Fantastic battery life with fast quality pictures (Fujifilm MX-1700)

Member Name: peterwilkes

Product:	Fujifilm MX-1700
Date:	24/10/03 (79 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: High Quality Pics, Fast, Build quality

Disadvantages: no USB Connection, poor software and drivers

As I got this camera out the box I thought pphworr! This looks nice. Plugged it in and within minutes I was taking high quality pictures and lightning fast speeds.

Looking at the camera, it's packaged in a ultra-modern silver titanium look case. The buttons and dials are easy to use and understand and within minutes you will be ready to go. The camera comes with many features that also include a self timer, auto/manual/fill-in flash (or off) setup mode, manual record, auto record, playback, and a PC link feature. The camera also comes with a digital out (serial) and a video out (composite)

Taking pictures is very easy and quick. The most important settings are available whilst still in the record mode making is very easy to change. Flash settings, macro, picture size and resolution are available in the record mode which can be set using a combination of the shift key and the macro / flash key. All of the settings can be changed using the setup screen which is shown on the built in LCD screen. The main control is located at the top of the unit and needs to twisted to the correct function. The power switch is also located on the top. The center button is to operate the shutter. There is also a Enter/Menu button and a cancel button together with a four-way switch for panning and zooming when in the playback mode. The buttons are very well laid out over the area of the camera and they don?t seem to be in the way during normal use. All of the buttons have a quality feel to them and so does the camera in its rugged metal case. The case also has small rubbery patches that look cool and can offer a firm solid grip to such a small upright style camera.

There are two LCD displays on this camera. The top display is a watch type unit displaying resolution / flash settings and the number of pictures left that can be stored on the SmartMedia card. This display is very easy to read. At the bottom of the camera there is a larger TFT display showing wh

at is about to be taken and for playing back the stored images. This screen is very sharp and accurate producing bright detailed images better than some computer monitors. The LCD screen can be used to view the pictures and you can also zoom and pan around the image.

The quality of the pictures is very good as it has a 1.5 mpixel CCD device. The lens is also of a high optical quality minimizing distortion around the edges of the picture. It is important to set the white balance correctly as images may come out with a blue or a orange tinge depending on the current light conditions. There is also a brightness and flash power setting when in the manual mode. To take a picture is very simple, just switch on and wait about 6-7 seconds to setup and simply point and shoot. The image is automatically stored or can be reviewed to be deleted or saved depending on the mode. In both auto and manual modes pictures can be taken almost as soon as you press the button. If you press it half way, it puts the cameras electronics into standby mode ready to take the picture instantly. The save times are also very quick allowing pictures to be taken in rapid succession. There is also a mode that can be used to take up to shots in about 3 - 6 seconds with no flash and at 640x480 as long as the shutter button is pressed down. This depends on the light levels. All the images can be saved and the best ones can be found later and the other deleted if needed.

Depending on the size of the SmartMedia card, over 1000 images can be stored in a low quality format. The standard resolution is 640x480 giving good quality pictures and the higher quality gives you 1280x1024 pictures. Both of these sizes are available in three different quality settings.

The viewfinder is very good, there is a tri-colour LED next to the viewfinder giving an easy to read status signal. There is also a few special effects like sepia (brown coloring) , crosses, B&W. The battery life is very
good
with its built in Lithium Ion battery pack (removable) The lens has a built in lens cap that operates when the camera is switched on and off. This camera has a 3x optical zoom and a 2x digital zoom (6x zoom total). The built in flash is powerful but only for short ranges. There is also a tripod mount at the base of the unit.

The pack includes the camera, camera case and strap, Charger and battery, and a 8Mb SmartMedia Card. The camera case has room to store an extra two smartmedia cards.

My only complaint is that there is no USB connection option. Downloading a full 8Mb card to a computer can take up to 10 mins. A floppy disk adapter looks useful and will be faster but I am thinking about getting a USB smatmedia card reader (about 30 pounds)

Summary: