I was reading these reviews and was surprised no-one was mentioning the fact that the A101's view finder is not straight. It's grand if one uses the lcd but the normal viewfinder is way off. Also the switch on the front for close up/ far away seems to be the wrong way round. If I select close up the camera never flashes and anything close up is out of focus. If I select far away then the camera will flash and everything is in focus. Apart from that the camera is great. I got a 64 Mb card as 8 Mb fills up too easy. The videos are only for fun. Quality is very bad. You can see what is going to be lit in the LCD and by moving the camera you can make sure the person is lit properly and not the sunshine in the window behind them.

The fuji Finepix A101 digital camera offers great pictures and low light optimization. Great value if you can get it for aronud $150 US (as of June 2002). I took a hundred pictures in all sorts of lighting conditions and they are very good. This is not a camera for detailed and very high quality picture taking. I use it for travel.

I use it with WindowsXP (don't even need to load ANY software). I did load Finepix viewer on my laptop (windows2000) and it works great.

I've been putting off getting a digital camera on the assumption that they were inferior to film & just a gimmick. Additionally the price seemed very steep compared to film cameras and I just wasn't willing to pay it. I still thing the high-end cameras are a bit much.

However with Xmas approaching and my girlfriends insistance on buying me something 'gadgety' (top girl!), I decided to ask for a camera. On a tight budget, I decided on the a101 based on the reviews (including some of these) and the fact I wanted a good value camera with removable media and at least 1 mega pixel.

I haven't been disappointed, it's a top digital camera, small and light and great fun at party's !

The addition of video clips and webcam functionality are an added bonus, although I won't be using in place of my current webcam.

My main gripe is battery life (It seems to fry a set every day I use it). I've had to fork out for the adapter as that's not included & the supplied 8M smartmedia card is a bit tight, so I'm also going to cough up for a 64Mb

Also the LCD is very dark and not really that useful for actually framing a shot - although it's not bad on playback, even though you only get an 'idea' of what the final picture will look like.

The lack of zoom is a pain for serious photography, and the digital zoom only works with VGA size pictures which is a bit sad.

All in all though, excellent value for money (at last), great fun and highly recommended as a first step into the world of digital photography. A good digital camera, and very nearly a great one !

A GOOD, USABLE DIGITAL CAMERA FOR THE PRICE (AROUND £158 INC 8mb SMARTMEDIA CARD). IT IS VERY SMALL AND LIGHT, A LITTLE UNDER 4" LONG, 1.5" DEEP, AND 2.5" HIGH, PERHAPS A LITTLE TOO LIGHT A PLASTICKY. THE MOVIE CAPTURE FEATURE MAKES THIS CAMERA STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD, VERY USEFUL FOR SENDING A SHORT MOVIE CLIP TO THE FOLKS BACK HOME. THE ONLY BAD POINTS ARE THE LACK OF ZOOM IN THE HIGHER RESOLUTIONS ABOVE 640 X 480, AND THE VIDEO AND PC CAMERA (WEBCAM) IMAGES ARE SO DARK THEY ARE UNUSABLE.

Okay, lets start with the bad points about this camera.
First, the webcam picture is dark unless you have a bright desk lamp 2 feet in front of your face. If you want a webcam, for anything other than frivolous use, this is probably not the cam for you (NB: I've not actually used any other webcams, but surely they must be better than this).
Second, when connected to the PC, this camera went through a fresh set of batteries in under an hour. The mains adaptor is an ESSENTIAL accessory.
Apart from that, the camera is just what I wanted: A cheap, easy to use digital camera that allows me to put my photos on my PC in small and medium size image files, without having to resort to paying for film & processing and then get around to scanning them in.

I was interested in buying a digital camera and found this website. They gave me promt good advice and i am now the owner of a fuji a101 and i love it. i already have a good stills camera but i wanted something a little more flexible. This was my first digital camera. i'm not great with computers so i wanted something easy to set up and use and that's what i got. The finepix also has good image quality and amazing macro. It's a great size for slipping in your pocket and catching those unexpected moments. It's great.