Fujifilm FinePix AX200 12 MP Digital Camera with 5x Wide Angle Optical Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Black)
Review by BradlyC : Sweet Little Camera

I just bought this camera online and am Impressed. I've been using a Sony 4mp for years. Back when I bought it, I poured-over all the online reviews. Soooooo many models to choose from! The little Sony had the best blend of price, image quality, build, and speed. It still works great!

But I wanted something with more resolution, and a little smaller. I also wanted a longer zoom and a larger LCD. One other important feature was that my new camera must operate on AA batteries. This last need really narrowed the field. Not many AA cameras out there anymore these days. I looked at 'em all. And read all of the reviews. I spent sooo much time at it that i got in trouble with the wife. I hands-on tested and read about the Nikon F20 & 22, Lumix LZ10 & LZ 8's (couple years old, hard to find new,) Kodaks, GE's and Canons a 1100, SX120 & 130, a 490 & 495.)

I ended up buying a Canon A2000. It was a couple of model years old, but was reviewed very well. 6x zoom, 3 inch lcd, 10mp, & optical stabilization. It takes very nice pics, but it is too big, and the zoom is a little clunky. It doesn't have a very wide lens. It also has a long pic-to-pic lag. When the flash is on, it's way-annoying. Still, a nice camera.

So, I saw the Fuji on clearance. I had to have it. I feel that with a little work and practice, the fuji is better. The canon is just too big to comfortably throw in a pocket and it looks way-dated. But the fuji is small, sleek, and can take great shots

I really like the AA power. You can buy batteries anywhere. I'm always the guy shooting at parties and trips long after everyone elses batteries are toast. The wide angle lens is nice (much wider than the canon's 28 vs 36), and if you don't need wide angle, just zoom a bit. Get closer and narrow the field. The zoom operates smoothly and quickly. (I actually got the AX 230. It's the same as the 200 but has a 3 inch big bright 3 inch lcd.) The batteries seemed to last longer in the Fuji, over my sony or canon. And it's significantly smaller than either. Pockets comfortably. If you see a photo opp at a party, but you've got to run get your camera off the counter, or outa the wifes purse, what's the point?

As one online reviewer indicated, you need to coach this camera to take great shots. Sure, you can start snapping away on Auto, and get some decent pics. But you can get some stunning shots if you understand the settings a little more and use them.

First and foremost, especially with indoor shots, I would highly recommend that you do not enable the digital image stabilization. This feature simply cranks iso to 800 or 1600 for low-light shots, in order to combat shakey hands. Pictures come out with tons of noise=grainy, pixelated=lame. When this feature is off, low-light indoor shots (without flash) are taken at ISO 400, and are much better. Another option that works well is to turn on the flash, and shoot indoors with flash.

Outside, my pics come out clear as a bell. As the other reviewer indicated, you should also avoid the SR Auto mode. My pics turn out better with plain-old Auto. If you want to frame a single person, inside or out, the wide angle lens often requires that you either A)Get close to your subject or B) you use the zoom a bit, as it's intended.

Oh yeah, the 720 video is awesome. Better than my Sony hard-drive handy-cam.

Bottome line= Great camera. Do as I indicate above with the camera settings. Keep your elbows in, close to your body (keeps the camera steady) and snap away. I got this little cam for less than $50 on clearance. It is sweet and hope it lasts a long time.

Fujifilm FinePix AX200 12 MP Digital Camera with 5x Wide Angle Optical Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Black)
Review by Jesse S : Versatile camera, great pix for the price

10/27/10 Update: When you buy an SD memory card, MAKE SURE THAT IT IS CLASS 4 OR HIGHER. Lower class (lower read/write speed) cards will cause the camera to freeze when taking HD video. I just experienced this problem with a lower class card and see from reading other reviews that other people are having the same problem, not realizing you MUST HAVE CLASS 4 or higher memory in order to shoot HD video. I also see from the Amazon page that "other people frequently bought" a 4 GB SanDisk Class 2 card along with this camera. That Class 2 card WILL NOT support HD video, according to the Fuji manual. I have ordered a Class 4 card and will report back when it arrives.

10/28/10 Update: Kingston 4 GB Class 4 SD card arrived today. I tried taking HD video clips outdoors this afternoon, and later this evening indoors. In the outdoor test, in bright afternoon conditions, using alkaline batteries, I took a total of 21 short HD videos. Of the first 10 videos, 2 caused the camera to freeze while it was shooting. Of the last 11 videos, 7 caused a freeze. Pretty bad, right? Well...this evening after dinner, I tried again, this time indoors. I took 16 more short HD videos in low indoor night light conditions, and NONE of them froze. Using the same alkaline batteries as before. No freezing. I tried switching to NiMH batteries...no freezing. I tried running the alkaline batteries until the camera shut down...no freezing. It's working perfectly now. Go figure... *****end of update*****


I read all the other Amazon reviews for this camera, and read the specs on the Fuji website before buying the camera. After using it for a day, I'm pleased to say that it has exceeded my expectations.

