would occasionally want to blur the background in portrait shots.
Hopefully their marketing departments are reading this!

Regards,

Paul.

fluff said:

Hello. I'm thinking of buying the new Fuji M603 (it has a nice
video mode).
But I would also like to take nice portrait shots with a large apature
(throwing the background out of focus). This camera does not have an
apature priority mode. It seems (looking at the manual on the fuji
website) that it doesn't even have a "portrait" mode.

Is there any way I can cheat, forcing the camera to choose a large
apature / high shutter speed? I thought about changing the ISO to
something like 800. Would this work?

Pleeease don't tell me my only option is to blur the background in
Photoshop ;-)

Thanks.
Vince.

Click to expand...

M603 is NOT a replacement for F601.It's two cameras with completely different orientations:
F601-photograph(thus F=foto)
M603-movie(thus M)

It's a matter of what one wants the most.Better image quality Vs Better&more video

In my opinion though Fuji may have made one too many compromises on M603(less zoom+less manual controls+m603 has no 3m fine mode,only 3m normal)

I wouldn't buy the camera if I were you.At least until a few reviews come out.If the image quality is good(after all it is the same ccd chip and the m603 has a 6m fine mode-which is considered by many to be the best mode for fuji cameras)