FUJIFILM JX500 Point & Shoot Camera  (Blue)

The FinePix JX500 from Fujifilm is a stylish, compact and user-friendly point and shoot digital camera with an array of versatile shooting features. This, along with a horde of useful functions, makes this FinePix camera an ideal choice for a mid-level photographer looking for a higher degree of experimental freedom while still sticking to a relatively affordable price bracket.

Featuring a highly capable 26 mm wide-angle Fujinon lens, this Fujifilm camera has a focal length of 4.6 mm - 23 mm or a 35 mm equivalent of 26 mm - 130 mm. This high quality Fujinon lens with its 5x optical zoom capability along with an additional 6.7x of digital zoom provides picture-perfect results across the entire zoom range, from wide-angle compositions to dramatic close-up shots.

The advent of a powerful CCD image sensor with primary colour filter gives the JX500 an optical sensor resolution of 14 megapixels. Sporting very sleek dimensions and a much reduced weight of 113 g which includes the battery and memory card, this FinePix camera is extremely easy to carry along with you everywhere you go. The JX500 features a 2.7 inch TFT Colour LCD screen with a 230,000 dot image display resolution, which also doubles as the camera’s live viewfinder while in shooting mode.

Battery and Storage

Powered by an NP-45A rechargeable lithium-ion battery, this camera is capable of capturing up to 170 shots on a single full charge. The images can be captured with a maximum resolution of 4288 x 3216 and saved in the JPEG (Exif ver 2.3) file format. The JX500 also has the ability to record HD videos at 1280 x 720 resolution at 30 fps along with monaural sound which is saved in the AVI (Motion JPEG) format.

The memory device on this JX500 can be accessed through a highly versatile memory card slot which is compatible with SD, SDHC and SDXC memory cards. These saved media files can be easily transferred to a PC or a laptop via the camera’s high-speed USB 2.0 digital interface. The availability of a composite AV out with user selectable NTSC or PAL signals allows you to view the captured images and videos on a standard definition television.

Performance

The aperture control lets you adjust the amount of light that passes through the lens of the camera, which on this Fujifilm has a range of f/3.5 - f/6.3. The JX500’s impressive TTL contrast autofocus system has a normal range from 50 cm (Wide) and 90 cm (Tele) to infinity along with a macro range of 10 cm - 80 cm (Wide) and 80 cm - 1.3 m (Tele). This advanced autofocus function locks onto the subject while the shutter button is held down half way. This keeps fast moving subjects in the frame and in focus, even at high zoom levels helping you capture dynamic close-up shots.

The light sensitivity or the ISO speed on this camera ranges from ISO 100 to a high ISO 3200. This when clubbed with the available shutter speed of 1/1400 sec to 8 sec along with a built-in flash unit with an operational range of 50 cm - 4.5 m (Wide) and 90 cm - 2.5 m (Tele) gives you great image capture capability for low light conditions or even for fast moving objects.

Features

With an extensive selection of pre-programmed shooting modes, this FinePix digital camera ensures high quality images in a variety of conditions, eliminating the need to constantly change the camera settings in order to get optimum results. The available preset white balancing helps to optimize the settings according to the available lighting conditions under various shooting modes.

The presence of Face Detection and Red Eye Reduction technology detects human faces in the picture frame and automatically optimizes the settings to maximize their clarity. The camera’s Digital Image Stabilization technology ensures that all the captured images and videos appear sharp and blur-free.

The self-timer on this point and shoot camera sets off the shutter after a 2 to 10 seconds delay after the capture button is released. The JX500’s continuous mode lets you shoot at 1.1 fps so you can effortlessly capture fast moving or continuously changing or evolving situations without missing out on much of the action. The inclusion of the PictBridge function lets you connect the camera directly to a printer without a PC, enabling instant photo printing.