Fuji FinePix A330 Digital Camera - Security Camera User Rating

Price range: $150.00 - $158.09 from 3 Seller with a available.

Average user reviews:

Description:The FinePix A330 offers faster operation times and improved power consumption with user-friendly menu navigation. The cameras allow first-time digital photographers to capture great pictures easily, while keeping the overall experience simp.Reviewed by: macbongo from AZ on Oct 21, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 2 Weeks

Strengths: Very Light. Great quality pictures for the price.

Weaknesses: Sometimes difficult to hold still to keep picture from being blury.

Summary: The camera is pretty good, but it is great for the price. It is light, and the sliding cover keeps the camera lens safe. This is great for the dust and drops it endures when I'm hiking, etc. The macro option is fantastic. The zoom is pretty good.

Reviewed by:Reviewed by: mike1967 from VA on Nov 26, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 3 Days

Strengths: Very good picture quality.

Weaknesses: Controls are a bit clumsy, construction feels cheap.

Summary: It was finally time to upgrade from my old HP Photosmart 1-megapixel camera that I purchased a few years ago. I picked up the FinePix A330 at Wal-Mart for $139, and I'm quite impressed with the results. Great picture quality from a camera in this price range. If you can get past the weird controls and delicate feel of the unit itself, this is really a great camera.

Reviewed by:Reviewed by: jingsu2002 from FL on Nov 29, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 4 Months

Strengths: Good picture quality,easy to use.

Weaknesses: xd picture card is expensive.Lcd is a bit small.

Summary: (Edited November 29th by jingsu2002) xd picture card is too expensive compared compact flash or security digital card.However,it is energy saving.I can take 200 more pictures without changing batteries. So there is no way to take all the advantages at the same time.It is a good camera, I like it.

Reviewed by:Reviewed by: smhoffman2004 from WA on Dec 29, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 3 Months

Strengths: good quality pictures, fairly easy to use even for a camera novice

Weaknesses: scenery setting doesn't necessarily pick up distant objects, such as mountains, that well; may take a bit of getting used to its various features

Summary: I'm pleased with this camera. It's inexpensive and takes good quality shots. It is taking a bit of time to get used to how all of its features work. But I can always get the hang of things with a modicum of time and effort. This camera might not be the one for people who are real computer novices, though I don't know how much better Nikon's comparable model would be. If I had the time, I'd sit down with the manual and try to memorize how to use the flash, the macro setting, etc. Haven't done that yet. All in all, I recommend this camera. Make sure you get a picture card that is at least 64 MB and also a good battery charger.

Reviewed by:Reviewed by: yykky from NY on Mar 16, 2005
Rating:

Experience: 1 Months

Strengths: Perfect first time camera/bang for buck ,quick recover from previous shot (without LCD on).

Weaknesses: low meg mem card, once it was upgraded it was a real good camera, lack of sound on vidio is dissapointing but what more can you ask for $140

Summary: I can't be happier and think it is a great camera. I have taken more than 1000 photos and once I decided to take the LCD screen off I went threw 800 photos on only 4 batteries!

Reviewed by:Reviewed by: jaxmarsax73 from FL on Mar 26, 2005
Rating:

Experience: 21 Days

Strengths: Excellent color balance, nice feature set, good zoom, LCD can be seen in daylight pretty well

Weaknesses: A little sluggish in between pictures, lacks manual mode on deleting photos right after you take them

Summary: I had an old Fuji 1.3MP camera for 5 years and I loved the picture quality. When that one gave up the ghost, I immediately went for another Fuji. So far, everybody is amazed of the picture quality. Do yourself a favor and get a 128Meg card. At the highest resolution, you can get 80+ pics. It does give you the options of 2 lesser quality photos but then why buy a 3MP if you go lower?

Reviewed by:Reviewed by: Cloutier39 from NY on Sep 13, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 4 Days

Strengths: Crisp pictures. Easy to use with both Macintosh and PC computers. Menu's are easy to navigate. Strong flash.

Weaknesses: Slight delay when taking consecutive photographs. Supplied memory is rather small. LCD is hard to see in low-light conditions, but pictures come out well with flash.

Summary: My sister and I both took photography classes back in high school and loved developing our own pictures. Unfortunately to purchase all the equipment and chemicals needed for a dark room would put a large strain on our bank accounts. I thought getting a digital camera would give us a similar experience of editing and printing our own images. It was then time for the camera search.

