Reviews for Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Well priced, 6+mp, all features including raw image

Weakness: This camera uses 2 AA cells in a hurry

As a professional digital camera lecturer, I must admit that the Fuji E-550 was a very pleasant surprise for me. Priced at about $340, this digital camera produced digital photos that were much sharper, more detailed, and more excellent than I, frankly expected.

I found the digital camera very easy to use right out of the box. While this digital camera does have a 12mp interpolated image size available, I found the 6mp native image size to have more contrast, detail and resolution.

As you might expect in a consumer digital camera, the digital camera's flash is not very powerful. At 200 ISO it will produce excellent exposures out to 13 feet. By adding a supplementary slave flash such as the Sony HVL-FSL1B and a bit of flash compensation, I was able to extend the effective flash range out to 25 feet, making the Fuji E-550 useful for indoor photos of large groups.

The Fuji E-550 does an equally amazing job with macro or close-up digital photos. It will focus quite close making it very effective for photos of small items and jewelery that might be photographed for sale on auction sites such as www.ebay.com.

The strongest suit for the Fuji E-550 is it ability to record a great deal of detail with extreme sharpness and clarity while being handheld. The Fuji E-550 is also very capable of taking excellent night photos when it is placed on a tripod.

All in all, I was extremely impressed with the Fuji E-550. I received a lot more digital camera than I expected for the samll price of $340. For those who like to use the raw image format, you will understand that you can essentially re-take the digital photo all over again right in your computer. This is a huge advantage.

Of course, being a Fuji digital camera, the Fuji E-550 uses the somewhat more expensive XD electronic data chips. However, the Fuji E-550 is very speedy. From power on to being ready to take the first digital photo takes 1.4 seconds. This digital camera is equally as fast in writing your digital photo to the XD chip.

The newer Fuji digital cameras are marketed to compete dollar for dollar with the Kodak line of digital cameras. Therefore, they tend to be very competitive with Kodak and offer in most cases, a lot more features.

There is available for the Fuji E-550 an adaptor as well as both a wide angle and a telephoto (1.9X) supplementary lens. The supplementary lenses are very fairly priced and readily available through Fuji's own website. This is a pleasant contrast to the accessories offered by Sony, through their own website, whose wide angle and telephoto supplementary lenses are unreasonably high in price.

Conclusion: The Fuji E-550 is a top quality digital camera. It more capable than most might expect. In addition, it is quite small and pocket sized, extending its appeal to many more digital camera users. It is worthy of your attention. The digital photos produced by this digital camera are amazing and compare most favorably with much more expensive consumer digital cameras. I would happily purchase this camera again.

I will be very confident in introducing the Fuji E-550 to the attendees of my workshops all over the world. It is a digital camera that I can point to with a lot of pride, simply because it gives the digital camera user many features and excellent digital photos for a very resonable price.

Speaklightly

98% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Excellent Quality pictures and movies, High dynamic range, Fast startup/low shutter lag, Easy and quick change of ISO, Menus are easy to use, Fast auto focus, Standard AA batteries

Weakness: Clumsy low light focusing

The E550 is my third digital camera (previous cameras were Nikon Coolpix 800 and Nikon 3100) and I think it is great. I looked at camera reviews for several weeks and was torn the convenience of a shirt pocket ultra compact and the image quality of the 8 megapixel digital SLRs. For me, the E550 is the right set of compromises. The image quality is excellent. I am using 2500 mA AA rechargables and the battery life seems quite good. It is subjective, but I have not seen the battery life problems others have mentioned. Things I really like:

Excellent quality pictures
Excellent quality movies
Very good dynamic range
Very fast startup and low shutter lag
Easy and quick change of ISO over a 10:1 range from 80 to 800
Menu for changing ISO and resolution nicely laid out
Easy to change between manual and automatic modes
Display information is clean and logical
All menus are easy to use
Fast auto focus
Use of standard AA batteries
Light weight (9.25 ounces with batteries)

I have found no serious problems. My very minor gripes are:
As noted by others, the manual focus is poorly thought out. It gives no indication of where it is focused, which is a pain in low-light. Fuji should update the firmware to simply display the focus distance. This would let the user achieve reasonable focus without the Electronic View Finder, which may not be bright enough to use for focusing at low light.

