Fujifilm FinePix F480 Zoom

Opinion: Do not waste your money.

I bought this camera as a carry everywhere/everyday cheap backup to my nikon D300 SLR.

I choose this Fujifilm amongst all the others in the 100 to 150 euros range because it was the only one to offer a true wideangle lens (28mm eq.), which I consider a very important feature, but after two days of use I returned it back to the shop and went for an IXUS 80 IS.

Feature set on the F480 is limited but not awful, body design and construction both are nice, but Image Quality simply is horrendous. Lots of grain, artifacts and detail loss from noise reduction even at base ISO in good light just made the pictures almost unusable, really ugly at 100% view but also at 50%, absolutely impossible to adjust in PS because of really bad response to contrast and sharpness.

Before using this compact I really had no idea how bad a cheap compact can be: this is worse than my older 3mp Sony DSC-P72 bought back in 2003, which could offer cleaner images. The megapixel race really hurts when camera makers try to deliver 8MPs with a sensor that really cannot handle that amount of detail, and Fujifilm F480 shows that clearly.

With my IXUS 80IS I really miss the wideangle (lens starts at 38mm eq., meaning I can't really shoot interiors, landscapes etc.) but at least I am happy with Image Quality, which for only 20 euros more is WAY better. Nothing comparable to the cheapest of SLRs, of course, but still usable.

Opinion: Just bought this as a back up for my DSLR's, and find for the price for it to be just fine, other folks negative reviews of this camera are warranted, but for the price of just over $100 as of July '08, it's a perfect addition to my camera bag.

Opinion: I've been using this camera for 5 months now.
Picture quality is quite ok for a compact model, i bought it especially for the wide angle, as a second camera for indoor shots/parties, globally events where i dont want to carry my SLR.
For outdoor shots, expect to have low contrast/color in bad conditions (especially clouds)
Also some weird pixels at 8MP, i use it at 4MP everyday, pictures seems better.
Also picture display after taking a shot is blurry, so you never know if the picture you took is ok. so quite often you have to recheck on play position..
Movie mode ok, but the microphone is easily saturated in concerts, thats a pity. The minolta X21 i had was doing much better than that.

Opinion: I bought this as a companion camera so I didn't have to carry my big S9500 bushwalking and to parties etc.

I wasn't expecting it to be fabulous just a nice compact entry level camera that took good photos. Unfortunately even in ideal conditions 100 ASA F5 1/500 sec shutter speed (Should get a nice sharp image but alas not the case) I have never seen so much grain, strange pixels, noise. Guess I have been spoilt. I has no idea how bad a photo from a digital camera could be until I bought this camera.

Also another major problem, nice big LCD but cant see a thing through it in the sun, even in the shade outdoors can hardly see what you are doing and yes I did try all the brightness settings.

Easy to use and very friendly interface and its so little and cute, if only it took good photo's and you could see them in an Australian summer, Fuji could have a winner .

Opinion: I bought Fuji F480 as present for my girlfriend, she is the beginner in photography. Fuji F480 have all required features: 28 mm wide angle, No P,S,A,M mode as it is counterproductive for beginner, excelent luminosity. Problem is ISO set up (in "M" mode only). Camera still set up higher ISO than necessary nad make short time it is good in low lights situation, but all pictures are full of noise. ISO is usable until 400. Camera is not fast, but it is not camera for sport, reportage photography. Older cheap Fuji cameras were better, but all sold. I hope, that quality 4-5 Mpix cameras come to market again.

Opinion: I use this as a carry everywhere camera for my real estate work. It's smaller than any 35mm camera I ever had. It's bigger than the minox I don't use anymore, but the quality is a lot better. I need a 28mm wide angle for good interior picutres. I post pictures at 2 megapixels max. I don't even need the 8 megapixels for prints. I get good 8 x 10s with 4 megapixels.

Opinion: I have a Powershot A95 Canon and I got the F-480 as Christmas present. I'm very disappointed for its performance. Very poor image quality, noise up to 200, weak flash, exposure controll non-existent.
The only tolerable pictures are at 100 ISO bright daylight.
It is an "entry level" camera for beginners.

Opinion: Good for Zoom Wide, Optical Zoom and Effective pixels.

Opinion: I own both a S6000fd and an F20, both Fujifilm Super CCD 6.3 megapixel cameras and am delighted with both. I'm glad I bought both while they were still readily available. I was very interested in getting a small wide angle camera and so was very intrigued by the F480's 28 mm lens and its large LCD display. Very nice package, small, nice build--a good looking camera at a very nice price. When I compared the pictures to the F20 however I was very disappointed. I took a number of outdoor shots with both cameras at identical ISOs and white balance settings, and out of seven photos, the F20 was a clear winner, with one closeup a tie. The F480s shots were generally darker and blurrier than the F20, in spite of the additional megapixels. I have now learned first hand how over rated pixel counts are. Some of the F20's shots were WAY sharper than the F480, not to mention brighter and with less noise.
I would really like to see the megapixel race end and see Fujifilm (and other manufacturers) to stop sacrificing image quality for more and more pixels that very few consumers actually need. I know that there are engineering issues with needing a small chip to have such a tiny lens as this, so why not put a better-performing 5 or 6 megapixel Super CCD into this camera, instead of whatever it is that they did? I know that is heresy, but I would buy that camera with fewer pixels if it gave me the same quality shots as the F20! Every review I read remarks on the declines in image quality due to ever-increasing megapixel counts, both in Fujifilm and Canon cameras. Now everyone seems to want to get an F20 or F31 again but it's too late--people are hawking them for $500 online because they know that a lot of people want to go back to the quality of these cameras from a time before manufacturers went too far with the megapixel madness.
I am (or was) a Fujifilm brand-loyalist, but I probably won't buy another until I hear of a new camera (with wide angle please) with similar image quality to the earlier F series cameras.