Fujifilm FinePix F31fd review

The F31fd is an update to the excellent F30, which we reviewed in What's New: Photography, Shopper November 2006.

Externally, it's only subtly different, with a restyled grip at the front separating the two. Internally, there's not much difference either. The internal memory has increased from 10MB to 26MB, but image quality and most features appear identical. This is no bad thing; the F30 produced some of the best pictures we've seen from a compact camera, with sumptuous colour reproduction, razor-sharp detail that's more than a match for many 8-megapixel cameras and low-light image quality bettered only by digital SLR cameras.

There are a couple of key differences between the two cameras. One is the introduction of face detection. Switch on the feature using the dedicated button, and up to 10 faces in your composition are identified with green and white boxes appearing around their heads in the preview image. This information is used to make sure the auto-focus and auto-exposure concentrates on the right thing. It's a smart idea, and although it doesn't make a dramatic difference to most pictures, it significantly reduces the number of dud shots, stopping the camera focusing on the wrong thing or being fooled by a dark or bright background.

We first saw this technology on the FujiFilm S6500fd, which won a Best Buy award in our digital camera Labs test in Shopper March 2007. Canon and Samsung recently launched similar features and Nikon has offered Face-Priority (for focus only) for some time, but Fujifilm's implementation is particularly responsive, coping well with moving subjects.

The second improvement is subtler but just as beneficial. The F30 and F31fd both produce superb images at ISO 800 - an impressive feat - but in Auto mode they are too eager to jump to ISO 1,600, resulting in unnecessarily quick shutter times and a loss of detail due to noise-reduction processing. An Auto (400) ISO mode limits ISO speeds to 400, which produces better image quality but risks blur due to long shutter speeds. However, the F31fd adds another Auto ISO mode with a maximum ISO 800 setting, which gives the ideal balance of shutter and ISO speeds. Unfortunately, this mode isn't available at the same time as face detection.

There isn't much to compete with the F31fd at this price. Other compact cameras offer faster performance, more manual control or bigger zooms, but the F31fd's long battery life and fantastic image quality is a winning combination. The only direct competition also comes from FujiFilm. The FinePix F20 lacks face detection, priority exposure modes and the (fairly pointless) ISO 3,200 setting, and its battery life is less impressive, but it provides the same fantastic image quality for £70 less.