We didn't want an expensive camera nor did we want something very cheap. We found the FujiFilm FinePix A330 to be af a reasonable price. After receiving our camera we tested it out in different conditions. The only complaints we have are that the LCD is hard to see in low-light conditions and that there is a delay when taking consecutive pictures.

Other than that the FinePix A330 is a well made camera that takes beautiful pictures at a reasonable cost.

Reviewed by:Reviewed by: akkhurana from NJ on Aug 26, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 5 Days

Strengths: Great features in such a low low price. All the features one would require for personal use are in this camera. Handy size. Straight forward menu.

Weaknesses: The LCD size is little small but may not be considered a weakness, as it is totally of a personal choice.

Summary: Great camera. Great price.
I recommend to all who want to spend not much but wish to have professional quality crisp and sharp pictures.
Nowadays as latest cameras are coming with remote control, I wish this camera had one.

Reviewed by:Reviewed by: hallt from MI on Aug 11, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 4 Months

Strengths: It is light weight, fits easly in a shirt pocket. Takes great pictures.

Weaknesses: Could come with a higher capicty memory card and rechargeable batteries. You need atleast a 128MB XD picture memory card, and will store 85 pictures at the highest resolution.

Summary: (Edited August 11th by hallt) This has been the best camera I have ever had. It takes great pictures and is easy to use. I have taken over 600 pictures in the past four months and it has been great. I love the delete feature for if you do not like a picture.

It takes great pictures in the macro mode. I took some clear pictures of things as close as three inches. It worked better the an Olympus 300 for taking pictures up close.

Reviewed by:Reviewed by: toustab on Jul 31, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 10 Days

Strengths: Very easy to use. Very good picture quality. Excellent price.

Weaknesses: Few manual controls. Battery compartment & card slot is in the same place. The cover to each of these is a little flimsy so be careful not to break it. The xD card is tiny, *very* easy to lose.

Summary: I actually sell digital cameras at a big electronics chain. I bought this camera for my mother who is not tech savvy and she was able to use it right away (after I showed her which buttons to push). The picture quality turned out to be great for such a "budget" camera. In fact, I was so impressed after I printed the pictures that I bought another one for my girlfriend. I own a Canon PowerShot S400 and it easily rivals its quality. Though I think Canon's colors are more natural (probably because the lens refracts light better), I find Fuji's colors "warmer." One drawback is that the A330 takes a little longer to process an image so it's not optimal for continuous shooting, like at a sporting event. I would definitely recommend it to someone who is looking for a simple and inexpensive point-and-shoot camera but doesn't want to compromise on quality. I'm actually going to purchase this camera for the third time as a present for someone else. At around $140 it's just too good to pass up!

Reviewed by:Reviewed by: edave from PA on Oct 11, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 7 Days

Strengths: The camera is very easy to use. Software provided works very intuitively.

Weaknesses: Small memory, picture time recovery, some confusion in bright light.

Summary: Bought this for someone who is a first time digital camera user. It's perfect for her. Easy to use, good quality pictures, small and durable. I consider it also to be very low priced for the quality.

One other reviewer had trouble with Windows 98 and the software that was provided. I had no problem with 98.

Reviewed by:Reviewed by: demarco21 on Jul 27, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 4 Months

Strengths: Small, easy to use, many settings (i.e., night, scene, portrait, sports, etc.)

Weaknesses: Non flash settings require you to be very still with slower shutter speed. Movie has no sound.

Summary: This is my 3rd digital camera. The quality of the pictures along with the cost make this one of the best values out there. The size allows you to take a 3.2MP anywhere and fits into your pocket if necessary. Easy to use and multiple settings. I would purchase again.

Reviewed by:Reviewed by: cdaniel2k from MO on Jul 12, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 35 Days

Strengths: Auto Mode does a good job adjusting the focus and exposure for general point-and-shoot pictures.

Weaknesses: In some cases, you may find that the zoom isn't enough for smaller, distant objects.

