UK Save on Fujifilm FinePix F550 Digital Camera – Black (16MP, 15x Optical Zoom) 3-inch LCD for Sale
Discount Fujifilm FinePix F550 Digital Camera – Black (16MP, 15x Optical Zoom) 3-inch LCD – Excellent Deal
- 16 Megapixels
- 15x Zoom
- Full 1080p HD Movie
- Fujinon 24mm Wide Angle Lens
- Megapixels: 16
Following in the footsteps of the award-winning FinePix F200EXR and F300EXR models, this latest recruit to the range is the ideal camera for discerning point-and-shoot photographers or SLR users who want to travel light but don’t want to compromise image quality and picture-taking versatility. Superb results are assured with exciting new features including an innovative 16 megapixel EXR-CMOS sensor, advanced GPS functions, high speed shooting capabilities, a 15x wide-angle zoom lens, Full HD vid
Brillant low-light Fuji 550..more versatile than the Fuji X100,
So many rave reviews glorify the one-trick-pony fixed-lens Fuji X100. This little pocket-sized Fuji F550 is VERSATILE (15x zoom, equivalent to 24mm-360mm on a full-size camera) and shoots terrifically detailed, noise-free low-light pictures by seamlessly blending three shots into one. It can produce ‘high dynamic range’ pictures within the camera itself (without fiddling afterwards with Photoshop), shoots ISO up to 6400 (a bit speckled) – and even (more speckled) 12800(!) at a pinch. (AUTO ISO up to 1600 gives excellent fleck-free images in low light, and then ‘Advanced’ mode on the dial gives those stunning low-light pics with extreme detail.)
It has full White Balance selection (AUTO is excellent, too) and various scene modes, Portrait and Panorama modes.
But it also shoots RAW, if you want, for extreme versatility in ‘post-processing’ after you’ve shot ..and has GPS (you can switch that off) to identify WHERE pictures are taken.
‘P A S M’ gives full Aperture-priority, Speed-priority, Manual or Program/Personal/Pro settings, and Movie mode offers FullHD at 1920×1080 30 frames per second.
This is a small, light, inconspicuous pocket camera, with performance up to – or exceeding – many big bulky SLRs or small interchangeable-lens ‘Compact System Cameras’ like the Sony NEX, Panasonic compacts, etc. Anti-shake, perfect fill-in built-in flash, excellent auto white balance, very quick and accurate auto-focus, SDXC (enormous storage capability) memory card compatibility, compact size, light weight, self-timer, macro/close-up facility, this is a fraction of the size of the Fuji X100, but with many more capabilities and a 15x zoom, but with a physically-smaller sensor. Brilliant for everything!
(The cheaper F500 is identical, but without RAW and GPS. The F505 has identical RAW, but no GPS.)
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|Wow! Wow! Wow!,
What can’t I say about this superb little digicam. A month ago, I was looking for a less than £300 compact that took great pics .. picture quality is key for me. I’m an Olympus and Canon fan, but when I researched for the best new compacts of 2011 it came down to the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20 and the FujiFilm Finepix F550 EXR. After reading some reviews from industry experts and regular users, I chose the F550 based on the impressive image quality I saw when using the 15x optical zoom compared to the TZ20. I can confirm that it is definitely impressive. I have taken this camera on vacation and have taken a variety of pics in different type of settings and I am very happy with the image quality of my pics. I love the wide angle, the zoom, the Full HD video and all the little features like the 360 panoramic feature. The EXR and Auto setting, which lets the camera do all the work, is so easy to use for any beginner or intermediate photographer in taking great pics; such fun to play with all the settings. I especially love the fact that I can zoom and take pics when using the HD video and reviewing these pics and videos on my HD TV afterwards in such great clarity .. amazing!
If there is anything negative about this camera (and I am really nit-picking here) it would be … (1) battery life – one day if taking lots of pics and using the GPS, which I turn off now, (2) placement of the pop-up flash – slightly annoying but you get used to it, and (3) the autofocus when using the video – best to keep the Movie AF Mode on Center. Very minor issues to me because as I said earlier .. image quality was the key feature for me and is probably for every photographer. All in all, this purchase was so worth it and I would highly recommend it to all my family and friends.
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|First thoughts….and then some more…!,
I originally ordered this through Amazon in mid April but after checking around there seemed to be a shortage which Fuji confirmed so I cancelled and ordered from Extremepcs through Amazon as they had it in stock. It arrived within 48 hours , allowing for the Bank holidays, and was really well packed, so thanks to Extremepcs.
Now on to the camera, I will add to this review as I use it more as I have only had a chance to play with it for an hour or so but I just wanted to add first thoughts to mention a couple of things. I had read about two issues, the flash always popping up and the poor focusing when using the video. The flash does always pops up when you turn the camera on, and seemed to also do this when switching to another setting if you had been on one setting for a while. I thought this would be really annoying as since the camera is quite small and slim your fingers tend to grip it where the flash comes up. But, in fairness, although initially annoying, if you keep your finger over the flash, it stays in place as it doesn’t take much pressure to keep it down, so it isn’t actually that much of an issue.
The video is though. I’d seen clips on YouTube showing the video defocussing when zooming in and out, and this does happen. Some comments say that if you have it on centre focusing this will solve it, but other comments say this is not the case, I have yet to try this. There are hints that Fuji may be working on an update to resolve the issue, but considering the cost of the camera, this really shouldn’t have happened to start with, I have had a Panasonic TZ3 and I have a TZ7, both zoom in and out quite happily without defocussing.
I should aslo mention that the setting dial on the camera can be a bit fiddly, it’s set at angle and can feel a bit stiff when trying to rotate, but not a major issue.
Despite what I have said above, video issue aside, it’s a really nice camera. It has weight to it, not too heavy but feels good in the hand. The few pictures I have taken so far have come out really sharp and well exposed. Sweep panorama seems to work fine and it’s very quick at powering up and down. Menus seem fairly easy to navigate around and I have just printed off the manual (148 pages) as, like most compacts of this kind, it only has a basic guide to start you off. The battery came with some power in, enough to try it out, and it took about three hours to fully charge initially.
As I didn’t buy direct from Amazon I couldn’t really send this back if I wasn’t happy with it, as it happens, I am. I’m sure over the next few days / weeks / months I’ll get to learn a lot more about the camera and if the video issue can be resolved it would gain that extra star, as it stands, despite the minor issues above, I’m really pleased with this camera and will add more comments and photos when I have had a chance to use it properly.
Update 27.05.2011 – This review should have appeared a couple of weeks back but was rejected becuase I included details about price – I wasn’t aware of this restriction – however, now it has been approved. I just wanted to add that I actually returned the camera (thank you Eextremepcs)a couple of days after I wrote the review. I couldn’t live with the video issue as there seemed to be no way to resolve it. In addition, I discovered another annoying issue, if you turn off the beeping sound it seems to disable the flash, when you try to choose the flash you get a message telling you how to re-instate the sound. So beep and flash or no beep no flash. I took a few more pictures and they were really good, quality but I just felt that for the price, which has since dropped, the video issue in particular should not happen. I’m going to have a look at reviews of the Panasonic TZ20 and may try that. I have a TZ and there are no zooming issues with the video.
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