Strengths:Very fast startup, uses regular AA batteries, fairly small,option to add lenses, ability to take in RAW mode, great value for price, large 2 inch LCD screen
Weaknesses:Untethered cover for USB port, uses expensive xD Card, accessories are expensive, no cradle included, 16MB xD card is a joke, flash recharge time slightly slow, cannot zoom while in video mode.
Posted Dec 22, 2004 - I tried a Samsung Digimax 530, Olympus C60 and this one. I was looking for a compact digital camera which will be easy to carry instead of an SLR, take fast pictures of my 2year old, easily upload to my HTPC to see on TV and for my wife to make prints comparable to our Olympus point and shoot camera.
Compared to the other two, Fuji starts superfast, especially when in wide angle mode, like under 2s. The camera has options to adjust ISO all the way to 800 ( though only 3MP a that level) and the pictures even then are relatively low noise. At regular indoor lighting, the flash recharges in about 4 seconds ( a little slow), the pictures though are well lit and not washed out. In daylight the pictures are just gorgeous. If you use the interpolated 12MP level , the pictures are very sharp, well saturated colors and very life like. This camera uses 12MP shots and compresses them to 6MP and so using 12 MP is definitely better than 6MP eventhough it is interpolated, however in a 64MB card you get only 19 shots at this level. I did not see any big imporvement in quality with RAW mode. With all shots, there is very little need for picture enhancement and infact in PS Elements, autofix does not change anything at all, they are that good. The exposure, aperture can be adjusted manually also, only draw back is you canot set up exposure more than 2 seconds, so for long time bulb shots like in SLR, it is not possible. The flash does synchro for prolonged exposure. There is some shake at low lights and so indoor natural candid shots of my child, without a flash is not possible.
The video is surprisingly clean, though it records only at 320x240, but does 30fps and only limited by card capacity, unlike canon cameras. I printed plenty of pictures and at 6 MP level is where 4x6 prints are comparable to regular film prints, even though manufacturers say 3MP is enough the colors are only rich enough at this level. My XP regonises it immediatly without any drivers and I did not try the Finepix software as I use Photoshop Elements already.
I finally decided to go with Fuji because it much cheaper the the more expensive canon or nikon for comparable freatures especially with the $50 rebate till January and the picture quality is on par with some 7-8MP ( I tried the canon and Nikon ones ) level with half the cost. I am a happy camper now.
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Rated 
Best Buy
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