Fuji FinePix 6800 ZoomA new SuperCCD sensor gives Fuji's latest ultra compact true 3.3 megapixel resolution and great color.<<Camera Modes & Menus :(Previous) | (Next): Video, Power, Software>> Page 10:Image Storage & InterfaceReview First Posted: 4/8/2001 |
Image Storage and InterfaceThe 6800 Zoom stores images and movies to 3.3v SmartMedia memory cards, and a 16MB card comes with the camera. Larger capacity cards are available, in sizes as large as 128MB. The LED next to the optical viewfinder eyepiece flashes orange and green when the camera is accessing the memory card, and glows orange when recording to the card. The SmartMedia slot is on the left side of the camera, and the card inserts with the gold electrodes going in first, facing the front of the camera. To release the card, give it a quick press, which pops it up slightly, then remove it from the slot.
SmartMedia cards come with a set of write-protection stickers that, used one at a time, prevent the card from being erased or written to. Each sticker can only be used once, and must be clean to be effective. You can write-protect individual images, or all images on the card, through the 6800 Zoom's Playback menu. Write-protection prevents images from being altered in any way, except from card formatting, which erases the entire card. A trimming function allows you to crop images in Playback mode. The crop area is designated by enlarging the image with the Playback Zoom function, then pressing the Menu / OK button to crop and record the image.
The 6800 Zoom offers a variety of image size and JPEG quality settings. The largest is the interpolated 2,832 x 2,128 pixel size, which offers quality settings of Fine, Normal, and Basic. The remaining image sizes are 2,048 x 1,536, 1,280 x 960, and 640 x 480 pixels, with Fine and Normal quality settings available. Movie files are always recorded in the 320 x 240 pixel size, with no available quality settings.
Following are the number of images and approximate compression levels for a 16MB SmartMedia card:
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Resolution/Quality |
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| Highest Resolution 2832x2128 | Images | 6 | 13 |
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| Approx. Compression |
7:1 | 15:1 |
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| High Resolution 2048x1536 | Images |
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| Approx. Compression |
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| Standard Resolution 1280x960 | Images |
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| Approx. Compression |
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| Low Resolution 640x480 | Images |
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| Approx. Compression |
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The following shows the approximate amount of movie and audio recording time for a 16MB SmartMedia card:
| File Type |
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| 320 x 240 Movie |
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| Audio file |
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The 6800 Zoom comes with a USB cable, PC connector cradle, and a software CD
for downloading images to a computer. We confess to having had a bit of a hard
time with Fuji's driver software, weathering a long afternoon of miscellaneous
Windows problems when we tried to install it. In fairness to Fuji though, our
PC was long overdue for a general housecleaning, as it had USB drivers installed
for a card reader, and no fewer than three different manufacturer's digicams.
Once we got the software loaded though, it worked quite nicely. Placing the
FinePix 6800 Zoom into its cradle immediately begins charging the battery. Pressing
the power button at the bottom front of the cradle turns on the camera and automatically
launches Fuji's very handy EXIF viewer program. (Essentially a rudimentary thumbnail-organizer
for photo files.) When the viewer launches, it immediately opens to a view of
thumbnails of all the images currently on the camera's memory card. Very handy
for quickly checking and downloading your files! Data transfers to the host
PC are very fast, as we clocked the camera at 457 KBytes/second. This is a fair
bit faster than most USB-connected digicams we've tested.
One
of the first things any new digicam owner will need is a larger memory card
for their camera: The cards shipped with the units by the manufacturers should
really be considered only "starter" cards, you'll definitely want a higher capacity
card immediately. - Probably at least a 32 megabyte card for a 1.3 or 2 megapixel
camera, 64 megabytes or more for a 3, 4, or 5 megapixel one. (The nice thing
about memory cards is you'll be able to use whatever you buy now with your next
camera too, whenever you upgrade.) To help you shop for a good deal on memory
cards that fit the FinePix 6800, we've put together a little memory locater,
with links to our price-comparison engine: Just click on the "Memory Wizard"
button above to go to the FujiFilm memory finder, select your camera model ,
and click the shopping cart icon next to the card size you're interested in.
You'll see a list of matching entries from the price-comparison database. Pick
a vendor & order away! (Pretty cool, huh?)
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