Shame the buying experience wasnt as good as the camera (Fujifilm Finepix 2600 Zoom)

Member Name: wmb85

Product:	Fujifilm Finepix 2600 Zoom
Date:	03/11/02 (571 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: features, picture quality, view-and-snap picture capability

Disadvantages: buying it!, slightly more bulky that i imagined

First off, I'll just say that this op is about the A204, the replacement for the 2600. There isnt a A204 page on dooyoo yet, but i'll swap it over when it comes on.

First of all, I'll tell you about the buying experience... it wasnt the best! I bought it from Dixons, mainly because I bought my PS2 from there and the service was pretty good. This time however, it was different. I was left waiting at the counter for ages, and when I asked the woman who served me to tell me about the camera, she just read off the card underneath. I could have done that!

So when I eventually said Id take it, she started to go on about Insuring it. I don't believe in insuring things like this - especially when it costs £12.99 a month for 10 months! So after about 15 minutes of me saying NO she eventually put the insurance booklet away (thank god!) and said that i would need to buy some rechargable batteries and a charger. Now i thought that these came with the camera, but I thought I'd trust the 'pro'. I also bought a 64MB Memory card too, the 16 MB card that came with it doesnt store many pictures, about 25 on the highest quality setting.

So, when I eventually parted with my £260 (!!!) I got home and opened up the box to find some rechargable batteries already in there! The 64 MB card she sold me for £40 was the wrong one too! So I was not best pleased.

Anyhoo, the camera itself is a little bit bigger than a thought. Ive only seen this camera from the front, but from the side it is a little bit thick. It looks like a little brick, but a good looking brick!

When i first put the batteries in and turned it on, a message came up on the LCD screen on the back saying 'LENS COVER'. So i slid the cover back and the message still came on. So I turned the camera off and then on again. The message was still there. So I said a few words that I will not say on here, mainly because I will get thrown out. Then I realised
that you have to pull the cover back till it clicks. Then the lens whirrs its way out and you are ready to shoot! Or so I thought. You have to set the date and time first. But becuase I never read the manual, i didnt do it right. So, the first picture taken with my camera was of the floor.

The camera features a lot of features, most of which i havnt worked out yet. The Menu system takes a bit of getting used to, but I got the hang of it after about half-an-hour. Deleting picutres is easy. You can either delete them all at one or individually. You can protect them too, so you can prevent accidental deletion. Clever stuff.

The LCD screen is clear, although it takes a lot of battery power. The best thing to do is just use the normal viewfinder and use the screen for viewing the pictures you have taken.

You can also record moving images. Only 20 seconds and with no sound. Ive not used this yet, and I dont think that I will. Its more of a gimmick than a usefull addition in my opinion.

The picture quality is pretty amazing too! I was suprised at just how good it was, crystal clear pictures and that was at only about 1 million pixels. This camera has 2 million pixels! I still havnt managed to work out how to use the software that came with the camera, but its easy to transfer photos. Just install the software, plug the camera in with the supplied USB cable and turn it on. It then transfers the photos from camera to PC! Remember to save them though, if you unplug your camera, the photos dissapear from your PC! Ive not sussed out how to save yet!

If I work out how to use the rest of the features, i'll update this op. Great Camera!

Summary: