-Hi!
I'm Josh Goldman, senior editor for CNET Reviews and this is a look at the Fujifilm FinePix F80EXR.
It's a very nice looking compact megazoom featuring a 27 mm-equivalent wide-angle lens and a 10x zoom, a 3-inch LCD on the back and it uses a 12-megapixel super CCD EXR sensor which is designed to improve dynamic range and light performance.
More on that last item in a bit, but first a quick tour of the camera.
On top, you have your power and shutter release and zoom ring and the rest of the controls are on the back.
Very easy enough to learn, but the menu system can be a little frustrating at first simply because there are 2 of them; one under the menu button, and one under here, under the F button.
Up here, you have a Mode dial that includes scene and automatic Shooting Mode as well as full Manual option and a 720p HD Movie Mode.
There is also a Micro-HDMI port on the side for connecting directly to an HD TV.
Back to shooting though, so what makes this camera special is its EXR modes.
Those consist of a High Resolution, Dynamic Range, and High ISO & Low Noise Priority modes as well as an Auto EXR mode.
Auto EXR is scene recognition that also recognizes which EXR priority option to use.
It's effective and reliable as long as you're OK with the reduced 6-megapixel resolution of the Dynamic Range and High ISO & Low Noise Priority modes.
That was a mouthful, but it continues to be one of the best put-it-there-and-leave-it-there auto modes I've tested.
However, while image quality is overall very good especially if you're not a pixel peeper and don't intend to do a lot of heavy cropping or enlarging.
The photo quality is still that of a compact megazoom point and shoot camera.
So while the sensor helps, it's not a miracle worker.
It's generally a nice package for its class and street price, though.
I'm Josh Goldman and that's the Fujifilm FinePix F80EXR.
