Rating: 
Summary: S602 - GREAT Camera for creative photos not hi-res geeks
Review: I purchased a Fujifilm S602 after my poor and much loved Olympus C2000Z bit the dust. I always thought after near four years of trailing behind the technology, that things had not changed much. I was very wrong. The changes are completely beyond my expectations.IMPORTANT: I have modified this review in light of investigations leading me to find out I was wrong about the hardness setting concerns. What I thought was smearing due hard/soft image setting is due to the ISO setting! WHEN USING ISO 400, FINE DETAIL IS SMEARED giving the picture an odd, fudgy, appearance. Once I set the camera to ISO 160 for outdoor work, all is fine. MINOR niggles: Battery cuts out with VERY little warning (like a few seconds!). Not good AUTO focussing in dim conditions. Tricky to use manual focussing (don't know if there is another camera with an electronic viewfinder which offers better, but...). The camera uses a small blown up area in the centre of the screen to focus on, but its not too easy (neat feature though) Can be a little tricky to navigate round all the features (but I'm getting used to it). Would've been nice to see more lower res options; eg 1024x786, and why have a 'basic' 450k version of the 2000x3000 image???? Slight, but noticeable unfocussing at image edges (left and right) on hi res shots. NOT a pocket camera. SUMMARY OF GOOD POINTS: Big and high quality lens giving nice, and colourful images and the flash is not need for most pics which is great! FANTASTIC features from full auto control to completely manual with light metering; I'm still learning about them after three weeks of constant use! Virtually everything is customisable. Very good range of shutter speeds opening up great possibilities (including flash synced pics down to 1/10000 sec!) Preview mode (click once you are happy with a shot to store) Dual/triple media format; CF (upto 512mb - not the 128 in the manual), SM and IBM Microdrive. Display grid making accurate horizons a breeze. Three shot mode; one over exposed, one 'normal' exposure, and one under exposed. Multi expose pictures as many times as you wish, building layer upon layer of imaging. VERY GOOD battery life. Much better than my old camera; well over 100 pics using the flash intermittently and also the screen all the time! Use NIMH batteries though. 6x Zoom -very useful; more than I would have thought. 640 X 480 Full vga movie mode with sound. ISO 1600 option for low light no flash pics (a bit grainy for usual pics, though) NOT a pocket camera (looks the part). So many other good things and more which I have not discovered yet! It can be used as a point and click snapper, or it has all the manual features one could hope for for really creative shooting. The fact that you have COMPLETE manual control from 15 secs shutter down to 1/10000 AND aperture settings from F2.8 - F11. This completely manual option is coupled with a very handy light meter which means that the manual mode is really easy to use. In fact I use it for most scenery pics. I bought this camera for work (machinery pics) and mainly for its big lens for capturing good pics without flash in lowish light. It has delivered a heck of a lot more; I now look at the old Olympus C2000Z and at this side by side. I paid the same price for the Oly four years ago and thought cameras had not moved on since; I was wrong! Having said all this I am aware that other cameras now may offer even more to the consumer; I think this camera offers a little more to the creative user - If you think you will never use the major creative features of this camera and picture size and quality are absolute criteria, look elsewhere as you'll find cameras which will offer a smidgen better picture quality or higher resolution, but for a blend of excellent picture quality, all the features you could want, and value for money (price for this unit is very keen now), then look no further.
Rating:
Summary: Best Digital Camera out there
Review: This is the camera to buy. If you are an "old school" 35MM SLR camera guy, looking to get a great digital camera. This is it. It has many of the same features as a Film SLR, that sets it apart from other Digitals in it's price range. But wont set you back the One Thousand Dollars plus for a Digital SLR.
Start with all the manual settings. Focus, Exposure, ISO, white balance, and flash brightness all can be set manually. It's also has an excellent Auto mode, that takes sharp clear pics. And a great Black and white mode. Throw in the dual media slots, and the great Movie mode that takes 30fps. The Optional 1G IBM Compact Flash hard drive is a must, and will give you 15 Mins of action in movie mode, with Sound! Any one looking to get a 3M Pixel camera that shoots a raw 6M. Who wants the abilty to control the result of the picture needs to look no further than the Fuji Finepix S602 Zoom
Rating:
Summary: Great camera but CompactFlash doesn't always work
Review: Easy to use, loads of manual controls, hot shoe for external flash, AA batteries (instead of proprietary pack), 6X optical zoom, excellent video capabilities, SLR style, accepts SmartMedia AND CompactFlash at the same time! (BUT - see below)... Major Con: I'll let the others talk about the details, but I just got off the phone with Fuji tech support and was told Fuji is saying to stay away from CompactFlash and use Microdrive instead. Microdrives cost ALOT more just so you know.
Rating:
Summary: The finiest digital camera I have ever seen!!
Review: I cannot reccomend this camera stronly enough. I researched for months in the search for a high quality Digital camera capable of macro with manual focus. This camera was the only thing that fit the bill. It functions exactly like a high quality SLR and the Macro is just stupendous. If you need to take pictures of miniatures it is the best camera you will ever find. Just a couple of years ago you would have paid thousands for a digital camera that could do this. I have did a direct comparison with one photographer friend who has a 10 thousand dollar digital camera and macro lense for doing digital photography. This camera was as good as that one if not better. He was not happy to find that out and is going to buy one of these as well. I have seen complaints about it being large. Nonsense! Unless you just need a small camera for personal this camera is exactly what you want. The size and handling of this camera is exactly the same as high end SLR's. Any professional would never feel the difference going between this and his film camera. The handling and balance is great. It shoots digital shots as fast as an SLR. In fact to make it smaller you would lose a lot of function. Fuji did exactly what they needed with this camera. It is the same difference between owning a nice little family 35mm camera and a high quality professional grade SLR. GET THIS CAMERA!! You will not be dissapointed. My wife makes fun of me and calls it "My Precious".
