Fuji FPA303Z Digital Camera 3.2 Megapixel 3 X Zoom

I recently purchased one of these camera's after using my Fuji MX-2900 for the past 3 years. The problem with my previous camera was the size and the lack of taking quick & easy pictures.

As soon as I received my A303, I was familiar with all the settings within 5 minutes and that was before opening the manual. It really is very easy to use, which was the main reason for buying this camera as my girlfriend wanted to use something easier than the MX-2900.

The pro's are: Compact, looks good, takes AA batteries, great picture quality, can take movie clips which are supprisingly good for a camera this size.

The con's are: Doesn't come with an AC adapter which is not good when uploading pictures to the PC (sucks the battery!), LCD screen is smaller than I'm used to but not a major concern, the AA batteries supplied won't last long and aren't rechargeable.

I'd recommend for anyone buying this camera to buy a bigger xD card (I bought a 128Mb card), and definately buy a AC-DC adapter, and a battery charger with Ni-Mh batteries. You can buy the batteries, charger and AC adapter in most high street electrical stores but make sure the AC adapater is powerfull enough. In fact you can buy them rated at 2000mh for digital camera's, or do it properly and buy the Fuji one.

Oh, one last thing... the manual is entirely English!

Overall, great camera and probably the best you'll find for this price.

I did a lot of research into digital cameras before settling on the A303. Originally I was going to go for the A203 but the added million pixels were not the only thing that changed my mind. I wanted manual features which initially pointed me towards the Cannon A40 or A70 but when I saw a demonstration of those models in a local Jessops branch both the assistant and I noticed a slight but visible curvature on the image. This put me off that range obviously; £240 is a lot of money to spend on something with a fundamental design flaw.
The Fuji A203 does not have manual features but the A303 does. It has a manual white balance and exposure compensation – two very useful manual features for the amateur who wants a little manual control every so often. It also features an AF/AE (auto-focus/auto exposure) lock. This feature allows the user to point the centre of the viewfinder on the object you wish to be in focus, hold the shutter button half way down and then move the camera maintaining that focus so that the focus of the image does not need to be in the centre of the picture. This is a sensible, simple to use and EXTREMELY useful feature.
A previous review of this camera said that the camera takes 7 seconds to power up; I clock it at about 4 seconds. So far the lens cover has not jammed on me. Maybe the reviewer has slightly damaged his camera? The same reviewer said that the camera had a plastic build quality. With the exception of the beautiful but featureless Sony DSC-U20 the vast majority of cameras in this price range are plastic. This is a minor point in my opinion as the camera is of very reasonable built quality.
Within the box are a manual, a sheet of paper with brief explanations of things like battery and xD-card insertion et cetera, a CD-ROM with a USB driver and some reasonable but not brilliant software (most people will find their existing image manipulation software far superior) and of course the 16MB xD-card. This is a fairly small amount of memory but is enough to have functionality. A larger card is relatively inexpensive and should probably be bought but you won’t need to rush too fast to the shop for it, you can mess around with 16MB just fine. If you’re not sure about the new xD-card medium I would recommend you relax, the format is supported by Olympus and Fuji (who jointly created it) and they have started to use it in even their most expensive cameras, including the new ‘4th Generation’ Finepix F700 which does everything but shine your shoes. As for capacity you have also probably noticed that the xD-card currently only appears to be available up to 128MB. Actually, the new 256MB xD-card is now available although very expensive as all these things are when they first arrive. I expect prices will fall soon enough. The medium can go up to 8Gb in the long-term and its small size makes it a storage method with a lot of potential and longevity though doubtlessly patents exist that would make using the technology uneconomical for rival companies in the future meaning it looks likely (this is only my opinion) that the xD-card will remain solely in the domain of Olympus and Fuji. Apparently the xD-card is more economical with power and has faster transfer speeds.
The picture quality is superb and the flash is trustworthy, not washing out images too much as is often the case with other cameras in my experience. The camera also has another feature which can be very useful and that is a macro mode. With a turn of the control dial (used to switch between modes) you can take pictures of objects extremely close to the camera (the LCD display is mandatory in this mode).
The 3x optical zoom is visible through the viewfinder though the digital zoom has to be used with the LCD display. As for using the digital zoom I see little point. Simply use the optical zoom to get as close as you can and use your image manipulation software to zoom in on the bits you want once the image is on your PC/Mac. The only use I can see for it is when you know you won’t be wanting the rest of the wider image at all and want to save memory space.
I have not used the web cam facility yet but can see no problems arising with that. Video conferencing is pretty simple and the camera performs adequately in its normal video capture mode. However I doubt many people are buying such an expensive camera as a web cam when they can be purchased for only about £30 so that probably isn’t a consideration.
The video capture mode is a nice bonus but should be viewed only as just that – a bonus. Although the quality is fine the frame rate is only 10 frames per second with a sample rate of 47kbps at 160x120 and 158kbps at 320x240 (no audio).
The biggest downsides to the purchase of this camera are not related to the camera itself; there is no case supplied (though there never seems to be with digital cameras) nor is there a 3v DC adapter (around £25!). As for battery consumption I can’t honestly say I’ve noticed how hungry it is and this shouldn’t be too much of a worry as rechargeable batteries are relatively inexpensive though I recommend you buy a good few of them.
All in all I’m delighted with this camera though I must confess to only having had it a short time. It’s aesthetic and turning it off and watching the lens cover shoot across is a joy every time.
A truly sexy piece of hardware.

Camera purchased 20 November. First venture into digital from long association with 35mm. Decided to start at mid range to gain experience of digital. Very good initial experience.

Good functionality, easy to learn and easy to use. 1-2 hours fiddling around, consulting manual, and trying out, has enabled fairly immediate use. Picture quality surprisingly good, compares very strongly with good 35mm. Compact size a big positive and seems to be a very versatile item. Video capability an added bonus as I had only expected photo facility.

Limitations: seems to use up battery rapidly(especially video use) and users manual could be more informative and instructive, epecially for digital first timers. Needs more "how to" content.

Overall, a very satisfactory buy and will most likely be a good stepping stone to more adventurous digital photography.

Dermot Breen, Dublin. 24 November 2002