Customer Rating: 
Summary: An affordable pocket backup when you don't want to hawl DSLR around
Comment: Digital camera-wise, I started with a Fuji S304 seven years ago after a couple years with a DSL camera Canon 50E. In 2005 I moved ahead with a DSLR, Fuji S2 Pro, probably because of good exprience with the Fuji colors(espeically skin tone). Since then, a number of DSLRs obtained from ebay have came and went, including Canon D30, Rebel XT, Nikon D100, D1H, D50, D40, D80, D300...You know, the gear fever for most photogs.
My purchase of a Fuji F40fd is actually an upgrade from a F20 I got a year ago. I use them as a backup that always stay in my pocket, coming handy when I see an interesting scene in the streets, but not so big a deal to take out my DSLR in my backpack. But thank goodness, it's these "backup" little cams that helped me record most of the candit street shots in the everything-can-happen New York City.
You'll have a better idea what a Fuji F40fd performans if I compare it to other cameras I've used.
Warning: Don't compare it to any DSLR, the small CCD can never be on par with its big brothers. A F40's ISO 400 is only close to a Nikon D40's iso1600. Also, don't expect much from a lens small like the pocket cameras', the worst DSLR lens (including Sigma's or Tamron's) is much better than a point-and-shoot's.
Compared with its earlier version, F20, the F40 has advanced in everything but iso performance.
1. thinner body. Now it really feels like a pocket cam, as the F20 is still a little bit too thick.
2. Larger and better LCD. I don't want to talk about numbers, but the F40 has a larger LCD. And most importantly, the number of pixels is much more than the F20's, and the view angle is much wider. Result, no more low-definition picture like that on a F20, and you can chimp from all angles now.
3. Faster response in starting, focusing and reviewing pictures. You just feel it's a lighter and swifter camera.
4. At last, the cons. ISO performance is a full stop lower than F20. I tested them side by side with the same settings, and the F40 with more mega-pixels (which I hate, I don't need that many pixels crammed into such a small CCD) just showed more grains and noises. F40's iso 800 is close to F20's iso 1600. This is the biggest disppointment for me, because at first I was exited to see F40 be equipped with Auto ISO 800 and 1600 (F20 only has Auto iso limit on either 400 or 1600, missing the 800 step that I consider the best compromising spot between speed and picture quality)
Anyway, though F40 is not as good as F20 in ISO, it's still better than many cameras of other brands, including Canon and Nikon. My friends' Canon SD870 and SD1000 show worse noises on high iso.
Conclusion: good colors consistent of Fuji taste, relatively good iso, an affordable foolproof pocket camera for candit shots. But if you are serious with photography, try any entry-level DSLR of Canon, Nikon, Olympus or Sony, you'll see a difference wider than from heaven to earth.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Easy to use
Comment: I haven't had much time to use the new camera, but have found that it is easy to use.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very happy with my purchase
Comment: I would not consider myself a digital camera expert by any means, but I'm very happy with the Finepix F40fd. The numerous modes make it such that you can get a good shot in almost any environment. The simultaneous natural/flash mode is especially useful. As far as video is concerned, the sound quality in much better than I expected; it's not nearly as garbled as video I've seen taken from other digital cameras. The only sticking point is that the photo quality is merely sufficient. This camera won't get any shots that take your breath away, but for the price, the quality is about what I expected. Overall, I'm definitely satisfied with this purchase.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Point & Shoot Made Simple
Comment: I recently returned from an extended sightseeing trip to England, Scotland and Wales. I took over 450 pictures under many different lighting conditions like indoors, outdoors, cloudy, rainy or sunny and even through a window of a bus. When I got back home and downloaded them on my computer, that's when I really began to appreciate the rich and sharp colors under all these different shooting conditions. This camera has the features I wanted for a simple point & shoot camera with extra shooting settings when I needed them. The face detection (fd)feature on this camera produces outstanding skin color tones while producing vivid surrounding colors. The low light shooting feature on this camera will not disappoint you. You can count on in door pictures, under low lighting conditions, turning out with remarkable contrast not dark. I especially like the two picture setting where the camera will take a flash and non-flash picture. You can then review the results and pick the frame you like best. This eliminates taking a one time only picture, reviewing it and then wishing you had used a fill-in flash. The controls all on the back side. By turning a dial or simply pushing a button you will really appreciate your setting options right at your finger tips for that just right picture.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Probably the ONLY compact cameras with good ISO 400 shooting
Comment: There is one overriding fact: The Fuji F-series is the only compact camera series that you can use at anything over ISO 100 and expect good results. People don't realize that even ISO 200 on pretty much ANY other small camera is pretty bad. With the F40fd, ISO 400 looks quite decent and even 800 isn't too bad. This is EXTREMELY important and rare, and overshadows any other failings a camera may have - which in this case are few.
