Fujifilm FinePix A204 Zoom

...research I settled on the Fujifilm Finepix A204, (which is just as well seeing as that this is what this op is about!) Now that I had decided what camera I wanted I set to find the best prices online. It came down to two places, Jessops and Comet. Now I am of the frame of mind that if you get good service from somewhere then it stands to reason that you will want to shop there again, which is precisely why I didn’t choose Comet. That is another story ...
...this camera with a free Fujifilm camera case, worth over £40! I printed all the details off and off we trotted to said camera shop the next day. I left the proud owner of the camera, a larger memory card than originally came with the camera (C_H you would have been proud of me!!), rechargeable batteries and charger, small fabric camera case and the all important free Fujifilm hard case. At first the salesman argued with me saying that they didn’t ... more

I’ve put off writing this op for over a year now, purely because, being the ‘technofobe’ that I am, I didn’t think that I could do it justice. I’m not one for specifications and the like, and the thought of having to explain such things to you lot hardly seemed fair if I didn’t understand it myself! However, I have finally decided to throw caution to the wind, and share my humble opinion of this digital camera with you in a way that I hope makes for an easy read.

Before I bought this camera I was already the owner of several cameras, ranging from my easey peasey Kodak APS, through to an all singing dancing Samsung slim zoom, its myriad of features I still neglect to utilise fully. I enjoy photography and like to photograph all manner of subjects from scenic views to family ‘portraits’ to action shots of my partner on his Super Moto bike. Photography is only a hobby for me but one that I have recently extended to, in photographing certain subjects in order to design my own greetings cards, this being one of the reasons I wanted an easy to use digital camera.

I did a fair bit of research before settling on this one, checking reviews here on Ciao, and surfing for price comparisons. Because there are so many digital cameras on the market I pared my choices down to two, this one and the Kodak something or other (think it was the DC215). Both these cameras had been recommended to me by colleagues. My budget was one of the factors I had to take into account, this being £200 or thereabouts, the other factor was pixels. This is as far as I wanted to go as specs were involved, I just knew that I wanted something of 2million or above for the kind of pictures I wanted from a digital camera, and I knew this pixel availability was within my budget.

So, having done a fair bit of research I settled on the Fujifilm Finepix A204, (which is just as well seeing as that this is what this op is about!) Now that I had decided what camera I wanted I set to find the best prices online. It came down to two places, Jessops and Comet. Now I am of the frame of mind that if you get good service from somewhere then it stands to reason that you will want to shop there again, which is precisely why I didn’t choose Comet. That is another story from a long time ago and not worthy of wasting my typing skills and energy on here, so, Jessops it was.

The Jessops web site detailed all I wanted to know about this camera along with a very important fact that they were currently offering this camera with a free Fujifilm camera case, worth over £40! I printed all the details off and off we trotted to said camera shop the next day. I left the proud owner of the camera, a larger memory card than originally came with the camera (C_H you would have been proud of me!!), rechargeable batteries and charger, small fabric camera case and the all important free Fujifilm hard case. At first the salesman argued with me saying that they didn’t have the case in store at that time, it was as I uttered the magic words, “Oh well I’ll have to go look elsewhere cos that offer had a big bearing on me choosing to get my camera from you” Needless to say a case was soon discovered and I left a very happy bunny and my husband a little over £250 lighter in his wallet!

So what do I think of this, well you knew I would get here sooner or later! Well I was a tad anxious and the thought of up loading and downloading and setting up software etc scared the pants off me, fear not, my pants stayed on, the camera all but set itself up. The software installed itself with absolutely no worries and I was ready to rock and roll. This camera is simplicity in itself, I kid you not! Honestly even without the instruction booklet an idiot could work it out, I know, cos I was that idiot!

The actual camera itself is quite nice looking in a dullish silver colour and it feels nice to hold. In that I mean that it doesn’t feel light and therefore poorly made, it has a nice comfortable weight (6.5oz in old money) and its dimensions (uh oh, here come the dreaded specs!) are 4” x 2.6” x 2.0”. As mentioned before it is 2.0 megapixels. The front of the camera has a hidden lens and to expose it (pardon the pun!) there is a oval shutter (oh they’re coming thick and fast now!) which you slide across to expose the lens, this has to be done correctly otherwise a small warning appears on the LCD screen on the back of the camera, you basically have to slide it back till it clicks into place.

