Camera question

[Litewait]

Hi All,

 

I know I will find an answer here. I just received a digital camera for my birthday. Wasn't what I wanted, but it was sent from New Jersy and I am thankful to have one at all. It was a total surprise. Can anyone tell me if the Fuji FinePiz A330 is a decent camera? I was wanting to get a Kodak w/ a printer dock. Are printers avaliable for the fuji? If I wanted to echange it where would you suggest I do that. Don't have a receipt and don't want the money, would rather upgrade or something. Your help is appreciated.

 

Happy Cruising,

Donna

[MamaParrotHead]

about the quality of the camera, if I were you, I'd scout out some of the electronic websites (bestbuy.com, etc.). and I don't know of anywhere that would exchange anything without a receipt, especially an electronic item. BUT, if you wanted to, you could try to sell it on eBay and use the money you get for it to purchase the model you wanted.

 

good luck, hope that helps.

[old crusier]

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/read_opinions.asp?prodkey=fuji_finepixa330

[kujobie]

I have a similar camera, I believe the precursor to the one you got. It is the Fuji finepix 2650. I like it a lot. The xD cards are very small, I like that. The size and thickness of a penny. Not sure why you would want to trade this for a Kodak. Most of the people I've talked to said it was crap. THere is no need for another piece of equipment on your desk when you can just plug in a cable and upload your pics. Many printers will now allow you to print directly from the memory card without the use of a computer if that is the functionality you are looking for. Just keep the camera and invest in a good photo quality printer.

[phlydude]

This camera is a couple years old but it will do the job. It is a fairly basic camera and is only 3.2 MegaPixels. Check out the review on cnet:

http://reviews.cnet.com/Fujifilm_FinePix_A330/4505-6501_7-30732774.html

[Nonesuch]

A great place for digital camera info and reviews is Steve's digicam's, at http://www.steves-digicams.com/

 

Any 3+ megapixel camera is a good start, especially if you want to make quality prints.

[UnVrYaN]

the kodaks are garbage!!! granted you get a printer...but the camera is no good ....i'd stick with what you have...its a nice basic camera that should serve most if not all of your purposes....:)

[rcsort]

the kodaks are garbage!!! granted you get a printer...but the camera is no good ....i'd stick with what you have...its a nice basic camera that should serve most if not all of your purposes....:)

 

Not all Kodaks are garbage..... I recently switched from a Fuji to a Kodak ( 6440) and Love the Kodak!!! The ONLY thing I liked better about the Fuji was it's smaller size. I would read the reviews ( many of them) and decide which is right for you.

 

Whatever you do; however, do NOT bring said camera into the pool in Costa Maya:eek:

[Beffy1167]

We've got a Fuji FinePix at my church and we LOVE it. We can print out pictures directly from the camera (but we don't usually do so since we generally e-mail them to our local newspaper for publicity purposes). It's so easy to use that even my virtually computer-illiterate office volunteer is able to upload the pictures onto the computer.

 

My advice (for whatever it's worth :) ): Keep the camera..........and upgrade to a larger memory stick/card if you need one.

[JrMafia90]

It looks like it's a god camera. It depends what you are using it for.

 

I have any Olymups Stylus 410 digital and I love it! It takes great pictures up to 11" x 15". So I think I have a really good camera but a lot of people think it's to small.

[serene56]

My opinion- the fuji is easier to learn to use- especially for a first time digital camera. It will take awesome pictures. You dont need the printer dock for your photos- Somewhere along the line you will see that it costs just about the same to take them somewhere to get them printed.

[cantw82cruise]

Donna, I think most cameras out there are pretty good. Once you get used to using it you will be happy with it. I don't know much about the Kodak I never liked the thought of having to have the docking station. You can get a little card reader that plugs into the USB port on your computer. This will let you view and print pictures on your computer.

 

If your printer is not very old it will probably be fine for printing pictures. I bought a pretty expensive Epson printer to print my pics with. then last year I got a new computer and it was cheaper to take the printer with it as a package. It's an $89 HP and it prints great pictures.

 

Have fun with it, take lots of pictures and come back here and share them.

[Litewait]

I did find the receipt. Now the question is, if I stay with the fine pix would it be worth while to add a little money and up grade to a higher megapixal? These have very little memory cards, I got the one it came with and a 256. Should I get another memory card for the cruise? Would 2, 256's be enough for an 8 day cruise? How are they for night and action pictures? (sunsets, pool ect.)

 

Thanks so much!

HAppy Cruising,

Donna

[serene56]

I have a 256 AND a 128 and still had plenty of room for more. I use the medium setting as I didnt need to higher one since I wasnt blowing them up to a bigger size.

[cantw82cruise]

Now the question is, if I stay with the fine pix would it be worth while to add a little money and up grade to a higher megapixal?

 

I have and Olympus C-730 and it is 3.2 megapixal. This is just fine if you are not doing any thing bigger then a 8 X 10 print.

 

 

These have very little memory cards, I got the one it came with and a 256. Should I get another memory card for the cruise? Would 2, 256's be enough for an 8 day cruise? How are they for night and action pictures? (sunsets, pool ect.)

 

The 256 will do about 250 pictures a little less if you use it on the highest setting. So it depends on how many pictures you take. My camera also uses the little XD cards I bought a 256 mg at Sam's club for less that $40. So it might not hurt to have a spare. You might also want to look into spare batteries.

[Ronath]

I've had a Fuji Fine Pix S602 zoom for 2 1/2 years now. It's always provided excellent pictures. Have thought about upgrading to the S7000 but am really happy with what I have. All our cruise pictures come out great with it. Have printed several 8x10's and they come out great. With a card reader connected to the USB port makes for a fast and easy upload.

