Summary: I hate this camera it is a piece that i have had so many difficulties with. I have a modeling agency which has lost money do to the quality of this crappy camera.
DO NOT BUY IT PLEASE FOR ME
Strengths: NONE
Weaknesses: TONS
Similar Products Used: Sony, Nikon, and other Fuji FinPix which gave me less trouble
Summary: Being a long user of traditional SLR, I found 4900z an ideal subsitution of SLR. It is compact yet the 35-210mm f/2.8 lens is a dream of SLR user. It may be a little bulky (but not heavy!) if you compare it to something like Canon A20. But don't forget I am comparing it to a traditional SLR. Even my 35-70mm f/2.8 lens is heavier than 4900z. I take 4900z in my last 2-week trip to Japan. It is real enjoy as I don't need to take a 5 kg pack of SLR.
Good news:
1. The lens is really great. It does not show any defects except a little barrel at wide side. Just like most other DC, it need converter to turn it to wide angle (I do not consider 35mm as a wide angle). The 28mm converter has excellent image but it is quite bulky. Personally non-stablized 200mm is not a big due as stablized lens is never a norm for traditional SLR.
2. Fast speed. It starts fast and the shutter lap is the shortest among all DC I've ever seen.
3. It focuses fast and accurately if light is sufficient. I have a Kodak DC290 before. Its focusing is horrible.
4. The control is versatile. Manual focus, white balance control, aperture priority, shutter priority, auto....., everthing you can image. The only complain from me is a lack of B setting in shutter speed.
5. Standard hot shoe support. It makes back light shooting convenience as a powerful flash is needed.
6. Good colour and well saturation.
7. The battery is reliable. It seldom runs out suddenly and let the camera hanged. My DC290 always hangs when the battery is almost exhausted.
Then the bad news:
1. Its battery life is poor. Certainly you need one or two spare batteries if you want to shut for whole day. However the battery is really expensive. The charging time is long and certainly unacceptable if you want to take the camera for a trip. The only solution is its fast (1-hr) charger. Fortunately, this charger is excellant. It is incredible compact and support world-wide voltage. Of course it is expensive once again.
2. Focusing in low light is also poor.
3. Compare to the 3.3M camera of similar price, its 2.4M Super CCD is inferior. Now Minolta is releasing their 5M model. May be it is more reasonable to choose 6900z if you want to buy a new DC. Compare to my friend's Olympus 3030, the picture is soft and details is slightly inferior if you magnify the picture on screen. However if you print out the photo (I am using Epson 870), 6900z seems to give a better picture.
4900z is already very sufficient if you want to print up to 6"x4". An increase in resolution does not help for this size.
4. It uses smartmedia and only 64M SM is supported.
5. Quite expensive (at the time I bought it)
Strengths: Full manual control, light, fast, excellant lens
Weaknesses: Poor battery life, poor low light focusing, relatively inferior in resolution comparing to 3-5M pixels DC
Summary: I owned the Sony Cybershot dscf505v which turned out to be the wrong camera for me. I'm very impressed with the 4900's picture quality, range of features, built-in flash, zoom, manual settings and more. Indoor pictures are less predictable than outdoor (maybe I need an external flash).
CompUSA is discontinuing this model, so they sold me their last one for $499. I'm not sure why the model is being discontinued other than the fact that the next generation model has just been released.
I should mention that I also owned an Olympus C-2000 that broke down twice after the warranty ended. Their service center charged me about $500 for the two repairs! That camara takes a great picture, but offers little in the way of features and flexibility.
Summary: I use digital cameras for several reasons, but lately I became dissatisfied with several 'lesser' cameras such as the Sony Mavica series. My main gripe was the resolution was poor and it lacked features common to typical 35mm SLR's. After allot of studying, testing and comparing, I chose the Fuji 4900z. It wasn't the best priced in this category, but after seeing it perform and hearing about decent customer service, I bought one. The camera is actually quite small, which makes it easy to handle, except that also means the controls are small and at times close together. It does have allot of great features, but I've found that the fully auto mode takes super pix by itself. The built-in flash works very well in all conditions, and LCD is easy to see in varying light conditions. I thought the view finder could have been a little cripser, but that is minor. The included software is excellent and easy to use. By all means, shop around. List is $1k. I found it on the net for $729 and that was awhile ago. I ended up having my local Staples store price match so I could buy an extended warranty.
Strengths: Light weight, brilliant pictures, excellent in full auto mode, overall very pleased.
Weaknesses: small package makes buttons small and close together. It's really not a big deal, you just need to watch what you press.
Summary: Great Features, all the features of an SLR plus 1/2000 shutter speed, night photos are excellent, resolution with the super CCD is little better than 2048... I'm hopefull for the 6800. iso settings up to 800, better than the nikon 990 photos. This camera is great for the beginner learning to become a photographer.
Strengths: SLR features
Super CCD gives best pictures in the 2-3 megpixel class
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