Tiny dynamite (Fujifilm Finepix 2800 Zoom)

Member Name: HelenHancox

Product:	Fujifilm Finepix 2800 Zoom
Date:	05/07/02 (1251 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: size, quality, price

Disadvantages: case to fit, viewfinder in low light, poor battery warning

Being a slight SLR snob (for some reason I can never see properly through the viewfinders of other cameras) it can be limited looking for a digital camera within a reasonable price range that is an SLR. When the time came that my husband and I had held off as long as we could before buying one, we got a copy of What Digital Camera and read all the reviews. It was basically the only one that would do.

When I actually went to see one in the flesh I was amazed how small it was. It was tiny! The previous digiSLR that I had used (an Olympus, can't remember the model) was very big, although surprisingly light. This camera was half the size I expected, and also very light. It was still the right shape for me, as a right handed person, to grip it steadily.

What I hadn't realised was that it's not a true SLR in that the viewfinder, as well as the display on the back, is a digital image. It takes a little while to get used to that - when you focus the picture freezes, and in dim light it can be hard to make things out (it can be boosted but that involves fiddly menu items) - but the immediate benefit is in battery-usage. When you take the photo it displays it immediately in the viewfinder, not on the back LCD panel. Although I think rechargable batteries are a must, for this camera they last pretty well. One bad point - we get about one second's warning before they go flat and the camera doesn't work. But I filled up 2 memory cards (totalling 76MB) with pictures, video clips, voice captions etc, and played them all back several times whilst on holiday, all in one set of batteries.

Picture quality is excellent. I have taken lots of photos in macro mode of my dog's nose, flowers, an alpine salamander I came across in Austria, and all come out very well. The camera didn't do as well in very bright sunlight at our local village fete dog show - but the pictures are still OK. The video clips are very low res but ca
n be amusing fun.

Linking to PC or Mac is easy. Just plug the USB cable in and the Mac mounts the camera as a new drive. With the PC you can find the camera through explorer as usual. My 64MB card (bought separately) holds about 96 best quality 2MP photos (in JPG format) and I can copy the whole lot across to the Mac hard disk in about 40 seconds.

The camera comes without a case and I decided that a case was very necessary - the light plastic would easily be scratched. I bought the genuine fuji case but it's not that good actually. The main problem is that the camera is a funny shape and when trying to push it into the case it's easy to switch it on, at which point it tries to push out its lens. I have had two panicky occasions where I've been sure I've broken it for life (although it survived). I have tried it with several other generic cases but it's just the wrong shape. I am always on the lookout when shopping for the magic case that fits it well and that means it can be extracted in a hurry for the magic photo moment.

I paid £299 for the camera in about April 2002 - I call that excellent value. I'm sure it's cheaper now, but even at £299 I am more than satisfied.

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