Fujifilm FinePix S2950 Digital Camera - (14MP, 18x Optical Zoom) 3-inch LCD

"Like me, if you are one of the customers who had dealings with Camerabox (Digital First), you will be extremely cautious when making purchases in the future. As an amateur, I should have been enjoying this camera in May, but unfortunately due to the camera not arriving, the appalling attitude of staff, and the deceptive and criminal practices by Camerabox, I had to fight for a refund, then order my camera through Amazon. Others have not been as lucky, as Camerabox & Digital First went into administration on 2nd June 2011, owing customers money and failing to supply goods to them. However, whilst any company can call in the administrator, remember to buy it from a reputable supplier, and if possible pay by credit card so there is a chance of recompense. Better late than never, thanks to Amazon"."Well, whilst no professional but a keen amateur and still learning, if you are looking for a good camera, look no further than the Fujifilm Finepix S2950. The specifications which are on the Amazon & Fujifilm web sites give the technical stuff, as do the more competent in their reviews. However, stepping up from a Sony compact, I found the camera a nice size, compact light weight, and user friendly. It has enabled me to develop my basic photography skills, producing many great looking stills at 1080p, and most of the time, very clear 720p video. However, I feel a dedicated video camera or higher specification camera is required for serious enthusiasts of video. Whilst still learning about photography, and only had the camera since 7th June, I have found plenty of helpful modes for different light conditions, including situations requiring the flash, which works very well. It has a large 3 - inch user friendly screen to view photos on, and the easy to follow menus. Furthermore, considering the price it has a very impressive 18x optical zoom which generally produced sharp clear detailed images using focus. Nevertheless, whilst many may be happy to use it as a point and shoot, the camera offers the facility to use manual settings, something I have yet to master so cannot comment at this moment in time. However, the more competent have reviewed this feature. To sum up I can recommend the Fujifilm Finepix S2950 as it is a very good camera great value for money, and I don't think you will find a better spec for the price."

For the price this is the best value camera you can purchase. For users who want a bit more functionality over a compact but are not so tecchy to go for full SLR cameras, the fuji sits perfectly, it has two great point and click settings, plus the ability to alter shutter speed and exposure. It has a great macro mode that captures closeups of insects etc beautifully. Smile and blink detection, and antishake take out a lot of the guesswork. It even has a panoramic feature for stitching together 3 photos.The best feature for me though is burst mode whee you can take 8 shots per second, brilliant when your taking photos of the kids.It feels good and chunky, and build quality is definetly there. The case has a rather odd speckled plastic finish, but it gives the camera grip however you hold it. Do invest in a case as the big 3 inch screen wont stay pristine for long without one. Ive had the camera a couple of weeks and it has taken some great shots, the 18x zoom is a breeeze to use, quickly focusing and capturing tons of detail, with rich colours. A great point and shoot bridge camera with enough features to raise your game if need be.

