Advantages: Awesomely sharp. Wide Aperture gives great control. Great colour.
Disadvantages: A little fragile. Would prefer with Image Stabiliser.

...This is the professional photographer's portrait zoom lens of choice. The constant F/2.8 aperture across the zoom range provides excellent performance in low-light, and the best control over depth of field in any zoom lens on the market today. Lens performance is exemplary. If you take the time to use the full time manual focus, pictures of exceptional sharpness can be achieved at any aperture. Some users complain of getting "soft" copies of the lens, but always refer to the excellent and free Canon service of calibration (within warranty). My own lens doesn't suffer from this, I have to say, and I do wonder whether some photographers claim that they're not getting a "sharp copy" when they're not taking the time to focus properly. Commonly referred to as "the brick" amongst Canon users, this lens is noted for its heft. It weighs... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: 7.5 x Zoom(3 x optical), easy to use, video option
Disadvantages: Kills the battery with digi zoom, weak flash in dark conditions, instruction manual poor

.... Mechanically, the zoom also makes a bit of a racket, especially after a lot of use - CLUNK, CLUNK, CLUNK - as you zoom in and out. There are quite a lot of options in the camera, but the manual only hints at them - it is very unhelpful indeed. You've got timed shots, continuous shots and a nifty camera mode. I've lost count of the amount of times I've been in a cathedral or museum throughout Europe that doesn't allow photos, slyly filming the whole place with my camera. The Sistine Chapel has to be my fave! There are a choice of 4 shot modes, based on quality: SHQ: 1600x1200 (45 pictures on 64MB card) HQ: 1600x1200 (132 pictures on 64MB card) SQ1: 1024x768 (234 pictures on 64MB card) SQ2: 640x480 (398 pictures on 64MB card) The camera comes supplied with an 8MB card, which is frankly unacceptable in my opinion. If you take... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: upto 570mm zoom, movie mode, macro, a complete photography solution in one package
Disadvantages: slow to focus and shoot, no manual focus, advertising in software, registration terms and conditions

...Fuji FinePix 2800Zoom This digital camera is another in Fuji`s fine lineage. But I`m confused as to why other manufacturers aren`t offering any competition! No competition? It`s true, there is no competition in the sub-£500 digital camera market for a model with the equivalent of a 570mm zoom. What`s even more amazing is that I managed to pick mine up for just £269 brand spanking new. The full zoom option is only available in VGA resolution mode, the lowest available, and this is perfectly reasonable for website publishing. Even in high-resolution (2 megapixel - the highest) mode, you still have access to the 6x optical zoom, which equates to approximately 228mm. In between you also have access to the 2x digital zoom. At 1 megapixel resolution, when combined with the optical zoom, it can achieve a maximum zoom equivalence... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Lightweight, Compact, Fast f2.8 Aperature throughout the zoom
Disadvantages: Slightly Soft at f2.8, but manageable

...I bought this lens as a replacement for the 18-70mm f3.5-5.6 stock lens that came with my camera, and it was worth every penny. The increase in image quality, sharpness and clarity of pictures has been amazing. No more fringing around the edges of bright distant objects. No barrel distortion at the very edges of the image. No plasticy cheap feel. This lens is brilliant, especially if you don't want to fork out the enormous prices for Vibration reduction or Image Stabilising Lenses. (My camera has this built in anyway so ha!). Having an aperature of f2.8 makes this brilliant for indoor work, as you don't have to use a flash, or push up the iso to noisy values to get sharp clear images. For example, at 50mm, i can shoot at 1/40sec on this lens at f2.8, my old stock lens would have had me shooting at 1/10sec, which in low... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: excellent colours and sharpness
Disadvantages: Really need a fast charger and spare battery

...’ or you can also set the flash on ‘automatic’ and just click away to your hearts content. It has a whole host of settings, some of which include: Macro Continuous Shooting Self-Timer Auto Bracketing Movie Mode. On the ‘Mode’ dial you can choose between: Shutter Priority Auto Aperture Priority Auto Programmed Auto Auto - Manual Scene Positioning Movie Setup. The 4900 Zoom uses Super CCD with 2.4 million pixels which delivers a high resolution file with 4.32 million pixels. With the use of an ‘Adapter Ring’ you can use various lenses and filters. The lens aperture is F/2.8-11 with shutter speeds of 3 sec – 1/2000 sec. It also has two ‘Zoom’ buttons – one on the top and one on the side for convenience. It has a 6 x Optical Zoom and a 3.7 x Digital Zoom There is a video out socket enabling you, very easily... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Image adjustments to give great view, waterproof, adjustable eye-relief
Disadvantages: fixed magnification, average build and design quality

.... If in the binoculars specifications it said 2-8x zoom, only then would it be possible to change magnification from between a 2x zoom to an 8x zoom. The fixed magnification on this particular binocular can be seen as a disadvantage, this is because if you are fairly close to an object, and the 8x zoom is restricting full viewing of the object than you would not be able to reduce the magnification. The only possible solution would be to move further back or buy some binoculars which allow magnification modifications. Although, 8x zoom on a binocular is hardly professional, professionals tend to use binoculars with higher magnification prowess such as 15x zoom - 25x zoom. The quality of the viewing area on a binocular depends on lens and prism optical quality, mechanical and alignment quality and design quality. As far as I know these particular binoculars... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Low cost airline with Premium seating available.
Disadvantages: Only fly from a few airports in UK

...A few years ago we planned to go to Canada and cross the Rockies and then cruise to Alaska to celebrate our Ruby Wedding and retirement. But as my husband got voluntary redundancy last October we decided to bring the celebration holiday forward to this summer, why put off something that we can do now! We emailed a travel agent who specialised in Canadian travel and literally said what we wanted and what could they offer. The flight to Calgary and returning from Vancouver was with Zoom. I hadn't even heard of Zoom, my husband said it was a low cost flight. Knowing it would be a long flight I was somewhat concerned as my experiences with Easyjet and Ryanair haven't been very positive. So after doing some research online we asked the travel agent to upgrade our seats to Premium. Advantages of a Premium seat... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Initial Price (Sometimes)
Disadvantages: Bad Service, Hidden Costs, Headaches, Overall not worth it.

...I've just finished reading a nightmare review of another customer's baggage problem with Zoom. I believe I might be stuck in the same nightmare. Zoom delayed my connecting flight 1 day. I called the connecting airport, who confirmed that my bags were in a transfer zone and they would be picked up by Zoom. Once I reached my destination, my bags werent' there. When I arrived, I filled in a report and took a phone number of Serviceair who handles the baggage claims for Zoom. I called them the next day to get a status... no reply. I called them twice two days later no reply. On the third day, I left a bit bitter voicemail. At 8pm I received a call from a Serviceair representative who was quite rude. He told me they have filed an electronic report, and people are looking for my bags. I pleaded with him to at least call... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Reasonable price, good quality
Disadvantages: xD memory cards aren't always readable

...When we decided that the Olympus D-395 that we were using just wasn't up to all the jobs we wanted - getting up close without getting too close - and our son, who is coming up 11, said that he would like a digital camera, the obvious answer was for us to get a higher spec model for ourselves, and pass the D-395 on to him. We ended up going to Apollo 2000 near Blackpool North station for a vacuum cleaner and noticed they had an Olympus C-725 Ultra Zoom for £129.99 which I have since found at prices from £199.99 to £229.99 using online search engines, although a newer higher spec version (the C-765) is available from Amazon at £179.99. Included in the price is:- 1 - Camera is a 3.0 mega pixel camera with 8x optical zoom and 3x digital zoom. 2 - Software disk containing Camedia software, which is simple to install and use... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful