This is a second review of the Fuji Finepix F420 Digital Camera, and I am eating dirt. I have criticised it in my previous review for what I believed was in effect a dead camera. I contacted Fuji, and their automatic response was not helpful. I was offered £40 against a new camera. I had tried to re-charge my batteries and it just died after 1 shot. As a last resort I purchased a new set of 1000mAh NmH rechargeables and hey presto - the camera is now back on line again and performing like new. So in fairness I have re-assessed my comments and made a fresh review. However, I have to criticise Fuji for what is lack of support in finding the fault. Had I followed their advice I would have scrapped the camera, or at best returned it to them for a refund of £40 against another Fuji. In that event would I have bought another Fuji - I don't think so. Anyway I hope this helps others who are experiencing problems with short battery life. To sum up, if you have had your NmH's for two years, then be prepared to replace them to return your camera back to working order.
Rayzone

I bought the Fuji Finepix F420 on recommendation of a friend. Now I am stuck with a heap of junk that I can't even sell. There must be a fundamental fault to cause this. I would be interested to know if I am not alone. I don't expect a new camera to last for only the guarantee period. My old Retina 1b lasted 40 years with all those mechanical parts to go wrong. My wife is very disappointed with it. It will make me anti Fuji when I buy my next camera.

Excellent all rounder.
There are several camera on the market that have simillar build quality / features but I suspect none of them have equivelant lens quality at this price.

The Fuji Finepix F420 is convenient and easy to carry while taking great pictures which is what made me buy it in the first place. Then being a Fuji I was quite reassured that I was buying a quality product. Camera has not been knocked or dropped and its a pity that after only two years it now gives so many errors.

I had a Fuji Finepix F420 digital camera for a year and a half, and one day it displayed a focus error, then it could not take pictures any more. JUNK!

I bought my Fuji Finepix F420 for a trip to the Nurburgring Race Circuit. On this trip I found out that it is very difficult to take a picture of a speeding race-car without blurring, but I'm sure most digital cameras would struggle with this.

The video mode however, was excellent for capturing moving cars, and the microphone captures all of the sound.

Taking pictures of static things is much better and the image quality is excellent.

The quality of night-time pictures is good too, but it is often easy to forget to switch on the redeye reduction and the flash takes an age to recharge.

The menu system is very easy to use, but I find myself leaving most of the image settings on auto.

My major gripe with this camera is the battery life. It doesn't last long, especially with the LCD turned on. I have now bought a spare rechargeable, but it is nice that you can use AAA's instead.

This is a brilliant camera, my 4th digital camera all of which have been Fujifilms.

The camera is small enough to fit into a breast pocket. A very simple, yet sleek, shiny, catchy design.

Very intuitive and easy to use. In fact, the toughest thing is locating the power button by the uninitiated.

I got a 256mb memory card as the 16mb one supplied only stores 10 photos at the 6 megapixel resolution. Mine stores up to 77, and a little over 7 minutes long movie clips.

The 1.8" LCD is very sharp and clear, good enough to show off your latest holiday photos and clips on. Voice recordings can also be made and attached to photos.

Quality of photos is dazzling. You'd be amazed at the miniscule details that can be picked up by the 3x optical zoom lens, which fully retracts into the camera body.

For lazy photographers like me, it is very easy using the various ISO settings, or flash settings, AE lock, etc. Photos well taken are excellent!

Movie clip quality is where I'm most excited. Lengths are restricted only by size of memory card. They are recorded at 30fps, which is TV quality. This makes for seamless, very sharp clips, and the ability of the lens to lock onto and keep focussed on moving objects is amazing. Also, the lens adjusts very fast to changes in light intensity, i'e. making a movie and moving from a darker interior to a sunlit exterior.

Other pluses are the AV connection, allowing for viewing of photos and clips on your tv Power is from batteries supplied which can be substituted with rechargeable AAA batteries. Very handy for when you run out of juice at a critical moment.

Software provided is very good, and downloading is very fast.

An excellent camera, very good buy and highly reccommended.