Fuji Finepix Z2

I currently own a canon A75, it's a 3 Mega pixel camera and is 3 years old. I bought the fuji z2 because it's compact, looks great, and it claim's to be good for low light conditions. I figured having 5 mega pixels should give me at least the same picture quality as my old camera. I was wrong!

The Z2 claims it can take pictures in low light conditions because of the ISO1600. What they didn't tell you is this setting makes the pictures very grainy. I suppose if you never zoom in or look at your pics too carefully, you can get away with using this setting. But personally, I find anything higher than ISO400 makes the picture quality too bad. Unfortunity, taking pic indoors, even with the flash, forces the camera to use ISO640 setting. This is in the auto mode. You can force it to use ISO400 or lower, but this makes the pictures look dark. So it's a trade off.

Pictures taken outside are acceptable. But most cameras are capable of this.

Needless to say, I returned this camera after a few days. Perhaps I'm too picky, but after reading the other reviews on here, I guess I'm not the only one.

One reviewer pointed out that you need to view the pics with the included software, or the pictures look bad. I never installed any software, but I find this hard to believe since I am just using windows picture viewer.

Well, if you want a camera that looks nice, then get this one. If you want to actually take pictures with it, pass it over. I owned a Fuji 4800Zoom prior to this, and the pics this older camera took BLEW AWAY any pics taken with the Z2....shameful.

I was possible to get 'ok' pictures if you cranked the exposure, lowered the ISO to 64 and then used Photoshop to brighten and despeckle...not exactly 'point and shoot'.

I retured this 3 weeks after I bought it and swapped it for a Nikon CoolPix S6...yes, more money, but what a difference! Pics taken (using all auto settings) at the highest settings on the S6 (6.0 MP fine) compared to the highest setting Z2 pics (5.0mp) --> No comparison. The Z2 was fuzzy and distorted, the S6 was crisp, clear and vivid.

Very disappointing as I have owned Fuji in the past and been very happy..this Z2, even for a compact camera is rubbish.

The good points of the Fuji Finepix Z2 digital camera (clear movies, range of features) outweigh the bad (takes soft/distorted looking photos). It is not worth it when my 3 year old Minolta Dimage 400 takes clearer and more detailed photos, despite only offering 4 mega-pixels.

I decided to post my review here because I was surprised by other 3 reviews of Fuji Finepix Z2, and made me wonder if their Z2 were the same camera as mine. I bought my Z2 in Japan so I thought maybe the quality of cameras is different between the ones bought in the UK and in Japan, but I realise that nowadays they are all made in China I didn't think this is the case. Then I realised that when the pictures taken by Finepix are viewed by a non-Finepix viewer (i.e. ZoomBrowzer by Canon) the quality of thE photos look substandard and very grainy indeed. So that might explain it if the previous reviewers were looking at photos in their own viewer.

When printed images were very good quality too - better than my previous Canon A85. IT seems to be especailly good at printing soft focus images - colours are very well balanced and the colour of the human skin especially is very natural and close to non-digital photos.

I think Finepix Z2 is a good all-rounder if you want to carry around a camera with you wherever you go, and take many indoor photos and looking for a good battery (it comes with a mains charger so saves the cost and weight of batteries too) life. Z2 may not be ideal for taking big scale mountain views, nor produce crystal-clear images without noise (I think its capability to reduce 'blurred' images is the cause of not so sharp and vivid images), so this camera may not be everyone's cup of tea. But for people like me who want to take photos with plenty of natural light rather than a flash, this is an ideal model for its increased sensitivity to natural light which captures a very good atmosphere of everyday life. The only quibble I have is its sliding-cover shutter - it is sometimes a bit awkward to open as the surface is very smooth, especially in bitter winter days when you have cold and dry fingers.

I bought the Fuji Finepix Z2 digital camera from www.purelygadgets.co.uk just over a week ago, and boy am I disappointed! I used to use a Fuji F404 which was great, but I gave it away to my brother-in-law and thought I'd get a new one. Impressed with Fuji, I decided on a small compact digicam. I should have taken heed from the other two reviewers here. The pictures (on the highest setting of 5MP Fine) turn out grainy and amateurish.

The Fuji Finepix Z2 digital camera has good video but awful pictures. My 3 year old Fuji 2800 is much better.

The Fuji Finepix Z2 is a small stylish camera (easily fits in your pocket), with great video (near dvd quality - 640x480 30fps).

After reading reviews and Z1 reviews thought I would give it a try, and I was very disappointed, the pictures are awful, and if you compare pictures you take to sample images on the Fuji website - I honestly have no idea how they took pictures that good from this camera!

I took it back to Jessops, and they said it was very unlikely that I had a faulty camera, and that if I wanted better images ultra-compact cameras aren't the ones to go for.

For reference - my old camera - Fuji 610 makes far supierior pictures in all conditions, and it's over a year old - so judge for yourselves!