Movie mode

The F200 EXR offers movie recording but its 640x480 at 30fps is not exactly state-of-the-art. In a time during which many compacts are starting to offer HD video, traditional VGA risks appearing a bit 'old hat.' That said, there are probably many people for whom video is simply a nice little extra to have, and they're unlikely to be perturbed by the fact that the F200's video capability is so terribly last season.

The movies are recorded in motion JPEG (.avi) format, with fairly heavy compression; they work out at around 0.93 MB/sec, meaning you can fit approximately 18 minutes of 640x480 / 30fps footage onto a 1GB card.

The movie quality is pretty much what you would expect from a camera of this class and the image stabilization helps with framing at the long end of the lens (although you can't zoom either optically or digitally while recording a movie). Playback and recording options are limited to the bare minimum though. There are some cameras that give you a little more control over shooting parameters, while a few even offer limited editing functions, but there's none of that for the F200 EXR.

Unlike stills recording you cannot choose the amount of information overlaid on the live preview image. An indication of the remaining time using the current settings is the only information on display.
The F-menu is even shorter than normal in movie mode. Image size is the only parameter that can be changed.
During recording the time remaining on the card is counted down. Focus is fixed at the moment you press the shutter button, but exposure and white balance are adjusted continuously. There is no optical or digital zoom available whilst filming.
Playback mode is a very straightforward affair. Audio volume, playing, pausing and moving forwards or backwards a frame at a time are all controlled on the 4-way dial. There are no in-camera editing options or other extras available.

Sample movie

640x480 pixels @ 30 fps
Duration: 6.0 secs
File size: 6.64MB

Shot at wide angle (28mm equiv.)

Click on the thumbnail to view the movie (caution: large file)