- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 9 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Best Camera Owned"
Pros: Excellent pictures and video. SD card compatability. Great indoor pictures.
Cons: Burst is a little slow, no true image stabilization...but not really needed for a 3x zoom camera.
Summary: I have been on the quest to find the do it all camera. I have had 10 digital cameras over the past 7 years; 2 canons, 3 Kodaks, 2 panasonic, and 2 Casio exilim. The only one I still use on occasion is the Mega Zoom Panasonic. All other cameras had shortcomings in one way or another. The most bothersome, is no camera could take decent natural light indoor pictures (without a flash). I knew about Fuji's incredible F-series cameras and the supper CCD sensor, but the Xd format card has always deterred me, as all my memory cards are SD. Finally Fuji releases a camera that is SD compatible.
I wanted a camera that was portable and didn't want to carry around a duffle bag to haul around a SLR camera and accessories. Something portable that can easily fit into my pocket or a small case.
I've had this camera for about 2 weeks and the pictures are very impressive. The colors are true and almost every picture comes out spectacular. I've had several SLR owners in disbelief that this camera could do what it can in terms of picture quality. Most consumers are focused on megapixal rating, ISO ability, and zoom. When it is the CCD size that matters. This camera has one of the largest CCD sensors on the market (1/1.6) the Canon SD800 IS the CNET review recommended "better camera" has a CCD sensor size of 1/2.5 considerably smaller. So this means that at ISO 1600 example the Fuji camera will look much better than the Canon (which definatley looks grainy), this is important of good indoor/low light pcitures.
In practical terms if you take two digital cameras with the same number of mega pixels but different CCD sensor sizes - the camera with the larger CCD sensor size will be provide digital photos that are sharper and have less noise. It will also be able to take digital photos in scenes that are too dark for the other camera. In normal light scenes the higher light sensitivity allows more range for changing the aperture and shutter speed and more freedom with getting different focus depths.
I am also impressed with the video this camera can take. Although not a permanent replacement for my Camcorder, it works well to capture servicable video in a pinch.
The feel of the camera is quality, and the steel body is perfect for most size hands (my casio Exilim was too small and never felt comftorable when taking pictures). The camera feels solid in hand and is fast and responsive when taking pictures (minimal shutter lag).
Overall this camera is the Best digital camera I have ever owned. Sure the burst mode could be faster, the zoom could be greater, and their could be true optical image stabilaztion. But the bottom line if you want one camera to take Great pictures in a wide variety of situations, this is your camera. I am shocked that CNET recommends a Canon with a considerably smaller CCD as a better camera. Don't quite understand the logic there.Updated
After seeing a few reviews from this and multiple sights complaining about grainy images, I decided to add some clarification:
Taking the camera out of the box and firing off several low light snapshots with a supressed flash will result in grainy images. This is because, in auto mode the camera will auto select the best ISO for the situation, typically ISO 2000. This results in well devoloped images suitable for 3x5 prints, but pixel peeping does show a grainy image.
For those looking to have nice indoor shots for larger prints or computer display (not at 100% viewing-this would require a 50" computer monitor). Change the camera mode to "M" (manual), then under the "f" Finepix mode set the Max ISO to Auto 400 or 800. Doing this gives little observable speckling in low light pictures.
I continue to be impressed with this camera's ability.
Another positive is being able to view the LCD in sunlight..under the f button you have an option to make the display brighter and more fluid (more responsive to movement). This option is not available on the F31.
Even DSLR's have noise in High ISO mode. If you just leave it in auto, take picutres, blow them up to 100% (which is ridiculously large) you will get noise.
Side by Side comparisions of this camera have been made with DSLR's and in most all cases the F40 takes equivalent or even better shots.
Where to buy
Fujifilm FinePix F40fd:
$319.95
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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