Rating:

I give this a 5 star rating (instead of a 3 or a 4) because of the low price. There are better 2.1 systems but nowhere near this price.

Rating:

First thing you will notice about this camera is that it is LIGHT and small! Then, you’ll be amazed by the zoom! Definitely two large pluses for someone who doesn’t enjoy lugging around heavy cameras for their zoom capabilities.

Having said that, and having used SLRs in the past, as well as regular point-and-shoot digital cameras, I knew that I wanted my next camera to not have that ‘lag’ between the time I hit the shutter and when the picture is finally taken. I don’t want to wait around 2 or 3 seconds (which seems like not a long time, but even so, it’s annoyingly long when you’re trying to hold up a camera and pray that you won’t move it by accident) for the picture to be taken only to find out something went wrong. With SLRs it’s instant and that’s what I was looking for. With the FinePix S1800, it’s almost instant, and considering this is about half the price of the cheapest SLR that I would get (a Canon rebel), that’s perfect for me.

I have to agree that the digital display on the camera is a bit ‘grainy’, I have found this mainly on point-and-shoot cameras, not on SLRs. In the end the quality is good but not at the level of a more professional (and more expensive) camera. Then again, you have a lot of options with which to make it a better picture, and depending on lighting, exposure, etc., you might get exactly what you want. But leaving it on auto will not produce the same type of picture, quality wise, as an SLR on the same setting. In the end, for 230 dollars, you definitely get a good quality camera and one that non-professionals can at least experiment with and enjoy.

Rating:

The camera is very easy to use and takes excellent pictures. The optical zoom is excellent (much better than the digital zoom quality you get when trying to zoom in closely with a point and shoot). There are tons of features and he still hasn’t tried them all, but as others have mentioned, the blink detection doesn’t seem to work very well. He was taking pictures of our daughter and it didn’t notify him on several occasions when he could clearly see she blinked in the viewfinder. Also, the video mode was lacking the quality he gets when taking videos on our Flip Video Camera (highly recommend that by the way), so don’t get this thinking you can take quality pictures and videos all in one package. His only other gripe was that the dial to change modes seemed to easily get bumped out of the mode he intended to be in.

Despite my complaints, overall this is a decent camera that takes great pictures. Although I’m certain there are better cameras out there similar to this, for the price this is a good value.

Rating:

The camera interested me because I was looking for a great camera, small enough to fit in my handbag. What the S1800 offered was a pretty good camera, not real great, but really nice. My beef is there is no RAW capabilities, but I guess that was to be expected at that price. Unlike above reviews, I think it is a battery hog and unlike my Canon, I can’t plug the battery into the wall socket overnight. I purchased this camera because HSN really pushed the video. Eh, not so great. If you want great videos break down and buy a dedicated video camera. The video capability is good though if you chance upon a rare opportunity to shoot something. A lot of shake with the video. Finally, the lens cap wants to fall off all the time giving way to a possible lens damage while toting it in my handbag.

Now the plus side. It shoots a great image, especially in the wide lens mode. Great panorama when you need it. The camera is way above the little boxy point and shoots for stabilization because of the hand grip style. The telephoto is as good as you are going to get in a non SLR. I compared it side by side with my Canon’s lens and it gives the lens a run for its money, but I also must agree a tripod is almost a must for the long shots. After you learn all the whistles and buttons you will have a pretty nice camera for the price. Half of the features could be eliminated like blink and smile, but it is likely a consumer driven factor.

All in all I gave it four stars. For my professional work, I will of course stay with my trusty Nikon film and Canon digital SLR, but for a fun camera with compact features–go for it.I have recommended it to all my point and shoot friends as a step up camera

Rating:

Video mode is okay but nothing great. Videos are stored in AVI format. HD mode is pretty good compared to the standard resolution but doesn’t come close to the performance of a Flip or dedicated HD video camera. You can zoom during filming, but the zoom motor creates a noticable buzzing noise in the video. It’s not even the same sound heard when actively zooming the camera. About the best way I can describe it is similar to the sound made by a hand buzzer.

The large LCD display is decent when shooting in good light and during media playback but it’s a little noisy when shooting in reduced lighting.

The Fuji offers DSLR image quality and features for the price of a higher-end point and shoot. It has a few minor flaws, but considering everything Fuji packed into this camera for the price, you can’t go wrong. It’s a perfect step-up if you’re eager to explore the realm beyond basic point-and-shoot but not quite ready to take the plunge into DSLR territory.