Fujifilm Finepix A820 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom

This is my everyday 'backpack' camera, when I'm not carrying my slightly larger Fuji S700 or much larger S9000. It replaces my excellent A400 because of it's added features, such as the 4X zoom instead of 3X (not a big difference, but enough), as well as all the added scene position choices. I've done close-ups, portraits, night shots, landscapes and indoor scenes with and without flash, and I'm impressed. Enlargements are no problem for this camera, either. It's easy to carry just about anywhere. Learn to use the ISO settings and scene positions and even get a tiny tripod--the camera will amaze you.Fujifilm Finepix A820 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom

For the first 5-6 months, my 820 did fine with 2700mAh NiMH batteries. Suddenly, upon turn on, the empty battery icon flashes and it shuts down within 5 seconds. I am using the same batteries and even bought new ones. No deal. Sent it back to Fuji for repair. They sent it back with the same problem. It's a great camera otherwise. Lots of features and video w/sound. But now it just doesn't stay on long enough to use it. Alkalines will last only 8-10 minutes and less with flash. I'll try the repair route again. It might just be my camera's problem, but if you do buy it, don't get too emotionally attached.

i bought this camera in July and was immediately impressed. Now its 5 months later and it is starting to act up. The auto focus has become unpredictable and when you power up and down the camera is making a "mechanical" noise that is making me worried that one day it wont power up at all.

I really thought this would be my last camera for a while but it seems that I'm back to shopping again.

The camera is fine as long as nothing goes wrong. Fuji has the worst customer service I have ever delt with. They pass you from one person to another and do everything they can not to help you. Be prepared to deal with the worst customer service in the business. I really hope this helps you.

I bought this camera after extensive research to take with me on a three-month semester in Europe. My main criteria were: 1) low price, 2) good picture quality, 3) short startup and lag time between photos, 4) portability, and 5) good battery life. Over the course of the semester I managed to take a good 1600 pictures of people, landscapes, and artwork in all different settings, and frankly the image quality blew me (and my family) away with its sharpness and vivid color. Lag time was great, much better than otherwise comparable cameras I've used. Battery life was excellent, too; I managed to get through the whole semester only recharging about four or five times (though this was probably because I tried to avoid using flash as much as possible). Video is quite passable, with decent sound quality. Durability was impressive; I managed to drop it at least twice, once on marble, and it is still in perfect working order.

Drawbacks: image stabilization is digital and not, in my experience, particularly useful, so if you're in low light and don't want to use flash you will want a tripod or at least a solid object to steady it on - but that probably goes for most cameras anyway. The autofocus can have trouble in low light or when you're aiming at a hazy horizon for a landscape shot, but otherwise no problems there. The main thing that disappointed me was the lack of manually adjustable options under the "manual" setting: it allows you to control white balance and exposure, but that's about it (and even there you have to choose between presets).

Bottom line: if you're a pro then this is probably not the camera for you. However, if you're like me and want a portable, inexpensive camera that takes quick, sharp, semi-artistic pictures, then you will be happy with the Finepix A820.