Customer Reviews

Fujifilm FinePix 2800 2MP Digital Camera w/ 6x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(77)
4 star:		(41)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

This is my first digicam and I spent a great deal of time researching this camera along with others. I was looking for a camera...I finally settled on the Fuji 2800Z. To date, I am extremely please with my purchase, as I have found this camera to be an excellent value for the money.

Some of the positives of this camera include, a killer 6x Optical Zoom, Sharp and Crisp Pictures, extremely easy to use menu system, 60 second video with audio, and it can double as a webcam. This camera is pretty much a point and shoot camera so if you are looking for a digital camera that has a wide selection of manual settings, look elsewhere as this camera is not for you. You do, however, have control over the white balance, exposure, and flash settings. Other than that, the rest is automatic.

As I mentioned, this is a great little camera, however it is not without a few "flaws". As well noted, this camera has trouble in low light situations, specifically the EVF and LCD. In the few weeks that I have had the camera and the several hundred pictures that I have taken, I have only run into 1 situation where the EVF and LCD were useless. This issue can be worked around and should not be a sticking point for those looking to purchase this camera. I personally like using the EVF as, unlike an optical viewfinder, it shows you "exactly" what is being photographed without distortion. Finally, if you decide to pick up this camera, make sure that you get some rechargeable batteries and a 128mb Smart Media card. You will be set.

In summary, if you are looking for a simple to use, point and shoot camera, with a great zoom, sharp pictures, and a few additional nice features, get this camera. You will be hard pressed to find a better camera for the money!

I got my Fujifilm Finepix 2800 three days ago and here's my first take.

The camera has a good look, and feels sturdy with the all-metal case. Its width is about that of a credit card, so you can say it's small; however it’s pretty thick (comparable to its width) due to its 6x zoom lens, so it won't fit in your shirt pocket.

I have only taken indoor photos, and the image quality is excellent. The photos usually look very nice as is, without having to be fixed by a photo editor.

The 6x optical zoom was a big factor in my decision to buy this camera. It doesn't work well for me when taking indoor pictures. I would have to keep the camera absolutely steady under the full zoom or the picture comes out blurry. A friend of mine has an Olympus C-2100, which has a 10x zoom. It comes with image stablization, which is probably absent in Finepix 2800 (at least I didn't find any mentioning of it).

The electronic view finder (EVF) gave mixed results. On the one hand, it is great to be able to see everything with EVF, including the menus. This removes the need to switch on the LCD just to change some menu settings, and as a result, you get longer battery life. On the other hand, the EVF was completely useless in a low light setting. The room wasn't that dark, but the EVF was totally blank when I pointed the camera to a dark area, so was the LCD. I had to point the camera to the general direction and let the flash do its job. Luckily the picture came out OK, but still I wished I had an optical view finder at the time.

The webcam is very easy to set up. You'd use the menu to set the so-called "USB mode" to "webcam", and then connect the camera to the PC through the USB cable, just as if you were uploading the pictures. Then you'll launch the PictureHello program and that's it. The captured image is pretty dark, though.

It is just as easy to take a video as to take photos. The movie is a little dark, tough, when taken indoors.

Fuji says in the manual that the operation of the camera is only guaranteed when it's used with Fuji SmartMedia cards. However I am using a 128MB Mr. Flash SM card I bought (...) and the camera took it without incident. I also bought 1600mAh NiMH batteries and a charger from newegg.com. The price was great, so was the service. I highly recommend them.

The battery life seems very good. I have taken over 100 indoor photos, all using the flash, and the 1600mAh batteries are still going strong. As I mentioned earlier, it certainly helped not to have to switch on the LCD very often, but I didn't go out of my way to avoid using it.

Software installion on my Windows 2000 laptop went smoothly. It was actually a series of independent installations for USB driver, FinepixViewer, QuickTime, VideoImpression, and Microsoft Media Player, etc. You can also install Adobe's PhotoDeluxe and ActiveShare.

All in all, I am having lots of fun with this camera. It has its limitations, such as the lack of TV out and certain manual controls. But I would say at this price level you won't find another comparable camera that has such a rich set of features.

(...) I liked the fact that it looks like a camera and that it is quite small, compact and light weight. I did some research, but honestly not that much. I was interested in optical Zoom, and the 6x optical zoom is what made me buy the Fuji 2800Zoom. Most of the other digital cameras in my price range only had 3x Optical zoom. So far I've taken at least 50 pictures and I am very pleased. The software installed easily and worked the first time on both of my computers, Win98 and Win2000 Professional. The only problem I have is that the on/off button is right where the 'take a picture' button is on other cameras, which means that I have turned the camera off, instead of taking a picture on at least 4 or 5 times.

