Fujifilm FinePix F200 EXR and a trip down Digicam Lane

I have dabbled quite a bit with various Fujifilm cameras. My very first Digital camera was a 4 Mega Pixel Fujifilm A403 which I used quite a bit in 2002/03. My most memorable journey was a trip to Pakistan where I spent 2 weeks shooting with it and then foolishly wiped the XD Card by accident on day 12. I did take a few snaps on day 13 and 14 but rued my stupidity. There’s a very interesting article about this elusive little camera, which featured a Fuji Super CCD.

I at the time wasn’t very savvy about Digital camera features and shot it on Auto everything, as you can see from the photos they’re all pretty much ISO 200 and pretty noisy, the colours are also a bit messy. One was not impressed, so this was soon replaced by a Kodak Z760 which was miles better in all respects.

Back in the 2010’s I had a collection of a few, namely the XPan II version, the GA645 and a Fujifilm XE2s, plus a Fuji F200 EXR. I bought this (as I used to) brand new in 2009 for its Super CCD feature. I had actually wanted a Fuji S5 Pro but couldn’t afford it, I was enamoured with the Fuji colours at the time and thought this would be an ideal, budget alternative. I had bought it to replace a Kodak Digicam I had been using since 2005, as a pocket sized companion for my Contax G2 and my GA645.

As with all Fuji Digicams from the time it wasn’t the prettiest and had a slowish lens with only 5x Optical Zoom. But I wasn’t bothered by all that as it was relatively quick to focus with very good metering and very pleasing colours.

• Zoom: 5x optical
• Resolution: 12Mp
• Sensor size: 1/1.6in
• Sensor type: CCD EXR
• Max. image size: 4000×3000
• File type: JPEG

The interesting feature apart from the Super CCD was the EXR mode, which in hindsight set the bar for computational photography – giving the camera’s internal software to manipulate images on the fly, setting the camera to allow  HR (High resolution priority), SN (High ISO/Low noise priority) and DR (Dynamic Range priority. It also, on the fly and instantly combined exposure for High Dynamic Range.

Using this indoors, like in a Pub for instance was quick and easy, the camera set the ISO and photos were pleasing considering the higher ISO.

As with all Compact Cameras, or rather most, there was no RAW function, but I wasn’t bothered as at the time I had never used RAW before.

It featured a large clear 230,000 dots 3 inch LCD which was very good in bright light and was made solidly and nicely of metal with some plastic.

The downsides were the slow EXR processing and the slow limited lens. I did enjoy it for a few months as you can see from the small selection of photos below.

The metering was good, very good, with options to spot meter, hence B&W conversions were easy and with good tone and impact. The EXR mode was quite effective at keeping ISO down, the exposure compensation worked flawlessly.

Fuji replaced this model with the Fuji F300 EXR and continued the EXR trend until they released the legendary Finepix X100. That marked the beginning of a new era where they combined everything from computational elements to color science they had worked on for years with such models as the F200 EXR.

If you can find one around, I think you’ll enjoy the pleasing colours, the good Dynamic range and the sharp photos with the nailed metering. I only had mine for about 6 months and eventually sold it to replace it with the Olympus XZ-1.

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