Fujifilm A820 Review

The Fujifilm FinePix A820 is based around an eight megapixel SuperCCD HR imager with a maximum resolution of 3,296 x 2,472 pixels. Fuji's SuperCCD HR sensors use an octagonal array of photodiodes that increases image resolution in the horizontal and vertical planes - where the maximum detail in pictures should be found. The A820's sensor is coupled to a Fujinon-branded 4x optical zoom lens with a 35mm equivalent focal length range of 39 - 156mm, a rather tight wide angle to a moderate telephoto. The FinePix A820 offers ISO sensitivity from 100 to 800 equivalent. As with other recent A-series models, the Fuji A820 eschews an optical viewfinder in favor of a 2.5", 115K pixel LCD display.

As with the past FinePix A800 model, the new Fuji FinePix A820 includes not just 10MB of built-in storage and an xD-Picture Card slot, but is also compatible with Secure Digital cards - a move we're sure will make the model far more attractive to users considering an upgrade from an existing SD-based camera. Other A820 features include 256 zone metering, 14 scene modes (Landscape, Sport, Night, Natural light, Beach, Snow, Fireworks, Sunset, Underwater, Flower, Party, Museum, Text, Manual), an AVI (Motion JPEG) movie mode with audio, a two or ten second self timer and a product bundle including Fuji's FinePix Viewer-S software. Power comes from two AA batteries (with alkaline disposables in the product bundle).

The Fuji FinePix A820 is priced at US$180 and ships from May 2007.