written by Mulleady. on 25/04/2003
Good Points
Features, battery life, and most of all the picture quality in terms of colour reproduction and detail.
Bad Points
Only supports Smartmedia cards. Dual support for SD card format would have been fantastic. Included software is just average.
General Comments
This is the best camera I've used, either digital or conventional in terms of consistent image quality and colour reproduction. The addition of a luthium battery extends the range and usefulness of the camera compared to previous Fujis. The interpolation is so good that the digital image processing does genuinely raise the image quality from 3m to 6m pixels. This is evident if you use the digital zoom post-picture, as there is little or no distortion, within reason. The ability to capture Mpeg video is determined by the size of the smartmedia card you buy. You would need the 128MB which I purchased to take short video and still leave room for pictures. The higher capacity SD format would have been better or dual support even more ideal. The mpeg capture is quite good but not a replacement for a good mini-DV camcorder. Still it's fun for short video snapshots. That would be expected from a camera whose main function is digital stills, and in that area this camera excels.
As rated by our community of reviewers
106631_Rms.'s Response to 92013_Mulleady.'s Review
Written on: 12/06/2003
I agree that in general this camera gives decent colour reproduction, but the lens makes it almost un-usable. The barrel distortion is so bad at the wide angle end that nothing with a straight line can be photographed. Also there is significant cromatic aberation giving very bad colour fringing.
106922_Francis.'s Response to 92013_Mulleady.'s Review
Written on: 13/06/2003
I disagree that the lens is unusable. I'm not some advanced photographer so I don't bother with wide angle. For normal usage the camera has taken excellent photographs. For normal users comments like 'cromatic abberation' mean nothing and it's not a reason to write off the camera unless you you intend it for professional use or are just one of those perfectionist geeks!