Cheap and dead simple (Fujifilm Finepix A600)

Member Name: mgoldman

Product:	Fujifilm Finepix A600
Date:	19/01/07 (77 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap and dead simple

Disadvantages: lacks manual control and versatitlity

It is probably a bit late in the day to review this camera, as it is a bit long in the tooth, and being taken over by smaller cameras with more megapixels, but here is the story.
I wanted a small camera to stick in my jacket pocket and carry around. I had a look at some of the Nikons and other makes, but did not want to spend much money. Then before Xmas, Argos had a half price sale, and I had some Nectar points, so basically this was a camera for virtually nothing for me. The price is now dropping, and you should not pay more than £90, which is a good price for a 6MP camera.
It is a pretty standard silver box with an adequately sized screen, and a x3 optical zoom.
What it does:
automatic pictures, but flash is a bit weak
Easy to use
manual pictures with flash forced on or off and ISO selected up to 400ASA
good macro down to 2.6 cms
Good screen for preview (no viewfinder) which can be set with a 3x3 grid which is nice for composing pictures
Stores on an xd card: not the most common, no card supplied (16MB of onboard memory)
Software is pretty basic, and I have ditched it in favour of card readers and own software.
AA batteries. I have lots of these, but it chews up NiMh batteries very quickly, so you need spares
What it is not:
No case, but that is not a problem
No memory card - I bought a 2GB xd card from Costco for just over £40, and that stores over 600 pictures. Morgans also sell them cheap
Cannot control shutter speed or aperture manually.
No histogram
No info about picture displayed on playback


However, if you want a dead simple camera that does what it says on the box, then this will do the trick.
It is not a state of the art camera, and is not a substitute for an DSLR.

Summary: Worth considering as a very first camera, or as a cheap carry-around

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