Fujifilm FinePix F650

Average User Rating

8 reviews

Pricing not available

Fujifilm FinePix F650 - top Fujifilm FinePix F650 - side Fujifilm FinePix F650 - back
Scroll Left Scroll Right
  • Fujifilm FinePix F650 - top
  • Fujifilm FinePix F650 - side
  • Fujifilm FinePix F650 - back

CNET Editors' Review

The good: Fast, 5X optical zoom lens; manual exposure controls.

The bad: Sensitivity tops out at ISO 400; no manual white balance; no flash compensation.

The bottom line: The Fujifilm FinePix F650's 5X optical zoom and good LCD screen doesn't make up for its average image quality and limited low-light capabilities.

Review: Extreme seems to be the camera market's mantra-- with so many ultracompacts, super-zooms, and fancy digital SLRs, it's a wonder there's anything else to choose from. Yet for shutterbugs who want both a camera they can control and that can also fit in a pocket, Fujifilm's FinePix F650 walks the line well between function and convenience. It comes with a 5X optical, 35mm-to-175mm (35mm equivalent) f/2.8-to-f/4.7 zoom lens, a 6-megapixel CCD sensor, and a 3-inch LCD screen. While it doesn't include any gimmicky features, such as face detection, it does have ... Expand full review
Extreme seems to be the camera market's mantra-- with so many ultracompacts, super-zooms, and fancy digital SLRs, it's a wonder there's anything else to choose from. Yet for shutterbugs who want both a camera they can control and that can also fit in a pocket, Fujifilm's FinePix F650 walks the line well between function and convenience. It comes with a 5X optical, 35mm-to-175mm (35mm equivalent) f/2.8-to-f/4.7 zoom lens, a 6-megapixel CCD sensor, and a 3-inch LCD screen. While it doesn't include any gimmicky features, such as face detection, it does have full manual-exposure controls.

Although Fujifilm was among the first manufacturers to raise the sensitivity of its compact digicams, the F650 oddly tops out at ISO 400. And since it doesn't come with image stabilization, you'll have to rely on the flash when shooting in low light. The lack of flash compensation makes flash shooting less versatile than we like. On the plus side, the FinePix did a decent job of balancing fill flash with a desk lamp in our test scene.

All the camera's controls are located on the right-hand side of the body, so one handed operation is possible--though as we always suggest, you should use two hands for better stability. As usual, Fuji splits its menus in two. One menu is accessed through the F button, and provides access to ISO settings, resolution, and color settings. The second menu is accessed through the regular menu button, and provides access to all other settings. By splitting the menus, Fuji can keep the most-often adjusted settings up top where they're easy to access in each of the main menus.

The FinePix F650 performed a tad sluggish in our lab tests. It took 1.9 seconds from start up to capturing its first image, and 1.7 seconds between images thereafter without flash. With flash, the time between shots grew to 2 seconds. Shutter lag measured a speedy 0.7 second in our high-contrast test, meant to mimic bright shooting conditions and 1.4 seconds in our low-contrast test, which simulates dim shooting conditions. Continuous shooting yielded an average of 1.9 frames per second when shooting VGA sized JPEGs, and 2fps when shooting 6-megapixel JPEGs.

Hide Review

Average User Rating

4.0 stars out of 8 user reviews

Rating Breakdown

  • 5 star: 5
  • 4 star: 2
  • 3 star: 1
  • 2 star: 0
  • 1 star: 0

My Rating

0 stars click stars to rate product

Most Helpful User Review

4.5 stars 9 of 9 users found this review helpful

"Reviewers on crack; value for price is good, @$180 (sale)" By douglanders

Pros Easy to use, pictures compare to major competitors, exceed in some areas; good brightness

Cons Needs a few more shooting modes (has 12), wish it had a more standard (SD) card, see below. Can't zoom while taking video; common problem.

Summary M Type XD card would not work in a standard 12-in-1 card reader from SanDisk. May be a SanDisk problem but SD is a universal format that is more widespread.

CNET editor rated the camera down for no manual white balance; there are 6 settings for manual white balance, he

... Expand full review

Most Recent User Reviews (Showing 2 of 8 reviews)

Where to Buy

Pricing not available

Sponsored Premier Brands on CNET

Where to Buy

Pricing not available

Which digital camera is right for me?

Laptop Finder

In order to choose the right camera--one with the right set of features at the right price--you'll need to figure out what you'll be doing with it.

In this guide, we've compiled a handful of typical user profiles to help outline the specific uses for digital cameras. Match your needs to one of these user profiles to determine the digital camera that's right for you.

Read our guide | Step-by-step digital camera finder