Performance Anxiety and the Fujifilm FinePix F30

I just got my new FujiFilm FinePix F30 digital camera this week. (The place I got it from shipped from Edison, NJ, so even with free ground shipping, it was basically next-day. The 1GB xD card came USPS a day later, from California.)

It's all charged up and ready to go, but I haven't taken a picture with it yet. I guess it's because of performance anxiety, since I do want to make sure I use the right mode and settings -- they have a few that actually seem useful and that I might use, like Anti-Blur mode, which bumps up the shutter speed, or Museum Mode, which goes flashless and turns off the self-timer lamp.

Anyway, here are my first, non-picture taking impressions -- they will be annoyingly Canon-centric since, this is my first non-Canon digital camera:

• Size: It's a little bigger than my SD200 (the one that I killed/just died). In fact, it's about as big as my old S200. Of course, it's still in the deck-of-cards realm, so that's okay, though it's not as pocketable for me anymore (small pockets)
  
• Screen: It's nice and big, crisp and bright. It better be, since it doesn't have an optical viewfinder. I knew this going in, but it will make trying to take candids in dark places a bit harder.
• Menus: The setup menu is different from what I'm used to, but it's pretty easy to navigate. I like how the ISO settings get their own button (which is shared with the lesser-used image quality and color settings)
  
• Controls: Pretty straightforward. The proof will be in the pudding, since switching between different modes and adjusting the settings is what I got the silly thing for.
• Accessories: I've got an xD card reader on the way, because I don't like carrying extra cords. So the separate power cord is annoying -- I much prefer the Canon-style battery charger, rather than having to carry a mini-power brick with extra cordage. Oh, and the manual is a little too wide to fit into the pocket I have reserved for it in my laptop bag.

I will try breaking it tonight. After a few drinks, I won't be fretting about modes and such.

Lastly, you might have thought I would have used my camera hiatus to upload my backlog of photos. You'd be wrong.

Tags: fuji finepix f30