Fujifilm FinePix F601 Zoom Review

Above is the display while in Auto record mode. The line of info across the top starts on the left with a crossed out lightning bolt that denotes the flash is not manually turned on. The "3M" represents image resolution of 3 megapixel (2048x1536) and the "F" represents fine JPG compression. The "0085" is the quantity of frames that can be recorded on the SM card at the image size and quality set on the camera.

The center screen yellow brackets represent the default center focus mode called "AF" is active and the camera will focus on the subject in the center of the scene.

Auto record menu options:

Voice Memo - ON / OFF, allows tagging of up to a 30 second audio clip (WAV format) immediately following taking an image.
Set-Up sub menu - Click here to see options
Quality - 6 MP: Fine/Normal/Basic, 3 MP: Fine/Normal, 1 MP: Fine/Normal, VGA: Normal
Auto Focus Modes - Not accessible in Auto record mode.
Macro - ON / OFF
Bracketing - ON/OFF, 3 frames +/- 1/3 stop, 3 frames +/- 2/3 stop, 3 frames +/- 1 stop
Flash - Auto, Red Eye, Forced Fill-in , Slow sync
Self Timer - ON / OFF, 10 second delay

Above is the display when in Scene mode. The icons across the bottom of the screen allow access to the five scene modes: Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night Scene and Continuous shooting.

The screen for the Aperture Priority mode is above. The top line of info is the same as the Auto record screen except the lightning bolt indicates the flash is activated in the force flash mode.

The bottom line displays the "T / W" symbol as an indicator to use the up/down (tele/wide) control to change a value in the next window. The red "A" is representing the Mode (Aperture Priority) followed by the shutter speed the exposure system picks based on the following aperture value you select with the up/down (T / W) control.

The display for the Shutter Priority mode is above. The top line of info is the same as the aperture priority screen, as is the bottom line except the red "S" indicates Shutter Priority and now the shutter speed (1/250) is highlighted in yellow to indicate it is adjustable via the Tele / Wide control.

The display for the Manual mode is above. The top line of info is the same except the lightning bolt is replaced by the eye symbol to indicate red eye reduction flash mode is active.

The bottom line changes by the red "M" indicating Manual Mode followed by the active value highlighted in yellow. Manual record mode allows the user to select a desired sutter speed between 3 seconds and 1/2000 second and an aperture of f/2.8 to f/8.0 (with 2 stops in between) in wide angle and a little less at telephoto. The up / down arrows above the aperture value (F5.6) indicate the method used to change the active value. The shutter speed (1/250) is toggled to by pushing left or right on the navigation control and the value is adjusted by pushing up or down on the same control.

The menu options for Manual record:

Next - activates 2nd menu
Set-Up sub menu - Click here to see options
Quality - 6 MP: Fine/Normal/Basic, 3 MP: Fine/Normal, 1 MP: Fine/Normal, VGA: Normal
Exposure Modes - "P"rogram, "A"perture priority, "S"hutter priority, "M"anual
Macro - ON / OFF
Bracketing - ON/OFF, 3 frames +/- 1/3 stop, 3 frames +/- 2/3 stop, 3 frames +/- 1 stop
Flash - Auto, Red Eye, Forced Fill-in , Slow sync
Self Timer - ON / OFF, 10 second delay

Second screen of menu options for Manual record:

Back - moves back to first menu option page
Sharpness - Normal / Soft / Hard, settings for image sharpening
ISO - 160, 200, 400, 800(1MP), 1600(1MP)
Auto Focus Modes - A/F(center focus locked), A/F Area (pick 1 of 25 zones to focus in), Manual (motorized focus, no scale)
White Balance Modes - Auto, Daylight, Shade, "Daylight" Fluorescent, "Warm White" Fluorescent, "cool white" Fluorescent, Incandescent
Flash Compensation - +0.6 to -0.6
EV (exposure value compensation) - +0.9 to -0.6
Photometry (Light Metering) - multi(64 zone multi pattern), spot or average

When you're not capturing still images or movies the F601 Zoom can be used as a digital voice recorder. Audio recordings are stored in standard Windows WAV format and limited only by the capacity of the SmartMedia card.

The screen above is the movie record display. The top info line indicates the movie quality mode of QVGA (320x240) followed by the remaining time left to record on the SM card at this quality setting. The green "Standby" indicates the camera is ready to record when the shutter release is pressed. The F601 Zoom records motion video with audio at 15fps in 320x240 or 640x480 resolution, the length is only limited by SmartMedia capacity.

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

Image Display: - Off/Preview/Post view
Auto Power Off: - 2min/5 min/off
USB Mode: - DSC(download to a PC)/PC Cam(webcam mode)
LCD Brightness: - slider scale to adjust brightness
Volume: - slider scale to adjust volume
Beep: - Low/High/Off
Date/Time: - setting of date and time
LCD: - ON/OFF
Language: - English/French/German
Reset All: - resets all camera settings to default.