The menus are well laid out, and the modes and settings are very easy to change. I've read the manual fairly carefully and have experimented a good deal with some of the "shooting modes" and have the following suggestions and observations for those (few) who have complained of poor picture quality. (I've gotten outstanding results so far).

First, be aware that this camera has a WIDE ANGLE lens, which means that it's designed to capture a wider field of view than a "normal" 35 mm equivalent lens. This makes it good for close quarters (e.g. indoor photography where you're trying to get as much of a room as possible, or as many people as possible, into the frame). I just spent this afternoon photographing the interior of a small 17th century post-and-beam house, and the wide angle lens captured more of the interior than a 35 mm equivalent lens would have. The downside of the wide angle lens is that you will see some "fisheye" bending at the edges of the frame, but the bending does disappear as you zoom out to a longer focal length. The wide angle also means that, even with full zoom, subjects will appear farther away than with a "normal" zoom lens. So if you want maximum zoom magnification of distant objects, a wide angle lens probably isn't your best choice. On the other hand, if you want maximum field of view for nearby scenes and people, wide angle is the way to go. (This lens can also do "macro" closeups, but I haven't tried that yet).

Second, it helps if you read up on ISO settings and understand that some unavoidable digital "noise" creeps into digital photos at higher ISO settings. The higher the ISO setting, the more unwanted "noise" you're going to get. Therefore, you get the best quality shots at the lowest ISO setting (100 for this camera). Read the manual and learn how to either set the ISO manually to 100 (in shooting mode "Program AE") and/or use the other modes in such a way as to induce it to choose the lowest ISO possible. This camera seems to have very low noise at ISO 100, some at ISO 400, and is marginal at ISO 800. Try to avoid ISOs above 400.

Third, change the "Image Quality" setting from Normal to Fine. The camera comes set to Normal, which means that your photos will be digitally compressed to save storage space. However, the compression process loses some image quality. To get the best image quality, change to Fine, which will save photos without compression and thus give the best image quality. If you want more storage space and don't care so much about image quality, you can change back to Normal.

Fourth, read the manual and experiment with the different shooting modes, which make this camera quite versatile. I just shot the interior of the historic house I mentioned above using a tripod and the "Night (Tripod)" shooting mode, and the photos came out great even though there was little interior light and I chose not to use a flash. The Night (Tripod) mode gives up to 4 seconds of shutter open time for very low light conditions, at low ISO settings (like 100) for great quality shots.

Fifth, experiment with the "White Balance" adjustment in shooting mode "Program AE". White balance can make a big difference in the color of your shots.

Sixth, learn how to read the info shown on the screen as you set up for a shot. The shooting mode, ISO, image quality (Normal or Fine), White Balance, and flash status are all shown on the screen and are important things to be aware of. Depress the shutter button half way and see the shutter speed and f-stop displayed in the lower left corner. If the ISO and shutter speed aren't going to be satisfactory, make the needed adjustments to the shooting program or flash before taking the shot. Also learn how the auto focus works, how it signals that the auto focus has locked in(beep and steady green light) and how the red AF! indicator means that the camera is unable to auto focus, due to low light or some other condition. No focus=blurry photo.

Seventh, avoid the "SR Auto" mode. All it does is choose one of the other shooting modes automatically, which you should be able to do for yourself based on what/where you're shooting. According to the manual, the "SR Auto" mode is apparently a battery hog, because the manual recommends that, if your batteries are draining too quickly, you not use the SR Auto mode. And some of the other reviews here have complained about buzzing noises in the SR Auto mode (though I haven't experienced it). Don't bother using SR Auto. Problem solved.

In short, this camera gives you a lot of ways to take great pictures, but it can't do its best work until you help it out by setting it up right and learning how to understand what it's telling you. If you take the time to follow the above steps you'll be shooting great photos in one day. (And, to be fair, other reviewers have reported good results right out of the box without bothering to read the manual. Just saying...if you're getting bad results, don't blame the camera...unless it's obviously broken.)

Fujifilm FinePix AX200 12 MP Digital Camera with 5x Wide Angle Optical Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Black)
Review by Dean : Not bad for the price

I have a Nikon D90 with Nikon 18-200mm lens. But at times I don't want to carry all that weight for taking pics when quality really does not matter. I was thinking about Canon S90 (which is probably the best point & shoot camera), but the $400 price tag was a setback. Anyways I decided to give Fujifilm FinePix AX200 a try. the picture quality is pretty good along with ease of handling. it is little bigger than most P & S cameras out there because of the AA batteries. So when I'm out of town I down have to carry a charger all the time. AA batteries are easily available everywhere. that was one factor I considered buying this. you will not be disappointed. it takes pretty good pictures and video. what the heck, it only cost around 100 bucks and Fuji makes good stuff. If you don't want something expensive give this one a try as a side kick for quick pics.

Fujifilm FinePix AX200 12 MP Digital Camera with 5x Wide Angle Optical Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Black)
Review by Yarii : HD Movies and Terrific Pictures Without Breaking the Bank

Honestly, I purchased this camera solely for the HD recording feature. It's a bonus in that it takes pretty darn good pictures, too. I trust the Fuji name and I should have known this camera would deliver on both counts. My first digital camera was a Fuji A205, and even today it takes quality photos as good as it did almost 7 years ago.

