Customer Reviews

Fujifilm FinePix 4800 2.5MP Digital Camera in Cradle w/ 3x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have been waiting for this camera to come out. Just received it last week and it has been worth the wait. It not only looks and feels REALLY COOL. It takes fabulous pictures. I used a fuji finepix 4700 recently and loved it, but when I heard and read about this upgrade I returned the 4700. I like how everything you need for the camera comes with it, charger, ac adaptor, etc. The battery for the 4800 lasts much longer. The viewfinder is on the corner instead of the middle (4700), which makes it easier to use. You do have to kindof watch that your finger is not covering the microphone or the flash sensor, but once you get the feel for it, that's not a problem. I bought it for the size and for the high quality pictures it takes. I also like that it takes movies with sounds and you can add sound to the pictures (which the 4700 can't do) It also has a black and white option.

I did quite a bit of research before I bought this camera. Since I am an amateur photographer, I wasn't hunting for the highest megapixels but for practicality and outstanding picture quality. This little jewel of technology definetely delivers it all. The colors are great and 2.4 megapix is totally enough to print high quality 8x10 prints! The design is so cool you won't be able to put it down for a while. Don't be fooled by the 4.3 megapixel digitally-rendered resolution Fuji claims. The pictures taken at this resolution are fuzzy and unusable even in the best lightning conditions. This marketing ploy is designed for megapixel-greedy people. Shame on Fuji for this. Other than that buy it and enjoy the ride!

I waited and waited to buy a digital camera, and had had my eye on the Fuji 4800 for a while. Suffice to say I am just thrilled with how it has performed. It is simple to understand and operate for your average pics of the kids and vacation shots, but has a lot of features that more sophisticated photographers will want. I bought a 64MB card and at basic resolution it will handle nearly 200 prints -- the prints on basic resolution have been great, with and w/o flash, surprisingly as good or better than my Canon SLR. The software package is easy to install, and the ofoto.com service is perfect -- simply log on to your ISP, upload the pictures you want to your private web page on ofoto.com, and tick the box for those you want printed. Three days later they show up in your mailbox -- beautiful prints. Finally, the video program is fun -- never going to make professional movies with it, but for saving short movies on CD or a hard drive for your kids, it is great. Just don't know what else you would want or need.

I did a LOT of research before buying a digital camera and am not disappointed with the results. In this price range, nothing came close for me, especially with the picture quality. I have the cradle plugged into my computer all the time (I bet I shouldn't be there you go) which means when I bring the camera home, I have one button to push to get all the photos up on the screen ready to edit/save. I change one setting on the camera and it's a web-cam (excellent image quality once again). My biggest gripe is the memory - 16MB. 163 PC quality photos - If I wanted to take PC photos I could take stills from my camcorder. I want top quality, photo images and can only take 19 (39 if I take smaller images) which isn't a lot of use on holiday. I think for the price, they could throw in a bigger memory and a protective case.

I am going to tell you the Thumbs-up and Thumbs-down summary of the camera:

THUMBS UP:

1. At all the different Resolutions the pictures have really high detail. The main difference is in size. Super CCD for 2400 *1800 that has been criticized so much, worked really well for me. (at least on the portrait indoor shots I've taken).

2. Very attractive design. Looks big in the pictures but it is actually a very compact camera. You can take pictures using only one hand with no problem.

3."auto" setting for those who like to only "point and shoot" takes great pictures regardless of the circumstances. (fluorescent lights, outside shots, flash shots...etc..)

4. Long battery life. (Used it for 5 days, 50 pictures, tried all resolutions, all picture with LCD display on and FLASH. Zoom was used in all pictures, played around with all the bottons I could find and tested different setting). The battery still reads as if it were fully charged. Impressive.

5. Includes good stuff. Cradle recharges the battery but it is slow (takes 5 hours to do so). Also used as the drive to transfer pictures to the computer. This is actually really fast, which means: NO NEED to buy smart media drive. The 16MB memory card holds a good number of pictures at normal setting (which is not too different from the fine setting as far as I have tried).(I haven't printed any pictures though)

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THUMBS DOWN:

1. Look, and this goes for ALL DIGITAL CAMERAS. More megapixels does not mean better quality, it means BIGGER images. So if you want pictures for a web site anything with 1 megapixel or even the lowest 640*480 cameras will be MORE than enough. If you want to view them ina computer, or print in regular film sizes (5*7), 1 megapixel is enough.

2. CAUTION: This camera has an auto-focus, you press halfway down, wait a sec, and then push all the way. It is also very sensitve to movement: Now, stay still at least 3 seconds after you have pushed all the way. If you, or the person in the picture moves it will look blurry. (for portraits of course)

3. Expensive. I am not complaining that it is not worth the prize, but that they could have included a simple bag for it!

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Overall a very solid camera. Now that I know about digital cameras, if I was ever to buy another one:

1. I would get the biggest OPTICAL zoom (Digital zoom is trash. Basically worthless if you want a good quality picture). 3X is not too much, but it is good. Get 6X or 10X instead of wasting your money on megapixels.

