Ultracompact digital cameras are the main focus of attention these days for manufacturers looking to grab a big slice of the enthusiastic amateur market, and Fujifilm has always been at the forefront of this expansion.

The FinePix F60fd is an upgrade from the popular F50fd, introducing several improvements whilst still making use of the same 12-megapixel Super CCD sensor, employing the same 3x optical zoom and retaining an almost identical design and controls layout. Physically it's slimmer and sleeker than its predecessor (92.5 x 59.2 x 22.9mm) with an expanded 3-inch LCD screen and a new matte black casing with a chic metal strip running down the spine.

There's an image stabiliser button on the top alongside the power and zoom controls, and what's come to be the standard set of Fujifilm controls are on the back, including the dedicated F button (which handles power management, ISO, picture quality and effects) and separate Face Detection.

When it comes to the Mode dial settings you can access Natural Light (with or without flash), Auto (for the point-‘n'-shoot brigade), SR Auto, Manual, A/S (for Aperture or Shutter priority), Movie and Scene Position which offers you 13 options covering a wide range from Portrait Enhancer to Museum, Snow, Party and Text.

What's new about the Intelligent Face Detection 3.0 function is its ability to automatically lock onto as many as 10 faces in the frame; it even allows you to include red-eye removal to counter the effects of the flash. The speed of recognition is impressive and the fact that it works well in low light and in profile underlines the significant strides that have been made in R&D in this area.

The F60fd also makes use of the new SR Auto scene recognition technology which cleverly adjusts exposure, focus, white balance and ISO settings according to the subjects and scenes it's presented with.

Again, the speed of reconfiguration from, say, macro to indoor to landscape is excellent and if there's any doubt in the camera's mind, it'll switch instantly to Auto mode so you know you'll end up with good results. The only aspect of the technology that will take some getting use to is the constant noise of the readjustment, which sounds like a Terminator on the move.

The picture quality is uniformly sharp and accurate throughout, with little in the way of purple fringing and no noticeable colour bias. With a remarkably high top ISO setting of 6400, you'd expect this camera to work especially well in low light conditions and here it doesn't disappoint, though as ever you have to expect considerable noise at the higher ISO settings.

Verdict
Whether or not you already own the FinePix F50fd, this feature-packed successor is worth the price of the significantly improved Face Detection and the new SR Auto functions alone, making the F60fd one of the finest all round ultracompacts on the market.

Company: FujiFilm

Contact: 0870 084 1310

Tags: fujifilm fujifilm finepix liquid crystal display charge-coupled device image stabilization digital camera film speed zoom lens