When reading camera reviews the low light focus issue worried me, but in the 2 weeks I have had the camera this has not been a problem. In practice, auto focus seems to work well even indoors at night as long as there is any light on in the room.

I wish the RAW mode on/off option were on the same menu as the resolution and ISO setting rather than the Setup Menu. It requires quite a few control ring clicks to reach the RAW mode on/off which means it is not quite as convenient as switching ISO and resolution. This is a very, very minor issue and quite subjective.

The use of xD cards is not much of an issue for me. They seem to be coming down in price and I picked up a 256 MB for $50 at Staples. This is not that much more than the cost of proprietary batteries that some competitors use.

Priced at $310 after rebates this camera is very reasonably priced for its capability.

Overall I love this camera

96% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Sharp photos, great feel, large screen.

Weakness: Small memory card for 6 megapixel, XD memory is a little expensive.

I am very happy I chose this camera. Plenty of camera for the money. Pictures are sharp. Exposure is good. Very comfortable feel. While it comes with a small memory card, what digital camera doesn't. I am going to buy a 512mb card and solve that. XD memory is a bit more expensive than other media though. Those of you that like to shoot small video clips, keep in mind that the E550 records at 30fps while most others are at only 12-15 fps. Other reviews felt the menu was complicated but I disagree. I went out to shoot without even glancing in the manual and figured out fill flash, resolution, etc. Unless you have a lot of memory cards in another format, I just couldn't see anyone not buying this camera if this is their price range.

96% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Great for point and shoot, Many advanced settings, Small, Works on 2 AA batteries.

Weakness: No twistable LCD, No Auto pop-up flash.

I got this camera 3 days ago and I highly recommend it. Great for point and shoot in the 6 scene settings and has an option for manual settings for the experienced photographers. It is small enough to fit in your cargos but not in a jeans pocket. The power button is slightly concealed so it is difficult for small kids to turn it on and off. Great grip if you are a right hander. 6MP is a plus, in case you want to blow up some of the vacation photos. I had to buy a 256MB memory card as the 16MB card included in the package is too small. I was able to get about 60 photos(using flash for all and the LCD) from a single charge. Most menu choices are intuitive.

There are few negatives. It has no twistable LCD. Check the Cannon A95 if this feature is important for you. Flash pop-up is not automatic, you have to press a button to manually open it each time. Considering most family photos are indoors this is an inconvenience. Fuji should have integrated the flash in the body.

96% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: 6.3 mp 4X zoom fast start up and recycle time.

Weakness: XD picture card (more costly than others) only comes with a 16mb card. You'll need something much bigger unless you carry your laptop to download them constantly.

Great value for the price. 4X optical zoom is great. Ability to record 12mp RAW images is a plus (you need a big memory card for these) Well built and small size make it a great enthusiast camera. The start up and recycle time are really quick. I did extensive research and dollar for dollar you cant beat the Fuji E550...

95% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: The picture quality is awesome and the flexibility of using it is impressive.

Weakness: No weaknesses have been found at this time.

This is the finest digital camera I have owned. The manual provides very clear instructions for the myriad of functions that are possible. Like most digital cameras, a moderate supply of quality batteries is recommended as well as a significantly larger XD memory card. I am very comfortable with a 256MP unit.

95% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Sharp pictures.. lots of features! Movies film great too and longer than I expected. Software has lots of options for your pictures. Quickly takes photos. Love that you can expel the batteries.

Weakness: A little complicated to figure out all the options. Comes with FAR TOO small of a memory card but found a CHEAP one at online. I can store a ton of photos now!

I seriously love this camera.. I would buy it again any day. It may take me a bit of time to get all the functions figured out.. but hey it works for me the way it is now! I build website, breed Shihtzus and have a website that I constantly update and put new photos on. This Camera exceeded my expectations in picture quality and I would highly recommend it to anyone!

94% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Very fast startup, uses regular AA batteries, fairly small,option to add lenses, ability to take in RAW mode, great value for price, large 2 inch LCD screen

Weakness: Untethered cover for USB port, uses expensive xD Card, accessories are expensive, no cradle included, 16MB xD card is a joke, flash recharge time slightly slow, cannot zoom while in video mode.

