Digital Camera Review by: Katrina Putker 

With an RRP of just $199, Fujifilm’s recently released FinePix J27 model is likely to pique the interest of those currently searching for a point-and-shoot camera that isn’t about to break the budget.

And, if the insanely low price tag isn’t enough, consider that the J27 packs 10.2 megapixels into a slimline, stylish body (available in either silver, pink or black) that weighs just 128 grams with the battery and memory card on board.

Especially if you’re a first-time digital camera user or are considering purchasing one for someone who is, the J27 is a solid option given its simple design, layout and overall ease-of-use.

The neatly built body hosts just five buttons, a four-way directional pad and a zoom toggle for user’s to manage and the internal menu system is quite easy to navigate, in part as a result of the colour-coded options made available.

Users are able to shoot in fully auto mode, semi-manual mode, scene recognition mode or any one of the 16 specialised modes available including: portrait, landscape, panorama, sport, picture stabilisation, baby mode, night, natural light, beach, snow, flower, party, sunset, fireworks, text, and night mode for use with a tripod.

Alternatively, automatic scene recognition mode allows users to let the J27 do all the work. When activated, it automatically analyses the current scene being composed and adjusts the relevant camera settings in order to provide the best possible results quickly, easily and repeatedly.

The six common scene types the J27 can intelligently recognise of its own accord include: portrait, night, macro, landscape, night portrait and backlit portrait, which will take a lot of the guesswork out of general shooting.

The semi manual mode available enables users to adjust settings including white balance, ISO and exposure compensation although experience shows that many point-and-shoot users prefer to leave it to the technology and trust the camera to handle these settings automatically. It is important however, to know that the options are there should they ever be required.

During playback, users are able to zoom in to images in order to review in greater detail although the process is fairly sluggish taking some nine seconds to reach the most magnified point and proving equally as slow during the zoom out process.

As a safety measure, five seconds into playback mode the J27 automatically retracts the two-tiered lens neatly back into its body to help minimise the risk of any damage should the camera be knocked or dropped while in review mode.

Similarly, a power save function automatically triggers after two or five minutes (depending on the option selected) turning off the J27 to help conserve battery life.  If, for any reason, users do not appreciate the function however, it can easily be switched off.

Upon start-up, the J27 is quick to prepare itself for shooting, powering up and extending the 35mm equivalent 32-96mm lens in under two seconds, while shot-to-shot time is just over three seconds to help ensure barely a moment is ever missed.

Image quality for such an affordable camera is great especially when shooting outdoors and in natural lighting conditions. Having said that, the 2.7 inch LCD screen can be difficult to view in direct sunlight.

Colour appears to reproduce well overall and sharpness is fairly good across the board although in-camera processing does result in some slight smudging of edges but this is unlikely to be noticed by an untrained eye and is certainly not abnormal for compact cameras generally speaking.

The J27 offers just 3x optical zoom (5.7x when combined with digital) which, while not much, will prove sufficient for most applications aside from sports shooting or travel photography perhaps where longer zooms are often required. Having said that, the 3x zoom offered does work well and seems to sufficiently preserve detail.

Movie mode with sound is an additional feature likely to tempt potential buyers and helps to round out the J27 and an overall enticing little unit with a strong list of pros quickly mounting, added to that face detection, in camera panorama stitch, red eye removal and image slideshow capabilities.

At the end of the day, the FinePix J27 unit from Fuji is a decent little compact camera best suited to those who are relatively new to the digital camera market or indeed, have previously been intimidated by it.

This camera is easy to use and performs well under a good cross-section of conditions. It is certainly recommended for first-time users, the less technologically savvy and younger children/teenagers and again, is very reasonably priced for the level of quality it delivers.

Appearance rating	3.5 stars
Functionality rating	4 stars
Image quality	3 stars
Lens quality	3 stars
View finder / LCD screen	3.5 stars
Value for money	4.5 stars
RRP (AUD)	$199
Effective Pixels	10.2 Million mega pixels
Image Sizes	6 Sizes
Lens - zoom wide [mm]	32mm (35mm equivalent )
Lens -zoom tele [mm]	96mm (35mm equivalent )
Lens - Optical Zoom	Yes, 3x
Resolution Settings	From 640 x 480 to 3,664 x 2,748
Shooting Modes	17 Scene options
Face Detection	Yes
Manual Focus	No
Auto Focus	Yes
Focus Range [cm]	60cm - infinity
Aperture Range	Wide: F2.9 / F8.8, Telephoto: F5.2 / F16.0
Aperture Priority	No
Macro	No
Macro Range [cm]	-
Shutter Speeds	(Auto mode) 1/4sec. to 1/1400sec., (All other modes) 8sec. to 1/1400sec.
Shutter Priority	No
ISO	100 / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1600 / 3200
LCD Monitor	2.7-inch, Approx. 230,000 dots, TFT colors LCD monitor, Approx. 96% coverage
Viewfinder	No
Flash	Auto flash
Hot Shoe	No
White balance	Auto, Fine, Shade, Fluorescent light (Daylight), Fluorescent light (Warm white), Fluorescent light (Cool white), Incandescent lighto,
Self Timer	Yes, 10sec. and 2sec
Movie Options	Yes. Limited only by memory card size.
Video Out	Yes
Storage Type	SD memory card and SDHC memory card
Storage Included [Mb]	10MB Internal Memory
Image / Audio Formats	JPEG, AVI and DPOF
Connectivity	USB 2.0 High-speed
Power Source	AC Adapter
Battery Options	NP-45A Li-ion battery
Dimensions	92.0 (W) x 55.9 (H) x 20.0 (D) mm
Weight	113g (excluding accessories, batteries and memory card)