This camera looks and works great, and for a long time, I had no issues with it whatsoever. The pictures were sharp, and of decent high resolution. Until I took this camera with me to Las Vegas, to take some night pictures. It worked fine when taking close-up night shots with a flash, but when taking long distance pictures, it became practically useless. First, distant images with flash enabled appear dark and blurry. If you disable the flash, images come out nice and colorful. Except they look like someone with Parkinson's disease was holding the camera - the lights are smeared everywhere - even if you stand still as a statue. Now, I know what you're thinking - "just decrease exposure time", right? I'd love to do that, if that was an available option.
Of the 200 pictures I took, only 2 were useable (and even then, blurry)

I advise anyone to avoid purchasing this camera! I will say that it worked just fine for the first 8 months, and then I experienced a major flaw that seems to have happened several times to other owners ('zoom error'). The camera lens remains retracted and the camera will no longer function. I was able to somehow get it to work again (after periods of turning on and off, removing batteries and replacing them....etc...), but that was aggravating and I no longer had a reliable camera. It now does not work at all no matter what I try.

After reading reviews from other disappointed owners, I am not even going to check into repairing it and I will never buy a fujifilm camera again.

I've had this camera for a couple of years, and up until now have been pleased. The last time that I powered it up, the lense housing extended at a crooked angle, and I got a "zoom error" message. The camera is now inoperable. It seems many others on the web have experienced this as well. I contacted the nearest Fuji authorized repair center and was quoted $120 to fix the camera. I might as well buy a new one for that money (not a Fuji though).

I bought this camera after much research and after purchasing(and returning) a few other cameras. This camera takes very good pictures and is very easy to use. It comes with a detailed and easy to understand instruction manual. I would recommend this camera to anyone, especially for first time digital camera buyers. The only bad thing about it is it only came with a 16 MB smart media card, so if you take tons of pics you might need a larger card. I would also recommend rechargeable batteries!!

For the money this camera is an excellent value. My first digital was a FujiFilm FinePix A201, with only a 2.5 digital zoom and 2 mp, great for starters but I really didn't like any of the pictures taken with it. I guess the magic is in the zoom, because the 2800 takes crystal clear, super sharp pics that I thought were only possible with either a 35 mm or a ridiculously-overpriced camera with 3 times the megapixels. I like the 35 mm-style casing, it makes it look like a much more expensive camera, and of course FujiFilm's very simple to use menus. The interface with my computer is quick and painless and I had a beautiful shot, from shutter to printed copy, in less than 5 minutes. My only complaint so far has been the delayed shutter speed, not very good for taking pics of animals that don't stay still long, but I can live with this. Others complain about the viewfinder being too dim indoors, and this is also true, but like another review pointed out, the film is cheap while you experiment.

For beginners who want professional-looking prints, this is the camera to use.

Camera worked beautifully until somehow a fatal zoom error occurred. We can't get the camera to turn on again. Will not buy Fuji again!

When the camera worked, it was quite good. But the first time its lens was not able to retract, I was able to get it fixed under my credit card's extended warranty. Seven months later it happened again and it was out of warranty. And the repair shop was not able to find parts for it. I think Fuijifilm needs to issue a recall and refund. I am doubtful whether I should buy another Fuji again.

i love this camera it is awsome

I bought my 2800 for Xmas 2002, and it worked great until I dropped it with the lens extended a few days ago. I am writing this as a sort of eulogy, to rebut some of the scathing reviews I just read. I never, ever, experienced a fatal zoom error. maybe I was just lucky. Mine was not really babied, except that I took pains to keep from getting dirt in it. If it was rolling around in my shoulder bag I usually put it in a ziploc bag.

I've been a photo nut all my life, and found this cam did really well in low light, and took lots of night pictures. At some point with an almost totally dark frame, the autofocus would fail, but this was usually when I was really experimenting. One of the great things about it is that the flash STAYS off once you turn it off, which is the way I used it 99% of the time. Battery life without the flash is phenomenal.
Note to IMPITBOSS:
If you had looked in the menus, you'd have found you CAN tweak the exposure. Like any automatic camera, in low light, the exposure time (CCD integration time) increases and you have to find a way to hold it STILL. Use a tripod, brace on fencepost, hold breath, imagine you're a sniper, etc. No point-and-shoot is likely be a great night cam.

This was my first digital cam and I'm sold. I bought it partly because it had a longer opitcal zoom, but found I rarely used it. What I really missed was the lack of a really wide angle lens. While it worked great,I also wished I could turn off the autofocus and do it manually, partly because I was used to doing that myself and because of the nearly two second delay it caused in the actual capture of the picture. This was definitely NOT a great live action cam.

