Fujifilm FinePix S4000 Bridge Camera

Bought this camera few months back at $250 (while I was at US). Picture quality is average. If you compare this with similar featured ( expensive) nnCanon, Panasonic, Nikon cameras, you WON'T be satisfied with the picture quality.nI would say that it's picture quality (not resolution) is equivalent to my Canon Powershot A520 (4 MP) bought in the begining of 2006.nnPros: - n(1) Value for Money (no doubt...to me the Value for money ratio is 90%).n(2) Above average picture quality in bright sunny days and with low ISO settings (for higher ISO like 800 and above, you have to have a stable tripod).n(3) Zoom (can't deny...too good...only if you have very steady hands or use a tripod you can get above satisfactory picture quality at higher zooms) .n(4) Movie quality at outdoors is above average (but heavy in size/megabytes). You need at least a 4GB card (class 6 is better).n(5) Macro photography is very good in sunlight (and if you know the ISO & white balance concept you can tweak this one for more better quality...I did).n(6) Looks & Features.nnCons: - n(1) Photo Quality purely seems like Interpolated pixels (like painted) at 20X zoom and above.n(2) Doesn't have the clarity like similar priced Canon, Panasonic Lumix, etc. at higher zooms.n(3) Photo quality is so-so on cloudy days (haven't tested any night photography yet).n(4) Sound quality should have been little better.n(5) Panorama mode is not for casual/novoice people.n(6) Sports mode (fast continuous moving objects) need to have a tripod, else 50% of the picture will come blurry or out of focus. This problem is not nn there with my Canon A520.n(7) Location of the memory card.nnSuggestion: - Buy this camera only if you are on budget...you won't regret then. Please don't try to compare the picture quality with that of a Rs. 20000 nn(and above) cameras, that would be injustice. Use tripod & self-timer for high zoom (above 20x) photos, you will get much better results (although its nnnot possible to use tripods in every situation).nNeed a budgeted hi-fi DSLR like camera, go for this, else prefer Canon (SX), Nikon (P series), etc. nI have taken around 300 photos in diferent conditions & settings and I would conclude that only 80% were acceptable. And around 100 photos were of above nnaverage quality. nUnless you are skilled at using the manual modes, stick to Full Auto (not SR Auto) and flash for most indoor photos.nnThe looks & get up of this camera (especially at full optical zoom) is almost similar to a low-end DSLR, only this one is of a smaller size but not much nnlighter in weight.nnDo read the instructions carefully and do some R&D before you leap else you will get dissappointed with the quality.nIf you are a fan of Fuji and can spend more, get HS-10.nnIn simple words, this is better than a point & shoot and much less than a DSLR. And keep in mind the price.

I mainly bought this camera for bird photography and found good for zooming in bright sunlight....in dim sunlight a tripod is a must if u use zoom....also its is good too for landscape photography, where mainly landscape mode, night mode and sunset mode comes quite handy(in auto mode) and ya macro and super macro are real good too....nnSo, I would say that it is one of the best bridge camera in this price range....