Rating:
Summary: Well worth it!
Review: I was a little put off by the price tag on this camera at first, so I bought a comparable but less expensive Olympus. I took it right back after trying to capture shots of my 2 year old and they just came out as fuzzy blurs. This model came along at just the right time and on sale. I can't believe the difference! Not only can I get crystal clear shots of my two year old, but also got beautiful pix of her playing catch with the dog. I clicked off pictures quickly with very little focusing and was amazed at the quality of the shots. I was even able to see the ball in the air -- not a fuzzy blur! A few other items I bought were a case, a recharger and rechargeable batteries as well as a card reader and compact flash card (128 MB).
Rating:
Summary: For those of us who almost know what they're doing..
Review: I previously owned a Kodak DX3900, and my gripe about that camera was that their were little to no manual controls on the camera. Heck, the lowest shutter speed was 1 second. So.. the next five months I researched loads of cameras. And I finally narrowed it down to a few choices: Minolta 7i, Coolpix 4500, Canon G3, Olympus C-730 .. and the Fuji. I chose the Fuji.. and here's why: In simple, the Fuji offered the most of what I want. It has all my manual controls, it has nice focusing controls, it has adequate megapixel count, firm body, compact flash support, nice grip, decent software, good zoom, dual-media drives, superior movie mode .. The only downfalls to this camera: It's only 3.1 Megapixel, no matter what anyone tells you. But, for me, that was enough. I never print ANYTHING larger than 8 x 10, and if I ever plan to, I can use the interpolated 6 MP mode. AND no auto-focusing assiting lamp. But the manual controls this camera offers more than make up for it. Do yourself a favor and buy the Fuji. Don't be fooled by what you think you need. Longer zoom isn't that big of a deal. 6x is plenty, any farther and you get camera shake. Megapixel count is excellent for just 3. It's certainly enough for the average consumer. It might look clunky, but it fits snuggly in my purse. What more reason did you need?
Rating:
Summary: Amazing DC
Review: My first - and was shocked to realize what I was missing. The picture quality is amazing and the operation is fairly straight forward. Some useful hints: 1. Read the manual - I din't and did not use most features for a while. 2. Make sure you buy a 12x (12 speed) CF with at least 128MB memory. This gives you about 400+ picture. 3. Make sure you have a battery re-chager... help. Enjoy - you'll not make a mistake with this.
Rating: 
Summary: They almost got it right
Review: The truth is this camera is unfit for the purpose intended. To begin with , while the built-in screen freezes the picture at the time of taking it, the actual picture is recorded approx. 1 second later. No problem when you work in a studio with models, for sport or any animated subject it leaves composition to chance. Highly annoying. Next, the camera controls are maximum user-unfriendly. After 3 months of operation, I was unable to figure out how to adjust exposure (or at least turn auto-exposure off). For example, when you use the camera for document scanning (for example to speed up document conversion into digital files) with lots of white paper and 20% text, it adjusts the image too dark. While the usual text scanner software (I use Caere), works with it notwithstanding, the image shows a medium to dark brown background. That is the case even when you set it on manual. This does not happen in normal operation, though: in fact, color, exposure (even under difficult lighting conditions) and resolution is excellent in real life situations; they are nearly perfect. If the image would be recorded at the time the button is pushed the camera would be ok. Next, the camera does not have a remote control. While for regular photography it may seem unimportant, in a repro-stand, or for that matter in studio photography, a remote would come in handy. Finally, the mechanical design is Mickey Mouse. After inserting approx. 5 times over three months the 1394 cable into the camera-based connector, the connector disappeared somewhere inside the camera and can no longer be found, a gaping hole is there instead. I did not even use one of the heavily shielded 1394 cables. When it was working before the connector disappeared, though, the camera provided excellent moving picture results for Internet (cable) communications. It is a pitty that an excellent concept was executed so poorly.
Rating:
Summary: Neophytes only
Review: Okay folks. This a review for rank amateurs such as myself who've hopes of developing advanced skills with digital photography. Out of the box within five minutes, I'd taken two pictures indoors and two outdoors. The pictures were startling in clarity and colors were quite vivid. The litmus test occurred when I printed two 8.5" by 11" photos. The pictures were nothing short of gorgeous. My goal in deciding to get a digital camera is that I wanted a camera that would allow me to print photos that would not embarrass me if I chose to hang them on my wall. What I got was an astonishing boost in creative potential. I am incredibly pleased with this camera. My apologies to the technically proficient. This review is not for you.
Rating:
Summary: this is a great camera!
Review: I've owned a 1MP fuji for several years and loved the convenience and quality of my pictures. I decided to upgrade and picked this model. I am astounded at the quality of shots, the options available...I'm just getting used to all the functions but love the easy voice-over function...no more guessing where and when a vacation shot was taken!I got a 1 GB microdrive and can easily take over 400 pictures at 2832x2128 fine resolution...or over 3000 at 1280x960. If the expense of the 1GB chip is too much, I highly recommend getting a 128MB smartmedia card - after all, you'll never have to buy film again! For less than $100 you can get 128mb smartmedia and get over 500 fine resolution 1280x960.
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