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  Books > Fuji FinePix 2800 Zoom Digital Camera [2MP 6xOptical]
 



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Fuji FinePix 2800 Zoom Digital Camera [2MP 6xOptical]
Release Date :
Manufacturer : Fuji Photo Film Europe GmbH
Catalog :
Our Price : £ 182.49
List Price : £
 
Availability : usually dispatched within 24 hours.
   
 

The Fuji FinePix 2800 Zoom offers an innovative design, a fantastic 6x optical zoom and great image quality all in an incredibly small form. Fuji has clearly departed from many usual design cues with the 2800. Most notable is the introduction of the EVF--electronic viewfinder. This replaces the standard optical viewfinder and provides an SLR style experience. The benefits of this are more accurate image composition (as parallax differences between viewfinder and lens are avoided), a better indication of depth of field prior to taking the shot and improved battery life over using the main LCD monitor. The EVF is not a perfect solution, though, as the panel is not as bright or detailed as its optical counterpart, has no diopter correction for wearers of glasses and disconcertingly freezes the image while autofocusing. However, the EVF is a useful feature and places the 2800 at the cutting edge of digital camera design.

The 2800 is exceptionally easy to use, with manual controls limited to adjusting white balance and exposure compensation--more experienced photographers will miss the ability to fine tune aperture, shutter speed, ISO settings, etc. The 6x optical zoom is superb and makes an enormous difference to picture quality and ease of composition--it equates to a zoom range of 38mm to 228mm on a standard 35mm camera.

Fuji has included a movie mode with sound running at 10 frames per second and at a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. Disappointingly, this is limited to 60 seconds of recording time, regardless of the capacity of memory card in use, and does not make use of the optical zoom, instead relying solely on the digital zoom. Other features include voice captioning and, bizarrely on a camera of this specification, a video conferencing mode allowing use as a WebCam. A notable omission however, is the lack of a video-out socket.

As you would expect from Fuji, the 2800 is straightforward to install and includes paper manuals for both the camera and the supplied software--this includes a simple viewer/organiser, QuickTime, Videoimpression and Adobe Photodeluxe. The 2800 uses 4 AA alkaline (supplied) or NiMH rechargeable batteries. Fuji recommend avoiding lithium batteries as the heat discharged can damage the camera. --Nick Baxter

2800 Fine Pics - at least!
Fuji FinePix 2800Zoom

This digital camera is another in Fuji`s fine lineage. But I`m confused as to why other manufacturers aren`t offering any competition!No competition? It`s true, there is no competition in the sub-£500 digital camera market for a model with the equivalent of a 570mm zoom..The full zoom option is only available in VGA resolution mode, the lowest available, and this is perfectly reasonable for website publishing. Even in high-resolution (2 megapixel - the highest) mode, you still have access to the 6x optical zoom, which equates to approximately 228mm. In between you also have access to the 2x digital zoom. At 1 megapixel resolution, when combined with the optical zoom, it can achieve a maximum zoom equivalence of approximately 285mm.

The camera has two display options. The main rear display, a 2.7 inch square CCD, and a 0.55 inch square LCD through the lens viewfinder, SLR style.

The 2.7 inch CCD display is useless outdoors, and is only useable indoors, but the viewfinder works very well, unless you wear glasses.

Because I find it easier to use my right eye, I put my left hand over the top of the camera to block the external light between my spectacles and my eye so that I can see the viewfinder properly. People with normal vision won`t be bothered so much, but there is no correction available for short/long-sighted eyes, so you need your glasses! But I don`t know of any camera that sports this option, and the fix is to get contact lenses, I suppose.

To cut down the cost of using the camera, I recommend you get at least 8 AA NiMH 1700, or better, rechargeable batteries. Standard alkaline batteries last for just a few shots, and you`ll need the equivalent of Duracell Ultra`s to get any life at all. I found that 4 Ultra`s will fill up a 64mb Smart Media card and upload the results to my laptop, but not much more.

Focusing is accurate, but you cannot focus manually. Because I take a lot of photographs of aircraft, often moving at high speed, at airshows, this is a problem.

