Fujifilm Finepix F770EXR review

D-Range Priority successfully revealed hidden details in the brightest parts of images, but High ISO mode produced the most dramatic results, with crisp details and only a modicum of noise at ISO 1600. The Canon SX260 HS’s shots at identical settings were even cleaner, but its heavier noise reduction meant less fine detail. The cheaper F660EXR fared better than either.

It’s in low light that the EXR sensor comes into its own, keeping noise down and detail levels up.

The lens pulled its weight, with impressive focus throughout its 20x zoom range. However, for all its strengths it seems that this sensor doesn’t excel for detail in its 16-megapixel mode. Still, there’s more than enough detail for anything except huge prints or heavily cropped photos. The only area where image quality disappoints is flash photography, where needlessly high ISO speeds produce noisy images. Setting it manually avoids this problem.

It’s far from poor, but other cameras deliver crisper details in favourable lighting such as this.

The F770EXR didn’t excel for video capture, displaying the same traits that we saw in the F660EXR, such as skittish autofocus, zoom noise in the muffled soundtrack and soft details that didn’t live up to the 1080p resolution. It’s fine for occasional use, but Olympus and Panasonic’s pocket ultra-zoom cameras handle video much more ably.

The competition is fierce, but the F770EXR’s huge zoom, nippy performance, superb low-light image quality and built-in GPS add up to an extremely impressive package. However, we prefer the image quality, video capture, performance and controls of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ25.