The F41fd is also quite a bargain. It is not an SLR, you are simply not going to get that kind of control and image quality in a small moderately priced camera right now. But it's about as close as you can get.
Also, at this point this lesser model may still be a better choice than the newer F51 and F100.
These newer cameras went up to a ridiculous 12 megapixels. This simply makes no sense on a camera and lens system this small and inexpensive. (My new SLR is only 10mp!) Much better to stay with a lower pixel count (larger pixel size) for better ISO performance. The F40fd hits a very good compromise with 8mp. Also, unlike the earlier F30 or F31, it takes SD cards rather than silly xD cards.
Now, don't be that tempted by the later models just because of image stabilization. I would rather just have good high ISO first and foremost. My SLR has built in IS, but guess what: people still move a little bit and get blurry, and IS is not going to help that. High ISO will allow a faster shutter speed that WILL help. So camera makers would be well advised to pour a lot more effort into high ISO performance rather than IS.
The screen is lovely, and the video mode is actually pretty usable. The battery, true, is a little lower capacity than previous F series, but it's still a big battery and much better than a lot of other compact cameras.
At this point, for me at least, I believe the F40fd is probably the best point and shoot you can buy, regardless of cost, simply because it's the best blend of resolution, high ISO performance, and good performance and features in a camera this size.
Summary: An affordable pocket backup when you don't want to hawl DSLR around
Comment: Digital camera-wise, I started with a Fuji S304 seven years ago after a couple years with a DSL camera Canon 50E. In 2005 I moved ahead with a DSLR, Fuji S2 Pro, probably because of good exprience with the Fuji colors(espeically skin tone). Since then, a number of DSLRs obtained from ebay have came and went, including Canon D30, Rebel XT, Nikon D100, D1H, D50, D40, D80, D300...You know, the gear fever for most photogs.
My purchase of a Fuji F40fd is actually an upgrade from a F20 I got a year ago. I use them as a backup that always stay in my pocket, coming handy when I see an interesting scene in the streets, but not so big a deal to take out my DSLR in my backpack. But thank goodness, it's these "backup" little cams that helped me record most of the candit street shots in the everything-can-happen New York City.
You'll have a better idea what a Fuji F40fd performans if I compare it to other cameras I've used.
Warning: Don't compare it to any DSLR, the small CCD can never be on par with its big brothers. A F40's ISO 400 is only close to a Nikon D40's iso1600. Also, don't expect much from a lens small like the pocket cameras', the worst DSLR lens (including Sigma's or Tamron's) is much better than a point-and-shoot's.
Compared with its earlier version, F20, the F40 has advanced in everything but iso performance.
1. thinner body. Now it really feels like a pocket cam, as the F20 is still a little bit too thick.
2. Larger and better LCD. I don't want to talk about numbers, but the F40 has a larger LCD. And most importantly, the number of pixels is much more than the F20's, and the view angle is much wider. Result, no more low-definition picture like that on a F20, and you can chimp from all angles now.
3. Faster response in starting, focusing and reviewing pictures. You just feel it's a lighter and swifter camera.
4. At last, the cons. ISO performance is a full stop lower than F20. I tested them side by side with the same settings, and the F40 with more mega-pixels (which I hate, I don't need that many pixels crammed into such a small CCD) just showed more grains and noises. F40's iso 800 is close to F20's iso 1600. This is the biggest disppointment for me, because at first I was exited to see F40 be equipped with Auto ISO 800 and 1600 (F20 only has Auto iso limit on either 400 or 1600, missing the 800 step that I consider the best compromising spot between speed and picture quality)
Anyway, though F40 is not as good as F20 in ISO, it's still better than many cameras of other brands, including Canon and Nikon. My friends' Canon SD870 and SD1000 show worse noises on high iso.
