Fuji FinePix S5100

Comments:
The difference between my old Fuji cameras (this is my third) and the S5100 is night and day. If you are like myself, moving from point-and-click to wanting more control over your photography then this is a great mid-range camera for you.

When you want to point-and-click it's still right there and the auto-focus and exposure work great. Switching to manual settings are fairly simple and are placed very conveniently on the camera body. The instruction booklet does a pretty good job explaing what everything does. I can't stress how great the 10X zoom is and it zooms pretty quickly. The camera also comes with a threaded adaptor so you can play around a bit with filters. Oh yeah, battery life. This camera uses 4 good old fashioned AA batteries and I am thoroughly impressed by the amount of run time I get from a set of freshly charged batteries.

About the video mode, fantastic! Two minor cautions: (1)It has a bit of trouble in dim light but in most lighting situations does just fine. (2)It will fill your memory card very quickly! Buy a 1GB card if you plan on using the video.

I have only two small gripes with the camera. When trying to photograph a small object (like a bee or a flower bud) using macro-mode, the camera has a little trouble focusing on it instead of past it. They're may be something I've overlooked that allows you to narrow the focus target of the camera. The other gripe is with the manual focus option. Manual focus is very, very slow and a bit cumbersome.

Overall for the $250 pricetag, I am absolutely thrilled with my S5100.

Comments:
Contrary to the type listed for this camera, it's a minizoom not an SLR. That being said it's an excellent camera for the money. It feels comfortable in the hands due to SLR style design and weight isn't too light. Great features in terms of ISO, apertures, 10X OPTICAL (real, not digital)zoom and programs (night, portait, landscape, etc.). The LCD screen picture is quite crisp even if the screen is a bit small at 1.5 inches. I enoy the burst features (rapid fire storing last 3 or 4 photos) and was able to get excellent filters, wide angle and telephoto lense to use for a variety of shooting scenarios from nature shots to the mens NCAA hoops tourney with great results. Picture quality is exceptional.

My biggest gripe is the memory format. xD media isn't as wide spread as MMC or SD. My digital camcorder and iPAQ use SD cards so it's a nice storage option; card is full, download it to the iPAQ. Not an option with this camera but it campared so favorably with other cameras in it's class (at much higher prices) that I was willing to deal with the storage media issue.

I recommend nickel metal hydride rechargeable batteries at 2500 mAh. This should take care of any battery life issues. It takes me forever to wear out my Energizers using LCD almost exclusively.

Comments:
GREAT BUY AND "WOW" 10 X ZOOM , I LOVE IT.
I FOUND THE PRICE RANGE TO BE EXTREMLY LARGE FROM $190:00 TO AROUND $500:00
SO DO SOME SHOPPING. BUTTERFLY PHOTO IS A GOOD START.
HANDLES NICE ,FLASH IS A LITTLE TO MUCH (BRIGHT).
OVERALL GREAT DEAL.

Comments:
I have never had a digital camera before. This has proven to be an excellent choice by this company. The directions are easy to read and the camera itself is sturdy and easier to use than I had thought digitals were. I am really glad to have this camera in particular.
cjboo

Comments:
I love my camera but I would like to beable to change lens for a better zoom and I would like to be able to take clearer action shoots. I like that I can add an extra flash

Comments:
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