Fujifilm Unveils FinePix F31fd

Fujifilm unveils new FinePix F31fd featuring a large 2.5 inch, 230,000 pixel LCD screen, 6.3 million pixels, Face Detection Technology built-in to the camera’s processor, full resolution of ISO 3200 sensitivity, long life battery up to 580 shots, Real Photo Processor II and new Super CCD HR VI. The FinePix F31fd will be available from UK retailers in late November 2006. The price is not yet confirmed.

PRESS RELEASE:

Fujifilm launches the FinePix F31fd with the world’s fastest Face Detection technology*

*World’s fastest Face Detection technology at the time of research conducted by Fujifilm in July 2006.

Fujifilm today announced the launch of the FinePix F31fd, its first pocketable digital camera to feature hardware-based Face Detection technology, which debuted with the announcement of the FinePix S6500fd in July 2006. Face Detection has great impact on people photography, ensuring the camera automatically focuses on and exposes for faces, rather than details that can confuse other cameras. Coping with up to ten faces in a frame, it ensures photos of friends and family are crisp, clear and perfectly exposed no matter what the occasion. Because Fujifilm’s Face Detection technology is built-in to the camera’s processor, it is able to identify faces, optimise settings and take the photo within just 0.05 seconds.

The FinePix F31fd inherits its feature set from its older brother, the TIPA and DIMA award winning FinePix F30. In particular its unrivalled low-light performance of ISO 3200 at full resolution, made possible by Fujifilm’s acclaimed Real Photo Processor II, combines with Face Detection to make the FinePix F31fd the ultimate compact for people photography. With Fujinon 3x optical zoom lens, 6 megapixel Super CCD HR VI, 2.5 inch LCD screen and unique Fujifilm technologies such as Intelligent Flash, the FinePix F31fd is perfect for anyone looking for a camera that will rise to any occasion.

The camera’s fast response times, 0.01 second shutter lag and 1.5 second start-up time, ensure it will catch all the action and spell the end for missed photo opportunities. Its 580-shot battery life makes it an ideal constant companion for days out or weekends away without the worry of missed photo opportunities thanks to a spent battery.

Face Detection
Fujifilm’s Face Detection technology was originally developed for the company’s photofinishing division, where it was used for reproducing the fine detail in people’s faces in print. In developing the technology for use in FinePix cameras, Fujifilm’s research & development team’s challenge was to make it fast, otherwise the feature would never be anything more than a novelty. In achieving a response time of 0.05 seconds, Fujifilm’s Face Detection becomes a genuinely useful tool for capturing photos of friends and family that are perfectly focused and exposed to prioritise the people in the frame.

Face Detection works by triangulating eyes and mouth, using an algorithm to optimise focus and exposure for up to ten faces in a single frame. A green square surrounds the face of the primary subject on the camera’s LCD screen, whilst white squares identify up to nine other subjects. Movement tracking keeps the camera ‘locked on’ to its subjects until they move out of the picture. The technology works irrespective of the subject’s position in the frame, and is not confused by spectacles.

In Playback mode, Face Detection will automatically zoom in to subjects’ faces and trim the shot for optimum portraits.

A low light landmark
The launch of the FinePix F30 set standards for low light photography, with sensitivity at full resolution of ISO 3200. With the launch of the FinePix F31fd, Fujifilm’s compact digital cameras remain leaders in their class for low-light performance. These qualities, combined with the camera’s Anti-blur mode, mean that subject and camera movement do not result in blurred images.

Fujifilm has identified low light photography as one of the true benchmarks of a digital camera’s performance, as most images are taken when the light is limited and flash often leaves subjects looking bleached white, whilst rendering the background invisible. The product of over 60 years’ accumulated sensor technology, Fujifilm’s Real Photo Processor II enables the ISO 3200 sensitivity of the original FinePix F30, and now the FinePix F31fd. This makes flash-free photography possible with natural illumination, balanced foreground and background exposure and no subject blurring, in even the dimmest conditions. Fujifilm’s Real Photo Technology means images taken at the highest sensitivity of ISO 3200 suffer from less noise than some others at 1600. Furthermore, because the camera requires no decrease in resolution at its highest ISO setting, images can be printed at previously unachievable sizes with no loss of quality.

