Big on features, kind on the pocket (Fujifilm Finepix J250)

Member Name: rabidbadger

Product:	Fujifilm Finepix J250
Date:	02/09/09 (151 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Ease of use, Feature-packed, Cheap

Disadvantages: A little slow, Limited manual usability

For a relatively inexpensive camera, the Fuji FinePix J250 has some surprising features stowed away in that little casing, such as digital/sensor shift Image Stabilization, Face Detection, Scene Recognition and a whopping great 3" LCD screen. The 5x optical zoom gives a focal range of 5.1 - 25.5mm, or 28 - 140mm in 35mm equivalent terms, which is great for a wide range of situations, and there is Continuous Shooting, albeit it at a lowly rate of 1.4fps.

It is not as small and compact as some of the small compacts on the market but at 92mm (3.6in) x 58mm (2.3in) x 23mm (0.9in), it will slip into your pocket with the same ease as a cigarette packet, and it weighs in at 151g (5.3oz).

The appearance is sleek and smart, sporting a round-shouldered, brushed-metal casing. I haven't seen it in any other colour than black but the black looks great.

Resolution is 10 megapixels at an image size of 3648 x 2736 (4:3 ratio) and other available resolutions are 3648 x 2432 (3:2), 2592 x 1944 (4:3), 2048 x 1536 (4:3), 1600 x 1200 (4:3), and 640 x 480 (4:3), with video recording at 640 x 480 and 320 x 240 (both 30 frames per second AVI, which is a little greedy on storage space).

The usability options for the user are limited but there is a Program AE mode, adjustable ISO setting, and 15 preset scene modes. Having said that, it takes good pictures when left to its own devices, so why interfere?

The menus are simple and colourful, being very reminiscent of those on the FinePix S1500, and, because there aren't that many options to choose from, you shouldn't get lost.

There is around 23MB of internal memory and both SD and SDHC cards are accommodated so with an image size of around 5MB at maximum resolution, you can store around 4 images in the camera and about 1600 on an 8GB card. The battery is rechargeable Li-Ion type, good for around 150 shots between full charges.

Playback is again simple, providing single-image, multi-image and thumbnail views, and allowing easy deletion, slideshow view, trimming, rotating and red-eye processing.

It comes with a USB cable for uploading images but unfortunately it does not come with an AV cable (does anyone ever use the anyway? I have a drawer-full!) so you will have to buy your own if you want to see your masterpieces on the telly.

Summary: This is a lot of camera for the price

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