Digital Home Thoughts: DigitalTrends Reviews Fujifilm FinePix F50fd

"It’s pretty startling how much camera you can get for less than 250 beans this winter. The F50fd is a good example with 12-megapixel resolution, mechanical and digital image stabilization, a larger-than-normal LCD screen and the latest version of Face Detection (2.0 to be exact). Let’s put this is a little perspective, shall we? It was just six years ago Sony broke the $1,000 USD barrier with a 5-megapixel camera (DSC-F707). Since digital cameras age in dog years, the industry has completely changed since then and 5MP is entry level—if you can even find one. For the record, Canon still leads the megapixel parade with the 21.1MP EOS 1Ds Mark III for eight grand so 12-megapixels is really no big deal with affordable models (sub $300 USD) readily available including the Kodak V1253 and many others along with this FinePix. And you know prices of 12MP models will continue to slide when 14-megapixel point-and-shoot editions arrive in 2008. Progress marches on! But is it really progress? That’s exactly what we wanted to find out."

A 12MP 3x image stabilized digicam with advanced Face Detection for under $250 - wow. I can personally vouch for the Fujifilm Finepix series in case that is the barrier, because I know people tend to want to buy the more established brands like Canon, Nikon and Casio when looking at point-and-shoots. I have used FujiFilm cameras a fair bit now and am quite satisfied. The main negative when it comes to this camera is apparently the high noise at high ISO settings which means more grainy pictures when it comes to taking photos in relatively low light.