FUJIFILM FinePix F710

Camera equipped with Honeycomb SR sensor

A review and Photo example of the FUJIFILM Finepix F710.

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Review

Overview
Usage
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1．Overview

The FinePix F710 is a Fujifilm compact digital camera with a landscape camera shape that was released in March 2004.

Its main specifications are a 4x zoom lens with a 32.5-130mm focal length in 35mm format, a Super CCD Honeycomb IV SR image sensor, a 1/1.7-inch sensor size, 6.2 megapixels (S pixels: 3.1 megapixels, R pixels: 3.1 megapixels), and an NP-40 battery.

The detailed specifications of the camera, along with those of the FinePix F700 and FinePix F810, are listed in the table below.

2．Usage

Since it’s a 20-year-old camera, it’s probably one of the oldest compact cameras out there. I put in two AA batteries and started it up for the first time in over 20 years, and it started up and I was able to take pictures without any problems.

Even though it’s a Honeycomb SR, it’s based on a 3-megapixel digital camera, so don’t expect too much.

It often feels a bit lacking, especially in JPEG, so it’s a bit of a hassle to shoot in Raw and adjust the image with the appropriate parameters in the development software.

The lens covers a slightly wider range than the FinePix from the same period, at 33-130mm in 35mm equivalent. It’s only slightly better than 35mm, but the difference of 2mm on the wide-angle side makes a big difference.

Fujifilm’s adoption of 28mm wide-angle began with the FinePix F100d in 2008, so it’s quite late.

The NP-40 battery has modest specifications, with a voltage of 3.7V and a capacity of 710mmAh, and can take only about 100 shots at the official rate, and even fewer in Raw mode, which requires longer processing time.

The number of recorded pixels is 6 megapixels, 2832 x 2128 pixels, and the raw data (RAF file) of the F710 is 13MB. This is a little less than the uncompressed data of a typical 6 megapixel sensor, which is about 18MB.

Based on information from Yushi’s past verification, this is thought to be due to the fact that the “Super CCD Honeycomb IV SR” sensor image is mainly S pixels and has 3 megapixels of full data, and the R pixels are supplementary data for the overexposed areas, and only a portion of the 3 megapixels is recorded.

Therefore, the 3 megapixel data is basically supplemented and recorded at 6 megapixels.

To develop the RAF from the F710, I used Fujifilm’s “X RAW STUDIO”, but it seems that the software alone cannot develop the images, and that the camera with the memory card inserted needs to be connected to a PC and the chip inside the camera needs to be used for development. This seems to produce the same results as shooting in JPEG, so I use this software to view the thumbnails.

The actual development software I use is Affinity Photo 2, but the color tones displayed in the thumbnails in “X RAW STUDIO” are quite different from the default color tones loaded in Affinity Photo 2, so “X RAW STUDIO” seems to display image data in a reasonably processed state even without connecting the camera.

If you use s7raw, a development software for Windows, you can change the mixing ratio of S and R pixels. Unfortunately, this software is not available for Mac. This software is available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions for Intel (AMD)-CPUs, and although the download link on the official page seems to be broken, you can download it from SOFTPEDIA.

When I used it on Windows 10, I was able to process data from a FinePix F710 without any problems.

When I used it for the first time in 20 years, I encountered a zoom error that made it impossible to retract the lens, which is common with Fujifilm compact digital cameras. This is because the plastic gears and other parts of the lens retraction mechanism deteriorate and break down. Although this is to reduce costs, they are much weaker than older cameras.

The F710 also suffers from regular bumps when photographing the electrical wires, a characteristic of its honeycomb sensor, at an angle. This does not change even if the data shot in Raw is developed.

3．Add info. XD picture card

XD Picture Card (hereafter referred to as XD Picture) is a memory card standard established by Fujifilm and Olympus, the winners of compact digital cameras in the 2000s. Due to lack of experience in creating standards, this recording media had problems with expandability, compatibility, and speed. In the end, it was a sad standard that was short-lived as it could not resist the onslaught of SD cards.

XD Picture is available in capacities of 16MB, 32MB, 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, and 2GB, but older cameras have a limit of 512MB.

The FinePix F710 I have is able to use 2GB of XD Picture with firmware 1.55. According to a Fujifilm news release, the supported XD Picture size is 512MB, so if you have older firmware, you may be limited.

I saw a statement in “Playing with the FinePix F700” that the FinePix F700 also supports large-capacity XD Picture with firmware 3.0 or later.

Depending on the firmware, the FinePix F810 may also fall under the 512MB limit.

XD Pictures was used in compact digital cameras from Olympus and Fujifilm in the 2000s, but the downside is that the memory cards themselves are scarce, so the unit price per recording capacity on the secondhand market is quite high.

Specification

Items	FinePix F700	FinePix F710	FinePix F800
Number of pixels	6.2 million pixels (S pixels: 3.1 million pixels R pixels: 3.1 million pixels)	6.2 million pixels (S pixels: 3.1 million pixels R pixels: 3.1 million pixels)	630万画素
Sensor type	Super CCD Honeycomb IV SR	Super CCD Honeycomb IV SR	Super CCD Honeycomb IV HR
Sensor size	1/1.7	1/1.7	1/1.7
Lens	f=7.7mm～23.1mm (equivalent to 35mm～105mm on a 35mm camera)	f=7.2mm to 28.8mm (35mm film equivalent, STD: 32.5mm to 130mm equivalent)	f=7.2mm to 28.8mm (35mm film equivalent, STD: 32.5mm to 130mm equivalent)
Aperture	F2.8～F4.9	F2.8～F5.6	F2.8～F5.6
OVF	Real image optical zoom viewfinder	Real image optical zoom viewfinder	Real image optical zoom viewfinder
Rear LCD Size	1.8 inch	2.1 inch	2.1 inch
Rear LCD resolution	134,000 pixels	173,000 pixels	173,000 pixels
Battery	NP-40	NP-40	NP-40
Recording media	xD-Picture Card Official (16-256MB) Supports 1GB and 2GB with latest firmware	xD-Picture Card Official (16-512MB) Supports 1GB and 2GB with latest firmware	xD-Picture Card Official (16-512MB) Supports 1GB and 2GB with latest firmware
Size (mm) Width x Height x Depth	108 × 54 x 28	110 × 54 x 29	110 × 54 x 29
Weight (g) (fully equipped)	190	225	220
Release date	2003.summer	2004.3	2004.8
Color	Silver	Silver	Silver
Price(Yen/No-tax)	¥74,800-	Open price	Open price