Exposure Compensation

If I could only share one tip about using the F20, it would be to use minus Exposure Compensation when taking photos outside…the number according to the lighting. This, in conjunction with proper focus/lock, helps minimize blown highlights, white areas in a scene that contain no detail.

I keep the F20 set at -1/3 EV even for most outside shots.

White Balance

White balance can at times be finicky when using the tiny built-in flash inside. Setting a custom white balance is easy and often produces better results (see manual page 61).

Take test shots to make sure your colors won’t be way off. In incandescent lighting, incandescent or manual WB do better than auto mode.

FinePix Viewer

Not the best image viewing software in the world, to say the least. But it does give you the most complete Exif data for photos taken with a FinePix camera. It lacks a way to rate photos.

Access to full EXIF information is not easy to find initially for those unfamiliar with FinePix Viewer. To access it, click on the View menu and select Menu Panel View. Then click on File/Folder Info in the left hand column panel.