Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Budget and User Friendly Digital Camera - Fujifilm FinePix z20fd

By Matt Ryan

Fujifilm has recently introduced another amazing product to their family - the FinePix z20fd. This camera is a great advancement since its predecessor, even though the older one really did not need much improvement. This pocket-sized camera is perfect for any level photographer, and has just enough pizzazz to catch the eyes of your subjects.

The FinePix z20fd comes in a multitude of colors - red, green, pink, blue, or black. It is only 3.6-inches x 2.2-inches x 0.8-inches and weighs 4.4 ounces. It is the perfect size for traveling with just a bit of flare for those outgoing personalities. (The FinePix z20fd makes a great camera for kids of all ages.)

This is a 10-megapixel camera with a 3x optical zoom. With just these features, and no added bonuses, you can produce images with 3,648 x 2,736 pixels, which is great for any picture frame - digital or printed. There is an additional 5.6x digital zoom; however, these zooms are known to cause distortion in photos.

The FinePix z20fd is an extremely camera easy camera to operate. Fujifilm implemented automatic exposure control, which allows consumers simply to click a button and settings are perfect for given scenarios. Settings can be manually adjusted, if desires, but the automatic exposure control is pretty robust and powerful.

Other features include preset shooting modes, face detection with or without red eye removal, photo stabilization, IrSimple, blog mode, white balance, ISO settings, and even color modes. Features that can easily be adjusted manually would be the ISO settings, color modes, and white balance adjustments. Again, this really should not be necessary with the automatic exposure control.

The FinePix x20fd has 14 preset shooting modes, all of which are accessibly with the touch of your finger. Some of the preset modes are beach, sunset, snow, and natural light. As you can see, there is a good variety of presets to cover many different scenarios.

Blog mode is a fascinating little feature that allows you instantaneously to share images with your friends and family. Using the IrSimple menu you will downsize your photos to one of two options 320x240 or 640x480. (These are optimized blog sizes.) The image will safe with a different name in order to keep the original intact. Then simply synchronize your image online and your friends and family can now view your newest images.

The backside, of the FinePix x20fd, is where you will find the 2.5-inch LCD display. The combination of this display and the two 4-way navigational buttons allow you easy access and navigation through all of the cameras menus. Fujifilm made the camera so user-friendly that even a child can navigate and operate the unit.

The camera also has a expansion slot for memory cards. The FinePix x20fd supports xD-Picture, SD, and SDHC memory cards. You may need to pick up a decent sized card since the camera itself only has 45MB of storage.

This pocket-sized fashionable camera is perfect for any level photographer. Kids, teenagers, moms, and even dads can produce high quality pictures with the FinePix x20fd. For only $200, it fits nicely into most budgets and works well as a great gift. - 17944

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