The FinePix AX245 is an entry level point and shoot compact digital camera from Fujifilm boasting a 12 megapixel resolution and 4x optical zoom. The camera is available in black, silver and blue and is available for around £50. I got mine (blue one) from Tesco Direct for £60 over a year ago so might be able to find it for less now.

Aside from the price and my previous ownership of a Fujifilm FinePix camera, I chose the AX245 because of the 12MP Pixel count (granted this doesn't necessarily determine picture quality), 4x optical zoom count and the fact that it runs on AA batteries. The batteries last a fair number of shots but I use rechargeable batteries so maybe don't last quite as long as alkaline batteries.

First impression when I took it out of the box for the first time was that the camera looked very much like a toy. Very 'plasticy', especially the blue part, which looked much nicer in the pictures! I First ever camera I've owned that wasn't either black or silver turned out to be a bit of a disappointment (I really should have gone with silver) when it came to looks but that aside, the size is good for a compact camera.

Picture quality varies, but are generally okay in good lighting. However, when taking fairly close up images of objects, with or without needing Macro mode, I often had problems with over exposure whereby the flash is reflecting off the object. Not great for me, especially if I'm using the camera for taking pictures of stuff I intend to flog on eBay! To counter this, I often turn off the flash and hope for the best but results were better that way.

The camera itself is very easy to use and has lots of different modes but I do find it to be a bit on the slow side. After pressing the 'take picture' button, it makes a funny noise and then pauses for a second before it actually takes the picture. The noise sounds very mechanical as if something inside the camera needs to adjust before the picture is taken. This is rather annoying as quite often, I press the button only to find that the picture hasn't been taken and then I have to press the button again. It sounds like the camera has to 'adjust' the focus every time, which isn't good as it means you could miss shots if you're taking pictures of moving objects. Good thing my eBay items don't run away!

It's got Macro mode, which is crucial for me as I take a look of pictures for selling on eBay. This means lots of close ups. It's also got loads of others like night mode, action, etc but you can also use automatic mode just to use it as a point and shoot camera. It has a display and view finder, which help with the picture-taking. I really like the panoramic mode whereby it lets you merge several shots together to form one wide picture.

You can use the USB cable that came with the camera to download the pictures. Annoyingly, it came with a USB cable with a proprietary (non-standard) plug. My previous Fujifilm had a standard mini USB socket, which are much more common. So if, I'd lost the original cable, I could easily pick up another. Not a huge problem, just inconvenient if you prefer to use a cable to download the pictures / movies. Alternatively, you can also eject the SD memory card and then download the pictures that way. Most modern laptops have SD card slots built-in and card readers are widely available. My previous Fujifilm used XD Cards, which I didn't like as not all card readers/laptops supported so the switch to SD is welcome.

SUMMARY

Pros

- High pixel count
- 4x Optical zoom
- Low price
- Takes AA batteries
- Takes SD Cards
- Lots of modes
- Colour choices

Cons

- Build looks cheap
- Slow to get ready
- Uses non-standard USB cable
- Flash over exposure

VERDICT

It's an okay camera for the price but if you have a bigger budget than £50, then I would get a more expensive and better one. It's a digital camera that works but does have a few annoying niggles so I would look for alternatives unless you can find it dirt cheap and just want it as a gift for a young person as their first digital camera.

Thanks for reading