Customer Reviews

Fujifilm FinePix F601 3MP (SCCD) Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have been researching digital photography technology for quiet some time now and was waiting for very high resolution cameras to become more mainstream before I made the transition from a Canon EOS Elan IIe SLR. I realized over time that very high resolution cameras take up too much memory, and time to write and frankly unless you go for prints that are over 10 x 14 you do not need it. If you go for prints over 10 x 14 you also need a wide format printer(most printers don't have that sort of capability) or sending them out which costs. So you must truly assess what size you will be printing most. What sold me on this camera: a. very good to excellent resolution and color saturation particularly outdoors even for larger prints b. size (it is incredible I carry it with me everywhere while that was not the case with my other camera) c. takes full VGA movie clips (with great sound) lack of zooming is not a problem you hardly need it (go for a full video camera if you need extensive control of video) d. voice notes (I have not used it but is is nice to know it is there) e. ease of use and most importantly fuji has imporved the algorithm for light processing and it seems if you compare photos taken by the FUJI 6800 versus the Finepix F601 the photos have light much better balanced while the FUJI 6800 photos look conistently a bit dark. Features that dissapoint: like every other camera the 16MB card only holds 5 full resolution pics so you must buy a larger card (I bought a 128mb one for [money]), the cradle which acts as a recharger, syncing (to upload the photos to the computer) and to play the video on TV is extra unlike previous models. Of course this is a point and shoot camera so don't expect to find any external flash syncing capability but you will find that you don't need it most of the time unless you are shooting professionally. Finally I used to hate point and shoot cameras but one must understand that the technology in the digital cameras goes far beyond the capability and control of 35mm film point and shoot cameras. This camera keeps me content with numerous adjustments from shutter speed, to aperture to EV so although it comes in a small package it does not compromise on picture taking fine tuning.

As a media teacher in a prep school, I've handled many digital and 35mm cameras in my day, but after only a week with this one, the others have gone into storage. This camera takes excellent, print-quality 8x10 pictures with a minuimum of fuss in automatic setting, toggles easily and intuitively between picture taking and archived picture viewing, and interfaces cleanly with my PC laptop without the extra-cost Fuji 601 cradle. 4x zoom is clear, and defaults of either 1 or 3 megapixel fine-quality pictures easily rival true analog photography for clarity and color.

I don't recommend using the 6-megapixel "dithered" settings, as the color and pixel dithering is visible at standard photo sizes. I HIGHLY recommend getting a 128M storage card, though; you can only store 5 3 megapixel fine-quality images on the 16meg card that comes with the camera.

Settings are easily changed and accessed, and include grids and focus variations for assistance with framing the best shot. More advanced manual features are conparatively thorough. Accompanying software is easy to install and integrates well with the PC operating system without interfering with default user settings (as so often can be the case!). Images are stored in easy-to-use jpeg format.

A vertical camera where most traditional models are longer-than-wide, its physical design takes a few seconds to get used to, but once one overcomes the tendency to block lens and/or flash sensor, holding the camera becomes is a light, comfortable, and ergonomically sound experience. The battery lasts a long time (about 150 pix) but takes up little space or weight.

The camera does take limited video, but this isn't designed to be a video camera or even much of a hybrid -- it saves in .avi, which is useful, but can't store more than a few minutes even on the 128meg card. As an added bonus, though, audio functions abound. The traditional voice-recorded .wav funtion seems both useful and something I will actually USE; even better, the 601 has a very cool setting which allows you to append a 30 second voice "tag" to every picture you take, making the old-school photographers logbook a thing of the past, and allowing you to archive data about one shot while framing the next.

A gift from family on the eve of our first child's arrival, the F601 leads the pack, leaving me confident that we won't miss a shot in crowded and possible darkened birthing-room conditions. What better recommendation could one want?

I started with a Fujifilm MX-700 four years ago as my first digital camera, and I waited until now to upgrade to the F601, which is essentially the 4th generation version of the MX-700. It has the same stylish (even better looking and a bit smaller) aluminum housing, and the features are now an order of magnitude better. The F601 image processing is fast--only about 2-3 seconds between pictures (even at hi-res), and the image quality is excellent. I figured out the camera controls in about 5 minutes without reading the manual at all--they are very intuitive. The full-VGA 15 frame-per-second video capture mode is also great for mini-movies, and you are only limited by the size of your smart card on the movie length. Many other cameras only do quarter-VGA (QVGA) videos with a 30-second limit. Plus, like the other reviewer said, the F601 fits inconspicuously into a front pants pocket, so you can take it anywhere. Caveats: I don't like that the file numbering resets to zero each time you clear the smart card. That makes it difficult to download all of your pictures to the same file folder. Even my MX-700 had an option not to reset the file numbering, so I'm not sure what the Fujifilm engineers were thinking. Also, you have to learn how to hold the camera, because it is easy to block the microphone or the flash or the exposure meter with a finger. Finally, you'll want to fork over the money for an extra battery and a 128 MB smartcard. But those are small quibbles. This is a great camera for beginners and experts alike. I love mine.

