Fujifilm FinePix S5800 Digital Camera - Black (8.0MP, 10x Optical Zoom) 2.5 inch LCD

Bought this for our last snowboarding trip, primarily for its zoom and video features. Did all it said on the box and more. Brilliant piece of kit; packed with features usually only found on cameras costing a lot more.

Shoots quality video, with sound, in up to 2gig segments. Stills are fantastic quality, brilliant colour. Mega zoom.

Recommend the Fuji XD cards as they seem to produce the best colour and video flow. The minimum size card for this camera is 2gig if you really want to have fun with it. Shop around for the best price for XD cards - I got a 2gig for £17! If your PC card reader doesn't support XD cards, buy a Yikomi 54-in-1 card reader (£9.99 from Argos!).

The only niggle is that transferring pics/video to your PC by linking the camera to your PC tends to nuke the batteries part way through. Fuji recommend using the AC adapter (not included) to power the camera while transferring. Cheaper and easier to use a card reader.

The FinePix software is easy to use. Be warned, though, if you buy the upgrade (from Pixela via the link) for the VCD/DVD-creation software in the bundle, it is temperamental. When it does work, the results are brilliant & the batch processing feature for still-to-video is so much better than having to drag&drop individual frames. Spend some time on the Pixela help page BEFORE unlocking the VCD/DVD upgrade, as mistakes are frustratingly hard to rectify.

The camera itself is nice and idiot-proof to use. Good, large, clear screen. The slightly unusual grip is surprisingly ergonomic. Very reliable; top brand. Super value for money.

I brought this last week, it arrived quickly and very well packaged, which is good, because of the cost of it.

This camera is a big step up from my current one, a Samsung Digimax S500, this is a lot more complex but worth it because I am growing in my photographic skills, but the camera was restraining me, both in terms of zoom and macro shots.

Firstly the zoom on this is immense 51x maximum including the digital zoom (which you can turn on and off), even photos taken at this level are pretty good quality. The optical is 10x and very high quality pictures are produced. The macro/super macro are very good and the detail and quality of shots are awe-inspiring.

The LCD panel is a big point, it is very clear and runs at either 60 or 30 fps, at the higher setting it is amazing to watch, it's very fluid, but dark shots seem to slow it down (due to the processing going on, I presume) but it doesn't matter because the quality is still top notch, there also is noise on the image in dark shots, but this doesn't actually happen on the photos taken.

The EVF (electronic view finder) is a joy to use for shots where you need to use it (not really for bright sun because the LCD is fine there too) but personal preference normally sways decision between either.

I don't use the supplied software, because I have no real need to, and I have a SD card reader, so I don't waste battery power transferring the 4mb shots from it to my PC. So I can't comment on that.

The software on the camera is amazing, and has comments for when you use it, for example when using the playback to view taken pictures, I pressed it again, thinking it is a toggle button and would go back to photo mode, but it came up saying 'press shutter button to go back to photo taking mode'. It comes up with details about each mode, which is useful when using it for the very first time. It has many, many settings to it, to suit the 'point-and-shoot' users all the way up to pro/semi-pro levels.

It comes supplied with a very thick, very comprehensive, manual which shows you how to take pictures, and what the settings, like aperture, actually do, with example photos.

The only real niggles I can find are that, when putting the batteries in for the first time, it was a pain to close the battery door, but you get used to that, and the slowdown and noise when taking night/dark shots on the LCD, which doesn't really faze me.

It's a very high quality camera, from a fine make and purchased from a top distributer. This camera is perfect for a wide range of users and so highly configurable and powerful that it will take some time to get used to all of its features, especially in full manual mode.

update- 2009: I have used it a lot since making this initial review. I've learnt a lot about this camera, and even at the price I purchased it at, it was well worth the money, being cheaper now, the £-per-snap is greatly increased. The macro mode is pretty sensational, and hits high above it's price boundary. it's a good, strong, durable camera and will not let you down. You can use 16GB SDHC cards in it too, which I got this Christmas (but they are from a competitor site, branded with their own name, based in Jersey, 4 letters). The only irritating points are sometimes it refuses to focus on a specific area, for reasons best know only to itself, and when taking dark shots you do get noise, but it's never overwhelming, and can be reduced using a photoshop plugin.
It's served me well, and does continue to do so, I am very happy with Fuji's build quality and product design, well done!

I purchased the S5800 last weekend(6/7/08) Have just received it. I must say it was very well packaged. It arrived when Amazon said it would, outstanding service and the price was unbleiveable. Amazon used the Home Network Delivery Couriers, which was great, you could track the parcel online. Having read some of the other reviews I was abit concerned about the manual being in French. I opened the box and found the manual and all other paperwork was in English, thank god, although the wife can speak and read french. The camera was very easy to setup, and within a couple of minutes I was ready to snap my first victim!. The 8.0 mega pixels raally make a difference from my old Fuji, being only 2.0 mega pixels. You can see a real depth and more sharper image. Its very comfortable to hold, with the capture button and zoom switch being in the same place. Its also nice to able to switch between the view finder and the 2.5" screen. I would not hesitate to recommend this camera or any of the Fuji range. One tip use the XD card the images seem more sharper and more depth of colour.