I was looking for a camera to replace my Canon G9. I love Canon products, and my G9 has served me well. However, I mainly shoot with a big DSLR, and use the G9 only occasionally for quick snapshots. I haven't really taken advantage of its many features in a long time, so I'd rather pass it along to someone who can get better use out of it. I wanted something inexpensive for myself, that would fit in my pocket, start up quickly, focus accurately and produce sharp images with fairly correct white balance, with little (if any) input from me. Also wanted something that would shoot a quick, basic video on occasion. This may not sound like a lot, but it's hard to find cameras in this price range that will do all of that.The J38 fits the bill perfectly. It is a beautiful little device, seems to be built rather well and starts up in just a second. Focus is faster in low light than my G9, and while the images might be a little noisier in low light, they're still clear enough to work with happily up to 8x10. Indoor shots turn out beautifully, with good white balance and no magenta or cyan color casts. It does seem to have a mind of its' own while taking macro shots in low light, but I have yet to see a $100 point-and-shoot that does this flawlessly anyway. In daylight, macro shots are much easier! Also, it doesn't ALWAYS get the white balance right, but this is a common issue with digital cameras across the board. Simply metering off a lighter object (when possible) seems to solve this.
Video quality isn't on par with say, the new Sony CyberShot cameras, but they also cost $50-$100 more. For the price, I wasn't expecting much as far as video is concerned. The size is small, at 640x480, but it's smooth and sharp, with clear (mono) sound. I don't need more than this though, so I am happy.
The menus took some getting used to, especially after using Canons for years. Canon is known for their easy menu navigation. The J38's menu system could use some tweaking, but it works! The buttons on the outside of the camera are tiny, so this might not be a great camera for bigger hands. (Even my long nails get in the way). However, everything feels sturdy and nicely finished.
If you are looking for a sleek, simple digital camera that gives great results, this may just be the camera for you. Yes, it has some drawbacks, but overall it's an excellent camera for the money.
Features One feature I noticed is taken photos can be zoomed in on. After taking a picture, press the zoom button and it will zoom in on the picture. The photo can also be looked at in 360 degree angle. Also, the software can allow users to improve images of uploaded photos. This feature is called "Auto Adjust". For example, I took a few pictures, which were kind of dark. Well, clicking on "Auto Adjust" will show the taken image and an improved image. The improve image will be a little lighter and clearer than the original.
Shooting Options The shooting options are practically idiot proof. The SR Auto does everything for the user. The camera adjusts by which type of scene the user is in. Now, I did notice the SR Auto is not as effective in darker settings. Therefore, I decided to put the camera on Auto in a pitch black setting. I pressed the shutter and had a clear and bright picture, as if I took the pictures with lights on. This is no lie. This is due to the superb flash of the camera.
The face detection is good. I tested it. If the camera sees a face, it will put a green square around the face. Heck, it will even put one around a face on a TV screen.
Another cool shooting option is the automatic shooting mode. Just press down on the clock icon on the bottom of the menu button. Choose the duration of when you want the picture taken. It will be either 10 seconds or 2 seconds. Then, press the shutter lightly and the camera will countdown and take and automatic picture of a subject. This can only be done once. Therefore, if you want to take another automatic picture, just repeat the steps.
Battery Life The battery life is great for this camera, as well. The battery life indicator shows three bars as fully charged. At a football game, I was continuously taking pictures and turning the camera on and off. I left the football game with two bars left. That was pretty good. I cannot say that about the Kodak camera, which I previously had.
Movie Mode The videos on the Movie Mode show very clear. Not to mention, the audio is very good on playback, as well. Some reviewers on this website and others have said the camera cannot zoom, while recording videos. Well, it can zoom, but not optical. If you zoom in from afar on the optical zoom, the picture will be pixeled up. Therefore, it is only good for zooming in on items or people that are closer.
Downloading videos For those who are planning to download videos onto YouTube, be warned! It is not easy. I am only speaking for someone who owns a PC. With this camera, I found by using Internet Explorer, YouTube would only accept a small amount of shooting time from this camera, which is usually two minutes and under. If the user makes a video, which was longer, an unloading error would come on. This was weird. I tried to find solutions to this problem. I actually saw on YouTube, an internet program called Mozilla Firefox was supposed to be the solution, so I downloaded it.
