Excellent Digital Camera Finepix 40i
Written: May 16 '01 (Updated May 17 '01)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
|
|
| Battery Life: |
 |
|
| Photo Quality: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Excellent Photos, UltraCompact
Durable, Sleek, with itegrated lens-cap
Remote
Cons: High Battery Usage, MP3 proprietary (must use included software and SmartDisk only.)
The Bottom Line: Overall, you can expect get awesome digital pictures from this sleek, well designed digital camera/MP3 player. Just buy lots of batteries!
|
|
|
| gauldd01's Full Review: FUJIFILM FinePix 40i Digital Camera |
Recently having purchased the Fuji FinePix 40i, I realized that it should be placed on a pedestal for all other manufacturers to emulate. Though several other manufacturers have produced combination digital camera/MP3 players, all of them are extremely basic entry-level point-and-shoot models. In contrast, the Fuji 40i is a high quality camera that would be worthy of the pedestal even if it didn't feature have integrated MP3 player. The Finepix 40i a supercompact high-resolution digital camera. With the exception of the lens, the 40i is very similar to Fuji's other SuperCCD cameras.
Images are captured on a 2.4-megapixel SuperCCD sensor, which features octagonal pixels arrayed diagonally instead of traditional square pixels in a grid. Fuji claims that
this system offers improved sensitivity and image detail over a standard CCD. To prove this point, the camera interpolates its 2.4-megapixel images up to 4.3megapixels at the highest-quality setting.
Featuring a brushed metal case with integrated sliding lens cap, the camera feels sleek and its weight sits well in your hand. Its feels sturdy too. Its overall dimensions of 3.4 by 2.8 by 1.1 inches make it one of the smallest digital cameras on the market.
Unfortunately, while most digital cameras of this resolution
and price feature zoom lenses the FinePix i40 does not. The camera does feature a digital zoom, but this merely crops pixels from the edges of your photo and enlarges the remaining pixels, something you could do just as easily at home after transferring the images to your computer. If you're accustomed to having a zoom lens, you're likely to miss this feature. Other great, or perhaps standard now, features include multimode flash and white balance, self-timer, exposure compensation, macro, movie mode, and more.
However, you will want to note that there is no shutter priority or aperture priority mode and no manual focus.
As an MP3 player, the FinePix 40i is functions well with
acceptable sound quality. Though, you wont be able to take pictures and listen to MP3 files simultaneously. The included 16 MB SmartMedia card only hold 15min of music so you need to purchase a larger one, especially if you listen to lots of music and want to take picture too. Another thing to note is that this camera is a battery hog. A pair of AA batteries are devoured in just 3 hours of MP3 playtime.
Beware the Copy Protection Unfortunately, Fuji has included a number of features designed to discourage users from sharing their memory cards. To transfer music to the camera, you MUST use the included software, USB cable, and the newer "ID" SmartMedia card. ("ID" is printed next to the card's capacity.) Non-ID cards won't work for music, and you can't play cards recorded on another 40i, a Rio, or a card reader/writer. These feature make is rather annoying to use the MP3 player. Personally, I use a card reader/writer because I don’t like to connect 10 different USB devices to my computer. All the different software messes things up. The reader/writer is simpler and less instrusive. Oh well.
There is a wired remote included that lets you control most music functions even when the camera is in your pocket. The remote also works with the camera, operating both the digital zoom and the shutter release.
Overall, you can expect get awesome digital pictures from this sleek, well designed digital camera/MP3 player. Just buy lots of batteries!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 569
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
gauldd01
|
 - Top 1000 |
|
Location: Manhasset, NY
Reviews written: 127
Trusted by: 106 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.