You'll Understand......
Written: Apr 28 '02 (Updated Apr 28 '02)
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Pros: Small, light, excellent color reproduction, web cam, 20 sec video
Cons: Cheap construction, confusing menus
The Bottom Line: This is an excellent digi cam for a beginner but will leave more experienced users wanting more. Durability is a question mark.
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| kajguy's Full Review: FUJIFILM FinePix 2600 Zoom Digital Camera |
I had a horrible thing happen to me recently. I left my beloved HP 618 PhotoSmart Digital Camera in my car overnight. I guess it was bait for thieves, because they broke in and stole it. My wife was unhappy enough about the $400.00 I paid for that camera less than 8 months before and since my deductible was $1,000.00, it was a complete loss. Tragic!!! But, the 618 gave me an enduring love of digital photography so I could only last a month or so without a digital camera before I just had to get a new one. Now that I was on to my second digi cam, I had some minimum requirements: a 2 megapixel with a 3x optical zoom was the least I would settle for. But, I had to bring it home for less than $300.00 or I'd be in big trouble with the spouse.
I went to Good Guys, where I found this 2.11 MegaPixel Fuji for $299.00. I really did not know much about the Fuji brand, but I had a store credit from Good Guys from an earlier fiasco and they were out of the comparable Canon, HP and Olympus cameras, which seems to be a problem in their stores: out of stock. My friend Ken had an earlier model Fuji that he really liked, so it made this purchase easier, since I knew Fuji, as a maker of film, had an excellent reputation for outstanding color reproduction.
Unfortunately, this review is going to end up comparing the Fuji with my beloved HP.
DESCRIPTION: Right off the bat, it is clear that the Fuji was a "cheap" camera. It's made in China (what isn't these days?) and it's all plastic. Not a shred of metal in sight! It has a silver-metallic case with a sliding plastic door over the lens. You have to slide the plastic door all the way back till it clicks and the lens extends or the camera will not work. It has a 1.8” color active matrix LCD on the back and a minimum of buttons and switches. Sadly, everything has a very fragile feel to it. The HP had some heft to it, whereas the Fuji is extremely light and fragile. The sliding lens cover feels like it will break off at any minute. The battery door pops open with the slightest provocation. The power switch is really feeble. And, if I ever drop this thing....it's a gonner!
FEATURES: The Fuji has a Fujinon lens with 3x Optical and 2x Digital Zoom. It has a 2.11 megapixel CCD (capture device) and comes with an 8MB Smart Media Card. It is supplied with two Ni-Mh batteries and a recharger. The batteries are good for about 100 shots and take 5 hours to recharge. It has some limited manual controls, live EV and White Balance and 5 Flash modes, including Red Eye reduction. The LCD allows you to see up to 9 Thumbnails images at a time in the playback mode. It has Auto Focus and Auto Exposure. The Fuji uses a USB connection to my computer, but the USB connector on the camera is exposed to the elements, which I do not consider a sign of thoughtful design. The HP's USB connector was covered. The first accessory I got was a padded camera bag.
The Fuji also has a couple of unexpected features: it can double as a Web Cam, with included software, and can take a 20 sec video clip! The HP had nothing like this.
USER COMMENTS: The 2" color LCD on the back of the Fuji is an active matrix unit that has excellent brightness and color saturation. It also displays a wealth of information about the mode the camera is in. The menus are not as comprehensive as the HP, which were much more graphical and sophisticated, and it does not have "Digita", like the HP, which allows you to update the firmware (operating system) via software downloads. However, it does have EV and White Balance controls in the Manual mode and the Automatic settings are generally acceptable for most conditions. Unfortunately, the Menu arrangement is not intuitive and takes some time to adjust to.
One of my principal reasons for getting this camera was to take pictures of items I have up for auction on E-bay (ID: chrisart33). E-bay is notorious for items depicted with grainy, blurry photos which conceal obvious defects. I pride myself of letting potential bidders see every detail and so a camera that would take clear close ups was very important to me. I am happy to say that the Macro mode on this Fuji produced sharp closeups, just like the HP.
The Fuji I came with an 8MB Smart Media Memory Card, which quickly filled up, since each hi-resolution photo takes up 1 MB, so I upgraded immediately to 128MB for $70.00 at the local CompUSA. The Fuji seems to be able to snap pictures at a faster clip, with less recovery time. The Fuji takes only two AA batteries whereas the HP needed 4. The Fuji seems to take longer to wear the batteries out, although I have not actually measured its performance in this respect. The HP seemed to last for only about 30 shots before the batteries needed replacing whereas the Fuji is good for about 100.
What really impressed me, however, was how much better the pictures taken on the Fuji looked when compared with photos I had taken in the HP. In the hi-resolution mode, the Fuji has better detail and the colors were rich and vibrant, whereas the HP's were relatively flat.
CONCLUDING COMMENTS: Questions of durability aside, the biggest disappointment I have with this camera is that it now goes for as little as $210.00. I wish I had waited....but I just couldn't. You'll understand!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 299.00
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Epinions.com ID:
kajguy
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Member: Chris Opfell
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Reviews written: 42
Trusted by: 14 members
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