I tried a Samsung Digimax 530, Olympus C60 and this one. I was looking for a compact digital camera which will be easy to carry instead of an SLR, take fast pictures of my 2year old, easily upload to my HTPC to see on TV and for my wife to make prints comparable to our Olympus point and shoot camera.
Compared to the other two, Fuji starts superfast, especially when in wide angle mode, like under 2s. The camera has options to adjust ISO all the way to 800 ( though only 3MP a that level) and the pictures even then are relatively low noise. At regular indoor lighting, the flash recharges in about 4 seconds ( a little slow), the pictures though are well lit and not washed out. In daylight the pictures are just gorgeous. If you use the interpolated 12MP level , the pictures are very sharp, well saturated colors and very life like. This camera uses 12MP shots and compresses them to 6MP and so using 12 MP is definitely better than 6MP eventhough it is interpolated, however in a 64MB card you get only 19 shots at this level. I did not see any big imporvement in quality with RAW mode. With all shots, there is very little need for picture enhancement and infact in PS Elements, autofix does not change anything at all, they are that good. The exposure, aperture can be adjusted manually also, only draw back is you canot set up exposure more than 2 seconds, so for long time bulb shots like in SLR, it is not possible. The flash does synchro for prolonged exposure. There is some shake at low lights and so indoor natural candid shots of my child, without a flash is not possible.

The video is surprisingly clean, though it records only at 320x240, but does 30fps and only limited by card capacity, unlike canon cameras. I printed plenty of pictures and at 6 MP level is where 4x6 prints are comparable to regular film prints, even though manufacturers say 3MP is enough the colors are only rich enough at this level. My XP regonises it immediatly without any drivers and I did not try the Finepix software as I use Photoshop Elements already.

I finally decided to go with Fuji because it much cheaper the the more expensive canon or nikon for comparable freatures especially with the $50 rebate till January and the picture quality is on par with some 7-8MP ( I tried the canon and Nikon ones ) level with half the cost. I am a happy camper now.

94% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Ease of use, picture quality, use of AA batteries, rechargeable or Alkaline, shutter speed, flash, select mp for individual pictures, great macro feature! Individual image protect.

Weakness: Still a bit bulkier than I originally wanted to purchase, but given the quality and features - minor issue.

I was looking for a camera that offers good battery life, decent shutter speed, and definitely light-weight, small. Every camera I originally considered was dwarfed by the E550 when I saw the picture quality side by side in a store. Well worth the extra money. I have taken pictures indoors and out, people, flowers, an exploded rock, landscape, with and without macro. I am thrilled with the quality. It took quite some time to get the software loaded, but it is easy to navigate. Couldn't be happier about my purchase!!!

94% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Ergonomic, fast, large zoom range, good image quality, a lot of useful features.

Weakness: Mode wheel too small and too soft, monitor lacks contrast, flash shots sometimes difficult (no assist light).

I bought this camera four weeks ago as an exchange for my three weeks old Canon A95. The Canon is a nice camera but it turned out that it was too heavy and too slow, and it lacks a battery status indicator. The Fuji E550 is more than 30% lighter, is much faster and has a lot of useful functions, similar to the Canon. It features picture quality modes up to 12 MP and ISO settings up to 800! Power consumption is good for 150-200 shots and an indicator warns of low batteries on time. Bottom line: A good and handy camera with a lot of useful features.

94% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Dollar for dollar, this camera offers more than Fuji's competitors. It offers many shooting modes (including manual controls). It uses AA batteries. It is compact.

Weakness: It uses the more expensive XD card, and only comes with 16 megabyte card. That size isn't good for much, except you can lose it, as I did, so that you'll be more careful with the extra one you buy.

The camera is small (although not as small as some). It is the first digital camera for me, so it has taken some getting used to the smaller controls. Several professional reviews on the internet say that it is capable of taking very good photos. For beginners, it can be used in its auto mode as a simple point and shoot camera. For more advanced users or people who wish to learn more about photography, it offers many different options (e.g., aperture priority, shutter priority, manual, program modes). It also allows the user to adjust the sharpness setting, as well as white balance, and ISO setting. To really learn about all the features and options the camera offers, one will have to spend a lot of time with the manual, which describes the cameras features in good detail.

