Digital Camera News

January 23, 2008

New Fujifilm J-Series Focuses on Affordability, Ease of Use

Jan. 24, 2008 – Fujifilm introduced a new series of digital cameras today targeted at beginners and users who want a full-featured camera that is easy to use at an affordable price. The new Fujifilm FinePix J50 and J10 both cost less than $180, but capture 8.2-megapixel images and have 5x zoom lenses. They will debut in March.

"We wanted to provide consumers with an affordable, easy to use digital camera that still offered a competitive feature set," said David Troy, senior product manager of consumer digital cameras at Fujifilm U.S.A. Inc. "The new J-series combines these advantages in a highly portable form factor making it easier than ever to ensure that you never miss a shot."

The Fujifilm FinePix J50 has a 5x optical zoom lens that puts it a notch above what most standard compact cameras offer at the price point. But it is not the only compact to offer a 5x zoom: Olympus just announced a 5x lens on its new $249 Stylus 840 and 7x lenses on two other models; the $299 Stylus 1010 and $349 Stylus 1020. Kodak also recently announced the $249 EasyShare Z1085 with its 5x lens and 3-inch LCD. The Fujifilm J50 comes with a 2.7-inch, 230,000-pixel LCD screen. The J50 will cost $179 and will be available in March.

The J10 has a standard 3x optical zoom lens and a 2.5-inch LCD screen with 153,000 pixels. The J10’s LCD not only has less resolution, but offers only 96 percent coverage, rather than 100 percent Fujifilm claim the J50 offers. The FinePix J10 is clearly meant to be the budget model with its $149 price tag, as opposed to the J50’s $179 retail price. The budget J10 has the edge when it comes to the Movie mode, though: it records 640 x 480 pixels at 30 fps, while the J50 records only 320 x 240 pixels at the same frame rate.

The Movie mode isn’t the only advantage of the J10. Its 3x lens is shorter, but has a wider f/2.8 aperture that lets in more light. The Fujifilm FinePix J50’s lens has a narrower f/3.2 aperture. The J50 also has a smaller ISO range from 100-800, as opposed to the J10’s ISO 64-1600 range.

Both J-series digital cameras have 15 Scene modes, including the Picture Stabilization mode included on previous FinePix digital cameras. The camera does not have a true image stabilization feature, but instead automatically chooses a quicker shutter speed and higher ISO to freeze action. Like last year’s FinePix models, the J50 and J10 are compatible with xD-Picture, SD, and SDHC media. The J-series cameras do not, however, have IrSimple technology, like similar cameras in the Z-series.

The Fujifilm FinePix J50 comes in a brushed silver chassis and the J10 comes in silver and matte black. Both cameras measure less than an inch thick and weigh less than five ounces. The cameras look sophisticated and simple, similar to Sony’s W-series models, with their flattened and brushed bodies.