Introduction

Ease of Use

From opening the box, we instantly took a liking to the F660EXR from Fujifilm. It slots into the Advanced Compact range as it offers all the functionality of a user friendly point and shoot with the advanced features of a manual prosumer. The design is an interesting affair. It looks like the basic design of a camera (a box with a hole on the front) has been used then as things have been added, they've had to bulge the box out a bit to accommodate it. The body sweeps out to meet the bezel of the lens and also curves up a bit at the top. There's a slight thickening at the right side for a hand grip and it's these fluid-like curves that make the camera look more interesting than other models in the same price bracket. It looks borderline organic.

There's no visible flash because it's a pop-up type on the left shoulder which is enabled by pressing a small button on the side. On the top plate, there's only the power button and shutter release with the zoom rocker wrapped around it. The command dial sits angled on the right shoulder to be operated by the thumb. It is easy enough to do this as the wheel is extremely free. In fact, we were constantly having to put it back in the mode we wanted simply after taking it out of our pocket.

The bulge on the back of the Fujifilm FinePix F660EXR to allow more space for the wheel also acts as a handy little thumb rest although Fujifilm have provided a dedicated area. The navigation pad on the back also has a wheel around its circumference. The icons on the pad can be pressed and it doubles as a tool for moving around the menu system. In fact, most of the buttons on the back have at least two operations to perform.

Front	Rear

The exceptions are the playback and direct video record buttons, which are exclusive to those modes, and the up button that acts as a exposure compensation button when shooting, up button in the menu and delete button when in playback. Fujifilm have seen it fit to retain the FinePix F button. The FinePix button is all about film simulation. It allows access to ISO, resolution, continuous shooting, anti-blur and Film Simulations. The simulations that Fujifilm have added to the F660EXR are Provia (default), Velvia, Astia, B&W and Sepia.

When the EXR button is selected on the command dial, the camera will default to the EXR auto mode. This will choose between the three EXR modes of Resolution Priority, High ISO & Low Noise or D-Range priority. You can select either of these if you want to by pressing the Menu button. The Adv. option is home to some of the Pro features of the camera such as Pro Focus, Pro Low-Light, Multiple Exposure, 3D Image and Motion Panorama. The latter is a similar system to the Sweep Panorama pioneered by Sony a few years ago. Pro Focus uses a technique that Fujifilm started implementing on their bridge cameras originally.  It takes two pictures; one in focus, one slightly out. It then merges the two and uses the focused picture to keep the subject sharp and the blurred one to throw the background out of focus. Essentially, it recreates a good depth of field.

The build quality is excellent on the Fujifilm FinePix F660EXR.  It feels solid thanks to the metal body but it also has a comfortable weight to it that gives you the satisfaction of actually holding something. There are four minor points on the camera build. Aside from the aforementioned command wheel and menu dial on the back being a bit too easy to move, the battery door has no metal backing to it and the USB cover has flimsy plastic hinges. However, the actual cover is a hard plastic instead of the typical rubber. The metal tripod bush, 3 inch LCD screen that sits flush to the body and firm buttons all make for a successful camera.

Top	Front

Fujifilm cameras have always been very easy to use through the menu system and although the F660EXR is no exception, the menu systems have been split down into separate sections which could create confusion to anyone coming into photography for the first time. In the past, they had one or two menus, now there's the EXR menu, SP menu, Adv. menu, Main menu and FinePix menu.

There are two continuous shooting modes: Continuous and Best Frame Capture. In Continuous mode, we managed to get 15 shots in a 10 second period which averages out to around 1.5 fps (frames per second). The camera starts off fast managing three pictures per second for the first three seconds. It then slows down as the buffer reaches it's maximum capacity. Best frame capture will start taking pictures as you press the button down to focus. It records these at 8 megapixel at a speed of 11fps. Once you press the button down it records 16 frames at full resolution and the previous pictures at 8 megapixel. This gives you the opportunity to select the best shot. Flip the camera into Program and you get a lot more in the continuous modes. There's a handy Dynamic Range Bracket, Film Simulation Bracket (for when you simply can't choose) and an AE Bracket.

