Fujifilm FinePix Z · announced February 2005

The Fujifilm FinePix Z1: the slim aluminium fashion compact that reviewers could not agree about

Fujifilm's UK press release calls it the FinePix Z1 Zoom; the reviews we read call it the FinePix Z1. We found no other regional name.¹³

In 2005 Fujifilm squeezed a 3x zoom into a metal body 18.6 millimetres thick, hid the lens behind a sliding cover and left out the viewfinder. Imaging Resource called the pictures good, Trusted Reviews called them poor, and most of them agreed it was quick.

Launched

February 2005

Launch price

$449.95 (US)²³

Sensor

5.1 MP CCD

Lens

36–108 mm, 3×

Card

xD-Picture Card

Battery

NP-40

Specs and sources

Meet the camera

Fujifilm's UK release gave the body as 90 by 55 by 18.6 millimetres and the weight as 130 grams without battery or card.¹ Imaging Resource put it at 146 grams in one place and 150 grams in another, with battery and card loaded.³ The casing is aluminium: Fujifilm described a single shell, and Reviewed.com explained that one piece of metal forms the back and both sides, with a plastic door over the battery and card.¹⁶ The camera shipped in black and silver, and Trusted Reviews expected the black one to be the popular choice.²⁴

Fujifilm's senior communications manager called it at the launch an "evening out on the town sort of camera", and said the company had taken the market research behind its F10 and shrunk it down.² The US announcement, on 8 February 2005, listed a retail price of $449.95 with the camera due in June 2005.² Imaging Resource used the same figure,³ while Fujifilm UK said its own price would follow nearer the date.¹ By the time The Register ran its review the UK price was £290, and Trusted Reviews quoted about £220 for either colour.⁵⁴

Why this one was interesting

A camera sold as jewellery

Trusted Reviews opened by pointing at the sales of Canon's Digital IXUS, Konica Minolta's X series and Sony's T series as proof of a market for sleek cameras, and called the Z1 Fujifilm's version of the idea.⁴ The Register said the sideways lens, a design it linked to the Minolta X series, the Sony T series and the Nikon Coolpix S1, is what let the zoom stay inside the body.⁵ Imaging Resource described the lens as mounted vertically behind a prism and noted that this meant nothing extends when the camera starts up.³ At launch Fujifilm counted ten elements in eight groups, two of them aspheric.²

The fashion pitch cut both ways. Reviewed.com said the Z1 aspired to be jewellery and that performance and convenience had been sacrificed for the look,⁶ while Fujifilm UK's director of photo products called it "the supermodel of digital cameras".¹

The cover that was the switch

The front is nearly flat. A spring-loaded slide covers the lens and flash window and switches the camera on as it opens.³ Reviewed.com thought this a tougher lens cap and a more secure power switch than the push buttons on the Pentax Optio S line or the Casio EX-Z57, and said the Z1 would be less likely to turn on in a pocket.⁶ It was not perfect: that reviewer saw dust get behind the slide and show in the flash window, and Imaging Resource said the slide was easy or hard to open depending on how oily your fingers were.⁶³

Reviewers kept comparing it with Fujifilm's F10. Imaging Resource said the Z1 does not quite match that medium-sized model's low-light performance, and Reviewed.com judged its colours significantly inferior to the F10's.³⁶ We have no F10 review, but the same FinePix F line is covered in our review of the FinePix F30.

What was lost

There is no optical viewfinder, which Reviewed.com shrugged off because of the big screen and the Register found irritating in bright sun.⁶⁵ There is no manual control of shutter or aperture, and the "Manual" mode only adds a few settings, such as exposure compensation and white balance.³ Reviewed.com added that there is no custom white balance or manual focus.⁶ The camera has no tripod socket; the charging cradle has one, and Imaging Resource found the camera rocked in it.³ The USB and video connectors sit on that cradle too, so there is no cable port on the camera itself.³⁶ Fujifilm's accessory list names a Mini-B USB cable and a dedicated A/V cable;¹ our cable guide covers the general problem.

The lens opened to only f/3.5 at wide angle. Reviewed.com said that was more than half a stop slower than many rivals, which opened to f/2.6.⁶ The flash was small: Fujifilm gave its range as about 3.0 metres at wide angle and 2.3 metres at telephoto, and Reviewed.com said similar cameras reached 13 to 16 feet.¹⁶

Where the sources disagree on the spec sheet

The dark: its weak point

Imaging Resource found strong detail out to about 1,250 lines on its resolution chart, low noise at ISO 64 and high noise at 400 and 800, where the noise reduction cut detail in subtle areas.³ It judged ISO 400 acceptable for 8 by 10 prints and ISO 800 probably acceptable to many users for 5 by 7.³ The same review found it usable to 1.3 lux at ISO 800, though autofocus gave up a little below about 0.5 foot-candle.³ Reviewed.com tested in Natural Light mode at 60, 30, 15 and 5 lux and found the result furry at 60 and anything but sharp at 5.⁶ The Register said the sensor worked well at ISO 800 with noise well controlled.⁵