2. Any camera with 1 megapixel is more than enough if you are not planning to print images.
These cameras are considerably cheaper, and usually use less memory and less batteries, which decreases your cost even more.

Remember when a digital camera cost a king's ransom and it looked like everything was made out of lego blocks? This little marvel is a demonstration of how far digital cameras have advanced in the last few years. ...

Summary: Overall, a great camera in a small package. My new favorite toy, no contest. Pros - small, very stylish, good picture quality, good features (even takes video clips). Cons - no case, supplied 16MB card too small, no case, cradle is USB only, did I mention no case?

This is probably the best looking digital camera around. Its stainless steel body feels heavy duty and very professionally made. The body was designed by Porsche.

The pictures turn out awesome to say the least. But for (this price) they should! There is so many gadgets on this camera that even a professional would have fun learning them all. A novice would be overwelmed with this camera.

The photos are brilliant and have up to 4.3 megapixels at its highest resolution. You also can choose 2.4 megapixel, 1 megapixel and the small standard 480x640 resolution. You can also choose between fine, normal and soft for about 10 different photo choices.

The camera lets you also make it black and white, soft portrait and many other "scene" formats.

This camera does not get 5 stars though. The price is probably about $100 too high, the cool looking design is somewhat harder to hold than a standard looking camera and the battery takes 5 hours to recharge but does last a long time. Not even mentioning that the 16 meg smart media card is way to small for a camera of this magnitute. Get 128 meg card at Costco... and you can literally put almost 2000 photos onto this camera at the small size and about 70 of the 4 megapixel photos on it. I tell you- technology is awesome!

All in all though I am very happy with it. It gets my rave reviews even with its few shortcomings! Fuji - keep up the good work.

I tried to edit this review a long time ago. It didn't seem to work. So I'll try again. Here is the original review, but be sure to read the end.

I bought a FinePix 4800Zoom as a customer return at a local computer store. I feel I got a fabulous bargain!

The feel of the camera is solid and the metal skin really makes it look elegant. I've seen a lot of silver-painted cameras that just look cheap compared to the 4800. The vertical form factor is a bit strange, but it works out very nicely - not a bit awkward and equally easy to operate for small and larger hands.

The image quality really does live up to the 4.3 megapixel claim. It stays crystal clear when blown up several times on the computer screen. 4x6 prints on my HP 952c with premium glossy paper are beautiful. The color rendition is as good as Kodak film, no, actually, I think it is better. Most of my Kodak film printed at Sam's club comes back with very exaggerated reds. The 4800 gives a more balanced, believable color pallette.

The FinePix 4800Zoom has a full array of well thought out features. The cradle arrangement is really convenient. I just open a tiny sliding cover on the bottom, drop the camera into the cradle and punch the power button. Presto! My iMac fires up its own camera software and asks me if I want to download all or some of the pictures. Then it does it all for me. Sweet! The cradle is also the battery charger.

I don't know what is happening to the customer from San Jose, but I certainly get razor sharp, gorgeous pictures with this camera. He/She may be having difficulty with the way the shutter release works. You have to push it and hold it for second, holding the camera still all the while. The picture is actually taken after the initial push. This caused me a little confusion at first. My first shots were sort of out of whack. Once I got the hang of the push-and-hold technique, everything came together nicely.

All in all, I am totally satisfied with the Fujifilm FinePix 4800Zoom. Highly recommended!

Okay, after about 13 months, I reversed my opinion. The thing simply stopped working. The sliding lens cover is jammed open and won't let the lens extend. I didn't buy an extended warranty, so I paid to have it fixed. The guy told me not to bother replacing the front panel which contains the cover, because it would be way too expensive. So he charged me $65 to open it up, blow it out, and put it back together several times. It seemed to work. But after a few days it started jamming again. Within 2 weeks it was useless. I am so disappointed that I went out and bought a Minoltal Dimage XT. It was cheaper, smaller, takes just as good photos, and it hasn't given me any problems. I feel like avoiding Fuji after this experience. I want to reduce the stars to 2, but the review editor won't let me.

This is an amazing camera!! There are so many options and cool things you can do with it. I took a pic at the highest resolution, and uploaded it to ofoto.com, and it recommended the picture be printed at 20"X30"!! This is huge! This is the biggest print they will make from digital photos. This cameras price range seems very reasonable to have resolution like this. Granted, I haven't actually seen the 20X30, but whenever ofoto has recommended things to me before, they were perfect. At least I know an 8X10 will be amazing...

This is my first digital camera and was the model I arrived at after nearly 2 months of research. It is small, has excellent image quality for a 2.4 MP camera, has very good battery life (I can shoot for a whole weekend with limited LCD usage on one charge). Hey, the price was right too (note that Amazon isn't always the lowest ;-).

There are plenty of more detailed reviews out there so I'll just summarize that I'm very happy with my purchase nearly 300 photos later. I bought a tripod last week and have been having great success with very low light and panorama shots and the small size of this camera means I take it everywhere. Unless your needs are high-end (i.e. you need 3+ MP count, lens adapter, external flash socket and total manual control), you won't be unhappy with the 4800.