Start up time of the Fujifilm FinePix F660EXR from off to focusing and taking a picture was just over two seconds. A good result and slightly faster than other compacts we've tested recently. This is despite the agonisingly slow start up. It's like lighting a fuse and waiting for the explosion. Then suddenly the camera bursts into life so hard and fast, you can feel the camera move as it does.

Memory Card Slot	Battery Compartment

We got an unusual result from the F660EXR when testing the shutter lag. We kept getting a result that suggested the camera doesn't suffer from shutter lag. At all. To be fair, we test all cameras at least five times to ensure it's not reflexes or nerves. We got a slightly delayed result at the end of 0.04sec. Even if the camera does run at the latter speed, it's still very fast. Roughly twice as fast as other compacts in this price range.

In playback, the picture will be displayed full screen as default with some basic shooting information such as: Resolution, ISO, Dynamic Range, Date & Time, Aperture and Shutter Speed. Pressing the Disp button at the bottom will bring up a small menu of options for display modes.  The options are: Information, Information Off, Favourites and Detail Information. The latter option will change the full screen preview to a thumbnail, show more information such as Flash status, film simulation used, White-Balance settings and a Histogram.

In the box, there's a camera, battery, charger, USB lead, wrist strap and video output lead. Bear in mind that the opposite end of these leads is analogue and makes any HD quality redundant. The paperwork is the basic quick start guide with the full manual on the accompanying CD software. The editing and viewing software is MyFinePix Studio ver. 3.2 for Windows and FinePix Viewer ver. 3.6 for Mac.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 16 megapixel JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5.5Mb.

We like the picture quality of the Fujifilm FinePix F660EXR. It produces well exposed shots with nice colours. If we were to be picky, we'd like a little more zing in the colours from a boost I saturation. However, that's our subjective opinion. Fujifilm have actually kept the colours more true to the film types that they produce, which can be replicated in the Film Simulation menu. Pictures are lovely and sharp and with a background far away enough, you can get the Pro Focus effect by zooming out and using the macro feature. Our sample images were taken that way, not using the Pro Focus mode.

Noise

Noise performance is very good at low ISO. We couldn't detect any colour at ISO 100 and edge definition is excellent. At ISO 200, while there's no colour present in the dark areas, when we magnified to 100%, we found it to be “bitty” with black spots of salt & pepper noise. This gets progressively worse and at ISO 800 there's obvious noise poking through the picture. Noise reduction software does a great job of keeping colour at bay and it's simply black spots that get in the way. Edge definition does take a nose dive at ISO 800.

Because the noise reduction system is working so well at suppressing the colour that should be present by ISO 1600, the picture starts to take on a haze that makes the pictures look faded.

The last two settings of ISO 6400 and ISO 12800 use reduced resolution to combat certain types of noise created by pixels heating up and affecting neighbouring pixels. If they're more spaced away, they're less likely to affect each other. ISO 6400 uses the medium setting which employs 8 million pixels. The ISO 12800 setting uses just under 4 million pixels (small setting). Picture quality is still affected though as there's simply no escaping it at that high an ISO. It needs to be pointed out that viewing the pictures at normal size on a computer screen, you can't see the noise until ISO 800. That's a very good performance.

ISO 100 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)	ISO 3200 (100% Crop)
ISO 6400 (100% Crop)	ISO 12800 (100% Crop)

Focal Range

The Fujifilm FinePix F660EXR's 15x zoom lens provides a focal length of 24-360mm in 35mm terms, as demonstrated below.

24mm	360mm

Sharpening

While we're satisfied with the in camera sharpening through the processor, we still think that the pictures benefit with a boost from an editing suite.

Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)

File Quality

The Fujifilm FinePix F660EXR has 2 different image quality settings available, with Fine being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options.

16M Fine (100% Crop)	16M Normal (100% Crop)

Chromatic Aberrations

The Fujinon lenses on the F660EXR are Extra Low Dispersion to obviate the problem of chromatic aberration. It is still present but only at the far reaches of the frame where image quality generally degrades anyway.

