FujiFilm FinePix F800EXR Pro Reviews

Buying a digital camera is not as easy as it was in the early days of the digital imaging revolution and that's a good thing for consumers. Today's digital camera marketplace provides an almost endless parade of new cameras and photographers (at every experience level) have more choices than they've ever had before. Fuji's new F800EXR was designed to be a competent travel zoom style P&S digicam and this little camera does deliver in that capacity, it can capture images of just about anything - from expansive landscapes, to casual portraits, to in your face macro, to super telephoto shots. The F800 EXR is a winner for those users who can accept slightly soft images. Most photo enthusiasts understand that no camera with a 20x zoom is going to consistently produce critically sharp images. Professional photographers, who must insist on critical sharpness in their images, will opt for a Canon or Nikon Pro model DSLR and prime lenses or very expensive professional quality zooms. Consumers who want sharper images without giving up compact size will have to settle for Nikon's nifty P310 or another high-end short zoom compact P&S digicam. The F800EXR is a very good general purpose P&S digicam and it will dependably produce very good to excellent images for travelers, photo enthusiasts, casual shooters, family photographers, sports fans, and aspiring wildlife shooters.

Fujifilm FinePix F800EXR review £229 Another great EXR camera, but the new Wi-Fi function isn't the best, and we have concerns over quality control

Like the versions before it, the Fujifilm FinePix F800EXR is one of the smallest cameras available with a 20x optical zoom lens, and its design with large front grip helps keep the camera steady when shooting. The camera takes pleasing photos with good colour reproduction and has a variety of useful options including the ability to get better dynamic range in bright or difficult shooting conditions, although this is at a lower resolution when using the EXR modes. The camera does a lot of things well, including Wi-Fi transfer, and has a wide variety of controls including RAW, however if you're keen on recording video then you may be a little disappointed.

The Fujifilm FinePix F800EXR comes with plenty of notable merits, but its packed-out features list misses out some key points. The lack of lens-based stabilisation means this compact just isn’t quite the same calibre as its close competitors. Wireless image transfer is occasionally useful but it’s not the ultimate browsing and sharing experience - add a touchscreen and full Wi-Fi browsing direct from the camera and then we’ll talk. Image quality is just okay - just like its predecessor - but for a 1/2-inch sensor size there’s not the sort of "pop" we would have expected and overexposure is a problem. It’s affordable, it’s small, packs in a big zoom but has failed to address ongoing issues such as poor autofocus at the long-end of the zoom that have plagued the predecessors.