There are many things that really make this camera worth buying. These are a few that sold me:

1) Form factor - The 601 has got a really nice upright shape that lends itself to smaller hands.
2) Controls - The basic point-and-shoot controls are very easy to manipulate. Switching between Movie, Auto Control, and Manual Control is a cinch and zooming and focusing is a breeze.
3) Picture quality - The pictures that are produced are almost always true to life. Even at 1 megapixel normal mode, the pictures are sharp and clear.

But since I bought it, there have been a few niggling inconsistencies and drawbacks that take the sheen off the thing.

1) No picture stabilization - If you have jittery hands, you will end up with lots of fuzzy pictures.
2) A bug in the lens retraction system causes my camera to not stow the zoom lens when I turn it off.
3) Complicated menus - Once you decide to leave the familiar point-and-shoot environment and start fiddling with apertures and f stops, the menus become very complicated.
4) FinePix software - If you can avoid it, just don't install it. It is slow and heavy. I suggest getting another imaging suite like Photoshop Elements or Macromedia Fireworks or Jasc PaintShop Pro.
5) Short battery life - At 1 megapixel normal mode, it is almost impossible to fill up a 128Meg SmartMedia card. The battery in this case lasts about 3 hours. This annoyance is offset by the fact that 128M is enough to fit about 400 pictures. I ran out of battery the other day, which is why I bring this up. If you are used to shooting 30-40 shots a day, then there is plenty of battery.

Still, it is a cool little camera that takes really good pictures and is small enough to take with you on your next outing. The price is a little high and you would do yourself right to compare this to other cameras in its range. The form factor may look cool now, but you should try it out before buying, some people really don't like the shape.

When I started looking for a digital camera my first thoughts were to get a Fuji 6900. I realized I normally declined to bring along my 35MM because of it's size so I started looking for a smaller camera that I could slip in a pocket. The FUJI A601 is a great camera for the average person. After purchasing I took it home and read the one page instruction "cheat sheet", charged the camera and immediately started taking pictures even though I'd never used a digital camera before. It is very easy to use and I take it just about every where due to it's small size. After my last trip, I realized some of my photos were slightly blurry so I finally dug out the instruction manaul and read it. I now take crisp, clear photos every time. I recommend buying the 128MB smartcard and the cradle as I've found both of them very beneficial.

The F601 is a great camera! I donot know why one of the previous reviewers complained that this or the optional cradle do not work with Windows XP. It works and installed very easily for me on XP. Maybe they should read the manual before trying to install. Anyway picture quality seems to be wonderful in 1MP or 3MP modes, some pictures appear blurry, but i think this is just because i am getting used to this camera. Battery life is average or a little better than average. Again i don't know what the previous reviewer has used before but i do not know a single digital camera that will fill up a 128mb card. For instance the Canon S330 battery only lasts about 1 hour! This battery is certainly better than that but i would by a second battery if you can afford it. Video mode works great and is only limited to the amount of space you have free on your smartmedia card. Bottom Line is this camera creates great pictures, is extremely fast starting up and zooming(especially compared to the Minolta F100, which seemed very slow) and movie mode works great. It also has full manual controls. Downsides seem to be initially that the redeye reduction does not seem to work all that well(although this can be fixed with photoshop) and the price, which is more expensive than most 3MP Cameras. The only thing i am concerned with is the negative reviews about quality, the camera seems very well made and solid and so far i have had no problems.

This camera is great. I find it unfortunate that the 2 reviewers who rated t so low got what are obviously rare lemons. I love the camera. It is easy to use and very convenient. I find myself taking it eveywhere. The only downside is that at first it is awkward to hold due to it's small size and upright design. You get used to it very quick though. This is my first digital camera. It is kind of expensive but got mine on sale, so I lucked out. Overall, great camera. Get one today, along with a 128MB card.

Finding this remarkable camera and the opportunity to go digital, I took the plunge and bought what my daughter( a newspaper reporter/photographer) thought was a better digital than her newspaper had. We analyzed all the options and decided that since I had eye surgery the LCD was mandatory and she wanted the ease of storing many pics as the sportsscene we haunt not only has my youngest son as a player but the county teams benefit from clearer higher density photos. We planned on using the 601 for action shots at sports events but it is super with children's photos too. Having many grandchildren I am thrilled with the wonderful unposed action shots of little ones. As sports events and scrapbookers we use the advantages of this digital to the max. Thankyou for creating such a wonderful camera for a first time digital user. AS a sports photograper, my daughter is having a winderful time with action shots and the ability of the zoom creates AP Wire quality. We need an extra battery and need advice as to where to get one along with a BC-60 battery charger. Since my daughter doesn't have her own computer when she takes the camera for a few days she needs a charger to make sure she has enough power for events. Thanks for promoting such excitement in our lives.

