Fujifilm FinePix 6800 Zoom Review

The FinePix 6800 Zoom has a fast f/2.8 3x optical Super EBC Fujinon aspherical zoom lens with a focal length equivalent of a 36-108 mm zoom on a 35mm camera. The normal range for the autofocus is from two feet to infinity with a dedicated macro that covers from 7.8 inches to two feet.

There's also a Digital Zoom option that further magnifies the frame by 1.4x to 4.4x depending on the selected image size.

When the camera is powered down or goes into sleep mode the lens retracts back into the body and is protected by a builtin metal cover.

The pop-up flash provides five modes: automatic, red-eye reduction, flash-on-demand, flash cancel and slow synch flash for motion effects. The working range at ISO 100 is 8 in - 11.5 ft (Wide) and 8 in - 6.6 ft (Tele)

The flash is manually actuated by pressing the OPEN button on the back.

The optical viewfinder is useable but disappointing, its viewing angle is extremely narrow and there's no dioptric adjustment. There are marks on the viewfinder to indicate the autofocus target and closeup parallax correction. The optical viewfinder is essential as using the color LCD rapidly depletes the battery. The LED indicates autofocus and flash status as well as card activity with different colors.

The large 2-inch color LCD is excellent with a resolution of 130,000 pixels and it has a fairly fast refresh rate. The downside is that it puts a heavy drain on the rather anemic battery and it's not covered by a glare reduction screen.

All of the user controls are on the back of the camera. The most-used control will probably be the combination Power button and Record/Playback lever. Press the button to turn the camera on or off. The lever lets you quickly switch between record and playback without changing your operating mode. The OPEN button pops up the builtin flash. The BACK button is used to cancel a menu operation, the MENU / OK button calls up the onscreen menu system and when the menu is active it lets you accept selections. The DISP button turns the color LCD on and off and also enables display of overlay information and the grid display.

Using your thumb it is easy to quickly change the operating mode of the camera thanks to this high-tech knurled Mode Dial.   Each position on the dial is heavily detented so it doesn't get accidentally turned.

	Continuous Record - Enables burst mode for shooting up to 5 frames at 5fps. Self-timer, manual focus and AE bracketing can be selected.
	Manual Record - The user can adjust exposure compensation, ISO, white balance, metering mode, image sharpness, manual focus and flash output power.
	Automatic Record - The easiest still image recording mode, only the self-timer and the voice caption modes can be enabled, all other values locked for the best exposure under most ordinary situations.
	Scene Position - From the menu you can select Black and White, Night (slow shutter and slow sync flash), Scene (Landscape) or Portrait mode. Further the self-timer can be used and the focus can be set manually.
	Movie - Capture motion JPEG video 320 x 240 at 10fps with audio for up to 160 seconds
	Audio Record - Record up to 33 minutes of audio on a 16MB card.

The circular data LCD display is backlit by either a red light when in Record mode or a green light when in Play. There's four buttons around the data LCD whose functions change depending on the mode the camera is in. Shown here in Auto Record mode, the Up and Down buttons control the zoom lens, the Left button enables Macro and the Right button selects the Flash mode.

In Playback mode the Right and Left buttons move through the stored images, the Up button toggles the Zoomed Playback mode and steps you through the different magnification values and the Down button steps you back out of Zoom mode.

It even greets you when you turn it on and off.

On the left side is the SmartMedia card slot. It is a push-in and pop-out type of card ejector which makes removing the thin cards very easy. Fuji supplies a 16MB card with the camera and any 3.3v card up to 128MB can be used.

Next to the SmartMedia door are the I/O ports. The A/V Out carries the audio and video to a television set via the supplied cables. The video signal format is either NTSC or PAL depending on region where camera is sold. In the middle is the USB data I/O port and on the bottom is a DC IN port for the AC power supply.

When the FinePix 6800 Zoom is placed in the docking cradle the USB and power connections are made via a port located on the bottom (see next picture).

The camera is powered by a 3.7v NP-80 lithium rechargeable battery pack. These batteries are proprietary so my advice is to immediately buy a second one as you can't put any other type of battery in the camera.   And use that color LCD sparingly or you'll be swapping batteries frequently.

This is the same battery that the Kodak DC4800 uses. Kodak sells the battery plus an external 1-hour rapid charger for just $59 ($20 price drop!) on the Kodak website.

When the camera is placed in its docking cradle the battery is automatically charged and image data can be downloaded to the computer.

Using the supplied FinePixViewer software the camera can function as a netcam when in the cradle.