Summary: As soon as I got this camera, I was pleased with it's initial performance and soon got click-happy with it! For a simple point-and-shoot digi-cam, users will quickly learn the great quality photos it can take. Even amateur photographers (like myself) will appreciate the photos they capture compared to a traditional film point-and-shoot camera. Of course, there's also the option of reviewing the photos you've taken and deleting the unnecessary ones. Its zooming capabilities are okay though you may find yourself wanting some extra zoom on distant objects. One particular pet peeve was that the camera wasn't recognized on a Windows 98 machine I hooked it up to. I made sure to install the Win98 USB Drivers from their web site before connecting the camera, but it was no use. Windows 98 would detect the camera as a USB Mass Storage Device, but would never acknowledge the fact there were drivers already installed. I wasn't sure if the FinePix Viewer LE would fix the issue in Windows 98 since I didn't have time to download the software (over 16 MB!). I'm not sure if it was just that ONE computer, but it was frustrating nonetheless. As for Windows XP (which I own), it connects and reads/writes just fine. I would recommend this camera to people who don't want to spend the extra money for a Canon PowerShot A70 or A80.

Reviewed by:Reviewed by: luv2roq from CA on May 11, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 1 Weeks

Strengths: great quality, battery life, ease of use, zoom factors,

Weaknesses: time it takes to reset itself between pictures

Summary: I think this camera is great. It's under $200, got 3.2 Mp, can print directly to a USB printer, and its not too bulky in size. The picture quality is good and the LCD display is clear. It shows a still image of the picture just taken for about a second after its shot, so you can delete any pictures that did not work out so great. It also shoots movie/video clips, but without sound. The only negative thing I could say about it is that once you take the picture and the still image comes up, it takes maybe 5 to 7 seconds before it will be ready again for another shot.

Reviewed by:Reviewed by: pochan from IL on Aug 21, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 3 Weeks

Strengths: compact, well designed- easy to use. True color display. Very good picture quality, even at low resolution.

Weaknesses: Not designed to take video with sound. The Software is dumb, e.g. you can't just change orientation & save,but have to give a file name + destination to save to a new one.

Summary: I am pleased with the FinePix family compact cameras in the $150-300 range. I had good experience with 3 A303s (I sent 2 out as gifts); and bought 2 A330, because the A330 is cheaper with similar feature. They all took very good quality pictures. I also found the FinePix's menu very intuitive and easy to navigate. (I say this since I have also used the Olympus family digital cameras - their menu is less intuitive). The camera's display does not fade out under bright sun. What I missed out in A330 is the lack of the ability to take low resolution pictures (0.3M) - (this is an option in A303 - which is a VERY good thing to have for travel since the media can store ALOT more pictures while the quality is good enough for 4x6" prints.)

Reviewed by:Reviewed by: Billsdaddy from CT on Sep 8, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 15 Days

Strengths: Price, size, ease of operation, quality of pictures.

Weaknesses: LED screen hard to read in bright light.

Summary: Can't think of another camera with 3+ megapixels and a 3x optical zoom lens for under $150 delivered. This little beauty takes near-professional quality with a rank amateur handling its controls. If you buy one, get a larger memory card than the one that's part of the package (128's are now in the $30-35 range) and buy a battery recharger with extra rechargeable batteries (about $10)at the same time. You'll need both as you go wild shooting every scene in sight from kids to karts, mountains to molehills, confirmations to coronations. This product really puts the fun of picture taking back into your hands.

Reviewed by:Reviewed by: dallrich from MN on Jul 26, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 5 Days

Strengths: Great value - 3.2 Megapixel camera for low price

Weaknesses: Camea does not feel solid in the hand - too lightweight

Summary: I am pleased with the capabilities and image quality rolled into this Fuji camera. The price is very good and the package comes complete with everything needed for a first time digital camera buyer. The one thing I noticed that I didn't like, however, is the seeming flimsiness of the unit due to its very light weight. The camera lens door lacks a solid feel when it moves, though it has not given any actual problem yet. The camera also feels quite small in the hand, which may appeal to some more than others. Overall, the camera is a good performer.

Reviewed by:Reviewed by: pablo7221 from MO on Oct 8, 2004
Rating:

Experience:

Strengths: Easy to Use

Weaknesses: None

Summary: The Fuji FinePix A330 is one of the best purchases I have made in a long time. The picture quality is fabulous. It is so easy to use. They finally made a digital camera that is affordable as well as built of high quality.

