FujiFilm FinePix F810 Zoom

There's a widescreen theme to Fujifilm's FinePix F810 Zoom. The solid metal chassis is accommodatingly broad, as is the 2.1" 16:9 widescreen LCD. This makes shot composition a dream, and ensures images and movie files can be viewed properly on a widescreen television.

As usual, Fujifilm has put the whole package together with an eye for simplicity--despite the heavy feature set. And the price tag is quite competitive for a 6 megapixel digital camera of this quality.

The fourth-generation Super CCD technology means that the 6.3 megapixel CCD actually outputs 12.3 megapixel images. The camera also has a 4X optical zoom and impressive movie playback. We found the zoom a bit clunky, but image quality and responsive camera operations made up for this. Shot-to-shot time is fast, though we'd have liked a selectable array of jpeg compression ratios, as it's too high on some shooting modes. Still, this camera is excellent value for money.