Fujifilm FinePix A340 Review

The Auto record mode is a simple "Point-n-Shoot" mode. The line of info across the top starts on the left with a red box containing a camera icon and "A" which is the symbol for Auto Record mode. The "4M" represents image resolution of 4 megapixels (2272 x 1704), the "F" indicates Fine compression, and "257" represents the number of frames that can be recorded at the current image size. The yellow brackets in the center denotes the auto focus target area.

Pressing the DISPlay button next to the LCD toggles from the above screen to the live image without any data display.

AUTO record MENU options:

QUALITY - Choose image size/quality; 4M Fine, 4M Normal, 2M, 1M

SELF-TIMER - ON / OFF, 10 second delay

SHOOTING MODE - Choose Auto, Manual, Movie, Portrait, Scene (Landscape), Sport, Night

OPTION - Adjust LCD brightness, enter the SETUP menu

This is the Manual record screen, the only real difference is the upper left icon. In Manual mode you have access to the same options as Auto mode plus you have White Balance and Exposure Compensation options.

QUALITY - Choose image size/quality; 4M Fine, 4M Normal, 2M, 1M

SELF-TIMER - ON / OFF, 10 second delay

SHOOTING MODE - Choose Auto, Manual, Movie, Portrait, Scene (Landscape), Sport, Night

OPTION - Adjust LCD brightness, enter the SETUP menu

EXPOSURE VALUE ±2.0 EV in 1/3 EV steps

WHITE BALANCE - Auto, Daylight, Shade, "Daylight" Fluorescent, "Warm White" Fluorescent, "cool white" Fluorescent, Incandescent

The Macro focus mode can be enabled in Auto or Manual shooting mode and allows you to focus from 0.3 to 2.6 feet. When using the Macro focus mode, the lens is locked at wide angle, you cannot change the focal length.

Set-Up menu in Auto, Manual and Play modes:

IMAGE DISP. - Off/On, Allows review of capture for 2 seconds
POWER SAVE - 2min/5 min/off
FORMAT - Formats the xD-Picture Card
BEEP - Volume of camera sounds, Low/High/Off
DATE/TIME - setting of date and time
LCD - ON/OFF by default when in record
FRAME NO. - Continuous or reset (file numbering)
USB MODE - DSC(download to a PC)/PC Cam (webcam mode)
LANGUAGE - English/French/German
VIDEO SYSTEM - NTSC or PAL video signal timing
DISCHARGE - Discharge the NiMH rechargeable batteries
RESET - resets all camera settings to default.

The Movie record mode display. The top info line indicates the movie recording size is 320x240 followed by the remaining recording time at this quality setting. The A340 records motion video without audio at 10fps with resolutions of 320x240 (up to 60 seconds) or 160x120 (up to 240 seconds.) The optical zoom lens is locked to wide angle but the digital zoom is useable.