Reviewed by:Reviewed by: callancool on Jan 24, 2005
Rating:

Experience:

Strengths: Great macro, clear shots

Weaknesses: Lightweight, no case, poor software, no movie software

Summary: (Edited January 24th by callancool) It was with no apparent intention to buy that the Coolster thumbed his way through his ex wife's autumn/winter 2004 Catalogue 'They'll want at least ¡ê200 for a branded 3 MP camera with optical Zoom.' He thought. What with having a Jenoptik (see his cracking review), a Canon with a US Screen, and a Finepix A 205s on the way as well (almost sounds as if the Coolster's expecting a baby dunnit?), the 'Cool's camera family was large enough. Flicking through to the camera section, the very first camera in the section he noticed was a bargain 3MP Fuji for a quid short of a ton (¡ê100 to you missus), but with no optical zoom. 'Considering it's a Fuji it's an excellent price for a 3MP model. Then he spotted two more Fuji's, the 3 MP A330 at ¡ê150, and the 4 MP A340 at ¡ê200 (If it'd been 5 MP for that price there'd have been no contest'. He knew he wanted one of the cameras from the catalogue, but which one? At 5PM on the Tuesday, Cool's ex wife duly ordered the camera, which would be delivered that Thursday afternoon. '48 hours free delivery's excellent' he chuckled to himself. But which one was it?
It came in a plain brown oblong box with no mention of the camera name on it. Upon opening this box, the delivery advice note was there, as well as the camera's box, and a protective small polythene pillow to cushion the camera in transit.
The Fujinon zoom lens captured high quality shots. Even at full length, it showed hardly any signs of distortion, giving crystal clear images. However, it was all to easy for the 1.6 x digital zoom to kick in if the photographer wasn't careful. In some modes, digital zoom didn't kick in at all until the marker reached the top of the scale, whereas in other modes, a marker 2/3rds of the way up the sliding scale indicated the point at which digital zoom kicked in. Fuji claimed an exceptional battery life in the manual. The Coolster was still on his first set of 1000 mah NIMH batteries after almost a fortnight, and hadn't seen a battery warning yet, so it looked as if Fuji's quoted figures, whilst possibly being a little on the high side, would be no more than 25% out. 'This Fuji's really frugal on juice.' Cool enthused. Image transfer to a PC could be done in one of two ways. You could let the camera do it for you by when the camera is detected upon connection, or you could use explorer as a removable drive. Callan had the option of specifying the JPEG compression ratio before he saved the images, as well as saving the images as Tiffs or Bitmaps. As the camera only saved images as JPEGS, no quality gain could be made saving to the hard drive as tiffs.
All in all, the Coolster concluded that the Fuji Finepix A 330 was an excellent starter camera for anyone wanting to enter the world of digital photography. 'If you can get it on the web for a ton or less you'll be getting a great deal. Some places were doing the premium kit version with the addition of Fuji's Finepix cradle for downloading images and recharging the batteries (worth ¡ê60), an extra 64 MB XD card, and a case worth a tenner, all for ¡ê150 smackeroonies. The acclaimed camera site 'Steve's Digicams' had stated that they felt unable to recommend it as an indoor flash camera, but the Coolster thinks his test shots prove them wrong. 'In short,' enthused Callan 'This is an easy to use camera, with image quality to match, and I'm very pleased with it.'
>(((((((')>
The Coolster(TM).

Reviewed by:Reviewed by: Lynnmowry from MA on Oct 11, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 10 Days

Strengths: Great quality pictures for a decent price. Great camera for a beginner or teenager.

Weaknesses: Body of camera plastic, not as sturdy as a higher end camera.

Summary: I bought this for my young teenager who has wanted a digital for a while. The picture quality is very good for a low end camera and she loves it. We did invest in rechargeable batteries and a charger because the batteries went after only a week of using it. Body of camera is not as sturdy as some of the other pricier cameras, but will be fine for a careful user.

Reviewed by:Reviewed by: sjstring from WA on Jun 14, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 7 Days

Strengths: Great quality images easy to use

Weaknesses: already used the 1st set of bateries

Summary: I love this camera it takes great pictures! I waited a long time for the price on digital cameras to come down to earth. 161 bucks well spent.
I'm sure the next bateries will last longer I spent a lot of time figuring out the settings and how to upload my shots to the computer.