Fujifilm FinePix 3800

WHAT'S HOT: The FinePix 3800 is loaded with fancy features: a 6X optical zoom, a 3.24-megapixel sensor and both an LCD screen and an electronic viewfinder (you switch between them by pressing a button on the rear). The camera fits nicely in the hand, with the zoom control sitting right under your thumb--so you can quickly zoom in and take a picture without having to move the camera. Accessing the menu requires two hands, but the on-screen menus are simple and none of the controls require much button pressing. The 3800's image quality was good in our tests, showing accurate colors and generally good contrast, though some of the outdoor test photos appeared a little overexposed.

WHAT'S NOT: You get only a minimal number of scene modes (night scene, sports, portrait, and landscape), but they do an adequate job of dealing with a variety of lighting situations. There is no way to instantly delete a picture you've just taken; if you decide you don't want to keep a picture, you have to go into play mode and delete it from there. And with the included 16MB XD-Picture Card capable of holding only 12 pictures at the highest resolution, you'll need to do some deleting on longer trips.

WHAT ELSE: Although the FinePix 3800 resembles a single-lens reflex camera that was shrunk in the wash, it's more of a point-and-shoot than an advanced model. The camera does offer a manual mode, but aside from that it gives you only an aperture-priority mode and exposure value compensation (no shutter or full manual control), which may frustrate some advanced users. Battery life in our tests was very good, easily enough to last for a long trip on a single set of four AA batteries.

The FinePix 3800 is one of the first cameras to use the new XD-Picture Card media. Vendors claim that these cards are faster and will support higher capacities than other types of memory card, but the biggest XD-Picture Card available at present is 128MB, and the cards are slightly more expensive than CompactFlash cards of the the same size: A 128MB CompactFlash card costs about $50, while an equal-capacity XD-Picture Card costs $65.

UPSHOT: With good battery life, strong image quality, and excellent handling, the FinePix 3800 is a solid buy for people looking for a good all-purpose camera.