Review It has taken a year for us to find a camera to beat our old Best Buy model, the FinePix 4700 Zoom, and it took the same manufacturer, Fuji, to come up with the goods. And the FinePix 6800 Zoom beats its predecessor for style, substance and value for money.

Its Porsche-designed, aluminum-magnesium alloy body mimics the sleek looks of the FujiFilm FinePix 4700 Zoom. The unit has grown a bit in order to house a host of new features and higher specifications, yet it only weighs an astonishing 258g.

Thanks to Fuji's Super CCD (charge-coupled device) technology, this 3.3Mp (megapixels) camera can achieve a 6Mp resolution of 2832x2182. Though we felt the quality couldn't rival a true 6Mp camera, the shots we took were sharp and colourful. There is also the facility to attach 30-second voice captions to your photos, or record around 30 minutes of audio.

Like its predecessor, the 6800 Zoom can capture movies with sound of 240x320 at 10fps (frames per second) and, with an increased memory buffer, it can record up to 2.6 minutes of footage.

Another handy new feature is the USB download cradle. You simply slot the camera into it to download any images stored on the 16MB SmartMedia card. It also supplies power to the camera and recharges the battery.

A top-quality 2in LCD screen displays your shots, and flicking through the previews is a pleasure as they're generated instantly. A four-way navigation pad controls the FinePix's settings, and it offers a host of manual configurations for experts and point-and-shoot settings for the novice.

The 6800 Zoom is an innovative camera that builds on and surpasses the success of the 4700. It offers excellent value for money, top-notch image quality and a wealth of useful features. ®

Info

Price: £599
Contact: 020 7586 1477
Website: www.fujifilm.co.uk

Specs

Optical Zoom: 4.4x
Storage Medium: SmartMedia 16MB
Weight: 258g
Battery type: lithium-ion
Battery charger: Yes
Dimensions: 80x39x98

This review is taken from the July 2001 issue. All details correct at time of publication

Copyright © 2001, IDG. All rights reserved.