Good All-Rounder

Despite a fiarly basic spec Fujifilm’s FinePix A700 is a good all-round compact. The camera features a 3x zoom covering 36-108mm focal length equivalents, a 7.3MP sensor and both automatic and manual ISO settings from ISO 100-400.

Scene modes cover portrait, landscape, sport and night shooting, and there’s an automatic option. There’s also a ‘Manual’ mode if you want to adjust the exposure and set the ISO and white balance, but don’t expect aperture or shutter speed control.

Design

The design follows the spec in as much as the A700 is a rather basic, chunky plastic affair powered by humble AA cells. It sits comfortably enough in the hand though, and the spartan feature-set means there are precious few buttons to confuse you – simplicity is the key here. With its 112,000 pixels the rear 2.4in LCD is quite primitive for both framing and reviewing images and you don’t get an optical viewfinder, but this isn’t unexpected.

Performance

In terms of performance there’s a decidedly average four-second start-up time matched by a four-second delay between shots, plus rather hesitant AF.

Image Quality

When it comes to image quality you have to accept that a £100 camera will have its faults – sometimes it underexposes slightly, fine detail is ‘missing’ under heavy enlargement and the focus falls off at the corners. But, if all you want is a low-cost ‘happy snap’ camera to take on your holidays to produce prints for the family album, you won’t be overly disappointed. Just don’t expect pixel-perfect A4 enlargements.