I also like the fact that it has both a small eye viewfinder like a regular camera plus the eye viewfinder is also in color. Plus it has the LCD screen. The eye viewfinder is very useful in bright sunlight where you might not be able to see the LCD screen. You can change the LCD brightness also.

Overall I am quite pleased with this camera. The Fuji 2800Zoom has 2 megapixels, which at first I thought might be a drawback since 5 megapixel cameras are now available, but now I see that the photos are very clear and sharp at the "1M Normal" setting, so that is not an issue. The camera allows you to change the settings for picture quality. There are 8 settings. Naturally the higher the setting the fewer pictures you can record on the card. The lesser the setting the more you can record. But at the Normal setting, on a 16Meg card you can still get about 50 pictures of very good quality. If you need more you can buy a higher meg card to store more photos. That's it, have fun.

I bought two digital cameras recently. Both of them Fuji. Mine is the 2600zoom finepix and the 2800zoom is the one I got for my wife. ( She thought it was 'cute'.) Personally, I like the 2600 better for a number of reasons. It comes with a battery recharger and two of the 1700mHa batteries by Fuji. The 2600 only takes two batteries instead of four like the 2800 does, and they last a long time.(The 2800 eats up the batteries, you will want to get extra batteries and a fast charger for it.) Overall both cameras are excellent and I give both 5 stars. The 2600 is just a better value when you weigh all features and benefits. You will have to order an a/c adapter for both cameras from Fuji as they are an option, and I had to buy a charger and rechargable batteries for the 2800 after the purchase. It comes with 4 alkaline batteries when you buy it. They lasted about 25 minutes before they were dead.(No lie) I don't particularly like the grainy look in the view finder of the 2800. I'm not fond of the way the viewer goes blank when you take the picture either. The 2600 doesn't have this grainy appearance at all and it doesn't blank out when you snap the pic. Of course the 2600 doesn't have the ability to show you the display and menu in the view finder like the 2800 does. The 2800 video mode is much better than the 2600 and the sound quality is quite impressive too.(No sound on the 2600) The one thing I found after the purchase is that most of the NiMH batteries you will find are 1600mHa and Fuji's are 1700mHa. This may seem slight but it makes a difference in how long the batteries last between charges and how fast they recover after each shot. I found some that were 1800mHa and Fuji told me not to use them as they may damage the camera. I recommend that you find 1700s because the 400mHa difference is quite noticable. The 5 volt a/c adapter for the 2800 and the 3 volt a/c adapter you can get for the 2600 both have plenty of length to the cord and I like that. Overall for the money the 2800 is a good deal but other than the 6x zoom feature it really doesn't take any better pics than my 2600 does. It was harder to find a case that would hold the 2800 than it was for my 2600 and the 2800 is heavy compared to the 2600. I'm glad the 2800 is my wife's camera really. The only time I'll use the 2800 is if I just have to zoom in twice as far for a shot. ... My wife thinks it was worth it and love the camera. I'd recommend either one but value for value the 2600 is a better deal. Fuji has got it going on with these little cameras. They are impressive. If they came with an a/c adapter and carry case and if the 2800 just had a charger and NiMH batteries it would be better but they'd be a lot more expensive up front I'm sure. The fact is though, these are both quite high in quality and supreme user friendly cameras.

OK, in a nutshell- This camera takes great quality photos rich in color. The detail really does rival that of higher MP cameras.

Much of this can be attributed to two factors. First, the 6X Optical zoom allows the photographer to bring the shot to them without the distortion that is caused by a Digital zoom. Second, the lens Aperture, the size of the lens opening, is by far the largest of any digital camera I have seen in this price range. This large aperture gives the camera a greater light gathering ability and contributes to vivid color reproduction.

The camera's case is made of plastic, which may seem flimsy to some, and will probably scratch if not handled carfully. If you plan on accompanying the 'crock hunter' on an outback photoshoot any time soon, I recommend finding a camera with a metal casing.

The on-screen menus are logical and easy to navigate. The menus can be seen via the LCD (display screen) or the EVF (viewfinder). This camera has many amatuer features and they all work great. The movie feature has decent quality video (for a digicam) and good sound.

Because the viewfinder is electronic and it's source is the zoom lens, this camera is effectively a digital SLR, which means that the image you see is exactly the image you get -a great plus.