Now, YouTube downloads my videos with extended time. It is weird, but I guess FireFox is more compatible with the FujiFilm format. Despite this, the videos do take a lot of time to download, though. For this camera, it takes YouTube 30 minutes to download a 10 minute video. That is craaaazy! I got to find out how to get a faster way of downloading. Disregard if you are not a YouTube user. The videos will still show on the software, which it came with. That takes virtually no time. The other two previously purchased cameras I had did not have this problem. Everything uploaded rather quickly.
The verdict After having this camera for over a month, I can honestly say this is a good buy. Not to mention, the price is continuoulsy going down on this camera. With all the features this camera has, a buyer will feel as if they have a steal of a camera.
Buy Fujifilm Finepix J38 12MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and 2.7 inch LCD Now
I unpacked this awesome little camera a few hours ago, and have been putting it through some paces. Overall, I'm impressed.I'll start with the good. The portability is top-notch. To give perspective, its about a 1/3" shorter and twice as thick as my classic iPod, and roughly the same, dainty weight. The screen, while beautiful, will absorb fingerprints, so a cleansing cloth is a must if you're nitpicky. There are a grand total of eleven buttons on the camera, all of them about as ergonomically pleasing as you can get with a rectangle.
Now on still shots, it's been my experience that Fuji products tend to jack up the ISO on Auto mode. The J38 is no different. This will result in some noise, in any camera, but unless you go looking for it, there's no real glaring problem here. The pictures will look fine if you feel like having them printed out, and don't go over them with a magnifying lens. The Scene Recognition Auto a setting that decides what the shot should be taken as is good in theory but so far has been iffy indoors. I've gotten a few unwanted flashes with my pictures that I considered well lit.
Luckily, for all those snobs who want the finest Finepix, the manual mode is pretty deep, considering the point-and-shoot type of camera this is. You can change the ISO (100 will produce excellent photos in decent light), the exp. compensation, and the White Balance, along with turning the face recognition on or off. The results of tinkering will usually be obvious from the screen, so this will help ease newbies into exploring the camera's true capabilities. (A note: the macro mode is adequate but not mindblowing, and there is no super-macro mode)
Oh yeah, the screen. You're stuck with it, because there's no viewfinder to be found on this model, but for me that's a moot point. This type of camera is the kind you hold out in front of you and snap a picture. But the screen's only real drawback is the speed as which it "draws" your picture to be. There's just a hint of lag, nothing bad at all, but it will go blurry with fast movement, and at the moment I'm not sure if this affects the focus. I doubt it would.
Video is more than I was expecting. The quality is a smidge above your average professional Youtube video, and stays in pretty good focus as you move. I have a feeling really fast movement might become a blur, but so far it's been on the ball with recording. Oh, while the zoom doesn't work while recording (bummer), the built-in microphone seemed to pick up things rather well. I fussed with the buttons while recording, and the clicks and taps on the camera body were picked up a little too good: keep a firm, unmoving grip and you should be good to go.
Internal memory is severely lacking. Like, three 12MP pictures and it's full. Be sure to pick up a decent SD card, and you won't have any problems. My 2-gig card can hold over six hundred pictures, or over thirty minutes of footage, and the higher memory SDs are pretty cheap.
I'm totally happy with my purchase. For 100 dollars, I got a camera that needs considerably less of a babying through than my others. That said, it will take a degree of time for a newbie to get the best pictures out of the camera, so an optimistic outlook is needed. For those who are in a hurry to snap something good, or the semi-veteran who doesn't feel like lugging around his bigger camera, this is a great point-and-shoot with some (eventually) foolproof features.I decided to purchase this camera at the last minute because I was going on a trip. I am totally pleased with my purchase! The camera is small and very portable! It takes great pictures in any light and is easy to operate! I didn't look at the directions once to set up or use the camera. I charged the battery once I got it, and so far so good! I recommend this camera for the budget consumer looking for a good camera for the price.
Want Fujifilm Finepix J38 12MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and 2.7 inch LCD Discount?
I don't want to take my Nikon D-40 out all the time. I tried the Nikon S-230 (same price and size) and took it back next day. All I ask out of a $100 or so camera is that it at least be as good as my cell phone. Got this one a good old Wal Mart. Compared the same pictures I took quickly around the house with the little Nikon and this was noticeably better and I did not have the anti-shake option on.The menu system on this is the most user friendly of anything I tried. I have not tried the video option nor care as I have a small HD camera.
No comments:
Post a Comment