Product Reviews

Fujifilm is turning up the heat in the consumer digital camera market. So far, the approach has been to offer basic cameras at the lowest possible cost, but Fujifilm has come up with two products which hit significant price points without sacrificing valuable features.

The Fujifilm DX-8 and MX-500 look very similar and are only marginally different in size, but are aimed at very different buyers. Priced at under £200, the DX-8 rubs shoulders with the cheapest cameras around, but offers features found in products costing more than twice the price. Its features are almost identical to those of the more powerful MX-500 and it is operated in the same way, which is why it makes sense to review them together. That said, the MX-500 is intended as a price-conscious younger brother to Fujifilm's excellent MX-700, costing less than £450 in the shops.

The essential difference between these two cameras is image quality, as determined by the lens, CCD density and compression ratios built into each. For those who have so far been put off by the poor-quality images captured by low-end digital cameras, the MX-500 includes a genuine 1.5 megapixel CCD array behind a Fujinon 7.6mm lens, together capable of capturing a picture at a resolution of 1280 x 1024 pixels with almost ridiculous ease - you never have to wait more than five or six seconds for each shot to compress into flash memory and clear the camera for the next shot. The MX-500 lets you choose between three levels of automatic compression: Fine (1/4), Normal (1/8) and Basic (1/16). The compression format is Exif-JPEG, so the greater the compression ratio, the more 'lossy' the results and the less colour detail saved.

Compare this with the DX-8, which has a smaller Fujinon 4.0mm lens and can capture VGA resolution only: 640 x 480 pixels. Using the same JPEG compression techniques, you can choose between Fine (1/8) and Normal (1/11) ratios. The result is a camera which snaps far less detailed pictures, although in no way out of line with competitive entry-level offerings. Images captured on the MX-500 in its optional 640 x 480 mode at the highest level of compression were undoubtedly superior to those taken with the DX-8 even in Fine mode.

Otherwise, the physical design and features in each camera are closely aligned. Both are fitted with a 1.8in colour LCD screen on the back which can be used for lining up shots accurately before pressing the shutter button, as well as playing back pictures already taken. These LCD screens can be a serious drain on battery power, so the cameras include an optical viewfinder at the top corner, fractionally above the lens, letting you snap away with the LCD screen switched off until you need it. The viewfinder and lens are covered by an integral plastic slide-in cover,

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which is a simple but very welcome idea.

Both products run on four AA batteries at a time, which lasted much longer than the usual couple of hours we have come to expect. To save batteries while using the camera at your desk, such as when downloading images, you can power either camera from a 5V AC mains adaptor. Fujifilm recommends you use the company's own adaptor, but we had no problems using a multi-voltage universal adaptor.

Both cameras come with separate Mac and PC serial cables for downloading images. Setting up the serial connection is easy as long as you use your modem port; trying to get it to work with your printer port is a lot more hassle, but is possible just the same. On-screen image thumbnails are generated acceptably fast from both cameras, and the DX-8's smaller pictures are quick enough to download. However, high-resolution images captured at Fine compression on the MX-500 take a long time to download across the serial link; typically a minute or two per picture.

All the main camera controls are accessed from a thumbwheel on the back of the cameras in conjunction with a four-arrow directional button and a selection button marked 'EXE' which might have been better labelled with a friendlier 'OK'. Pressing a separate Display button toggles the LCD screen on and off, and between showing a single picture or nine frames at a time. You can alter the brightness of the LCD screen to suit viewing conditions and possibly save battery power by holding down the Display button and pressing the directional button left or right.

An initial Setup mode selected from the thumbwheel lets you determine the camera's image quality and sharpness, as well as items such as the date/time stamp, button beeps and so on. Further turns of the thumbwheel let you take pictures with automatic or manual settings, play back pictures you have taken on the LCD screen, selectively delete pictures you don't want, lock images you do not want deleted by mistake, and prepare the camera for a 10-second timer delay.

Most unusually, the two cameras offer a generous selection of light and colour controls in manual mode. You can, for example, correct the white balance to five alternative settings: outdoor, shade, fluorescent 1 (blue), fluorescent 2 (red) and incandescent. The digital camera equivalent of exposure can be set at nine levels from -0.9EV to +1.5EV in roughly 0.3EV steps. Both cameras have a built-in flash with optional red-eye reduction mode and which can also be adjusted in power between five levels from -0.6EV to +0.6EV.

One unique feature on the MX-500 is a digital X2 facility, which impersonates the effect of doubling the apparent focal length to 70mm, although the results tend to be rather coarse. Ironically, the cheaper DX-8 offers even more unique features, such as a continuous multi-recording mode which captures four or 16 consecutive shots with one press of the shutter at four frames per second. This camera offers a neat line in special image filters, too, so you can apply sepia, gold, concave, and other effects to any image and preview it on the LCD screen; pressing the EXE button creates a new image with the effect applied, leaving the original untouched.

What the DX-8 lacks in image quality, it certainly makes up for in other ways. As for the MX-500, you won't find a better product for the same price.