This camera's main drawback is it's display performance in low light situations. Both the LCD and EVF are useless at night, and indoor shots may become difficult under low light conditions. This may make it difficult to take advanced shots, as it may be impossible lock the focus on your subject properly. The flash will ensure that the pictures come out great, though, and its not like your wasting film if your subject isn't centered properly. Just fire away! Still its a major shortfall.

Software works fine, but you may want to use something you're more familiar with.

Get a set of Nickel Metal Hydride rechargable batteries. The higher the mAh the better as this determines how long the batteries will last per charge. I have found a set of 1800mAh batteries and they work great.

I've had this Fuji 2800 camera for about 1 month now and I simply LOVE it. I took it on my recent trip to Key West Florida where I got some FANTASTIC quality shots. Zoom works wonderfully, but be very careful on full zoom... even the slightest movement will result in blurry pictures. The 6X zoom is why I bought the camera, and I quickly learned the difference between the digital zoom and optical zoom. The optical zooms in physically (you feel the lens move) while the digital gets you closer like on the monitor of a computer. Every time I zoomed to the full max, I set the camera on a stable surface and got incredibly nice photos!

My suggestion is to buy a 128MB card, or two, and take all your pictures at the highest quality. Your choices for quality are BEST / High, mid, low... or MEDIUM / high, mid... or LOW / regular. That's 6 choices. If you have the space available on your card, why not get the best shot? The camera comes with a 16MB, I bought a 64MB, and on my week in Fla., I ended up lowering the quality to accommodate more photos, and when I viewed my pics at home, I saw a difference that didn't please me. If I had taken them all at mid quality, I may not have noticed, but size does matter! Capture the biggest image!

As far as the video clip capabilities, I was pleasantly surprised. Takes up tons of space though. And don't expect fine detail. Add the sound and you end up with a jumpy at best, rough video of your cherished moment. If it's video you're after, take along a video camera. I did run home and e-mail the .avi file to all my friends and they were surprised too, simply at the fact that a digital camera can record video with sound.

I have used several other digi-cameras that were slim and credit card sized, and I didn't like them. I am a big guy with big fingers, and I like the bigger camera. I can carry it in my front pocket in relative comfort, but then again, I wear big shorts. The camera is 3" x 3.5" x 3.5". A cube. It has a nice grip to it, and it feels secure in my hand when I am on the boat. It comes with a lanyard for hanging on your neck but I never attached it. The lens cap is on a string, so be careful the string is out of the way when you snap the shot. My last digital camera had no lens cover, and the lens got scratched eventually.

As far as not being able to see through the viewfinder at night or indoors, it is true, but you can almost always see something distinguishable, and in no time, one gets used to it. You see the captured image for a second after you snap it, so you can see if you cut someone's head off. The biggest problem is when you ask someone to take your picture for you, they get caught up on the fact that they can't see you clearly. Better off just using the self-timer, which is easy to use. I use it often.

Pictures are easily and quickly erased if you want to erase them. So easy though, you can erase ones you didn't want to! There is no `undo' button... once they're gone, they're gone.

One more feature I fell in love with is the suppressed flash. It allows you to take pictures of cityscapes, sunsets, etc., where there is a subject in front. I took a picture of my wife in front of one of those fabulous Key West sunsets, and it turned out incredibly. I took another of her in front of downtown San Francisco at night, and it too came out awesome.

I have read people suggesting the AC adapter, but I see no reason to buy one. A full 128MB card can be downloaded into your computer within 2 minutes, maybe less. The camera, when turned on, automatically opens the image software, but several times in that process, my system has malfunctioned (Win98). I remedied it by simply opening the FinePix viewer first, then turning on the camera. Pictures pop right up, then I select them all, and drag them to another folder. Since pictures on a Smartmedia card are numbered from 0001 to the last, the folder should be empty, otherwise the computer tries to replace like-named pictures. As soon as they're moved, turn the camera off! It's that simple. DO buy some rechargeable batteries. Digital cameras can eat up disposable ones fast.

This Fuji 2800 camera is the best buy for your buck, hands down.

