SmartMedia Compartment

The 6800Z's SmartMedia compartment is on the left side (from the back) of the camera, flip the small latch downwards and the spring-loaded door pops open. The actual SmartMedia retention mechanism is the standard push-clip push-unclip type, a small gold painted strip indicates the correct orientation for the card.

Connections

Connectors are found just in front of the SmartMedia door, from the top we have a A/V Out terminal (for use with supplied cable which ends in one audio and one video RCA jack), a mini-USB connector (which can be used with the same cable used for connecting the cradle) and DC-IN connector (again, the same AC adapter used with the cradle can just be plugged in here for in-camera battery charging).

"PictureCradle" Charging / USB Cradle

New to the 6800Z is this neat solution to the normally annoying cable jungle which surround digital cameras, this simply cradle duplicates the DC-IN and USB connectors on the 6800Z. Simply connect to the supplied AC adapter and your computer via a USB cable, just drop the camera into the cradle and the battery is automatically charged, press the power button on the front of the cradle and the camera wakes up, depending on a menu setting this either provides direct access to the SmartMedia card from your computer or puts the camera in webcam mode. For use in webcam mode there's even an extra foot on the base to help tilt the camera further back. An excellent and welcome addition! Kudos Fujifilm.

Lens

The 6800Z features the same lens we saw on last years 4700Z, the 3x optical zoom F2.8 - F4.5 "Fujinon Lens", touted at the time as the smallest 3x optical zoom lens since then we've seen small lens systems from other manufacturers matching and even beating it for size. My personal opinion of last years 4700Z was that it was let down by its lens, lets hope Fujifilm have done a little tuning this year.

While the lens does appear to extend quite quickly (2.7 seconds from the cover retracting to the lens fully extended) the actual camera startup time (time before you can take the first shot) is still just average at around 4 seconds. The MPEG below (2 MB) should give you a better idea of the power-on / lens extend, power-off / lens retract sequence.

Flash

The 6800Z's flash pops up from the top of the body, it's released by a small button on the rear of the camera, it appears to be exactly the same unit used on the 4700Z with lesser range quoted in the manual due to the cameras lower default ISO 100 sensitivity. Range quoted is Wide: 0.2 m - 3.5 m (8 in - 11.5 ft), Tele: 0.2 m - 2.0 m (8 in - 6.6 ft). Again, my niggle was more with the design of the cover, it doesn't seem to fit the body flush and seems to be of a slightly different material making it stand out a little.. Otherwise no major complaints here.

Tripod mount / camera base

As we'd expect an offset tripod mount, again I find myself asking the question, why? The good news is that at least it's not too close to the camera edge and it is clearly made of metal. Also on the camera base you can see the small terminal which connects the camera to the cradle, you have to remember to flip the small plastic door open before placing it on the cradle.

Supplied In the Box

Supplied in the box is: Fujifilm 6800Z digital camera Cradle ("PictureCradle") Fujifilm NP-80 Lithium-Ion battery AC-5V/AC-5VH AC Adapter / Charger 16 MB SmartMedia card (& case) A/V Cable (proprietary jack -> RCA Video & Audio) Hand Strap (rubberised) USB Cable Owners Manual CD-ROM

Accessories

SmartMedia: MG-16,32,64,128 S(W)	Additional Batteries: NP-80	Battery Quick Charger: BC-80
PC Card adapter: PC-AD3 (up to 64MB)	IEEE1394 Media Reader: DM-R1 (SmartMedia & CF II)	USB SmartMedia reader: SM-R2
FD-A2 Floppy disk adapter Read direct from SmartMedia cards in your floppy disk drive.	SC-FX8 Soft Case "Deer Skin" case "Designed by F.A. Porsche"