First let me say I am a Fuji fan and bought this camera to take snap shots as I traveled through Scandinavia for 3 weeks. I took my Pro S for the main work and wanted this 550 for the GPS tracking and just snapshot work. The pictures it took are really nearly on par with my Pro S. The Pro S is only 6 MP (with 6...well you know the story) and this 550 is 16 MP. I found the images sharp and vibrant. I also really liked the way the camera handled. You can shoot a movie and take snap shots at the same time. The functions are real easy to operate. The lens opens out and the cover opens. A real plus if you used a similar Leica D-lux with the cover you have to deal with. The pictures are equal at 4 X 6 even with the Fujion lens. I also need to mention the real easy to use panoramic function for 120, 180, and 360 degree panoramas. Really neat. I wish they would put the guts of this camera in a new Pro S body. It would be a killer.
I have to warn you that the GPS function is not ready for market. I returned the camera to the store as much as I hated to. Acquisition time is 2 minutes if you are lucky to 30 minutes or never most of the time. I traveled with another fellow that had the same camera and it became a contest to see if either of us could get a fix on the location. Sometimes he did, sometimes I did, and a lot of the time neither of us did. The car GPS never lost track. We tried the always hot setting that ate up a battery in one day and that did not improve anything. I think the receiver is just not sensitive enough. The computer software does not seem to work well either. It plots the pictures with GPS data on a map as advertised, but I have never been able to display the route. I even drove around town with the camera on the dash snapping pictures at each intersection to no avail.
In summary, this is the best pocket camera I have used for picture taking. For GPS data collection....wait for an update...it's not ready. I already miss this camera.
I have to warn you that the GPS function is not ready for market. I returned the camera to the store as much as I hated to. Acquisition time is 2 minutes if you are lucky to 30 minutes or never most of the time. I traveled with another fellow that had the same camera and it became a contest to see if either of us could get a fix on the location. Sometimes he did, sometimes I did, and a lot of the time neither of us did. The car GPS never lost track. We tried the always hot setting that ate up a battery in one day and that did not improve anything. I think the receiver is just not sensitive enough. The computer software does not seem to work well either. It plots the pictures with GPS data on a map as advertised, but I have never been able to display the route. I even drove around town with the camera on the dash snapping pictures at each intersection to no avail.
In summary, this is the best pocket camera I have used for picture taking. For GPS data collection....wait for an update...it's not ready. I already miss this camera.