For those new to digital photography, you will learn (like me) that the viewfinder in digital cameras provides little or no information and that you will need to use the LCD panel. Unfortunately, in dim light, the LCD is not of much use. I suppose this holds true for most compact digital cameras and not just the E550.

All in all, at least for right now, the E550 appears to be one of the best values in a compact digital camera.

93% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Excellent Digital Camera at a Low Price - Yes with...

Strengths: - Great Price - 6+ mp pixels

Weakness: - Cheap Rubber Door for the USB connection kept coming off so I just left it off. - Flash a little weak for objects further than 10 feet.

I have had this Fuji E550 for over a year and 4500 pictures later it is still going strong. The pictures are very high quality but make sure you keep the camera steady when taking that photograph. My wife has a tendency to move the camera when taking the picture and yes the photo will come out blurry.
Steady hand will yeild a clear shot. Camera does great with outdoors pcitures and the video is decent. (600x480)Make sure to get a larger x-D card as I have a 512mb that I use. Also invest in extra rechargeable batteries that will pay for themseleves in no time.
Overall an excellent digital camera with extra features that wil keep the expert busy but not overwhelm the first timer.

93% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Quality, compact, neat, fast, cost, software package and easy to used.

Weakness: None this moment.

I came very close to purchase a sony, nikon or canon. Thanks to the internet I was able to research different cameras and prices but I just couldn't pass this camera up because of all the features you get for the price of this camera. I must aggree with speaklightly about his discription it was right on the mark.

92% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Well priced, 6+mp, alot of features. large 2 inch LCD screen. Clarity of photos and ease of use

Weakness: Camera uses 2 AA cells, no cradle included, No Auto pop-up flash. Uses XD picture card which more costly than others and only comes with a 16mb card.

I bought the camera during Christmas shopping and I highly recommend it. Great for point and shoot and is easy for novice and has great features for the experienced photographer. Buttons are great for people with large hands , which is a problem I've experienced with some of the smaller cameras. I had to buy a 256MB memory card as the 16MB card included in the package is too small and really is not enough they should have included at least a 32MB card. The menu is easy to operate.

I like the twistable LCD feature of the Cannon A95 but I like the larger LCD screen of the Fuji. I would have preferred the Flash to pop-up automatically instead of having to press a button manually every time or Fuji should have integrated the flash in the body. All in all it's a great camera with great features.

92% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: amazing pics, great video mode, lots of manual controls, large lcd, ease of use, size,nimh batteries

Weakness: xd cards, and as with many digital cameras, takes practice to get good low light pics(but takes about the same as with my canon)

I had a canon a75, which i loved...it took great pics and was easy to use. It got very noisy and started make grinding noises, so sears upped me to the a85...i was very unhappy with the picture quality and sent it back and went with the fuji e550-which i LOVE...i am not very knowledgable with all the manual controls, but i am trying to learn. I love pretty much everything about my camera, but am thrilled with the video mode. I chose a camera over a video camera for the time being, and now probably wont purchase a video camera for quite a while. The picture quality is amazing and yes, sometimes there is bad pics, but the same is true for film cameras...a lot of the time it isnt the camera but the one clicking the pics...This camera is very light(much lighter than my canon) and is very easy to use...i wish it had auto rotate(after taking a pic sideways, the camera automatically adjusts it) but this is minor and can be done on the computer...battery life is very good, although not quite as good as my canon, but i would choose the fuji over the canon anyday..I also like the 4 times opitcal zoom, just that little bit more than the 3 times...I highly recommend this camera!!!

90% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fuji E550

Strengths: Quick response, clear images, manual as well as auto, you choose when to use flash also the use of AA batteries are a plus. The camera is larger than some designer cameras, but it is still pocketable.

Weakness: A longer zoom would be nice, however in a camera this size, it probably wouldn't work.

What I like about this camera is it's really fast start-up and little shutter lag time. It produces great images and is great for traveling. I toss mine in my backpack and it's been to many different countries with me. If I run out of batteries(the battery life is quite good, but you never know), I can always use AA's in a pinch although rechargable are always preferable. You really can't go wrong, especially at the prices you can get online. If mine breaks, I'm getting another, 6megs is enough for me, although it is said to interpolate(?) to 12megs.

87% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Great package (retailer special) at a great price. The Fujifilm reputation for Super CCD is well earned.

Weakness: Plastic case, USB 1.1 interface.

