With its exposed USB, video and power jacks on the side, the FinePix A700 is rudimentary compared to its competitors. But it matches their key specifications with 7.3 megapixels, a 3x zoom and a 2.4in TFT.
But despite its 112,000-pixel resolution, the screen appears grainy and it’s difficult to check whether your subject is in focus; you have to rely on the camera’s green light. Take a 7-megapixel shot at the wrong moment, though, and you’ll be cursing the 8.9-second wait while the image is written to the xD-Picture card. Plus, like the slow Olympus, there’s no continuous shooting mode to compensate.
The lack of manual control is expected; you can only alter ISO, white balance and exposure compensation. As the maximum ISO is 400, there’s no anti-shake mode and movies can only be shot at a maximum of 320 x 240.
On the whole, image quality was average. In anything but the best light, the A700 tended towards underexposure, and noise was evident. The flash didn’t eliminate this, although exposure levels were fine. Macro ability was mediocre, but at least shots were sharp and had decent detail. In low light, the lack of an AF-assist lamp did the A700 no favours, and even when shots were sharp, noise was a problem.
At £83, the A700 is overpriced next to the Canon, which has a good deal more features and copes better in low light.
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