This is a decent camera for the price providing you take a few precautions.First off, taking the camera straight out the box and snapping a photograph indoors (or in other low light situations) on the fully automatic mode will likely produce an unimpressive result. This will be due mostly to a very noisy image. This camera will reach ISO speeds as high as 6400 but it is not recommended to go above 200 as said noise starts to become very apparent (on the automatic mode the camera sets an ISO of around 800 when indoors or in other low light situations and this is detrimental for picture quality).Increased noise level at ISO's above 100 is one of the consequences of squeezing 14 million pixels onto a small sensor and afflicts virtually all 'compact' camera's (and the S2950 is a compact with bells and whistles) with very high megapixel counts. High resolution DSLR's overcome this with larger sensors that create much less noise for a given ISO. You can greatly improve things with compacts by keeping to low ISO's and using the flash in poor light. I also recommend setting the colour mode on the S2950 from the standard mode to the Fuji chrome mode for more saturated colours.I have dual image stabilisation switched off as this works by raising the ISO speed to increase shutter speed (supposedly to eliminate blur) and I take better quality pictures without it (the camera still has single CCD stabilization). Having a steady hand also helps.The S2950 has nine resolution modes...L - 14 megapixels (4:3)L - 12 megapixels(3:2)L - 10 megapixels (16:9)M - 7 megapixels (4:3)M - 6 megapixels (3:2)M - 5 megapixels (16:9)S - 3 megapixels (4:3)S - also 3 megapixels (3:2)S - 2 megapixels (16:9)...and two image quality modes: Normal and Fine. Out of the box the camera is set to normal (highest compression). I have it set to fine. This, combined with the highest resolution mode, will produce a JPEG with an average size of between 5MB - 7MB. A 2GB SD card will take approx 280 pictures at this highest quality, an 8GB card 1150 (it would be a good idea to buy an SD card not lower than class 6. There is currently an 8GB class 10 card on Amazon for less than £8).The S2950 has three sharpness settings: Hard, Normal, Soft. I have mine set to hard. If you enhance your images in Photoshop however you want to keep the setting to normal and do your sharpening there. The camera offers various focusing options such as automatic focus, including tracking, or manual selection of a focus point within the frame (good for focusing on off center subjects).The automatic Panorama mode is very easy to use and the first time you shoot one you will be impressed. The downside is that on this camera Panoramas are restricted to a resolution of 3 Megapixels. For full resolution images you will have to take 3 or more normal shots and join them together in Photoshop or similar program.I was disapointed with the first picture I took with this camera straight out the box but after tweaking the quality settings and keeping the ISO to a max of 200 (I personally never go above 100 with compacts) I have found the pictures to be sharp, clean, and quite pleasing (caution, low ISO speeds equal slower shutter speeds and pictures become prone to blur in low light. In low light either use high ISO speeds and accept the increased level of noise or, as I said above, train yourself to hold the camera extremely steady, or learn to use the flash for better indoor pictures). Users who dont read the instruction manual might also need to realise the shutter button first needs to be depressed halfway to allow the camera to set focus and aperture before taking the shot.If most of your photography is outdoors in good light then even the fully automatic mode will produce good quality pictures. Getting to grips with the Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual modes ups the creative potential of the camera enormously and makes your photography a lot more fun than just pointing and shooting (it should be noted however this camera, like many compacts, does not have a true aperture. In addition to its 'fixed' aperture of F/3.1 (5.6 at telephoto) it uses a two stop neutral density filter to simulate an additional F/Stop of 6.4 (11 at telephoto). While cutting down the light, this ND filter does not alter the depth of field. The good news is the 18x optical zoom partially compensates and gives scope for depth of field work between its wide and telephoto setting. While this is of no importance to the casual snapshotter more ambitious photographers might want to consider this restriction on aperture setting when making their buying choice).To get the best from this camera try the following 5 step process:1. Set to Program Mode 'P'. Program Mode is identicle to 'Auto' but allows you to overide the auto settings if desired.2. Set the ISO speed to 100 (absolute quality freaks, like myself, will want it at 64)3. Set resolution to 14 megapixels and image quality to 'fine'.4. Set sharpness to 'hard' and colour to 'chrome'.If you keep the camera fixed to this 4 step setting you effectively have a point and shoot camera that should provide clean, pleasing, pictures in the majority of situations.As a final tip, if you want to improve the quality of your indoor flash shots cover the flash with a light diffusing material. Light from flash tends to be hard and directional; being unflattering for portraits and uneven in exposure (foreground objects being too bright, background objects being dark). Softening the flash with diffusing material inceases the eveness of the exposure while being more flattering to your subject. For home made diffusers some people use tracing paper or white rip-stop nylon fabric (I've read about one guy who used a tiny segment from his shower curtain). You'll get better results though by visiting your local camera shop and enquiring about diffusing materials. They shouldn't cost much.Anyway, thats the end of my photography class.For a price of £110 the S2950 is good value for money. Its no substitute for a DSLR but it is a big step up from an Iphone 4.