As a professional photographer I don't rely on pocket cameras to do my more ambitious photography, but I do like to have a pocket camera handy with me all the time so I can take advantage of those photo opportunities that arise when I don't have my larger, heavier gear with me. For the past 5 years, I've been using a Fuji 6800Z to fill this role and I was generally pleased with it. There were a few drawbacks (noise in low light, lack of any manual functions, sometimes felt awkward in my hand, didn't like the menu system), but generally I'd say it surved my pocket camera needs well for five years before finally dying (camera function died). I kept using the camera's voice recording mode (Over 2 hours in wav files {1 hour max each} on 64mb card) for several more months before I decided it was time to replace the whole unit with a new pocket cam and possible new voice recorder.

I had decided I didn't want to spend more than $150 on a pocket camera and was QUITE surprised to stumble on the Fuji F601 in a national camera store near where I lived. Originally priced at $500 (and I've seen them on line for as much as $700), the camera I got had been marked down to $105, new in the original box. Once I'd determined that the body was metal and it shot 3 or more megapixels, I decided to go ahead, assuming the features would be similar to or less than what I'd had in the 6800 as that model had cost around $800 when I purchased it in 2001.

Well, when I got the camera home, I was VERY surprised to find that this unit had MORE features than my 6800, MOST of which were things I had sorely missed in the 6800. And the things that the 6800 had that the 601 doesn't were things I never used (file locking, etc.). Allow me to enumerate:

LENS - both have f8.3-24.9mm 3x zoom lens, but 601 allows use of 2.8 aperture throughout zoom range where 6800 didn't.
APERTURE - both 2.8 to 8.0, but see above.
ISO - 6800> 100,200,400 601> 160,200,400 (all sizes) 800,1600 (1 Megapixel only)
MENU - I prefer the 601's style menu a lot, but not all do.
OPERATING MODES - To the modes the 6800 had, the 601 adds Fully Manual, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Program. For creative photographers, this is a HUGE plus, giving us the ability to select the shutter speed, aperture size or both when our shooting goals demand it.
FOCUS - The 6800 had a fixed focus pointer while in some modes the 601's focus pointer can be moved.
BODY - Smaller, and yet, somehow, even with largish man's hands, this model is EASIER to hold than the 6800.
VOICE RECORDER - The 6800 allowed for long recordings of voice only with a max file size of 1 hour. The 601 removes this limit, allowing recording of the full capacity of the memory card in one file. More convenient for those of us who do a lot of this. Sound quality was about the same as the 6800, which, while not great, was more than adequate for my needs.

In all other respects, the 601 seems to be as good as or better than the 6800.

SHOOTING RESULTS - When I began taking pictures with it (3mp mode, I never both with the 6mp mode) I was pleasantly surprised to find that the 601 takes better pictures with less noise and truer colors. I'm delighted with the output from this camera. And for $105, I'm just AMAZED at what I have for such a small price.

USB CONNECTION - I didn't bother with the docking station as I'm very mobile and the docking station is just one more thing to lug around. I find the USB cable works fine with no problems whatsoever (physical or operational) on my Windows XP Pro laptop or my girlfriend's XP Home Edition desk top. I've read that some people had trouble with this and I'm not sure why. I can only think perhaps they forgot to install the drivers for the camera or the drivers got corrupted, as I had NO issues at all downloading images to either of our XP machines.

BATTERY - as with the 6800, the 601 comes with a Lithium Ion battery ... charges quickly and lasts long.

WRISTS STRAP - The strap on the 6800 was a rubberized thing that never felt quite big enough or quite right in my grip. The 601's strap is a sturdy fabric strap that feels better and fits my wrists size better.

I invite anyone who is considering purchasing this camera to e-mail me with questions as I just love it and would enjoy discussing it.

I have owned two Fujifilm FinePix 6300 cameras in the past and was thrilled with their capabilities. When the F601 became available, it was a no-brainer for me to upgrade to it. The resilution is great, it is sturdy camera that I'm not afraid to take with me everywhere, and the pictures are incredable. The only complaint that I have about all of the Fuji's that I've had is that they don't fit my hand (large hands) as well as a 35mm style camera would. In my opinion, the F601 is a fantastic camera.