This is my 2nd Digital Camera. My first was a polaroid. Awful! And I paid more for it then I did this one. I couldn't even print pics because they were not clear and could only be printed in snapshot size. The Fuji finepix 2800 is great.IT has awesome image quality. It has one of the best zooms in its price range, you can take movies 60secs long with sound. This is one of the few cameras even close to this price that you can take movies that long and it has sound. The lcd and viewfinder are both color . You can take pics that can be printed into 8x10's. You can add voice captioning to pics.Its easy to set up and use.
As for the Eve /LCd screen , I haven't had any problem with lighting in my house and I didn't turn on the lights during the day or open blinds and I had no problem using the lcd screen. Now the movies still turn out good but I do reccommend some lighting when shooting those. Another great feature is it is also a webcam. The last digital camera I bought cost more then this one plus I had to pay for a webcam separate. Its like getting a webcam for free. The sound quality is great for the movie footage and voice captioning. I love this camera! I shopped around for a couple of months online and instore and kept coming back to this camera!
I also really liked the added software . The adobe photo deluxe is a great ,easy to use, picture software , plus the 2800 also includes Video Impression for your home movies. You can add animated screens, sound effects, edit and organize your movies, and mail or store them all with Video Impression. This is the best camera package you can get for the money.
Oh and I bought rechargeble batteries , [price] for a set of 4 AA. I also got a charger for [price]. Rechargeable batteries are a great asset to any digital camera owner . The only other thing I would have liked to have seen for this camera is a camera case/bag. I do think that should have been included but other then that I couldn't ask for anymore!

OK, in a nutshell- This camera takes great quality photos rich in color. The detail really does rival that of higher MP cameras.

Much of this can be attributed to two factors. First, the 6X Optical zoom allows the photographer to bring the shot to them without the distortion that is caused by a Digital zoom. Second, the lens Aperture, the size of the lens opening, is by far the largest of any digital camera I have seen in this price range. This large aperture gives the camera a greater light gathering ability and contributes to vivid color reproduction.

The camera's case is made of plastic, which may seem flimsy to some, and will probably scratch if not handled carfully. If you plan on accompanying the 'crock hunter' on an outback photoshoot any time soon, I recommend finding a camera with a metal casing.

The on-screen menus are logical and easy to navigate. The menus can be seen via the LCD (display screen) or the EVF (viewfinder). This camera has many amatuer features and they all work great. The movie feature has decent quality video (for a digicam) and good sound.

Because the viewfinder is electronic and it's source is the zoom lens, this camera is effectively a digital SLR, which means that the image you see is exactly the image you get -a great plus.

Considering this cameras large aperture lens, it is surprising that this camera's main drawback is it's display performance in low light situations. Both the LCD and EVF are useless at night, and indoor shots may become difficult under low light conditions. This may make it difficult to take advanced shots, as it may be impossible lock the focus on your subject properly. The flash will ensure that the pictures come out great, though, and its not like your wasting film if your subject isn't centered properly. Just fire away! Still its a major shortfall.

Software works fine, but you may want to use something you're more familiar with.

Get a set of Nickel Metal Hydride rechargable batteries. The higher the mAh the better as this determines how long the batteries will last per charge. I have found a set of 1800mAh batteries and they work great.

Everything said about the dark electronic viewfinder is true. In low light you cannot see your subject the way you would be able to if you just had a "see through" or glass viewfinder. But in daylight the electronic viewfinder actually will help you center and frame your topic more accurately.

The viewfinder and short battery life are the negatives. But on the positive side this camera takes excellent pictures, quality and colors are beautiful. I've taken most all my pictures at the "medium" default resolution setting and am totally satisfied with the quality.

The macro feature is very nice as well. If you enable the macro feature and crank the resolution up to maximum you can take some incredibly clear, focused, and detailed close-up images.

Zoom lens works well and appears to be a positive for this camera because most models don't seem to have a zoom as high as this camera's 6x optical zoom.

Several trips to local camera stores indicated that this camera was a "bang-for-buck" model with superior optics and color reproduction for the $399 price tag.

This is a great camera for the price. I was looking for a camera with movie mode (I don't own a digital camcorder), and really wanted sound with it. I didn't need a ton of manual options. I wasn't planning on printing 8x10's or larger, so 3 megapixels and up wasn't necessary. I was turned off by Sony's proprietary media. When it came down to it, it was between the Canon S200 and the Fugi 2800. The only pluses for the Canon was the sturdier body (metal) and the small size. But the 2X optical zoom was worthless.

I like the 4AA's over other batteries, because in a pinch, I can find them anywhere. I bought some rechargeable NiMH and am all set. The 6X optical zoom is great. After having it, I wouldn't consider another camera without it.

The only thing I can bash on the camera is the size and the plastic body. It is a little bigger than some cameras, but a small price to pay for the zoom. After a few weeks, I got over the plastic body, but I still worry about dropping it.

Get a USB card reader with this (~$30), and you don't need to use the camera to download pic's.