Best price for best buys

Extreme seems to be the camera market's mantra-- with so many ultracompacts, super-zooms, and fancy digital SLRs, it's a wonder there's anything else to choose from. Yet for shutterbugs who want both a camera they can control and that can also fit in a pocket, Fujifilm's FinePix F650 walks the line well between function and convenience. It comes with a 5X optical, 35mm-to-175mm (35mm equivalent) f/2.8-to-f/4.7 zoom lens, a 6-megapixel CCD sensor, and a 3-inch LCD screen. While it doesn't include any gimmicky features, such as face detection, it does have full manual-exposure controls.

Although Fujifilm was among the first manufacturers to raise the sensitivity of its compact digicams, the F650 oddly tops out at ISO 400. And since it doesn't come with image stabilization, you'll have to rely on the flash when shooting in low light. The lack of flash compensation makes flash shooting less versatile than we like. On the plus side, the FinePix did a decent job of balancing fill flash with a desk lamp in our test scene.

Fujifilm FinePix F650

More on this product
review
user reviews
specifications
compare
shop

* Print
* E-mail
* Share
* Yahoo! Buzz

top side back
camera on
top side back

* CNET editors' rating: 3.0 stars Good
Detailed editors' rating
Design : 7.0
Features : 7.0
Performance : 6.0
Image quality : 7.0
Overall score: 6.8 (3.0 stars)
* Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 6 reviews
* See all user reviews

Product summary

The goodThe good: Fast, 5X optical zoom lens; manual exposure controls.

The badThe bad: Sensitivity tops out at ISO 400; no manual white balance; no flash compensation.

The bottom lineThe bottom line: The Fujifilm FinePix F650's 5X optical zoom and good LCD screen doesn't make up for its average image quality and limited low-light capabilities.

Specifications: Resolution: 6 megapixels ; Optical zoom: 5 x ; Display type: 3 in LCD display See full specs

Price range: $199.99
CNET editors' review

* Reviewed by: Philip Ryan
* Reviewed on: 11/10/2006

Extreme seems to be the camera market's mantra-- with so many ultracompacts, super-zooms, and fancy digital SLRs, it's a wonder there's anything else to choose from. Yet for shutterbugs who want both a camera they can control and that can also fit in a pocket, Fujifilm's FinePix F650 walks the line well between function and convenience. It comes with a 5X optical, 35mm-to-175mm (35mm equivalent) f/2.8-to-f/4.7 zoom lens, a 6-megapixel CCD sensor, and a 3-inch LCD screen. While it doesn't include any gimmicky features, such as face detection, it does have full manual-exposure controls.

Although Fujifilm was among the first manufacturers to raise the sensitivity of its compact digicams, the F650 oddly tops out at ISO 400. And since it doesn't come with image stabilization, you'll have to rely on the flash when shooting in low light. The lack of flash compensation makes flash shooting less versatile than we like. On the plus side, the FinePix did a decent job of balancing fill flash with a desk lamp in our test scene.

All the camera's controls are located on the right-hand side of the body, so one handed operation is possible--though as we always suggest, you should use two hands for better stability. As usual, Fuji splits its menus in two. One menu is accessed through the F button, and provides access to ISO settings, resolution, and color settings. The second menu is accessed through the regular menu button, and provides access to all other settings. By splitting the menus, Fuji can keep the most-often adjusted settings up top where they're easy to access in each of the main menus.

The FinePix F650 performed a tad sluggish in our lab tests. It took 1.9 seconds from start up to capturing its first image, and 1.7 seconds between images thereafter without flash. With flash, the time between shots grew to 2 seconds. Shutter lag measured a speedy 0.7 second in our high-contrast test, meant to mimic bright shooting conditions and 1.4 seconds in our low-contrast test, which simulates dim shooting conditions. Continuous shooting yielded an average of 1.9 frames per second when shooting VGA sized JPEGs, and 2fps when shooting 6-megapixel JPEGs.