To get these features, I just bought a Fuji S9000. Manual focus, manual overrides, cable release, shoe for real flash. Zoom equivalent to 28-300mm on my old 35mm. YES! Hasn't arrived yet, hope they haven't screwed up a good thing. The 2800 is now well and truly broken, but that's not it's fault. It will now serve as an expensive smart card reader.

I have been using this camera putchased from Amazon since early 2003. So far it has not give me any trouble, has been serving me tirelessly. I have taken a few thousand pictures by it, dropped it many times, but the quality has not changed at all, in spite of the fact that I dont take much care of it!

A great investment indeed!

Product recieved non functional with a broken software CD, missing memory card. No response by the marketplace seller. Amazon was outstanding in responding to the problem regardless of sellers poor performance.

Do not buy. Camera never worked shipped with missing and broken parts- vendor is MIA without response. Amazon gets 5 stars for their rapid response and credit card warantee.

Lens cannot retract, October 7, 2005

I have been an owner of this camera since 2003. I probably have taken several thousand images and would view the quality quite good. However, I too now experience the same problem as listed by a couple other reviewers that the zoom lens now fails to retract and as a result the camera is now inoperable. I contacted Fuji's customer service and basically they say they have no real record of this being a design flaw. You need to send it to them to get a repair estimate ranging from $30 to $100. They only warrantee the repair for 3 months. Since I can buy a new 2800 for $100, it doesn't seem worth it.

this is a very very good camera. it's great zoom is very very useful. Voice commenting is also a great feature. Good quality pictures and movies also make this camera great. I will soon get a link and i think the webcam function will great. There is only four problems.
1. In low light the screens are black, in general you can guess but it still is annoying
2. There is no mode for capturing action, which makes it blurry
3. Similar to problem two, the camera has quite a delay before a picture is taken.
4. This problem hasn't happened to my camera but it has happened to others, zoom error. It makes me kind of nervous it will happen to mine.
In general if you want a cheap camera with good picures, good zoom, and some cool functions this is for you. But if you want to take a lot of action pictures or night pictures check out another camera.

I have had the infamous Zoom Error. This is a major flaw and my camera does not work anymore.

Do not think I will buy another fuji for this reason unless the customer service really helps me out. I doubt that will happen based on the other posts.

I picked out this camera quite awhile ago to be my christmas present from my parents. From the get go I disliked the way it handled. It works well, as any camera can with lots of light on still objects. But that is no feat because white balance and lag time are inconsequential with something that has all day. This camera sucked for any type of candid shooting. The time between pressing the button and getting a picture was long enough to ensure that any desired facial expression or pose was either completely altered or not even in the frame. Also, in low levels of light, taking a photo was mere guesswork because the screen would be completely black. For a vast majority of the shots the flash had to be enabled because otherwise the photos would be extremely blurry. The problem however, is that flash makes harsh unnatural ugly color composition photos. Basically I hated it. I bought myself an Olympus Stylus 710 recently and love it dearly. That is a camera that can preform in a variety of differnt situations and lights.

This is indeed a wonderful camera. I have had mine now 3 years and it is still going strong. I have even decided to stay in the Fuji Line and get the S9100 which comes out this month. So when I have the money, I will be one click away form another great camera. My Dad has a Nikon and it is a 4MP and the Fuji takes way better pictures, quality and all. The only down fall on the camera, is taking photos in low light situations, it is difficult to see what you want to capture, but when you snap and look at it, wow, it is a whole new world, the photo is clear, crisp and so bright. I have taken wedding photos and get some great close up shots with the zoom, so much so the bride and groom are usually amazed with the quality and how great the Zoom works. Because if how amazed people usually are with the shots, I have started to give photos on a CD as a wedding gift, and guess what, it is a hit, everyone loves it, and I at times capture what the photographer that they hired missed. Also with this little beast of a camera, persons have asked me to take photos and they will pay me, yes for this 2 MP camera. Macros work great for the close ups and the flash is excellent. If you buy this camera, you will be quickly amazed at how great it is and is worth every penny.

THIS FUJI FINEPIX 2800 2MP ALLOWED ME TO CAPTURE SOME VERY VIVID PICTURES. THIS CAMERA HAS THE CLEARITY OF A HOT HUMID DAY IN JUNE. THE BRIGHTNESS,SHAPNESS,QUICKNESS OF THIS CAMERA IS UNBELIEVEABLE. AND ITS LIGHT-WEIGHT. BEST CAMERA. MAY I TAKE YOUR PIC? LOL