Customer Reviews

Fujifilm FinePix Z33WP 10 MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Black)

5 star:		(118)
4 star:		(63)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(35)

 

 

I purchased this camera for outdoor use while kayaking. I have no intention of using it underwater, but having lost two cameras to water damage; I opted for something waterproof.

Pluses: 1. The function buttons are tops - easy to find and press.
2. With tapered edges, the camera goes in my pocket easily.
3. Movie audio surprizingly good.
4. Multiple digital pixel settings - as low as 100 KB for
photos at the lowest setting - I e-mail my dad photos, he has
dial-up so short attachments are critical.
5. Photo quality color and resolution is good, including macro.
6. LCD display is good, even in strong sunlight
7. Menu choices are fairly intuitive.
8. Battery life seems good so far.
9. SD card - not that many waterproof cameras allow the use of
the common SD card.

Minuses 1. Indoor shots are have noise.
2. No hardcopy, comprehensive manual, just an unbound, brief
multifolded paper. The comprehensive manual is on a CD.
Then again, if you are around water, FUJI may figure you
aren't going to take a paper manual with you.
3. Propriety USB cable for downloads - yet another cable to
keep seperate from a dozen other propriety cables me and my
family has.

Summary: The camera exceeds my expectation for outdoor use. Granted, the photos in lower light settings have some noise, but most of my photos are in bright daylight. If I am going to an indoor event with low light, I'll take my Canon that is not waterproof.

I bought this camera to take with me snorkeling in Hawai'i, and to use as a backup camera to my Olympus 20x zoom camera. When i first took it out in Kahalu'u Bay on the Big Island, I was amazed at what this little camera could do. It's so easy to operate underwater and takes great movies and pics. Seals are watertight and body is very sturdy. Good battery life considering how much I used it every day of my trip. I took it to a manta ray night snorkel and got some once-in-a-lifetime videos (see my youtube vid at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VNaSHoBViE) and was glad the small size made it a great still shot backup when I ran out of batteries in my Olympus. The cool green color and nice quality vids and photos got noticed by quite a few tourists and locals on my trip. The camera's still photo quality is just fine for everyday shooting. Snap one of these beauties up now and never leave home without it.

I have used this camera underwater and on top. Sunsets and sunrises. I really like the way it handles and shoots. Very easy to figure out the settings. The easiest camera I've used so far and I've been shooting for 40 years. Sometimes I just don't want to think about settings but know I can get a great photo. I can with this camera.
It's fun taking a video going down a water slide!
One thing about digital is pushing the card to it's limit. I got a 4Gig. card and place the settings at the least amount of photos so it has the best quality photo. I can still get over 600 photos to this card! The other important thing is to make sure you hold the shooting button down for a few secs. so the digital camera can auto focus. If you don't photos will be blured or grainy.
I would recomend this to anyone looking for a great waterproof camera.

Length:: 0:48 Mins

I rarely write reviews BUT this is the best $129 I have ever spent. I was in Hawaii in January and used the underwater capabilities of this cute LITTLE, amazingly easy to use camera. I was surprised to hear the footage of the whales underwater BETTER than I heard them in real life, AWESOME. Please watch and listen to the turtle with the whales screaming in the background, I didn't think underwater was so noisy!!! I also caught some pretty amazing photos of rainbows, even far away ones. This camera is as sweet as the price!

If you're a novice at photography and want to take pictures either out of or under water, you couldn't ask for a bettter camera. Especially for the price. Either the people who gave this camera a bad review didn't know how to use it, they have too high a expectation, or are expert photographers who may need a more expensive camera. Or perhaps their camera just didn't work properly.

I wasn't expecting a lot from this camera based on the price and some reviews, but because of some of the shared photos, I decided to give it a try. If it didn't work, I at least didn't spend a whole lot. What I got was an amazing camera for a great price. I'm an extremely picky person and it takes a lot to impress me, but that is exactly what this camera did. Since I was snorkeling and floating on top of the water bobbing up and down, fighting against the current and using mostly the zoom feature my expectation was a lot of blurred pictures. So much so, that I wasn't even eager to get back to the ship to load the pictures onto my laptop to see what I got. When I finally was mentally set for a big disappointment I loaded my pictures onto my laptop. What I saw couldn't have surprised or excited me more. The pictures were beautiful and the movies I took were phenomenal. If you are a novice or a intermediate photographer, I highly, highly recommend this camera especially if you want to take underwater photos. I think it does great out of the water too. I have uploaded a few of the pictures I took so you can check those out. My two disappointments were that it was overcast (Fugifilm has no control over that)and I think some of the photos would have been better had the sun been out showing off all the colors of the fish and coral. And that the camera is only good for 3 meters under water. So I wasn't able to swim to the bottom of the ocean with it to take pictures. I had to stay on the surface. Regardless, it had the zoom that worked perfectly. One other nice thing was that I didn't have to worry about it if it rained or got wet while out on the ocean.

