Electronics : Fuji FinePix F40fd Digital Camera - Gunmetallic (8.0MP, 3x Optical Zoom ) 2.5" LCD

Rating: - Produces good prints but hopeless for viewing on screen
Previous to buying this camera I had a Fujifilm F700. This was easily the best camera I have ever had and when it stopped working after over 3 years hard service I naturally thought about another Fujifilm camera.
As soon as I reviewed my photos on screen I was very dissapointed, especially as I don't want to clog up my house with yet more paper prints. I want to put photos on Google Earth so clear sharp shots are a must.

My experience is that this camera produces screen shots which are of extremely poor quality - not fit for purpose at all. Out of curiousity I printed an image and every thing was sharp and bright, quite the opposite to what you see on screen. I will now need to buy another camera, and I will be buying one from a shop where I can test the camera before buying.

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Rating: - Poor build quality and rubbish customer service
This is a camera and manufacturer to avoid. Initially I was very pleased with it but desite keeping it in a case the coating on th ecamera body quickly started to wear off making it look shoody. After 6 months of light use the autofocus packed up and Fujifilm inist on £89 to repair it!!
Buy from a different manufacturer, there are plenty of better ones to choose from.

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Rating: - Delighted with this little beauty
I wanted to replace my aging Exilim camera from 2003, and strangely although that camera was expensive at the time and had good write-ups, I was never particularly happy with it, especially when trying to do close-up shots. Before the Exilim, I had previously had a Fuji digital camera and remember I had been very happy with that, so I looked around at various reviews for the current Fuji compact cameras and came across this one.

I am delighted with this little beauty! I am no real photographer, preferring "point and shoot" simplicity, but this camera really does encourage you to go that one step further and makes it so easy to set up your own preferences for each shot. It even has a menu for different shot descriptions, such as Flower, Party, Underwater, Beach. Also panoramic or portrait settings. It is also very easy to adjust the ISO and picture sizing if you so require. It also has a very useful setting wherein you can ask it to take 2 shots one after the other - one with flash and one without - to see which you prefer. I haven't explored it fully yet, but so far I am very pleased with the quality of the photographs.

A cracking little camera at a great price!

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Rating: - Just what I was after - Excellent purchase
Bought this camera as a replacement/addition to an older Olympus Mju400. The Olympus was fine but the flash tended to wash out subjects when used in low light conditions. Having researched the options I ultimately decided upon the f40d based on its flexibility and claimed excellent performance at higher ISO settings.
Thus far I have been extremely impressed with this camera, I have mainly used it in Auto setting or the N setting (where flash is not made available so the ISO setting is changed to overcome lower light settings) and in both cases the results have been superb (even at ISO800). The N+ setting (where the same picture is taken with and without flash) is something of a gimic but does show up that in many cases the flash is not the best option (particularly when subject or background is reflective).
Have yet to try out the various options in terms of picture mode but have a wedding later in the year so will get to try the party mode.

Note a number of negative comments about image quality but bear in mind this is a £100 compact not a £300+ DSLR. That said the flexibility and image quality is excellent for the money.

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Rating: - Incredible camera!
I really can't believe how good this camera is - I would have expected to pay £200-£300 for this kind of quality. It is far, far better than the Nikon and Olympus digital cameras I have had previously (although to be fair the Olympus I have is the first model of their waterproof and shockproof range so I suppose some compromise on picture quality is to be expected in exchange for being able to use it in water and drop it without breaking it!).

The casing looks great and the pictures are fantastic, the low-light "natural" setting being especially impressive (and where I have previously felt most let down by digital cameras). Easy to use and under £100 - buy one now!