Fujifilm today announced the launch of FinePix Z3, the 3rd generation of the iconic ‘Z’ series design. With a re-designed body and funky new colours, the FinePix Z3 will appeal to the most fashion conscious customers, and is likely to be particularly popular with female owners. Women now buy almost as many digital cameras as men, however the FinePix Z3’s appeal to this market is more than the usual ‘slim camera’ story.

Research has shown that the majority of pictures taken by women are ‘people pictures’ in low light situations and taken in close proximity. Ironically, it is exactly this kind of situation that spells trouble for conventional digital cameras. Blurry shots, unnatural-looking flash and a complete absence of background detail mean that very few photos from social events make it into the picture frame or onto the mantelpiece.Any camera that shares a name with a sporty BMW touring car had better be a good-looking chunk of technology, and the latest instalment in Fujifilm’s catwalk-friendly Z series is certainly that. The Z3 boasts the same clean lines as its predecessors, with an attractive curved design and a smart sliding lens cover that doubles up as the on/off switch. The whole shebang is made from sturdy aluminium, and it feels as solid as any compact camera on the market.

Our only gripe with the design is that while the colour range has been increased to three models, the classy black and silver number has fallen by the wayside. Instead, we keep the cool silver, and are offered boy and girl versions in a baby blue or soft pink finish.

It may not be as slim as say the Cyber-shot DSC-T7, but the Z3 is a tad shorter and still cuts a slimline dash at 90mm by 55mm by 20mm. It weighs in at a handbag — or manbag — friendly 155 grams with card and battery on board. There’s little in the way of protrusions, too, and the lanyard slips through a couple of embedded slots on the right-hand side of the camera.

It may be small, but the extra depth compared to some compacts means it’s reasonably easy to get to grips with, and fingers and thumbs don’t get in the way of the lens and flash. This makes for steady images, especially when you rack up the ISO settings — more on that later. The sliding cover can sometimes be a pain, though, and it feels clumsy getting your hand from opening the camera to ready to shoot, even though start-up time is a racy 0.5 seconds.Exposures are also pretty good with most general scenes returning a very pleasing picture. The dual exposure mode can work well if you’re not sure whether to use flash or not. However, on a number of shots with high contrast scenes the main area came back a little underexposed. This isn’t unusual (the camera has to balance a bright sky and dark foreground) and can usually be dealt with by exposure compensation. On most compacts this isn’t a big deal but on the Z3 exposure comp only works in “manual” mode. If you are shooting in “auto” mode (and the camera performs very well in this mode most of the time) you are 10 button presses from adding +1 exposure compensation.The Fuji Finepix Z3 is a pocket sized digital camera. Looking at its design and features it is fairly typical of this type of camera. This makes it suitable for anyone looking for a standard, compact, point and shoot digital camera. It has five megapixels and a three times zoom lens. It comes with a cradle. The cradle is used when the battery is being recharged or the Finepix Z3 is being connected to a television, compatible printer or computer. The cradle is also used for attaching the camera to a tripod.

Fujifilm has just launched another high-spec camera in its semi-pro S series, the new FinePix S6500fd. It fits into the range between the soon-to-be-replaced S9500 and the lower spec S5600 (reviewed here in May) although it’s far closer to the higher end of the scale. It inherits many features from the S9500, most notably that excellent f2.8-f4.9, 10.7x optical zoom lens. It’s also about the same size and weight as the S9500, in fact it’s a couple of millimetres wider and taller, although it is a little lighter. In other words, the S6500 is far closer in size, shape and weight to a digital SLR than to most other fixed-lens cameras.

The S6500 is supposed to be the lower-spec camera, so it lacks a few of the S9500’s features. For starters it has a 6.3-megapixel SuperCCD HR sensor, compared to its older brother’s 9.0-megapixel sensor. Its 2.5in, 235,000 pixel LCD monitor is bigger and sharper, but lacks the S9500’s fold-out ability. It has a much simpler control layout, which unfortunately means that some useful features, such as the self-timer, are relegated to the menu. It also lacks the cable release thread on the shutter button.

In which case the so-called ‘bridge’ cameras like this one are ideal. They have all the look of a DSLR and many of the manual functions available, but also a comforting amount of the work can be handled automatically. In terms of picture quality you know you’re going to be on to a winner as Fujifilm has employed its 6.3-megapixel Super CCD sensor and Real Photo Technology II, as well as a comparatively new feature which should improve your portrait pictures. Before we look at that, let’s review some of the statistics. The maximum resolution is 2,848 x 2,136 and the light sensitivity ranges from ISO100 to 3200 which means you can achieve exceptional results in poor lighting conditions without always having to use flash. Talking of which, the camera uses intelligent flash which can be adjusted to your circumstances and there’s a ‘Natural and Flash’ mode which can take two rapid pictures, one with and one without flash, so you can compare and contrast the results.

The fixed Fujinon lens offers an impressive 10.7 times optical zoom lens. The actual zoom range is 6.2 to 66.7mm which is the equivalent of a 28 – 300mm lens on a 35mm camera which should cover most situations. In use, this focal length range is very easy to hand hold although at the longer end, for sharper pictures you should consider using a tripod. Generally, digital cameras tend to have a rocker switch. The zooming on this camera is by way of a twist barrel control.