Pictures are sharp and the colors are right on target. Response time after taking a picture without using the flash was just about 1 second or even slightly under a second, which is great considering this camera uses AA batteries; response time between pictures with the flash firing was around 2 seconds before ready to take another flash shot...a lot better than some other brands I've tried recently. (Specifically the Canon A495 and the Nikon L20, which I tried and eventually returned for a refund. This Fuji AX200 leaves these two cameras behind in the dust.)

A minor complaint I have with the AX200 is the shiny black plastic it is made of - it shows every fingerprint. It looks nice but I wish they would make these cameras with a matte black finish instead. The tripod mount is plastic also and is located in the center bottom, which is good for stability if using a mini-tripod.

The optical wide angle zoom on this camera is 5X (a majority of cameras at this price point have 3X). It uses readily-available AA batteries. The camera comes with 2 alkaline batteries; I was able to shoot around 125 pictures and some short movies with these batteries before they expired. I recommend buying rechargeable batteries; I got double the amount of shots with rechargeables. You also need an SD card, this camera has some internal memory, but not enough to do anything other than take a few pictures.

This camera is so easy to use, anyone from a young child to older people should have no trouble. I handed it off to my 5 year old nephew to use and even he could figure out how to take a picture. It's larger than an ultra-compact, and easier to hold onto. The measurements are 3.7" wide x 2.4" high x 1.1" thick. It's thicker on the end where the batteries and SD card are inserted.

You can take the camera out of the box and be taking pictures in no time flat. SR-Auto (the default) automatically senses the scene and adjusts itself accordingly: Portrait, Landscape, Night, Macro, Backlit Portrait, or Night Portrait.

There is no dial to change settings, everything is accessed thorough menu navigation. It's easy to select the right shooting mode as there is a full description on the screen as you scroll through the settings. For example: on the Portrait Scene, the description underneath says "Portrait with soft overall tone and beautiful skin tones".

In additional to having Face Detection, this camera has the following Scenes to choose from: Scene Recognition (SR Auto), Auto, P Program AE - where you can change ISO (100 to 3200), white balance and exposure. Natural - no flash - and flash - takes 2 pictures, 1 with flash, 1 without. Natural Light, Portrait, Baby Mode, Landscape, Panorama, Sport (I use this with pets that don't want to hold still). Night, Night with Tripod, Fireworks, Sunset, Snow, Beach, Party, Flower, and Text.

This camera has Picture Stabilization (somehow built into the camera's software), but it is NOT optical image stabilization.

Next, you have your movie modes - 3 to choose from - HD at 720p, and also 640 and 320 in the AVI format.

This is IMPORTANT: You can use the optical zoom while recording movies, however, sounds will not be recorded AT ALL during the ENTIRE time the lens is zoomed out......But if you leave the movie zoom setting on digital, not optical, you will record sound the entire time it is on digital zoom. **This is a major complaint of mine for this camera.** I did keep my rating at 5 stars, though, mainly because I won't be using zoom that often on my movies, and the digital zoom isn't as bad "quality-wise" as I thought it would be.

If you want to play the movies back on your TV, you will need to purchase an additional A/V cable (AV-C1) if you don't already own one. If you want to play an HD movie back on your HDTV, you will need to purchase an additional HDMI cable. There is also an optional Model HDP-L1 player available on Fujifilm's web site, which includes an HD card reader and a remote. Since I don't have an HDTV myself, I didn't purchase this so I can't comment on it.

The AX200 also comes with very basic Fuji MyFinepixViewer photo editing software. It's compatible with Windows 7, Vista, XP and Mac. This is one area where Fuji lags behind the rest; I wish they could come up with software as good as the Canon ZoomBrowser. The Finepix software was finally upgraded from the 2003 version with this camera, but it still doesn't impress me. Using XP requires a minimum 512 RAM and Vista requires a minimum of 1 GB RAM. Just download Picasa, it's better - and a free download.

Fujifilm FinePix AX200 12 MP Digital Camera with 5x Wide Angle Optical Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Black)
Review by E. Jaime "Self Icon" : It's great! It's a camera!

People keep complaining for some reason like if they're mad that it doesn't do more. What do you all want, for it to make you breakfast? It's a camera!

It does everything it says it does! I've heard a lot of people complain about the bending of the picture on the corners but i have not seen anything like it. I've had it for over a week but yet to see that. Also, about the noise it makes adjusting to take a picture in SR mode. Some people are just nitpickers!!! it's not overly loud or take forever to adjust at all. People just need to relax with their observations. They make it seem like it's a huge booming sound that's intolerable or something. I'ts not even loud. It's just adjusting anyway!! They tend to get too critical without realizing this: it's a under 100 dollar camera, be happy it takes pictures, if you don't want to wait 2 seconds for it to take a picture.....BUY SOMETHING ELSE. Go buy a 400 dollar camera. I bet you'll still find another inconvenience!