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"Picky Details" for the Fujifilm FinePix F410 digital camera
(Timing, Power, and Storage Info)

Timing
Since they're rarely reported on but very important to the picture-taking experience, I measure both cycle times and shutter delay times for all the cameras I review, using a test system I designed and built for the purpose. (Crystal-controlled, with a resolution of 0.001 second.) Here are the numbers I collected for the Fujifilm FinePix F410:

NOTE: My qualitative characterizations of camera performance below (that is, "reasonably fast," "about average," etc.) are meant to be relative to other cameras of similar price and general capabilities. Thus, the same shutter lag that's "very fast" for a low-end consumer camera might be characterized as "quite slow" if I encountered it on a professional model. The comments are also intended as only a quick reference: If performance specs are critical for you, rely on the absolute numbers to compare cameras, rather than my purely qualitative comments.

Fujifilm FinePix F410 Timings
Operation
Time
(secs)
Notes
Power On -> First shot
2.66
Time from power-up to first shot captured. Pretty fast.
Shutdown
2.62
Lens retracts before shutdown. About average.
Play to Record, first shot
2.78
Time until first shot is captured. A bit slow.
Record to play
3.12/1.18
Time to display an image after capture. First number is for maximum resolution, second is for minimum. The max-res time is rather slow.
Shutter lag, full autofocus
0.58/0.74
First time is with lens at telephoto, second for wide angle. Both times are a good bit faster than average.
Shutter lag, prefocus
0.140
Time to capture, after half-pressing Shutter button. Somewhat faster than average.
Cycle Time, max/min resolution
3.63/3.41
First number is for maximum resolution files, second number is time for minimum res. Both times are slower than average, as the F410 doesn't appear to make use of buffer memory to speed cycle time. (But at least things don't slow down further after a certain number of shots have been captured.)
Cycle Time, continuous mode 0.30
(3.3 frames/sec)
No difference in continuous mode cycle time for large or small files, but large images take 17.3 seconds to write to the memory card after a burst of four, vs 11.7 seconds for small ones.


Based on the timing results above, normal-mode cycle times seem to be the weak point of the F410, while shutter lag seems to be its strong suit. There doesn't appear to be any buffer memory at play in normal shooting mode, puzzling since the camera obviously has 4 frames of buffer memory that it uses in continuous mode. While its long cycle time would normally rule out its use for sports and other fast action shots, its "Final 4" continuous-capture mode is incredibly useful, making it almost easy to capture critical moments. (Final 4 mode starts grabbing images at 3 frames per second as soon as you press the shutter button, then saves the final four shots when you release the shutter button. This compensates for your reaction time, by saving the last four images before you realize that the moment you wanted to capture has passed. - Sort of a poor man's time machine...)

Power
The F410 uses a small, flat LiIon cell (NP-60 form factor), but displays excellent battery life given the compact scale of both the camera and battery. - I still strongly recommend picking up a second battery when you buy the camera though, as digicam batteries invariably run out at the worst possible time.

The table below shows the F410's actual power drain in various operating modes, and projected battery life, based on a 1035 mAh battery capacity:

 

Operating Mode
Power
(@3.7 volts on the external power terminal)
Est. Minutes
(3.7v, 1035mAh LiIon cell)
Capture Mode, w/LCD
319 mA
144
Capture Mode, no LCD
100 mA
7.7 hours
Half-pressed shutter w/LCD
319 mA
145
Half-pressed w/o LCD
260 mA
176
Memory Write (transient)
375 mA
n/a
Flash Recharge (transient)
616 mA
n/a
Image Playback
205 mA
3.8

 

This is unusually good battery life for a subcompact camera. Particularly welcome is the very low power consumption in record mode when the LCD is left turned off. This means you can leave the camera on and ready to shoot almost all day one one battery charge. - I do wish that the optical viewfinder was a bit more accurate, as that'd let you leave the LCD screen off all the time, really saving battery power. Still, battery life is much better than most other compact digicams I've tested..

As always though, I strongly advise purchasing a second battery along with the camera, to avoid running out of juice at an inconvenient moment.

Storage Capacity
The FinePix F410 stores its photos on xD-Picture cards, and a 16 MB card is packed with the camera. As always, I strongly recommend buying at least a 32MB card, preferably a 64MB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings. (Particularly given the large size of the F410's maximum-resolution images.) The chart below shows how many images can be stored on the included 16MB card at each size/quality setting, and the approximate amount of image compression applied in each mode. (The more image compression that's applied, the smaller the image files, but the lower quality the photos will be.)

 

Image Capacity vs
Resolution/Quality
16MB Memory Card
(Only one quality setting per file size)
2,816 x 2,120 Images
(Avg size)
10
1,488 KB
Approx.
Compression
12:1
2,048 x 1,536 Images
(Avg size)
20
790 KB
Approx.
Compression
12:1
1,280 x 960
Images
(Avg size)
34
465 KB
Approx.
Compression
8:1
640 x 480
Images
(Avg size)
124
128 KB
Approx.
Compression
7:1

 

Download Speed
The F410 connects to a host computer via a USB interface. Downloading files to my Sony VAIO desktop (2.4 GHz) running Windows XP, it came in at 695 KBytes/second. This is well at the upper range of digicams I've tested, leading me to suspect that it may actually have a USB 2.0 interface on it, vs the slower USB 1.1. (Cameras with slow USB interfaces run as low as 300 KB/s, cameras with fast ones run as high as 600 KB/s.)

 

F410 Review
F410 Test Images
F410 Specifications
F410 "Picky Details"
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