When i opened the box for my Fuji S5800 camera about a month ago, I knew that I had made a good choice for my second camera. I still have my Pentax Optio S7 but I wanted a camera that would allow me much more creativity with my photos.
LOOK & FEEL
The whole look and feel of the camera is very pleasing to both the touch and the eye. The ruberized hand grip on the right hand-side is a perfect fit for the hand and the lens is just long enough to cup your hand around when taking a steady picture. The rest of the body is made from a high quality plastic which surrounds the lush 2.5 inch screen.
LCD SCREEN
The LCD screen is, well what can I say, brilliant maybe. I haven't really had much chance to test it in bright light but even if it was an issue, switching to the eyepiece couldn't be easier (the touch of a button). The screen is large enough to display all of the details in your picture and can display histograms, appature and the likes. Playback can also be viewed through the eyepiece if the light is too bright.
PICTURE QUALITY
Before we even talk about zoom, just a normal picture taken on the 'auto' setting came out really crisp and the colours were better than it showed in the preview. I only take pictures on the 8M setting. You could whack it up to 8F which reduces the amount of pictures you can take on a 1GB SD from 492 (8M) to 247(8F). This, i am assuming would further enhance the picture quality than what I already have, which is brilliant.
ZOOM
The optical zoom on this model is a thing of beauty. Before we even switch on the digital zoom, the 10x optical can zoom on to the top of a plant pot that only filled a quarter of the image without zoom. Then if we switch on the digital zoom (5.1x), which by the way reduces the picture quality dramatically (as with any camera), you can zoom right on to a couple of centimeters worth of the plant pot rim.
MACRO
The super macro feature on this camera is great but it could be a bit better. It says it can focus on something that is only 1cm away from the lens but it does have a bit of difficulty in doing so in theory. When taking close up picture in the sonw one morning, it didn't quite focus as sharply as i had hoped on the snow flakes. The macro feature is fine and really shows up the fine details of something around 5cm or more away.
SCENE MODES
I havn't had time to really test them all out, however the onew that i have used (party, landscape and snow) have adapted to the situation really well. Two of the 11 scenes can be assigned to two positions on the dial for easy access.Overall, i really like this model and hope that it proves itself even further to me as a great, all round camera for the amatur photographer. My only problems with the camera is its ability to auto focus sometimes, even in bright light, and the super-macro function, which again is liked to the focussing.
I would reccomed this camera to anybody that wants to move away from a compact or simple point and shoot to develop their interest in photography. Also, to anybody like myself, who does not want to fork out for a D-SLR or have the hassel of lens chagning and the expensivness of lenses in the first place. Ease of use is brilliant, just got to figure out the best manual settings of pictures, which of course comes with time and practise.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: Small, simple to use, great zoom and creat quality pics. Disadvantages: Hmmm... the only one would be the viewfinder. A cover for it would be nice.
strikey 22.08.2008 (22.08.2008)
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Review of Fujifilm FinePix S5800
Advantages: Small, simple to use, great zoom and creat quality pics. Disadvantages: Hmmm... the only one would be the viewfinder. A cover for it would be nice.
strikey 22.08.2008 (22.08.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Fujifilm FinePix S5800
Apr 13th, 2008
very helpful by (100%):