[Nonesuch]

These have very little memory cards, I got the one it came with and a 256. Should I get another memory card for the cruise? Would 2, 256's be enough for an 8 day cruise? How are they for night and action pictures?

 

You can never have too much "film".

 

My devices all use SD (no relation to xD) and I have a 64, a 128, and a 1024 (1.0GB), and it's easy to fill them all in just a couple of days, so I use an "Image Tank" type of box to pull the pictures off the cards, see my earlier post on this topic for details.

[BottledRed]

We've got two digital cameras in my house, the Fujifilm FinePix A330 (same one you have), and a Canon Powershot A75.

 

I got the Fujifilm for less than $100, and mainly to have a 'cheap' model I didn't mind taking anywhere, but I find I use it more often than the expensive one :) My advice: keep the Fujifilm and buy a higher model later if you want more bells and whistles.

[flyrhatr]

How are they for night and action pictures? (sunsets, pool ect.)

You will be pleased with the camea.It should do a nice job with

sunsets and action pics,but read the manual and practice/use the camera

before your cruise.

I have a 512mb card,dropped the camera, the card fell out.(at Disney with

200+ pics on it) Sevaral smaller cards better than 1 big one.

[BottledRed]

How are they for night and action pictures? (sunsets, pool ect.)

You will be pleased with the camea.It should do a nice job with

sunsets and action pics,but read the manual and practice/use the camera

before your cruise.

I have a 512mb card,dropped the camera, the card fell out.(at Disney with

200+ pics on it) Sevaral smaller cards better than 1 big one.

 

Good point. The FujiFilm camera is too slow for action shots, but takes great night pictures. The Canon wins on quick shots hands-down.

[Litewait]

I f I go with the Fuji but go up to a 4 or 5 mega pixal will that help with action shots? My son plays baseball and would like to get shots of that as well.

 

Thanks for all the info.

Donna

[rothbear]

When it comes to action shots, the problem isn't the MP, it's the shutter lag. That's one of the big complaints with digitals. The shutter lag is from the time you press the button until the pic is actually put into the memory. On film cameras that is pretty much instant (except when set on time lapse), but with most digitals that isn't the case. There is a definate lag time there and you can actually miss the shot while waiting for it, especially with action shots. Posed pix and scenery are not a problem. Another problem is that if the camera or subject is moved during this lag time, then the pix will be blurred.

 

The newer cameras are getting better. What you need to do is actually take some pix with it and check out the lag time and see if it going to be a problem. Also check to see if there is an "action" setting on the camera. Using this helps a lot.

 

That said, my daughter has a cheaper Fuji with only 1.6MP and is very happy with it as she only needs the lower MP because she doesn't get anything printed. It is easy to use and perfect for a first time digi user. My SIL was looking for one and by my recommendation, she also purchased a Fuji (about 6MP) and is very happy with it. And believe me, I would hear about it if she wasn't!! It did come with a dock, but for prints she just gets them done at WalMart. Although she did purchase an Epson PictureMate, again per my recommendation, and is very happy with that as well. With the PictureMate you just put in your camera card and follow the directions, but it costs about .30 per pix to print. I only use mine when I need a couple of extra pix in a hurry. I actually download mine to Snapfish (www.snapfish.com) and get them printed that way. I have a card reader that I purchased from Staples for about $20. I did a comparison with about 8 online developers and found Snapfish to have the best quality for the price. Plus it's only .19 each to get prints (as low as .15 each if you prepay).

 

I had a Yashica 3.3MP, but the shutter lag was so bad that I couldn't get a good printed pic from it, especially if DH was using it as his hands shake a bit. I won some Best Buy gift cards and used them to upgrade to the Nikon D70 digital SLR with 6.1MP and absolutely love it. There is NO shutter lag at all and the pix look like film. I also wanted the ability to change out lenses. Unfortunately, it is still the size of an SLR, so wouldn't work for someone who wants a small camera.

 

I am always an advocate of "buy the best you can afford" because you will basically be unhappy with what you have if you don't. If you just really don't think you will like this one, then by all means upgrade. But also keep in mind that, like computers, the prices are dropping all the time because new models are coming out so fast. You might want to consider keeping it just to see if you will like digital at all, and then upgrading to better in the near future after you have your "digital" sea legs!! Plus, the companies are adressing the shutter lag and hopefully the newer models won't have that problem.

[jbond]

When it comes to action shots, the problem isn't the MP, it's the shutter lag. That's one of the big complaints with digitals. The shutter lag is from the time you press the button until the pic is actually put into the memory. On film cameras that is pretty much instant (except when set on time lapse), but with most digitals that isn't the case. There is a definate lag time there and you can actually miss the shot while waiting for it, especially with action shots.

That would be my observation also. It takes a lot of practice to get used to the shutter lag, but shots are cheap.

Our grandson dives for his HS and at first I had problems taking photos. Now I use the "burst" feature for action shots. It takes 3 photos in rapid succession. With the delete feature, you can just keep the one you like.

On our last cruise we met a couple that had a D70, really nice. As you said, no shutter lag, felt just like an SLR, even had the sound. I got to take some photos with it and was impressed. I have, however, gotten used to my Nikon 5700 and I think that going back to the weight and size of a DSLR and having to switch lenses etc, would be a difficult thing to do.

[Cruisin Dave]

I've had a Fuji digital camera for 2 years and have not had a complaint about it. When I was searching for a digital cam I asked a photografher friend what he reccommended and He said you could not go wrong with a Fuji. He was right. Check out the photo's link in my signature for some of the pictures I've taken on a cruise and at an M&M.

Dave