I want to start by saying that I am giving this camera 4 stars for a "waterproof camera"; with that in mind comparing this with other similarly priced non-water cameras I would probably rate this camera with a 2 1/2 to 3 star rating.

This is actually my mom's camera, but I borrowed it over July 4th for a trip to amusement/water park. For the purpose of using it under water/around water I was impressed. The pictures came out surprisingly well. Other than that, though, I actually switched to my camera (Cannon Powershot SX100) for the non-water parts of the trip because the picture quality is much superior.

Pros:
*Underwater use is great, especially for a lower-priced digital camera
*The automatic flash is very quick, unlike some cameras that automatically do the "three-flash" thing ... you don't miss any actions shots
*Large display screen
*Compact

Cons:
*For having 10MP the out-of-water-pictures are very unimpressive (my camera is 8MP and takes exceedingly better pictures in all light settings)
*The buttons are crammed into the right side (to afford more display screen room) but makes the buttons a little complicated. Further, the layout of the buttons do not feel very well thought out
*In the playback mode, scrolling through pictures has a slideshow effect, which is annoying because there is a noticeable lag between each picture
*This camera does not adjust well to light settings. My mom just went to the beach this weekend on a very sunny day and all the pictures appeared blown out.
*Videos are even more grainy than the pictures

Overall, if you need a cheap, waterproof digital camera this may be a good buy. But, if you're just looking for a digital camera that you will occasionally use for water, I would sugest buying a better regular digital camera and investing in the disposable digital under-water cameras the once or twice you want water pictures. The picture quality is too poor if you plan on using this mostly for non-water pictures.

This camera is small, very nice sitting in your hand, takes nice pictures and goes under water! For as long as you know what to expect from little cam, this Fuji's baby is super sleek, stylish, very easy to handle, the buttons are very nice to the touch and superbly organized.
Must say the lens is very sharp. I tested it under water and it works great.It also has dedicated movie button that is very convenient. In short it is great little cam that sits in my pocket and instantly available!

The physical characteristics of this camera do not disappoint, but so far I am unhappy with the image quality.

For comparison purposes I own an Olympus E-520 D-SLR and my previous point-and-shoot camera was a Casio EX-S500 from around three years ago. I was very happy with the Casio, but someone accidentally dropped it hard and it broke, so I intend to replace it with this camera.

The tiny size and lightweightness of the Fuji Z33 WP are perfect for pocket portability. Its shape also has a much higher coolness factor than many of the standard boxy designs. It definitely feels smaller than I imagined it would. The interface is simple and easy to use. The buttons remind me of car stereo head units I had in the mid-90s. They are kind of rubbery and very pleasant to use, but they feel as if after a few years you might wear them out and accidentally poke a hole in the rubbery surface that covers the underlying button mechanisms. I imagine that this would leave the camera with an area vulnerable to water. The battery/memory card door seems well-constructed and you must open a latch, slide the door, and then swing it open to access the innards. The waterproof gasket appears secure and I feel that the door design is well-engineered. Under the door is a port which appears to be proprietary and uses a supplied cable to connect to a USB port on your computer. This port is used to transfer pictures and videos to a different location immediately without installing any software.

Also under the door is the battery which must be removed for charging. I must say that I really like the battery charger. It is a platform about 2x3.5x0.5" and it does not require a cord. Prongs swing out from the back and you plug the charging platform directly into the wall. It might not be convenient on a power strip because it would take up extra room, but I really like that there is not another extra cord for the charger. It is very sleek and easy to pack.

The majority of the camera is plastic which makes it so lightweight, but it seems relatively sturdy short of drop-testing it. I would say that I have medium-sized male hands and this camera is pretty small to hold. I personally prefer this characteristic because I'm looking for a camera that I can take everywhere with me. I have my D-SLR for camera-specific outings, but I want something small and light to take with me everywhere from bars and parties to outdoor activities like snowboarding and mountain biking. The size of the camera definitly meets my requirements, but I can see that it might be hard to hold for someone with larger hands. Also, until you get used to it, you must be careful not to cover the lens with a finger, but I understand that this is normal for this camera category. The On/Off button is recessed so that it isn't pressed accidentally and the shutter feels natural and requires a standard amount of pressure to activate.

The menu system gives the basic options and doesn't waste space with convoluted choices. It also gives clear explanations of the scene modes to help you decide which one to use. The auto-scene-recognition can be engaged if you don't want to keep the picture-taking process as simple as possible. Overall, the menu was very easy to navigate and nothing seemed confusing.

I have not evaluated the underwater capabilities of this camera. I was only interested in getting a waterproof camera so that I could go out in the rain or take it snowboarding and not worry about moisture. I do not plan to use it underwater on purpose.

