Fujifilm Finepix A500 Review - Aesthetics: All That Glitters is not Metal
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The body is made of polycarbonate (no metal) but you could be fooled by the nice shiny exterior; it looks like real steel. The whole thing is lightweight plastic. The design is monotonous, however, and so far I can find it in only one color (silver). Everything is where it's supposed to be, but a lot of ports (video, USB and DC) are left uncovered and therefore exposed to imaginary and real horrors. This camera won't win prizes for its looks, but then neither will it be regarded as "ugly."
Ergonomics: Ease of Use
I never saw the box, so I never saw the manual. But lab mice can be trained to use the Finepix A500. It is truly a point and shoot camera. The only problem lab mice would have is with the multi-functional buttons. In short, the Finepix A500 is ready out of the box. You literally just pick it up, power it, point at your target and click away. The menus are easy too. There is nothing confusing about this device; it delivers when it comes to simplicity. The hardest part is figuring out the multi-functional toggle at the top right (and if you own the Finepix that should only be a problem you face once).
Image Quality
Okay, this part is tricky. The image quality of the A500 depends on lighting. At low lighting this camera struggles, even with the CCD. Outdoor shots during the day are neat, and fortunately I took a lot of those. Indoor shots show up the camera focusing and the light adjustment; it sucks at low light levels.
Expect purple edges in bright light as well as white outs. If you wear a white T- shirt on a white background and you use the flash, your shot is white all mixed together (can they ever fix that?). The view finder is unreliable and won't tell you the quality of the pictures you have. When flipping through pictures you will get fuzzy pictures, and until they're up on your PC or notebook you can't be sure exactly what you have taken.
In brief the images are pretty good in good lighting, and if you're patient you will take pretty great shots. Now let's take a brief look at the xD picture card before closing on this camera.
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