Photographers—Read This Now: Fujifilm F300EXR and Z800EXR Unveil

Fujifilm has announced plans to update two of the point-and-shoot cameras in its range of models with Super CCD EXR sensors.  Although the Z800EXR is an obvious successor to the Z700EXR with the same ultra-compact body, the new F300EXR is a radical break with the tradition of the F200EXR. 

The two new cameras both have another great new feature, but we're not going to let it out of the bag just yet—you'll have to get to the bottom of this news first!

Fujifilm FinePix F300EXR MARCHANDS €     Conforama  279.30  Amazon.fr m...  304.00  Amazon.fr  449.00  Materiel.net  568.90  Pixmania.com  579.00  Cdiscount  641.89  Compare prices

Fujifilm FinePix F300EXR

The end of 2009 saw the arrival of the F70EXR and the F80EXR to complement the F200EXR's 1/1.6'', 5.9 x 7.9 mm sensor.  The two new models had a 1/2'', or 4.8 x 6.4 mm sensor.  That might not seem like a very big difference, but with the same 12 Megapixel resolution, that's a 50% increase in pixel density, reducing the size of each pixel by a third.

The F300EXR, which will be available in September, is the final nail in the coffin of the 'large' sensor, once again featuring a 1/2'' 12 Megapixel Super CCD EXR sensor.  Its main distinguishing feature is its zoom, which has gone from 5x on the F200 to 15x here, or the equivalent of 24-260 mm.  Fuji has gone straight for the superzoom segment, equalling the current champions in Samsung's WB600 series.

The lens is as fast as you'd expect for a camera in this part of the market (f/3.3-5.6), and sits inside a camera body that's just 33 mm thick, once again pretty ordinary.  It's still quite a good engineering effort, because the Super CCD EXR sensor isn't quite as compact as the 1/2.3'' sensors used by its competitors.  Working at this scale, every tenth of a millimetre counts ...

Equally, the screen is still 3'' across, but is resolution has climbed to 460 000 pixels, which is much easier on the eye.  The video mode has also been redesigned, adding 720p HD recording with continuous zoom, but mno sound.

The F300EXR's spec also includes an exciting new feature which it shares with the Z800EXR, but we'll come to that later.

Fujifilm FinePix Z800EXR MARCHANDS €     Conforama  279.30  Amazon.fr m...  304.00  Amazon.fr  449.00  Materiel.net  568.90  Pixmania.com  579.00  Cdiscount  641.89  Compare prices

Fujifilm FinePix Z800EXR

Things are a little different with the Z800EXR, which will take up where the Z700EXR left off.  This more imposing camera also has a more impressive spec.

Like its predecessor, its lens is equivalent to a 35-1775 mm, and is exactly the same as the one found in the earlier model which we found produced decent results in wide-angle but struggled more in tele mode.

And once again like its predecessor, this model has a striking flat appearance, just 2 cm thick and with a huge 3.5'' touchscreen.  We like the sound of a 460 000 pixel resolution, but we hope Fuji will rework the finish because the Z700EXR's screen acted like a mirror in bright conditions and was completely unusable.

Video is now in 720p HD, but the zoom doesn't move and the sound is still mono.

The main, then, between this and the Z700EXR is today's big news:

Phase Detection!

The most surprising development on both cameras affects the focus, as Fuji has developed a new hybrid autofocus system which combines contrast detection (more common in compact cameras) with phase detection.


Phase detection is the autofocus system most commonly used by SLRs.  It splits the incoming image into two (as you can see above), and the differences between the two halves of the photo allow the right correction to be applied to produce a sharp photo.  The camera can then instantly and accurately change the focus, without spending time comparing the contrast between different areas.

The problem is that this system takes up room on either the film or the sensor and behind.

Fuji claims to have included phase detectors inside the Super CCD EXR sensor itself, which is something that's never been done before and which should, in theory, allow the F300 and Z800 to focus as fast as an SLR.  Autofocus should occur in under 0.2 ms, easily beating the fastest 'classic' compact cameras, which are around the 0.4 ms mark.

It remains to be seen whether these theoretical benefits will bear fruit in real life: will the cameras with this hybrid autofocus actually be any faster than others?  Phase detection is known to struggle when light levels fall, at which point contrast detection will take over—but just when does this happen?

We're really very keen to find out what these cameras are like because these new sensors could represent something of a revolution in the world of compact digital cameras.

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