Thus far, this is the hands-down best package deal I've seen for 4+ MP. With the significant quality jump (thanks to CCD sensor size) in the 6MP range, this camera is a steal, especially considering it against comparable P&S cameras in the 4 or 5 MP range.

One issue encountered was in the software install. One of the software components locked up during install under XP, resulting in system instability. Rebooting probably would solve the problem, though I did a complete uninstall/reinstall.

86% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Best Buy

Strengths: Easy to use, best 6mp camera available out there.

Weakness: None

I have been using this one for last one month, Its the best amateur camera out there. If you are like me who doesn't know much technical details this is the one to go for. Great resolutions and works pretty good at low light conditions too. Few of my friends had this, I was very impressed by their views and www.dpreviews.com gave it 5* ratings.

86% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Easy to Use, Small, great pics on 6M level

Weakness: needs to come with bigger xD card. cover for USB adapter coudl get easily lost - not connected.

I like this camera and would buy again. It is very lightweight but sturdy. It is very easy to use. I think it should come with a bigger memory card included in the bundle. It comes with an easy to understand manual.

83% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: price, size, clarity of photos, ease of use, features, rechargable batteries, size of LCD screen, zoom

Weakness: inability to add different lens,

I have had a number of lower level digital cameras but never one of this quality, especially for the price of a little over $300. The camera at this stage is even better than I thought. I am looking forward to using it much more and trying the software. At this time I highly recommend this unit which is easy to use, gives a 6+ megapixil photo and has a great 4X optical zoom plus 3X digital on top. It's a winner!

83% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Best valued camera on the market. High resolution. Camera is easy to learn how to use. Fast USB transfer rates.

Weakness: Horrible night pictures. Too small. Eye-hole for viewing taking pictures is too flush up against back of camera--my oily nose goes into the LCD screen.

I have been wanting to purchase a digital camera for such a long time, but I could never find a good camera for a good price. After doing a lot of research, I decided to purchase the Mintola Z3 (4 megapixel, 12x optical zoom) for $350 dollars.

I was just about to purchase the Mintola Z3 until I saw the Fujifilm E550 camera for sale for $300 - $50 (Fujifilm mail-in rebate) - $5 (Pricegrabber.com mail-in rebate) = $245! I think that this is the best camera for the price that you can find right now. I see a lot of 5+ megapixel cameras in the sales paper for way over $300 dollars.

Despite the price, when I received the camera, my first impressions were: "Hey, this camera is too small!" Now, I know that size probably doesn't matter with a lot of people, but I just hate awkward sized electronic devices. For instance, when the XBOX came out, they had these huge controllers that were heavy and bulky. I hated them so much. Eventually Microsoft remade the controllers; they made them smaller. I hope they would re-make the Fujifilm E550 so that it was a little larger--that would be great.

After toying with the camera for several hours and taking about 200+ photos, it was getting late, and getting much darker. I noticed that the pictures were also getting darker. I then took the camera outside, keep in mind that it is night time now, and took some pictures. Now, I am not a professional photographer, but the pictures were really dark. I do not think that this camera takes good night shots. Also, some of the pictures were really red.

Once I had a couple pictures that I liked, I hooked the camera to my computer through the USB cable. The software was pretty easy to use. I was able to transfer at about 5-6 megabytes per second. I transfered about 100 pictures and it took no time at all.

This is my first digital camera, but I really like it so far. I probably have a lot to learn about it, but I am up for the challenge. Though from my experiences with the camera so far, I really think it rocks. I would recommend any amateur photographer, like myself, to purchase this camera.

82% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Option to add on telephoto lens, and great MP for the price.

Weakness: Only a 16MB picture card! Come on that will only store about 6 pics.

I shopped around for several different cameras. This was the best camera by far for the price. The optical zoom on it far surpasses the competition. Also, the mail in rebate of $50 further cut the costs.

81% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: High resolution, long optical zoom and easy to use.

Weakness: Very small memory comes with the camera.

I like the high resolution (6 mp) and long optical zoom (4 times). The big LCD screen is also very nice. The rechargeable batteries and the recharger are pretty good and can save you money. The recharger has AC input ranging from 100-240v which allows wide adaptability. I will use it in China, and it can work well there.

79% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Uses AA batteries, Great video with sound

Weakness: High priced memory card, Malfunction after 1 week of use

The first week I had the E550 it was great! It took great pics and video with sound. After my first week, the camera lens got stuck in the extended position and the lens cover would not open. I've sent the camera to the Fuji Repair shop and am waiting to hear back from Fuji. When it was working properly, I loved it. I know that with any product there are bound to be a few with problems so I'll reserve my final judgement of the E550 until I get it back from Fuji.

79% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: it provides high quality photograph and comprehensive operation.

Weakness: The blind button is too close to power switch, leading accidental power off.

This product is a best choice for me at this price level. Its almost professional settings offer me multiple choices for taking photos. Its big screen also attracts me a lot, although it is a little buttery-consuming. Overall, i would like to highly recommend it to everyone.

75% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Open quickly, vivid color, mannul control

Weakness: LCD is not clear under strong light. It doesn't focus well at small distance.

This is my first digital camera. I love it so far, especially the color in the chrome (high saturation)mode. The only thing that I don't like it is that it cannot focus at all under 70 cm. The battery life is excellent.

75% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Good price,quick startup,good picture and video quality,Easy to use menu options

Weakness: The flash does not pop up automatically,16 MB memory card is too small for a 6.3MP camera,

Overall I am pretty happy with this camera. I was able to get a 256MB XD picture card for 45 dollars on ebay and i can now store about 150 photos. I would also recommend a mini tripod which is very handy to take pictures without any shake.The camera had a problem with the lens, it was stuck out and a "zoom error" message appeared. I had to send the camera to the dealer. It looks like this is one problem that they did anticipate and i wonder why they did not fix it.

75% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Large LCD screen, response times, tweakablity, resolution

Weakness: slightly bulky, flimsy flash mechnism, weak night shooting

This is a great point and shoot camera for intermediate amateur photographers who are looking for a lot of features in an affordable package. For the money, FujiFilm packs a ton of shooting power into a sweet piece of hardware. The 4X optical zoom comes in handy when composing shots and the 6.3MP resolution ability allows for quality post-editing.

The LCD screen is bright, clear and ample. Tweaking resolution, ISO settings, flash modes, etc. are easily changed with a few button strokes.

The camera body is slightly uncomfortable in the pocket, but this is understandable with a camera of this caliber. Build quality is good with the exception of the manual pop-up flash mechanism. This is definitely a weak point that should be looked after. I'd hate to see the repair bill for a camera like this.

73% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: * Fast startup time. * Easy to use right out of the box * Advanced options and features allows greater range of control

Weakness: * Camera viewfinder LED next to optical viewfinder makes it difficult to see through viewfinder in low light situations (the LED tends to blind you)

Although I just recieved this camera a few days ago, it has already proved itself a worthwhile investment. The camera truly shines in picture quality and shutter speed. For the price, I would heartily recommend to anyone who needs a great point and shoot camera.

71% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Wide 32.5mm lens, well compressed 6.3 mp to 1.6mb. 800asa mode, very good color and resolution. AA batteries, very fast startup, low lag time.

Weakness: no synch port for external flash

UPDATE FROM PREVIOUS REVIEW: Paid $332 at Buydig, included shipping and 512mb XD card. The Fujifilm E550 offers excellent features and performance. It is quick to start, quick to focus and very low on lag time. The exposure is also very accurate. In terms of weight, at 8.5 oz with batteries (the XD card weighs nothing) it can be pocketed, but is borderline bulky because of the handgrip (which is very good as a grip). It offers a 32.5mm (35mm equivalent) wide angle, which is best in its class, and with its 4x zoom, goes up to 130mm (35mm equivalent). The flash exposure and color balance is very good, especially the custom white balance. Too bad the camera doesn't offer external flash synch capability (very few do in this class). The 6 megapixel resolution and compression produces the best pictures for normal printing. The 12mp modes may be good for producing and printing large posters, but don't add anything for computer viewing. The 3mp mode offers an 800 ISO rating, and does a very good job where the lighting is low (and flash won't work) or to stop motion. The image quality is very good, almost excellent. AA size batteries offer cheap and readily available power. The movies are also quite good (640x480 at 30fps) and compress to about 50mb per minute (full video is 200mb per minute). Best of all, the camera is only about $265 shipped from Buydig (a great on-line store).