Trusted Reviews disagreed on the stills. It said the sensor interpolates a 5.1-megapixel image from fewer than three million photosites, saw soft edges, blotchy colour and some of the worst purple fringing it had met on a recent camera, and said results would be acceptable only for prints no bigger than 6 by 4 inches (while calling ISO 800 usable and noise not a major problem).⁴ Fujifilm's own table lists 5.22 million total pixels, and we did not find a photosite count in the pages we read, so we cannot say which description is correct.¹ Reviewed.com's measurement was less dramatic: its chart analysis found 68 percent of the advertised resolution, which it said fell just short of "good".⁶

Real photographs taken with this camera. The sensitivity shown is recorded in each file's own EXIF data; the mode used is not.

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The little wins

How it drew the picture

Imaging Resource found pretty good colour with a slight warm cast and oversaturated reds, which made skin tones a little ruddy in its portrait test, though it thought them acceptable; it also found the camera handled household tungsten lighting better than average.³ Trusted Reviews said skin tones were very good.⁴ Reviewed.com's colour chart showed the palette about 15.8 percent over-saturated, with indoor colour poor and outdoor colour more natural, and it said automatic white balance could not match its tungsten test lights, a problem it tied to the missing custom white balance.⁶ Imaging Resource measured about 0.9 percent barrel distortion at wide angle and blurred corners at both ends of the zoom.³

Photos taken with this camera, from Wikimedia Commons, credited under each picture.

Where it let you down

The memory card that came in the box held about six pictures at the top quality, Reviewed.com said, and Imaging Resource and Reviewed.com both told buyers to add a 256 MB card.⁶³ Reviewed.com also objected to the charging set-up: a power cable, a transformer and the cradle, which together outweigh the camera.⁶ The Register thought the plastic door over the battery and xD slot was flimsy and fiddly, while Imaging Resource said it latched firmly.⁵³ Reviewed.com said the finish held on to finger marks and that its review sample arrived with scuffs.⁶ Menus drew opposite verdicts: Trusted Reviews called them a massive improvement on Fujifilm's old design, The Register called them counter-intuitive, and Reviewed.com disliked the three tabs labelled only 1, 2 and 3.⁴⁵⁶ Last, Reviewed.com found the zoom lagged and overshot.⁶

What the reviewers said in 2005

The timeline

• 8 February 2005Fujifilm announces the Z1 in the US and UK; the US price is $449.95.¹²
• June 2005Announced on-sale date, in both the US and UK launch material.²¹
• 2 August 2005The Register publishes the Pocket Lint review.⁵
• 19 August 2005Imaging Resource's review date.³
• 23 August 2005Trusted Reviews publishes its review.⁴

Should you buy one now?

Buy one if you want a thin, metal-bodied CCD compact that starts quickly, shoots good VGA video and looks the part, and you accept soft corners and heavy colour. It launched at $449.95;²³ what it sells for now is a question for the sold listings, not for us. Before you bid, check these:

• The cradle. The tripod socket and every cable connection live on it, so check that it is included.³ Fujifilm's list also includes the AC adaptor, hand strap and cables.¹
• The battery. It uses an NP-40;¹ a fresh one is on Amazon ↗, and reviewers found the life short.³⁶
• The card. It takes xD-Picture Cards only.¹ See our xD card page and the memory card guide.
• The slide. Check that it opens smoothly and that there is no dust behind it.⁶
• The finish. Look for scuffs on the front and the cover.⁶

Reviewed.com set it against the Canon PowerShot SD500, whose lens extends and whose sensor is larger; our review of that camera is here.⁶ If you are wondering why cameras like this are being hunted down again, we tell that story once, in Pictures that never left the card.

See recent sold prices on eBay ↗Shop on eBay ↗NP-40 battery ↗

Sources

1. Fujifilm UK press release, FinePix Z1 Zoom (8 Feb 2005), with specification table and accessory list, reprinted by PhotographyBLOG (Mark Goldstein)
2. Reviewed.com, “Fuji Introduces Stylish Z-Line” by Emily Raymond (text dated 8 Feb 2005; the page header says 2004)
3. Imaging Resource, Fuji FinePix Z1 review (review date 19 Aug 2005)
4. Trusted Reviews, Fujifilm Z1 review by Cliff Smith (23 Aug 2005)
5. The Register, “Fujifilm FinePix Z1: slim, sexy, yes, but is it any good?”, a Pocket Lint review by Doug Harman (2 Aug 2005)
6. Reviewed.com, Fujifilm FinePix Z1 digital camera review by Patrick Singleton (undated page)
7. Stuff, Fujifilm FinePix Z1 review by Stuff Staff (short capsule review, page dated 10 Mar 2006; mentions the later Z2)

Photographs by Rurik, Kanguole (public domain) and others, credited under each one, all via Wikimedia Commons. Links to eBay and Amazon are affiliate links.