Fujifilm FinePix A350

There is little to say about the FinePix A350 because it really has little to offer. It is a cheap 5 megapixel model, but it offers nothing to distinguish itself from its competitors.

It is advertised as a sturdily-built camera, yet we weren't particularly impressed with the construction. It felt heavy, which gives the impression of solidness, but the plastic body itself felt quite flimsy. Some of the buttons are badly positioned and felt stiff and unresponsive. We also had a lot of problems opening the battery case, which proved to be very irritating. Overall, the camera's build left a lot to be desired.

The feature set was also very weak. The camera offers a total of four shooting modes, which pale in comparison to the 15+ offered by other models. The manual control options are limited to the very basics: exposure and white balance. There are no advanced features such as automatic exposure bracketing or continuous shot functions; in fact, there is no function wheel at all.

The picture quality of the A350 is probably its best feature, but even that comes up lacking. The images look reasonable, but have a grainy texture and feel a little flat. They also suffer noticeable blurring around the edges. The lag between taking shots during our testing was roughly 3 seconds, which is longer than average.

It is powered by two AA batteries. This is handy for long trips away from civilisation (you can purchase multiple sets of batteries), but they are inferior to lithium ion batteries for recharging.