Fujifilm E550 Easy Camera Review

Although not the slimmest camera on the market, we found the Fujifilm FinePix E550 attractive because of its strong color and resolution test scores. Coupled with a high quality video mode with audio, this makes it a strong buy in the sub-$300 camera market. Sweetening the deal is an impressive 1/1.7-inch, 6 MP CCD, 2-inch LCD screen, 4x optical zoom lens, and its wide angle and telephoto conversion lens compatibility. And for a budget point-and-shoot, the E550 has a lot of manual controls.

The E550’s colors showed subtle variation and were generally more accurate rather than over-saturated, a rarity in point-and-shoots. The reds were a touch intense, but that’s expected. The E550 recorded 80 percent of its advertised pixel count, which is actually quite good and received our “very good” designation for resolution. Unfortunately the camera did not do so well in noise testing when the ISO was automatically set, but switching it to manual offered a dramatic improvement. This is one manual control that point-and-shoot E550 users would benefit from learning. The Fuji E550’s good performance continues with its surprising overall speed, with a start-up to first shot time of 1.52 seconds, and only 1.39 seconds elapsing between shots. These are exceptional times considering the camera’s price point. The shutter to shot time is also slight at a mere 0.28 seconds.

The Fujifilm FinePix E550 is not as sleek as they come. Though it can’t be dropped into a shirt pocket, it’s still a fairly manageable 7.1 oz, and the camera’s feel is strong and durable, save for the poorly designed pop-up flash. The lens barrel also obstructs the view from the viewfinder when fully extended, and the crevices around the viewfinder are dirt magnets. However, most of the controls are in-menu, exposing few other parts to the elements. With a favorable ratio of 154,000 pixels on its 2.0-inch non-solarizing LCD, images may appear crisper than on other models with fewer pixels across larger screens. This is good, since the partially blocked viewfinder makes the LCD your only real viewing option anyway.

Aside from quality images, the manual controls are what set this model apart. There are three metering and autofocus modes and a sort-of manual focus mode—it’s awkward to adjust, but it’s there. Aperture offerings are also in the high average range, from f/2.8 to f/8.0, though they are a touch difficult to manipulate since they’re accessed through two menus. The white balance offers auto, presets and a custom option, and the ISO range is a relatively wide 80-800. Even shutter speed is manually controllable, from 3 to 1/1000th of a second. It’s still too slow for very dark scenes, and the exposure compensation range is average, but if these are the only drawbacks, then sign me up. But the E550 is a bit too manually oriented for its audience; some point-and-shooters will think the offered shooting preset options number too few, and be disappointed by the limited amount of picture effects settings, especially if they are used to options like those available on the Canon SD400.

The E550’s six image resolution settings go from 640 x 480 in Economy compression to 4048 x 3040 in Fine mode. Movie modes run at a smooth 30 fps in resolutions of either 640 x 480 or 320 x 240, with simultaneous audio recording. The Fujifilm FinePix E550 allows in-camera enlarging and trimming, with trimmed images saved as a new file, before images are exported to a computer or Direct Print compatible printer.

The Fujifilm FinePix E550 is ultimately a camera for users who are more comfortable with point-and-shoot models, but who want some expanded manual control options without shelling out excessive cash. It may not have presets for Foliage or Whiteboard, and it may lack a Fish-eye lens effect, but if you want and know the value of an ISO 800 setting or an aperture that opens to f/2.8, go for it.  

Fujifilm FinePix E550 Compared to the...