Conclusion: good colors consistent of Fuji taste, relatively good iso, an affordable foolproof pocket camera for candit shots. But if you are serious with photography, try any entry-level DSLR of Canon, Nikon, Olympus or Sony, you'll see a difference wider than from heaven to earth.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Easy to use
Comment: I haven't had much time to use the new camera, but have found that it is easy to use.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very happy with my purchase
Comment: I would not consider myself a digital camera expert by any means, but I'm very happy with the Finepix F40fd. The numerous modes make it such that you can get a good shot in almost any environment. The simultaneous natural/flash mode is especially useful. As far as video is concerned, the sound quality in much better than I expected; it's not nearly as garbled as video I've seen taken from other digital cameras. The only sticking point is that the photo quality is merely sufficient. This camera won't get any shots that take your breath away, but for the price, the quality is about what I expected. Overall, I'm definitely satisfied with this purchase.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Point & Shoot Made Simple
Comment: I recently returned from an extended sightseeing trip to England, Scotland and Wales. I took over 450 pictures under many different lighting conditions like indoors, outdoors, cloudy, rainy or sunny and even through a window of a bus. When I got back home and downloaded them on my computer, that's when I really began to appreciate the rich and sharp colors under all these different shooting conditions. This camera has the features I wanted for a simple point & shoot camera with extra shooting settings when I needed them. The face detection (fd)feature on this camera produces outstanding skin color tones while producing vivid surrounding colors. The low light shooting feature on this camera will not disappoint you. You can count on in door pictures, under low lighting conditions, turning out with remarkable contrast not dark. I especially like the two picture setting where the camera will take a flash and non-flash picture. You can then review the results and pick the frame you like best. This eliminates taking a one time only picture, reviewing it and then wishing you had used a fill-in flash. The controls all on the back side. By turning a dial or simply pushing a button you will really appreciate your setting options right at your finger tips for that just right picture.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Probably the ONLY compact cameras with good ISO 400 shooting
Comment: There is one overriding fact: The Fuji F-series is the only compact camera series that you can use at anything over ISO 100 and expect good results. People don't realize that even ISO 200 on pretty much ANY other small camera is pretty bad. With the F40fd, ISO 400 looks quite decent and even 800 isn't too bad. This is EXTREMELY important and rare, and overshadows any other failings a camera may have - which in this case are few.
The F41fd is also quite a bargain. It is not an SLR, you are simply not going to get that kind of control and image quality in a small moderately priced camera right now. But it's about as close as you can get.
Also, at this point this lesser model may still be a better choice than the newer F51 and F100.
These newer cameras went up to a ridiculous 12 megapixels. This simply makes no sense on a camera and lens system this small and inexpensive. (My new SLR is only 10mp!) Much better to stay with a lower pixel count (larger pixel size) for better ISO performance. The F40fd hits a very good compromise with 8mp. Also, unlike the earlier F30 or F31, it takes SD cards rather than silly xD cards.
Now, don't be that tempted by the later models just because of image stabilization. I would rather just have good high ISO first and foremost. My SLR has built in IS, but guess what: people still move a little bit and get blurry, and IS is not going to help that. High ISO will allow a faster shutter speed that WILL help. So camera makers would be well advised to pour a lot more effort into high ISO performance rather than IS.
The screen is lovely, and the video mode is actually pretty usable. The battery, true, is a little lower capacity than previous F series, but it's still a big battery and much better than a lot of other compact cameras.
At this point, for me at least, I believe the F40fd is probably the best point and shoot you can buy, regardless of cost, simply because it's the best blend of resolution, high ISO performance, and good performance and features in a camera this size.
Fujifilm Finepix F40fd 8.3MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Silver) Reviews: Page 4 of 14
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