Be snap happy with the Fuji FinePix 4700 (Fujifilm Finepix 4700 Zoom)

Member Name: gavcooper

Product:	Fujifilm Finepix 4700 Zoom
Date:	22/02/02 (265 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Small and looks good , Easy to use , High quality photos

Disadvantages: Batteries do not last long, SmartMedia card a bit small

As a Graphic Designer I was looking for a digital camera to take photos of my clients products before I had them professionally shot at a photographic studio. So I was not looking for a top end digital camera, as I did not have thousands of pounds to spend.

My requirements for the chosen camera where:

1. It had to be Macintosh compatible (many manufactures do not supply Mac software for their cameras).

2. The camera had to produce a high quality image around A5 in size.

3. A LCD screen for viewing the images.

4. Small, stylish and good build quality.

5. The price had to be around £500.

So my first stop was the local newsagent's to buy some digital camera magazines, to my surprise there a quite a few to choose from now. I read their reviews and some online reviews of cameras to get an idea of the camera specification I could get for that sort of money. Now I had an idea of the sort of camera I needed and had two makes in mind, it was either going to be a Canon or a Fuji. I choose these makes of camera because most of there range fulfiled my requirements, I did consider Nikon but they cost a bit more.

Its all very good looking at pictures of cameras in magazines or on a screen, but you don?t get a real idea of the size, how it feels, ease of use and many other factors which are very important when buying a camera. I needed to see these cameras first hand, so I took a trip to my local PC World. I must confess being a Macintosh user I don?t like PC World, but to my surprise they had a good selection of digital cameras. After trying various models out I fell in love with the Fuji FinePix 4700, with lots of useful features and good build quality it was the camera for me. However the price PC World was charging at the time wasn?t, I was sure I had seen it cheap else where.

I used some price checking websites to get better prices, phone a few of my usual suppliers and the price was
getting cheap all the time, like anyone a don?t like to pay more than I have too. I thought I would phone some of the independent camera suppliers who advertised in the back of the digital camera magazines, this is where I got the best deal. The price I finally bought the camera at was well over a hundred and fifty pounds cheaper than PC World (quite a saving). How do these stores get away with charging so much and do customers actual buy at those prices?

My first thoughts after getting the camera where very positive, the camera came with everything I needed. To often lately I have bought printers, scanners that have not come with the cables I required. These where not mistakes, the manufactures simply say their are to many different computer to peripherals cables to include them, so they supply none (nice). The manual was very comprehensive and easy to follow, the two re-chargeable AA batteries needed were included along with the battery charger, 16Mb SmartMedia card, software CD, USB cable, a hand strap and camera case. Another useful inclusion was an A/V cable which enables you to view the camera pictures and movies on a TV, a great way to show friends and family pictures just taken.

The camera uses SmartMedia cards to save the pictures too, the other main type of media digital cameras use is Compact Flash. Both are very simular with neither better than the other as far as I know the only difference is SmartMedia is slightly cheaper. You tend to find different manufactures stick with either one and produce their whole camera range around it. The only manufacturer not to use SmartMedia or Compact Flash is Sony who use there own Memory stick product.

Here is a quick run though of the main features of the camera:
2.4 Megapixel SuperCCD which can produce a 4.3 million pixels through interpolation (the FinePix 4700 was the first camera to use this new technology from Fuji). Built-in 3x optical zoom lens, 2? LCD screen, built-in flas
h, take small AVI movies 320x340 10fps with sound, USB interface, lightweight aluminum-magnesium alloy body, automatic and manual photography modes, and many more features.

I have owned this camera for nearly a year now and I have not had a single problem. The photos I?ve taken have been very impressive and can easily be reproduced at A4 size with no loss of quality. The macro for close-up photography is very useful and can enable you to get as close as 20cm away from the subject. Still I have not used all the features of the camera, and may never use them. I mainly take photos in the automatic mode, as with manual mode you need to know more about photography but I?m learning.

My tips if you are going to buy this camera are invest in some more re-chargeable batteries, the batteries do not last long in the camera and you will always need spares around. Buy a larger capacity SmartMedia card, if like me you are taking photographs in the Fine mode the 16Mb card is not enough, I bought a 64Mb card which holds 36 fine resolution images.

Overall I am very pleased with my purchase, it does exactly what I wanted and more, the only change I would make is for the batteries to last longer. The FinePix 4700 is one of those cameras that has the WOW factor it looks very nice, its small but not too small and it produces high quality photos for any application.

As I write this the FinePix 4700 is still available to buy, but it has been superseded by the 4800 which has a case designed by F.A. Porsche and now looks even better than the 4700. I also includes a USB cradle which makes it easier to hook the camera up to your computer.

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