Fuji Finepix 2800 Review

Overall Rating

Lens quality and zoom power,
colour accuracy,
flash coverage.

EVF has too quick a refresh to work well in very dim/dark areas and blacks out during exposure for about one second: enough to misframe a moving object,
No uncompressed files (TIFF, etc).

This Fuji Finepix 2800 digital camera was bought to upgrade from a FinePix 1300. Stayed with Fuji due to reliability, colour accuracy (especially blues), simplicity, price, and the fact I've accumulated SmartMedia cards with the FP1300.
-Finder: Love knowing what camera settings are in effect when I look in the finder, as seldom used the LCD with the FP1300 (Used to take snaps with wrong settings from previous picture, now I'm reminded immediately). I like the "Rule of Nine" lines in the EVF and LCD: helps to keep horizons straight. Shadow areas outdoors look a bit more blue in EVF than when up on PC monitor.
-Menus: I find that menu settings can be changed more easily while camera is at my eye setting up a shot. Too bad Self-Timer not available in Manual mode. EVF and LCD have separate brightness settings from 1-10.
-Flash has a much greater range than with my FP1300, and more even corner to corner coverage.
Slightly underexposes if it is main source of light in densely shaded areas (e.g. forest glade).
-Lens is very sharp at all settings (aperture and focal length). Some barrel and pincushion near edges at max wide/tele settings (about average for digital cameras). It's good that the max aperture is f/3.0 at max tele (contrary to what I've read in some professional reviews). Many other cameras drop to f/9 with even lesser zoom ranges. It's also nice that it is an internal focussing lens: the front element does not move after power-on. This allows the manual placement of filters against the front of the lens (since it doesn't have a threaded mount).
-Batteries: I get about 100 or more pictures, plus reviews/deletes on a set of Metal Hydride 1600 MAh batteries (I keep a 2nd charged set in my camera's hip bag (a LowePro D-Res 30AW) along with a mini tripod/clamp and 6 SM cards).
-Body: The SM door catch seems fragile (more so than the FP1300 which had a spring-loaded catch) with just a plastic tab keeping it closed.
I have read the labelling for DISP, Menu/OK, BACK can wear off from skin oils etc, so have covered that lettering with adhesive backed clear plastic (Mac-Tac), rounding the ends to prevent curling.
All controls seem to be in the right places, once you get used to which is the shutter and which is the power buttons (takes a few days ;-)
-Frame Numbering: One other negative item mentioned in one column is the fact that the camera numbers frames from 0001 with every memory card inserted (may cause duplicate numbers when downloaded). This can be avoided in the latest FinePix Viewer: select Automatic Save Settings/Rename/Pattern/User Settings+YYYY_MMDD_hhmmss. This will name each frame with the date and time it was taken instead of from 0001 to nnnn.
-Low Light: When the autofocus cannot work (AF! shows in finder), the lens sets itself to fixed-focus with mid distances kept sharp (3 - 20 ft ?). If possible try to pre-focus on some brighter object at the same distance as your main subject.
Be aware of the slow shutter speed warning in the finder (a small hand): your picture WILL be blurred if camera is not on a solid support.
I have obtained good photos with street lighting in shopping districts taken at 1/2 second.
-Autofocus has problems with shiny metal and glass: again, try to pre-focus on another item with same brightness at same distance.
-Movie mode is fun but strictly low-resolution. Great for quick shots of children's activities when you forgot the camcorder. Audio volume is low. Keep fingers away from the microphone when using this mode.
-JPG Compression: All settings except 2M/Basic work well. At 2M/Basic, colour banding is visible in blue skies. Note that Fuji does not use same ratios with all their models. My FP1300 uses different ratios in 1M than the FP2800 does in 1M mode.
-Conclusion: A GREAT camera at this price with these features if you can live with it's shortcomings (every camera has some). Not much else out there (except the new FP3800) if you want a greater zoom than 3X at this price point.

Members' Comments onMentor.'s Review

• Cookie. on 12th Jun 2003

  Excellent review. For someone who is thinking of buy his first digital camera it was great to get clear concise information on a camera. Well done.