Introduction

Review Links Overview Picky Details Design Operation Recommended Accessories Sample Pictures Specifications Conclusion

Universally known for great color and performance, Fuji has also carved out a niche for itself by consistently providing, good-quality consumer digicams at rock-bottom prices. The latest in Fuji's line of bargain-priced cameras is the FinePix A210, the 3-megapixel twin to the two-megapixel FinePix A205. The FinePix A210 carries on the value-leading tradition of Fuji digital cameras by offering a 3.2 megapixel CCD and 3x optical zoom lens at a price lower than those of many competing two megapixel models. As you'd expect, the FinePix A210 trades off a few features and capabilities to achieve its remarkably low cost, but the camera still takes good-looking pictures in daylight conditions, and is simple enough for even rank beginners to get started with. Read on for all the details, or check out my review of the FinePix A205 to see a two-megapixel Fuji digital camera with essentially the same feature set.

(If you've already read the A205's review, you may want to just skip to the conclusions section here, as the features and operation of the A210 are virtually identical to its lower-resolution sibling.)

The right side of the camera (as viewed from the rear) holds only the eyelet for the wrist strap. At the very bottom of the right panel, the edge of the memory card and battery compartment door is visible.

Mode Dial: Surrounding the Shutter button on the camera's top panel, this dial sets the camera's main operating mode. Choices are Record, Playback, and Movie.

Shutter Button: Located on the camera's top panel and encircled by the Mode dial, this button sets focus and exposure when halfway pressed, and fires the shutter when fully pressed.

Power Switch: To the left of the Shutter button, this sliding switch turns the camera on and off.

Zoom Rocker Button: This two-way rocker button is in the top right corner of the rear panel, and controls the optical and digital zoom. In any settings menu, this button navigates up and down through menu selections. In Playback mode, this button controls the Playback Zoom feature, which enlarges captured images as much as 13x.

Right and Left Arrow Keys: Flanking the Zoom rocker button in the top right corner of the rear panel, these arrow keys navigate through captured images in Playback mode, as well as through menu selections in any settings menu. When an image has been enlarged, these keys also move around within the view.

In Record mode, the left arrow accesses the Macro shooting mode, and the right arrow key cycles through the available flash modes.

Display Button: Directly above the LCD monitor, this button controls the LCD monitor display, and activates the framing grid. It also disables the LCD monitor, so you can save battery power by framing images with the optical viewfinder. In Playback mode, this button also controls the information overlay, as well as enables a nine-image index display mode.

Menu/OK Button: Next to the top right corner of the LCD monitor, this button pulls up the settings menu in Playback, Record, or Movie modes. It also serves as the "OK" button, to confirm any menu selections.

In Playback mode, when an image has been enlarged, pressing this button saves a cropped copy of the image.

Back Button: Beneath the Menu/OK button, this button backs out of camera menus without making changes.

Camera Modes and Menus

Still Image Record Mode: Marked with a red camera icon on the Mode dial, this mode allows the camera to capture still images. Exposure is automatically controlled, although a "Manual" option in the settings menu increases the menu selections to include Exposure Compensation and White Balance. Pressing the Menu button displays the following options:

Playback Mode: The traditional green playback symbol marks this mode on the Mode dial. Here, you can review captured images and movies, as well as manage files and set up images for printing. Pressing the Menu button displays the following options:

• Erase: Deletes the current frame, or all frames on the memory card.
• DPOF: Marks/unmarks frames for printing on DPOF devices, with an option to include a date and time overlay.
• Protect: Write-protects the displayed image, preventing it from being accidentally erased or manipulated (except via card formatting). Also removes protection, and offers options to protect or unprotect all images on the card.
• Set-Up: Displays the same settings as under the Record menu.
• Playback: Enables an automated slide show of all the captured images on the memory card, with options for transition styles.

Movie Mode: Noted by a red movie camera icon on the Mode dial, Movie mode records movies without sound. Pressing the Menu button lets you adjust the resolution setting (either 320 x 240 or 160 x 120 pixels), and provides access to the camera's main Setup menu.

In the Box
In the box are the following items:

• Fuji FinePix A210 digital camera.
• 16MB xD-Picture Card.
• Two single-use, AA-type alkaline batteries.
• Wrist strap.
• USB cable.
• Video cable.
• Cradle adapter.
• Software CD-ROM.
• Instruction manual and registration card.

• Larger capacity xD-Picture Card. (I recommend 32MB as a bare minimum, 64MB would be preferable.)
• Two sets NiMH rechargeable batteries and charger.
• Soft camera case.

Recommended Software: Rescue your images!
Just as important as an extra memory card is a tool to rescue your images when one of your cards fails at some point in the future. I get a lot of email from readers who've lost photos due to a corrupted memory card. Memory card corruption can happen with any card type and any camera manufacturer, nobody's immune. A surprising number of "lost" images can be recovered with an inexpensive, easy to use piece of software though. Given the amount of email I've gotten on the topic, I now include this paragraph in all my digicam reviews. The program you need is called PhotoRescue, by DataRescue SA. Read our review of it if you'd like, but download the program now, so you'll have it. It doesn't cost a penny until you need it, and even then it's only $29, with a money back guarantee. So download PhotoRescue for Windows or PhotoRescue for Mac while you're thinking of it. (While you're at it, download the PDF manual and quickstart guide as well.) Stash the file in a safe place and it'll be there when you need it. Trust me, needing this is not a matter of if, but when... PhotoRescue is about the best and easiest tool for recovering digital photos I've seen. (Disclosure: IR gets a small commission from sales of the product, but I'd highly recommend the program even if we didn't.) OK, now back to our regularly scheduled review...

