The Design: Fuji FinePix A330
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The front of the Fuji FinePix A330 features a 3x optical zoom lens that extends from the body on startup. Just above the lens are the self-timer lamp and viewfinder window. To the left of the self-timer lamp is the built-in flash with a working range of 2 - 11.5 feet in wide angle and 2 - 9.8 feet at telephoto. The sliding door on the front of the camera acts to protect the lens and to power the unit on and off.
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A 1.5" LCD monitor with 60K pixels can be found on the back of the camera. Just above this are the viewfinder and viewfinder indicator lamp. To the right of the LCD monitor are 3 buttons: On (Playback), Menu/OK, and Disp/Back. The On button can be used to toggle between Record and Playback modes and to power on the camera in Playback mode without extending the lens. At the upper-right corner are three buttons. The button on the left serves to move back an image in review mode and to toggle the macro option on and off. The middle button is the zoom controller and can be pushed forward/up to zoom in and back/down to zoom out. Finally, the right button allows you to move to the next picture in review mode and to toggle the flash mode.
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The top of the camera is very straightforward with just the shutter button at the right side.
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 Click to enlarge. |
On the bottom of the camera is a plastic tripod mount as well as a sliding hinged door that conceals the battery compartment and xD-Picture Card slot. The camera requires either 2-AA alkaline/NiMH batteries or an NH-10 rechargeable battery. Although the camera is packaged with alkalines, we recommend picking up some NiMH batteries for longer battery life.
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The only thing on the right side is a post for the included wrist strap.
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On the left side are 3 ports: video-out, USB, and a DC port for the optional 3V AC adapter.
The body of the A330 is constructed mainly of plastic except for a metal strip that runs along the sides and top of the camera. Overall, the camera is fairly light and well-balanced. Although it is not the smallest camera around, it is small enough to fit into one's pocket for on-the-go shooting.
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Jeff7181 - Friday, December 31, 2004 - link
Nice article... would have been nice to see it BEFORE the holidays though ;)stephencaston - Friday, December 31, 2004 - link
#4,Unfortunately, when it comes to digital cameras, it is impossible to cover every camera at a specific price point. We had to make choices when picking which cameras to use and ended up choosing three cameras at $150 with very similar features to make the comparisons more relevant.
I did not mean to imply that this article will determine the best camera at $150. The article was meant to compare these three cameras to each other. I have amended the title accordingly to reflect this.
We always encourage people to do as much research as possible before buying a camera. There are so many different things to consider when reviewing digital cameras and each review site focuses on different areas.
PrinceGaz - Friday, December 31, 2004 - link
I'd take the Minolta DiMAGE X31 over any of the cameras reviewed any day; it's a lot more compact than them which is what many people desire when out and about, is reported to give a good picture for it's price and size, has lots of features, and at $150 is just as cheap as them. My DiMAGE X20 is a lovely little camera that does everything you could ask of it, and from what I've read the X31 makes a good thing better.I will reiterate a point I made when digicam reviews first appeared on AT, which is that unless you can review *every* model in depth to find which is the best in that category, then you are doing a dis-service to your readers by potentially not even looking at what might be the best camera in that range.
Specialist digicam websites review all cameras so that they can give an informed opinion on any new models, even if that means buying one themselves like AT might do for a computer product that free review samples weren't available for. What AT is doing with digicam reviews is just picking two or three models out of the many available and saying one of them is the best, when better ones you didn't even look at are available. AT does excellent reviews of computer components, but I'm afraid you'd have to be a fool to only use your recommendations when buying a digicam.
orenb - Friday, December 31, 2004 - link
The best digital camera at this price point is the Ricoh Caplio RX. 28-100mm zoom. Metal body. Almost no shutter lag. These three don't even come close.Prog.
Joony - Friday, December 31, 2004 - link
The Canon A400 should be in this review...cosmotic - Thursday, December 30, 2004 - link
Again, Kodak EasyShare is turned into an ad link and blends into the background of the table cell.