So far, I have only taken indoor shots in medium light. It appears that many cameras can take decent outdoor shots due to the better lighting, so my personal test is indoor shots. Also, I intend to use the camera frequently in party and bar settings, so this becomes even more important. The Z33 WP claims to have scene-recognition and should be a very automatic camera for beginner users. With and without a flash, my pictures show excessive image noise. I thought it might be the typical ISO-boost, so I manually forced the ISO lower. There is still so much noise when I display the pictures full-size on a computer screen that I am very disappointed. The videos are smooth and have very impressive sound, but they also appear to be filled with the same image noise. I will try to post pictures on an update, but I feel bad that I can't produce anything decent to look at. I'm hoping that it is simply my fault and I will keep trying for now, but a fully automatic point-and-shoot should make the process of taking a clear picture simple, right? I know that better lighting will help, but this is too poor for my needs. I am considering exchanging the camera for a different one. I am considering the Olympus 550WP or one of the Olympus Tough series. I know that Oly waterproof cameras aren't known for great image quality, but I'm hoping they have to be better than this Fuji.

In conclusion, my 5MP Casio P&S took much, much clearer pictures than this camera and I would be embarrassed to show these indoor pictures I have taken to anyone. I will be looking for a different camera.

Like my title says, I wouldn't buy this for the photo quality. But for those environments that kill other cameras, this is great. I am a fulltime firefighter, and originally bought this to keep in my bunker gear. But, it's small enough I actually keep it in my uniform pocket all the time. We have an expression in our academy - "If you didn't want to get wet, you should have been a librarian." I figured that my environment would thoroughly test this camera. Then last night I accidentally left in my pocket and it went through the washer and tumble dry/high heat. Came through with some flecks of paint transfer from the dryer, but fired right up, no problems.

I bought this knowing the picture wouldn't be the best, but figuring it'd at least be functional when others weren't. The photos were better than I expected; they are a bit grainy if zoomed in upon, but still not as bad as I thought. I wouldn't put them up against those from my D-SLR, but I darn sure wouldn't take my D-SLR where this baby goes. Even still I probably would have given this just 4 1/2 stars because of the quality. I now give this a full 5 stars after putting through the wash; it saw more abuse than it ever would have in my pocket.

I bought this camera as a secondary camera to take on vacation to Hawaii, basically I wanted a camera that could withstand the water and beach so I didn't have to risk damage to my main camera and also to take underwater snorkeling.

Initially I was impressed with the camera, the ergonomics were good, size was right and the texture of the body seemed like it would be easy to grip wet. I also liked the buttons on the back, large and like a cell-phone touchpad, again, seemed much easier to use in the water. I was not excited to give up a viewfinder but it seems that they are a relic of the past in the point and shoot world; too bad. I liked the camera enough to buy it. I bought it with enough time to try it out before traveling, I'm glad did.

I took the camera on a day trip to the west side of Michigan on a cloudy and sprinkling afternoon. Right away one aspect of the camera began to mildly frustrate me, the shutter release button. The button is very stiff, so much so that I was constantly worried that pressing the button with enough force to actually take the picture would cause the image to be blurry. I suppose it may be good to prevent mistaken images but I found it frustrating. Another issue with the camera is that the lens is covered by glass however the glass is only slightly recessed from the front of the camera meaning that the glass is highly prone to smudges and fingerprints, annoying, much worse that other cameras. While using it I felt like I got the hang of it and didn't panic when a wave came crashing in, soaking me and the camera. I was starting to overlook the shutter button and the lens smudging issues;

Until

When I got home I loaded the images into Photoshop Elements and right away noticed that the images were quite washed out, not a lot of contrast and exposures were definitely off. No matter, I went to work editing but immediately noticed that the corners of the images were extremely blurry, and quite a bit darker, almost like a circular soft focus filter was in place, not what I was hoping for. I then started to look more closely at the images and it wasn't just the corners that were distorted, objects in the image were surrounded with blue lines! Yes, it was like each object in the image had been traced with a thin neon blue pen! At first I thought this was on just pictures taken in lower light but then realized that it was in all the pictures in varying degrees; this combined with the out of focus corners and poor exposure were only made worse by visible graininess across any image where the zoom was at its full length. Basically, despite some compositions that I really liked, every picture is unsuitable for printing.

Sure, if I want to only look at the pictures as thumb nails or very small, definitely not larger than 2"x3" then the images could almost be considered passable, anything larger, say your normal 4"x6" print, yo will be greatly disappointed! Needless to say the camera was boxed up and returned for an exchange, now I've got an Olympus that I'm going to try out and see, my expectations are low, but I'm hoping just the same. I'm just glad I found out now rather than after my vacation.

Bottom line is this; this is without a doubt an awful camera. I am shocked that Fuji would actually sell this camera, my first digital point and soot (bought in 2000 with 4 megapixels) takes better pictures than this. Seriously, Fuji should be ashamed, this from a long fan of their film, do not buy this camera!