User Reviews

• Fuji FinePix A210 user reviews on PriceGrabber.com
  
  
• Fuji FinePix A210 user reviews on PC PhotoREVIEW
  

Sample Pictures
See our sample pictures and detailed analysis here. The thumbnails below show a subset of our test images. Click on a thumbnail to see the full-size photo.

Outdoor	Indoor Flash	Indoor
House	Musicians	Macro
Davebox	Resolution	Viewfinder Accuracy

Test Results
In keeping with my standard test policy, the comments given here summarize only my key findings. For a full commentary on each of the test images, see the A210's "pictures" page.

As with all Imaging Resource product tests, I encourage you to let your own eyes be the judge of how well the camera performed. Explore the images on the pictures page, to see how A210's images compare to other cameras you may be considering.

Not sure which camera to buy? Let your eyes be the ultimate judge! Visit our Comparometer(tm) to compare images from the A210 with those from other cameras you may be considering. The proof is in the pictures, so let your own eyes decide which you like best!

• Color: Pretty good color, but a little trouble with incandescent lighting. The A210 delivered pretty good color throughout my testing, with accurate hue and good saturation levels in most instances. I typically chose the Auto white balance setting as the most accurate, though it often produced similar results to those of the Daylight option. Outdoors, the camera handled the harsh sunlight pretty well (albeit with high contrast, see below), producing good skin tones and an accurate rendition of the always-difficult blue flowers. Indoors, the camera had a little difficulty with incandescent lighting, leaving more of a color cast in the image than I'd have liked, with both the auto and incandescent white balance settings.
  
  
• Exposure: Accurate exposure, but high contrast limits highlight and shadow detail under harsh lighting. Exposure-wise, the A210 did a pretty good job overall. The high-key outdoor portrait needed only a small amount of positive exposure compensation, though I had to sacrifice highlight detail to get even reasonably bright midtones. Indoors, the camera performed well, needing only slight positive exposure compensation as well. The Davebox target looked pretty good, the camera differentiating subtle tonal differences quite well there. Under harsh sunlit conditions outside though, the camera's high native contrast caused it to lose both highlight and shadow detail.
  
  
• Resolution/Sharpness: Decent resolution for an entry-level camera, 1,000 lines of "strong detail." Less than average barrel distortion. The A210 turned in a good performance on the "laboratory" resolution test chart for an entry-level 3 megapixel camera. It started showing artifacts in the test patterns at resolutions as low as 600-650 lines per picture height, in both horizontal and vertical directions. I found "strong detail" out to at about 1,000 lines, and "extinction" of the target patterns occurred at about 1,100 lines.
  
  
• Image Noise: Moderate image noise, about average for an entry-level model. The A210 showed what I'd call "moderate" image noise in the shadow areas of its images. This is an acceptable level for an entry-level camera, particularly since image noise didn't extend into the midtones or highlights.
  
  
• Closeups: About average macro area, but great detail and resolution. The A210 performed pretty well in the macro category, capturing an average-sized minimum area of 3.6 x 2.7 inches (91 x 69 millimeters). Color balance was a little warm, but resolution was very high. The dollar bill, coins, and brooch all showed strong detail with good definition. The lower left corner of the frame was a little soft, but everything else is pretty sharp. The flash throttled down quite well for this shot, perhaps even a bit more so than I'd have wished. Overall, a decent macro performer with average coverage.
  
  
• Night Shots: Very limited low-light capabilities, plan on using the flash for night exposures. The A210 operates under automatic exposure control at all times, and has a very limited shutter speed range. Thus, the camera has limited low-light shooting capabilities. In my testing, the A210 produced a barely usable image at the one foot-candle (11 lux) light level. Color was good, but the image was really too dark to be acceptable.
  
  
• Optical Distortion: Better than average optical distortion. Optical distortion on the A210 is a little less than average at the wide-angle end, where I measured approximately 0.6 percent barrel distortion. The telephoto end fared much better, as I found only half a pixel of barrel distortion there (about 0.03 percent). Chromatic aberration is also low, showing only very faint coloration on either side of the target lines. (This distortion is visible as a very slight colored fringe around the objects at the edges of the field of view on the resolution target.)
  
  
• Viewfinder Accuracy: A very tight optical viewfinder, but a more accurate view in the LCD. The A210's optical viewfinder (EVF) is quite tight, showing only 76 percent frame accuracy at wide angle, and about 78 percent at telephoto. The LCD monitor proved more accurate, showing approximately 93 percent accuracy at wide angle, and about 90 percent at telephoto. Given that I like LCD monitors to be as close to 100 percent accuracy as possible, the A210's LCD monitor has a little room for improvement, and the optical viewfinder is much tighter than it should be.

• Battery Life: Surprisingly good battery life for a 2-cell camera. With a worst-case runtime of 2 hours and 40 minutes on a pair of 1600 mAh NiMH AA cells, the A210 shows better than average battery life. I still strongly recommend purchasing at least two sets of high-capacity NiMH batteries and a good-quality charger though. You can find test results of high-capacity NiMH AA cells on my Battery Shootout page, or see this article for a review of my favorite charger.