Review on Fujifilm Finepix Digital Wide Angle Optical by Elizabeth Nelson

I didn't have high expectations for this camera, I just wanted a DSLR-like body for under $500 and it fit the bill. In operation, the camera is good, but the quality of the images leaves a lot to be desired. Even at ISO 80 there is a very clear pattern of blocky pixelation, I think I'll call it noise, but it's distinct from pure noise. I would have expected some noise reduction at high ISOs, but it seems ubiquitous here. I want you to turn it off. Of course, I'm judging this by the images on screen in Photoshop, not the printed page, but it still worries me. This can be improved if you soften the sharpness and contrast a bit. I shot in RAW to see if that would help, but honestly the Hyper Utility is sluggish and a real pain. Waiting half an hour on a G4 Mac for it to convert a dozen RAFs to TIFF seems ridiculous when I can view JPEGs instantly. I prefer to do all my post-processing in Photoshop rather than messing around with some esoteric RAW converter. But hey, I blame myself for all this, I got what I paid for. I was just hoping I would like the Fuji sensor, but that doesn't happen here.