Example 1 (100% Crop)	Example 2 (100% Crop)

Macro

The close focusing of the F660EXR is ample for the usual day to day pictures that the user of a camera like this will take. There's a significant amount of fall off from the centre of the frame to the edges. The centre 25-30% of the frame looks sharp but it quickly deteriorates.

Macro Shot	100% Crop

Flash

We got vignetting at the corners of the frame when not using flash and assumed that it would be eradicated with flash as it wasn't much. In fact, it remained. The flash simply brightens the image and evens out the centre of the frame.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (24mm)	Flash On - Wide Angle (24mm)
Flash Off - Wide Angle (360mm)	Flash On - Wide Angle (360mm)

The fact that the flash is so far away from the lens removes the problem of red-eye which is essentially a reflection from the flash. The need for red-eye removal is unnecessary but it's there just in case.

Flash On	Flash On (100% Crop)
Red Eye Reduction	Red Eye Reduction (100% Crop)

Night

We thought Shutter Priority mode would give the best option for extending the shutter speed while retaining a low ISO for reduced noise. However, the camera only allows auto ISO in that mode. It can be capped and we set it to a maximum of ISO 400. The camera then used that to get a faster shutter speed. In Program mode we managed to control the ISO but not the shutter speed and we could only get up to one second. It wasn't long enough and the picture is under exposed. In Night scene, the camera selected ISO 800 which gives a painted effect on the picture.

Night Program	Night Program (100% Crop)
Night Shutter Priority	Night Shutter Priority (100% Crop)
Night Scene	Night Scene (100% Crop)

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Fujifilm FinePix F660EXR camera, which were all taken using the 16 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample Movie & Video

As of February 2025, we are no longer providing full size sample images or videos for download.

Please contact us if you have any feedback on our new policy.

Product Images

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera / Turned On

Isometric View

Isometric View

Rear of the Camera

Rear of the Camera / Turned On

Rear of the Camera / Shooting Mode Menu

Rear of the Camera / EXR Menu

Rear of the Camera / Panorama Mode

Rear of the Camera / Scene Menu

Rear of the Camera / Shooting Menu

Rear of the Camera / Advanced Menu

Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed

Rear of the Camera / Info Screen

Rear of the Camera / Playback Menu

Top of the Camera

Bottom of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Memory Card Slot

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

We found it extremely easy to take pictures with the Fujifilm FinePix F660EXR. By that, we don't mean the functionality, but actually finding shots seemed to come more easily. The versatility of the 15x zoom lens coupled with the many features and manual control meant that we were never stuck for something to do. It's a very capable camera, it's just the little things that mark it down such as the wheel that infuriatingly moves every time the camera is put away, the dubious build quality on the doors that could so easily have been avoided, and the many, many menus available.

We love the image quality of the Fujifilm FinePix F660EXR, it just seems a little flat in the colour department. A gentle boost to the saturation will solve it but by default it makes even a sunny day look more subdued than it is. There's no fault in the precision of the focusing system though. We got sharp image after sharp image. It did struggle in very low light with no subjects near for the AF emitter but it's to be expected and we had the same issue with other cameras in the same scenario.

One area we are pleased with is the reaction times of the Fujifilm FinePix F660EXR. Switching it on, it's almost aggressive. It does nothing then literally bursts into life so much so that you can feel a slight pop as the lens extends. Switch on time is admirable and shutter lag is brilliant. If you have kids and you need a camera that can be ready fast, then this is one to consider. Just make sure you press the power button firmly or it won't respond.

For the price, you get a lot of camera. There's tons of features and loads of tech packed into the F660EXR. As we mentioned earlier, it's useful for people with kids that are running around doing funny stuff, and useful for anyone wanting to do a bit of sports photography thanks to the versatile zoom and modes that will get the best possible quality. If you fit into these categories then you need to closer look at the Fujifilm FinePix F660EXR.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4.5
Features	4.5
Ease-of-use	3.5
Image quality	4
Value for money	4.5

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Fujifilm FinePix F660EXR from around the web.

Specifications

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