Review on Fujifilm Finepix Digital Wide Angle Optical by Kathy Babson

This was my first digital camera besides the Nikon L4. My previous experience with photographic equipment spans the range from 35mm to 120mm; 4x5 and 8x10 view camera formats; and work in a dark room. I currently print no more than 8"x10", at least 300 dpi. I enjoy the camera. It has a good balance of features, good optics etc. I would recommend it: for those who don't want to switch to a DSLR but are used to film and manual lens work and want an all-in-one camera. A beginner can use it, I think this model will be the most satisfying for a person who has been engaged in photography for a while. For me (so far) Pros: 28mm wide end. Has a real cable release. The latest Adobe Photo Raw 4.1 update recognizes this camera and similar s6000fd. This Adobe plugin is also compatible with Elements 5.0. I don't use Fuji software at all RAW mode Manual zoom ring. This is very important. Compact Flash memory slot. Chrome mode looks like a Fujichrome 50 at about -1/3 stops. Numbers, probably. But it's good if you shoot in color and are used to slide film. Cons: While it works well, I would have paid more if this model/design had more metal in the body and the tripod socket (it's plastic) was metal. XD cards. (Although this one can also use a compact flash). While this isn't an issue for me (I still mostly use mine on a tripod when shooting RAW), the latency when writing RAW files is high. If you want to capture action in RAW, this isn't your camera. JPEG is fine. As others have pointed out, the RAW mode selection should be "under" the F key, not in the setup menu. Recommended for "creating" images, not snapshots.