On the top of the camera there is a small circular button and a ridged slide, the ridged slide is the on/off switch the round one is the ‘press-to-take-the-piccie one’! this button also doubles up as a function one, in the far left position you have a red camera icon, for taking pictures, the middle icon is that of a green box with a green arrow in it (not as self explanatory I grant you) this is the playback mode switch for viewing the piccies you have taken on the LCD screen. The icon on the far right of this button is of what looks like an old cine camera to me……..video mode…see…easey peasey! I have only used this facility once or twice, merely to test it out and was happy with the silent results. This has proved fun with the Super Moto biking action shots!

On the rear of the camera, as well as the LCD screen, which is a good sized 1.5”, there are a few other buttons, but panic not they are quite easy to get the hang of. Next to the viewfinder there is the flash indicator. Alongside the LCD screen you have three buttons, small round one at the top is the DSP this is for selecting the LCD monitor display mode, when shooting it switches the LCD on and off or displays the framing guides, as a simple soul, and for what I have been using the camera for I have not used this as yet. The longer button under this is the MENU/OK one, this displays the menu screen when shooting or playing back images. Underneath this is the BACK button, to stop a procedure midway through. Other buttons on the back of the camera are the ZOOM one when setting up a shot and then doubles up to scroll through the menu when setting up various options. Next to this button are the L and R ones…..need I say more!

Now, I know that sounds like an awful lot to remember and to be honest of I was reading this op right now knowing diddly squat about digital photography then I would be a tad on the anxious side, please don’t be, it really isn’t rocket science. Once you have the camera in your hands after a couple of hours you will be flicking switch after switch without even thinking about it. The camera comes with a wrist strap and on the opposite side there is the DC and USB ports. The bottom of the camera has a small hatch that accommodates the batteries and the picture card.

At 2m - F pixels you can get 25 snaps, at 2m – N you get 39, 1m equals 49 and at 0.3 m 122, and you can mix and match. I tend to use the first 2m one for top of the range piccies but find that the 0.3m is quite adequate for emailing photos. I am sat here with my camera next to me so that I can check bits of it as I write this op and it has just turned itself off, so that’s another thing to tell you,….it has power save mode too! There is the usual assortment of flash options, red eye, infill, automatic and off. A close up (macro) option, 10 second delay self –timer, a manual option of you want to change any of the settings, no fear!.

So, how do use mine…well I I turn it on, look through the view finder, or check the LCS screen out and then press the little silver button on the top! Then I flick the top switch over to view mode and if I like it I save it, if it’s not quite what I wanted I just press the MENU button go to FRAME and then confirm that I do indeed want to erase, hey presto! When I come to upload my days work onto my PC is a piece of cake also. Turn the camera on, go to OPTIONS on the MENU, scroll to SET-UP, select, scroll to USB MODE DCS, turn the camera off. Plug the USB cable in to the side of the camera, switch it back on again and then follow the on screen instructions!! I usually save mine to folder on my PC so that I can twiddle about with them later. Then I delete all the pictured on my camera ready for another day, honestly it really is that simple! All the pictures of friends and families that I have posted on my last few ops have been taken using this camera, I’ll try to insert a few more on this op for you to peruse.

As I mentioned when I went to buy this op I did opt to have rechargeable batteries with it as I had heard so many horror stories about how digital cameras drain ordinary batteries. I can truthfully say that this was a good move. My rechargeables last as long as I need them and this is usually all day and using the camera on and off throughout the day but not continually. I purchased a rechargeable battery pack with the capability for four AA batteries so that one lot is getting all revved up whilst I am wearing their cousins down!

I could go on and on about how simple this is, but I hope that I have already done that sufficiently. I am sure there is much more that I could tell you about this camera, things that even I have not sussed out yet, after all 7 years later I am still not using half the features of my other camera. Since I started this review I have also found out that this can be used as a web cam also! If you want to know a bit more about it, and are further interested in specifications follow the link below, it is from the Ciao site on this camera. Current price searches reveal prices around the £150 mark, considerably less than what I paid for mine. Granted this camera has now probably been surpassed by a more up to date model, as is usually the case with such items, but this comes highly recommended by me as a possible first digital camera buy.

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Fujifilm_FinePix_A204_Zoom__5329359

So, to summarise, if you are looking for something uncomplicated to use, stylish in appearance, effective and efficient and bounceable (dropped in the lion enclosure at Colchester Zoo the other week…NOT the bit where the Mummy lion was eating ….just the viewing area!!) batteries fell out, Kazzie covered her face in dismay, camera picked up, batteries reinserted and as you can see by the pictures of the lady feeding the Meercats it survived unscathed (note, picture taken through glass, hence the double images!), this is the camera you are looking for!

Thanks for reading and if there’s anything you think I may have forgotten or there is anything else you would like to know, leave a message in my GB and I will get back to you.

Kazzie x
 

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