Fujifilm adds Face Detection to Z series with the Z5fd

In three colours including brown, because brown is the new black

9 November 2006 10:22 GMT / By Amber Maitland

Fujifilm has launched the next model in their Z series, the Z5fd, for the first time with Face Detection technology.

This is Fujifilm’s proprietary technology that locks on to faces and follows them to keep them in focus until they move out of frame or the user snaps a picture. In playback mode, pressing the Face Detection button will autozoom on to each face in turn so that you can check the focus and detail. The company promises that it can cope even in dark or back-lit scenes, and when the faces are off-centre.

The Z5fd comes in three colours: Raspberry Red, Mocha Brown, and Silver. Features are fairly standard for a compact, with a 3x optical zoom, 6.3MP, a 2.5-inch LCD, and ISO up to 1600. Fujifilm has also incorporated Intelligent Flash and a new blog mode into the Z5fd. The intelligent flash ensures a balanced exposure so that foreground subjects aren’t overexposed by a too-powerful strobe.

Natural Light and Flash mode force the camera to take two photos in quick succession, one with and one without flash, and then display both side by side for comparison. Blog mode optimises images for posting online, presumably by compressing them to make them easier to upload.

Other features include movie recording at 30fps with sound, and 14 scene modes. The Z5fd is expected to be available in January, with pricing announced closer to the date.