If you simply depress the trigger you’ll get excellent results, but it takes a few seconds to take a picture, so if you photograph anything moving you’ll find the subject has moved out of shot. As the viewfinder goes blank the moment you press the trigger, following your target is virtually impossible.

But you can focus first. By pressing the trigger down halfway the viewfinder stays on and sets the focus, then follow the target until the moment is right and complete the depression. It still takes a fraction of a second to take the shot, so you won’t always get what you expect, but your target should still be there, at least!

If you see some fat fool waving his head around, stuck to a 2800Zoom, with his left hand stuck to the right side of his face, at an airshow - that’s probably me! There is a macro zoom feature, which works quite well. I have taken a few shots using the macro feature and the results were very good.

The camera will automatically fire the flash if lighting levels are too low. There is no warning of this when in automatic mode, but you do have some control in the menu.

One feature I like is the movie mode. The camera can take short 60sec movies at 10 fps with sound. Resolution is limited (320x240 pixels), and because the focus is fixed at 80cm to infinity, only the digital zoom is available, giving a 35mm camera equivalence of 38-95mm, which you can use while filming if you wish.

Movie results are quite pleasing, but don’t expect anything like broadcast video quality, it cannot compare with results you might expect from a proper DV camera. But if you have a collection of pictures, the inclusion of a short video can add a great deal of joy to your memories. Format is Motion JPEG, resulting in .avi files.

The manual is clear, well written and up to date enough to include Windows XP information.

The camera is webcam capable and fully useable with services such as Microsoft Messenger.

I am less pleased with the software included. While it is perfectly functional, it has an advertising banner down the right hand side, which continually prompts you to register the software. But if you have a recent version of Windows, you won’t miss Finepix Viewer at all. Finepix Viewer and its associated picture editor have virtually indistinguishable functionality from Windows Picture & Fax viewer, Photo Editor & Media Player. In fact I would go so far as to say the Microsoft offerings are better. And Photoshop is, of course, better still.

Some other useful features of the camera include: -

Voice annotations. You can append a short audio message to each picture.

Audio confirmation. The camera can be set to beep as you navigate the menu or take photographs.

Framing Guidelines. An OXO board type frame can be displayed to help you compose your shot.

If you get one of these fine cameras you won’t be disappointed. It’s a great product, with a few silly, but surmountable, issues rather than problems.

Rob Anthony

Addendum: I have been out today, using the camera at the Exeter Airport Aviation Enthusiasts day..Just a short note on using with NiMH rechargeable batteries. Flip me, they last longer than Duracell Ultra's. I took loads of pictures, about 100 in various resolutions, and a couple of 1 minute movies, and the batteries are still okay. Believe me, I didn't spare the Zoom, either - in and out like Flynn all day!!

Another thing on colour saturation. Reds can be just a tiny little bit over-saturated. Not so that it becomes a problem, but it's the quality difference between a £300 and a £600 camera, I suppose.

Rob

 
Close to perfect really
I bought a Fuji FinePix 2800 on a recent trip to Australia and paid about US$400. I figured it was a lot of money for a camera, but by the time I took a few dozen photos I realized that it is a outstanding camera that is WELL WORTH THE PRICE.

The photos it takes are clear and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the well structured controls. I particularly like taking shots in VGA mode because you get the full digital zoom on top of the awesome 6x optical zoom, all of which brings distant objects up really, really close. In VGA mode you can even do some zooming via software once you have the photos on a PC.

And, in VGA mode you get many, many photos on the 16MB card they include with the camera.

Two complaints:

1. No rechargeable battery. (Try finding NiMH batteries in the Middle East!)

2. Tethered lens cap that blows about in the wind.

Other than that, it's perfect. Well done, Fuji!

 
A Real Bargain
My first digital camera - I've umm'd and ahh'd for years, waiting for prices to drop and features to increase - now having finally taken the plunge with the 2800Z I am positive I've made the right choice.

The camera is easy to use (I was shooting video footage, and taking close ups with the macro option within about five minutes of getting the camera out of the box), the results are faultless, and the features are easy to use and (more importantly) *uesful* (not just gimmicks) - particularly the 6x Optical zoom.

Plus, the camera also looks the business, and the build quality is excellent. So, from a nervous buyer, I'm now the newest and happiest convert to all things Fuji!

 

 

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