I just purchased a Sunpak Digital Flash Adapter with built-in slave. I used my old Vivitar 285 with it and on mode #1 it works great (after I used a piece of aluminum foil to create a contact). It even works in redeye mode (the preflash doesn’t trigger the slave unit). Of course, the Fuji E550 must be set to manual and the F-stop preset to coordinate with one of the Vivitar’s 4 flash settings. At F4, at 100ASA, I can take a picture at 60 feet. I plan to shoot a wedding with this setup.

71% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Great images and quality in fotos

Weakness: Need a colledge degree to fully read the information manual--lots this camera will do.

This is a great camera at a great price--good value- fotos are great and csmers is actually easy to use. Will do lots of things yet reading and understand the info manual takes time. All over a Great value in cameras.

70% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: easy to use, pictures are clear, easy to print pictures from computer

Weakness: directions are too long, not quiet easy to follow

The camera is easy to use. It is small, easy to carry about, the carring case is great, because it is small and can be easily misplaced. The pictures are sharp and clear. I can take many or few pictures that I care to as I have the 268 picture card. The price was better than any other camera that was considered.

50% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Resolution, low shutter lag ( especially in burst mode ) Easy to use. Many features. Price is right!

Weakness: Flimsy/awkward battery compartment door. Plastic thread hole for tripod mount. No thread hole for cable release of shutter. No sync for auxiliary flash. Flash a tad weak. LCD viewing on bright days.

After 3 weeks of trial and error, I have achieved some very good results in indoor, close-up ( 5 inches give or take an inch ) imaging. Holding the camera, I use a white background and ISO settings from 100 to 200 and aperture of 5.6 to 8; and a shutter of 1/60; and, I define the focus area. Final image requires tweaking with software but this is to be expected. A heavily cropped 6 mp closeup ( 1.5 mb file ) is an acceptable screen image. I have printed several 5X7s and an 8X10 from heavily cropped 12 mp close-ups ( 4.9 mb files ) and they look great. I still lament that a lens mounted flash is impossible on such a fragile, telescopic lens. I had no illusions - this camera was designed primarily for scenery, where it excels.

Well it appears I spoke too soon about this camera's excellent performance when shooting scenery. I recently took several shots of the sky after recalling one of my early shots had two anomalous spots ( possible localized areas where the ccd sensor burnt out ) The image is unsuitable for printing. Sure enough, there was repetition of this condition. I was told this might occur in a camera several years old with moderate use. All my images have the spots; ranging from obvious to faint. ( my heavily cropped prints avoided the spurious spots ) I have suspicians, and they probably will remain just that. Can't prove a thing. This is likely to be my first and last purchase of a digicam. Durability is a real issue here. Down with digital!

33% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Disappointed

Strengths: Good indoor resolution, good sized LCD, AA alkaline batteries.

Weakness: Blurry photos, extremely poor outdoor quality.

I was so excited to put my new camera to use. I went outside (good weather conditions in the early evening--not too bright) and tried it out. The pictures were just one big white mess. I couldn't even see anything. I tried it under auto and manual settings, and nothing worked. Very disappointing!!

25% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Stay away from E550

Strengths: Battery last and the image is Ok

Weakness: Heavy, big and unreliable

This was my 3 Fujifilm camera that I bought. I wish I never did.
The camera is heavy when loaded with the batteries. It is also big and awkward in shape.

In my experience it is unreliable as well. I bought mine brand new. To my chagrin, the zoom unit failed only 5 days and some 30 pictures after I started using it on my long-awaited European vacation.

I sent the unit for repairs on October 3, 2005, and I was just told that I can expect to get it back in two weeks (45 days later). To make the story complete, the customer service guy hang up the phone on me.

My loyalty to Fuji is gone. Moreover, I will never touch their products again.

I realize that my case is probably extreme and unfortunate, but I will strongly encourage you to stay away from this product. There are better companies and products!

0% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fuji E550

Strengths: Plenty of good features, leaving scope for personal settings of aperture etc.. Good zoom,clear sharp pictures Optical viewer useful in strong sunlight

Weakness: ON/OFF power button. Cover for USB etc. outlets

Unfortunately my camera has had to be returned to Fuji to re-set the software.
IF THE CAMERA IS IN A CASE AND SET FOR "SHOOT" MODE TOUCHING THE POWER BUTTON EXTENDS THE LENS WHICH IF IT IS UNABLE TO EXTEND FULLY THE CAMERA NEEDS RESETTING!! TAKE CARE.
If the software could incorporate a device to ensure that the camera is in "View" mode before it could be switched off this problem would not occur.
As I discovered re-setting includes refurbishment by Fuji and IT IS EXPENSIVE.

0% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Sure Looked Good on Paper

Strengths: When it works I get good pictures

Weakness: Lens fails to collapse. 6 months in repair Fuji repair, lost my camera, 3 months later pixel loss blotch on display, camera lense freezes, severe battery drain, over light sensitive

Had camera for 3 months when lens stuck. At Fuji natl. repair for 6 months, they lost my camera, multiple calls to no avail, offered horible (specs) replacement, mis-represented completion. 2 months later large blotch (pixel loss?) on display. Severe battery drain. over sensitive to light. Lens still sticks. Can't recommend camera, Fuji service or Fuji engineering. Afraid to return to Fuji. Write off!!

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Fujifilm FinePix E550 6.3 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Great point and shoot camera with manual settings available. The battery like is very good.

Weakness: None.

I got this camera 3 weeks ago and I highly recommend it. Great for point and shoot in the 6 scene settings and has an option for manual settings for the experienced photographers. It is small enough to fit in your shirt pocket. Good grip if you are a right hander. I had to buy a 256MB memory card as the 16MB card included in the package is too small. I was able to get about 80 photos(using flash for some and the LCD) from a single charge. Most menu choices are intuitive. It is easy to operate and takes great pictures. I like the 6 MP resolution and the colors are great.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Best Standard Point and Shoot Digital Camera For Video

Image is Good according to 15 Digital Camera experts. -- "lets you use a white or gray card for perfect color in any light."-dcresource.com -- "The performance is outstanding, the camera produces a good colour rendition, at which white balance and signal/noise ratio at low ISO are extremely fine."-letsgodigital.org -- "for photo hobbyists looking for a powerful feature set in a compact body, the...

Read Full Review

Fujifilm FinePix E550 Zoom

Testseek.com has collected 21 expert reviews for Fujifilm FinePix E550 Zoom and the average expert rating is 77 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use Testseek.com to see all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

Read Full Review

Fuji Finepix E550

Fuji Finepix E550 receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS score of 2.74 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #105 standard digital camera of all time. The overall rating represents an intelligent balance of features, value as a function of price to features, and a summary of reviews from a variety of sources. The TopTen REVIEWS' formula gives a picture of important consumer features, market value, and a...

Read Full Review

Fujifilm FinePix E550

The performance of the Fujifilm FinePix E550 is outstanding, the camera produces a good colour rendition, at which white balance and signal/noise ratio at low ISO are extremely fine. The response of the Fuji FinePix E550 is lightning fast, the zoom lens is ready in no time at all to take its first image, setting the various functions found under various buttons, and taking series of pictures, are...

Read Full Review

Fujifilm FinePix E550 Digital Camera Review

The Fujifilm FinePix E550 retails for around US $399.95, but you can find one for as little as US $287.95 if you search online. At this price, the incredibly large 1/1.7-inch 6.0 effective megapixel CCD and 2-inch LCD make this camera a strong option for the economic point-and-shoot digital camera user that values manual control options. There is the opportunity for 4x optical zoom, manual focus,...

Read Full Review

FinePix E550

In our round-up, nearly every camera here took good pictures. If size is a factor, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P150—with its compact form, light weight, and 7-megapixel pictures—should fit your needs the best. We really liked the Casio Exilim EX-P600’s striking and innovative Ex Finder, but for the same price, we prefer the Canon PowerShot S70’s pictures and RAW capability....

Read Full Review

Fuji FinePix E550

With their 6.3 megapixel, 4x-zoom FinePix E550, Fujifilm has created what's to my mind one of their best digicams to date. Its color is very good, its resolution excellent, and noise levels at low ISOs are very low as well. (Kudos to Fuji for finally providing a low ISO setting on a SuperCCD camera.) The FinePix E550 is also fast, something to be admired in a digicam. Its lens comes out quickly,...

Read Full Review