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Fuji FinePix 1400 A sleek design, great 1.3 megapixel picture quality, a 3x zoom lens, and a great price! Select a topic Reference: Datasheet FinePix 1400 Sample Images --------------------------------- 1. Intro and Highlights 2. Executive Overview 3. Design 4. Viewfinder 5. Optics 6. Exposure & Flash 7. Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests 8. Operation & User Interface 9. Camera Modes & Menus 10. Image Storage & Interface 11. Video, Power, Software 12. Test Results & Conclusion --------------------------------- Print-Friendly Review Version Additional Resources and Other Links Reader Comments on FinePix 1400 Review --------------------------------- Digital Camera Comparometer (TM) --------------------------------- <-- Digital Cameras (Home) <-- Digital Camera Reviews Index <<Optics :(Previous) | (Next): Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests>> Page 6:Exposure & Flash Review First Posted: 6/6/2000

Exposure

Exposure is automatically controlled on the F1400 Zoom, with just a few exposure options available under the Manual setting. When shooting in the standard Automatic mode (adjusted through the Record menu), the only exposure controls available are flash, macro mode, self-timer and file size and quality. Switching to Manual mode puts you in control of all the same with the addition of white balance and exposure compensation. We did notice, however, that the 10 second self-timer is only accessible while in the Automatic exposure mode, as the menu setting vanishes when you switch to Manual. The F1400 Zoom's ISO equivalent (light sensitivity) is 125, acceptable for most daylight shooting conditions but probably not adequate for non-flash photograph at night. The camera's metering system divides the image into 64 zones and averages the values to determine the exposure. Shutter speeds are automatically controlled from 1/2 to 1/750 seconds. This is a relatively broad range of shutter speeds, although the 1/2 second lower limit restricts the camera to reasonably well-lit scenes.

Exposure compensation is adjustable from -0.9 to +1.5 in 1/3 EV increments through the Record menu in Manual mode. Likewise, white balance can be set to Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Daylight Fluorescent, Warm White Fluorescent, Cool White Fluorescent or Incandescent, accommodating a wide range of lighting situations. After each exposure, a quick image review pops up on the LCD and asks you to confirm before recording the image. Although this is a nice feature in many situations, we generally like to see the ability to turn the review function off, especially when quick shooting is necessary. Overall, the F1400 Zoom did a nice job with our test shots, showing good color balance and saturation, nice resolution and only moderate noise. We were very pleased with the exposure control and the results.

Flash

The F1400 Zoom features a built-in flash with five operating modes controlled by the flash button on the back panel of the camera. The Auto setting lets the camera decide when to fire the flash based on existing light levels. Redeye Reduction fires a small pre-flash before the full flash to reduce the occurrence of the Redeye Effect. Forced mode fires the flash with every exposure while Suppressed simply turns the flash off so that it never fires, regardless of the lighting. Finally, Slow Synchro synchronizes the flash with a slow shutter speed for night subjects. In wide angle mode, Fuji estimates the flash power to range from 7.9 inches to 11.5 feet (0.2 to 3.5 meters) and in telephoto mode, from 2.6 to 11.5 feet (0.8 to 3.5 meters). We found the flash to still be effective out to 14 feet in our tests, however, we noticed a blue color shift at the 12 foot mark, consistent with Fuji's estimations.