Fujifilm Nexia 230 IX

*~* Why I bought this camera *~*

I grew up in an environment where pictures were taken of everything! My mother grew up in Sri Lanka but moved here when she was 9, she wished that she had more pictures of 'home' and didnt want us to have te same regret and have nothing to look back on as we grew up and so, if anything we took too many pictures of just about anything we could see!!

I could never get used to 35mm cameras, I could never put the film in them in the first place and when I did finally get the film in I forgot to rewind it before opening the back and ended up exposing the whole film and disposable cameras cost too much with the amount of pictures I was taking! So, when the APS cameras came out an became affordable I bought one of them, I chose this one in particular because of the features it had such as the zoom and red eye reduction

*~* General Information and Features *~*

The shutter reaction is very quick, I dont know exactly how quick but even when taking action shots I have never had any blurring of the photos.

It also has a 2x zoom capacity which isnt the best available, but for just general pictures this is about all you need. Personally Ive never needed any more zoom although if your doing it more as a hobby and more actively then you might want just a little more than this camera provides.

The Camera has three different picture modes to choose from: Standard, Panoramic or Landscape. I tend to stick to the standard option for two reasons, firstly if you use any of the other options it costs a lot more to process the film (around £4-£5 more) and secondly I havent really had any use for the other options, I have occasionally used them but in general the standard setting is large enough to fit your whole picture into it. Also if you use the larger settings it can be hard to fit the picture into the album!! Having said that, the other options provide excellent photos, they are all very high quality I cannot fault any of the pictures that I have taken from this camera at all.

Date Printer - I only ever used this once, and that was only because I didnt realise it was on! There is a symbol on the screen at the back which will tell you whether or not this option is on. This feature works ok and the date (no time) is printed on the bottom right hand corner of your photo. I can't say too much more about this feature as Its not something i ever use, I find it more annoying then i do useful.

Automatic Flash and Flash off - These are pretty much self-explanatory, one thing that I will say though is that I have taken a picture at 15 feet and the flash was still very effective. I havent taken anything further than that so can't really comment on how far the flash goes

Auto focus - As I've said before the photos have come out very well and they have always been very sharp. In fact, i'd go as far as saying the photo's i have taken from this camera are sharper than any ive taken from any other cameras.

Red Eye Reduction - I've never used this feature (you can turn it on or off I've always had mine set to off) so can't really say too much about how well it works, but even with this option turned off I have never had any photos that have come out with red eye's

Automatic rewind - This is a brilliant feature! It means I cant forget to rewind the film before I open the back - which is an art I almost developed to perfection! :) There is also a button which enables you to rewind the film halfway through if you want to develop the pictures you've already taken without using up the rest of the film. If you choose to do this and process just those few pictures you will not be charged for a full film - or at least I never have!

One final thing I will say is that mine is now around 4 years old and I have not even had one problem with it, even though Ive dropped it a few times now!!

*~* Drawbacks *~*

The only negative that I have found with this camera is that if your taking a camera in very bright sunlight (Overly bright, not just general day-to-day use) then you do get a little bit of glare on the photos, however this isn't a major problem as it is fine for general use and the picture and still very clear

~*~ Availability and Pricing ~*~

I can't remember how much I paid for mine as I bought it a few years ago however it is available on amazon for £25