For those occasions when flash is required, Fujifilm’s Intelligent Flash system sets flash power output to achieve natural foreground illumination with balanced background exposure. Avoiding both the messy background blur of ‘slow-sync’ flash, and the stark contrast of conventional flash, Intelligent Flash results in visibly more pleasing, natural looking photos. For times when a decision about lighting could mean a missed photo opportunity, the FinePix F31fd’s Natural Light & Flash mode takes two photos in quick succession, one with flash and one without, then displays them side-by-side for instant comparison.

2.5 inch LCD screen
The FinePix F31fd features a large 2.5 inch, 230,000 pixel LCD screen, which is coated with Fujifilm’s proprietary CV film. This minimises glare and reflections so that images can be viewed from any angle and even in sunny conditions, when glare would usually be a problem. In addition, the screen’s brightness adjusts automatically, depending on the amount of light available, to further enhance ease of viewing.

Special scene modes
The camera’s 15 scene positions include beach, snow and fireworks for optimum photography, no matter what the event. Its underwater scene mode acts in the same way as a red filter and, when teamed with the WP-FXF30 underwater housing, ensures underwater images from diving and snorkelling are as colourful and vibrant as the human eye sees them.

Adrian Clarke, Fujifilm’s Director of Photo Products, said: “The FinePix F31fd has a commercially successful and award-winning predecessor but still manages to build on this high standard. We introduced Face Detection in July this year with the launch of the FinePix S6500fd. However, the FinePix F31fd marks its first appearance in a pocket-sized digital camera. This is a significant step because it introduces high-level photographic technology to a wider market of digital camera buyers. It is a quick, efficient and user-friendly detection system. Add this to award winning features such as ISO 3200 at full resolution and you have an incredibly powerful camera married with absolute convenience and pocketability.”

FinePix F31fd features at a glance
*Face Detection Technology built-in to the camera’s processor
*Real Photo Processor II and new Super CCD HR VI
*ISO 3200 sensitivity at full resolution
*6.3 million pixels
*3.0x optical zoom
*Long-life battery (up to 580 shots)
*IR Communication (IR simple *)
*VGA movie capture of 30 frames per second with sound
*PictBrdge ™ compatible for direct printing without a PC
*Quick response times (0.01 second shutter lag and 1.5 second start-up)

Availability & pricing
The FinePix F31fd will be available from UK retailers in late November 2006. Pricing and stockists will be announced nearer to the date of retail launch.*

Notes to Editors
*For up-to-date pricing on any Fujifilm digital products, please contact Midnight Communications.

For further information, images and products for review, please contact:
Rosie Watson / Alicia Doherty
Midnight Communications
01273 666 200
fujifilm@midnight.co.uk

Hayley Buery
Fuji Photo Film (UK) Limited
020 7465 5852
hbuery@fuji.co.uk

Information about Fujifilm products, and high-resolution images, are also available at www.fujifilm.co.uk/presscentre.

Contact details for customers
For information about Fujifilm and its products, please visit: www.fujifilm.co.uk or call 0870 084 1310

About Fujifilm
Fujifilm is a global leader in imaging technology, products and services including digital cameras, photofinishing, digital storage and recording media, consumer and professional film, motion picture film, professional video, printing systems, medical imaging, office technology, flat panel displays and graphic arts. The company employs more than 73,000 people worldwide, with 178 subsidiaries stretching across four continents.

Uniquely placed to be a market leader in digital imaging, Fujifilm develops and manufactures its own sensors, lenses and processing technology. In addition to its production plants and R&D operations in Japan, the company has key manufacturing facilities in Europe and the USA for core products such as colour film, colour paper, single use cameras and CTP printing plates, and has further factories in Brazil and China. It has a global turnover in excess of £13 billion.

In the UK, Fujifilm has been supplying the imaging, printing and graphics industries, as well as consumers, professional and enthusiast photographers, with high quality, innovative products and services for over 25 years. Fujifilm UK currently employs more than 450 people and has become one of the country’s most popular photographic and imaging brands.

© 2006, Fuji Photo Film (UK) Ltd. Specifications are subject to change.