Fujifilm FinePix E900

Viewfinder (3.5)
Though we assume that using it could save battery power on the FinePix E900, the tiny viewfinder did not appeal to us. The very deeply set eyepiece is also relatively finicky about how you line up your eye: if the user gets off to one side, the view winks out. It's not easy to line up a shot with the viewfinder, which shows much less than the full view of the CCD.

LCD Screen (6.25)
The FinePix E900's LCD is a disappointment. At 2 inches, it only offers 115,000 pixels of resolution. However, the screen does remain viewable over a fairly wide angle of view side-to-side, but not up and down. Its color is also very good, as is its contrast.

Given that the E900 is has 9-megapixel sensor, and delivers very high resolution, it really could benefit from a better display – this one isn't good enough to show the quality of the camera's images.

Flash (6.25)
The FinePix E900's flash shares many of the annoyances of most compact camera flashes: It's very small, so its light is harsh and unflattering. It’s close to the lens, making it more likely to produce "red-eye." It's also off-center, so it casts shadows to the side of the subjects.

Other flash problems we found are specific to the FinePix E900. Its pop-up mechanism is wobbly and more delicate than some others. Fuji reports that it is powerful enough to light as far as 12 feet for wide-angle shots, but only 6 feet for telephoto. Our use confirms those figures in an office setting. Outdoors or with very high ceilings, however, it might not reach that far.

Lens (6.75)
The 4x zoom on the FinePix E900 runs from 7.2 to 28.8 mm, giving it a 35mm equivalent of 32 to 128 mm. Its maximum aperture runs from f/ 2.8 to 5.6, from wide to telephoto. In casual shooting around the office, we took some images that show minor color fringing, and plenty of barrel distortion at wide angle. The very dark maximum aperture of f/5.6 at 28.8 mm will limit the camera's low-light capability when it comes to telephoto shots. The Natural Light mode will be most useful for wide-angle views, where the zoom has a reasonable maximum aperture.