Product Reviews

The FinePix Z5fd is a 6.3 megapixel compact with a 3x optical zoom, a decent-sized 2.5-inch LCD screen, 26MB of internal memory and a slot for xD-Picture cards. That's all pretty mainstream, but you get all this in the kind of case normally reserved for James Bond's fags. It's even available in a range of colours. Combined with its small size, the chocolate and pink options make it look very handbag-friendly, but the silver version will suit blokes too.

A sliding cover on the front protects the lens and acts as the on/off switch. The LCD screen is very clear and particularly detailed, with commendable colour accuracy. Like all LCDs, though, it can be hard to see in bright conditions, and there's no optical viewfinder.

The menu system is a breeze to operate; it

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takes no time at all to get up and running with the Fuji. It's a reasonably fast operator, too, taking no longer than three seconds from off to first picture taken. As with the Casio, built-in face detection helps improve images of people. This is surprisingly accurate, and even in difficult situations the Z5fd managed to focus and expose for the person in our picture.

The Fuji uses a Super CCD HR chip, which has picture cells that are octagonal rather than square. Whether this makes much difference to the overall quality of the images is largely a matter of taste. We found Z5fd's photos well balanced but not perfect. Colour accuracy was excellent, with natural and faithful hues. Skin tones were warm and pleasing even with flash, and auto exposure was reliable, with only the most difficult lighting fooling the camera. However, images were a bit soft and grainy when viewed close-up. Unless you're going to spend all you time with your nose pressed up against your images, this isn't a major issue, but you won't want to enlarge too much.

The Z5fd is an impressive package, and at £150 it's very good value. The small size and ease of use are enhanced by the face recognition, which is much more useful than you might think. We'd have preferred the images a bit sharper and less grainy, but that's being fussy - the results were generally very pleasing.