We purchased the camera a year ago, it wasn't used a lot and now it won't power up at all. What a pile of crap, we also have a minolta, and will never buy Fuji again!!

I was mostly satisfied with this camera until the poor engineering caught up with it. After 18 months the screws backed out of the lens ring inside the camera, shorting out interior circuits. This is a common problem for this camera. Fuji says they will fix it for $118.25. I don't think it's worth it now. I will not be buying any more Fuji products because I can't afford to buy products that self destruct.

My 3800 needed to have its power supply rebuilt twice in its first two years of service.

I purchased a Fuji 3800 last year because it seemed like great value for money. Like many things that seem too good to be true, it was. Almost exactly a year after purchase, in which it was used sparingly, the camera went dead - it just would not turn on. By the time I got it to a repair center, the 1 year warranty period was over. The estimated repair cost including tax is $150 - I can get a decent new 3.2 MP camera for that price these days.

While it lasted, it took decent photos. The 6x zoom which was a big selling point of the camera was fairly useful. Focusing in low light was difficult. Overall it felt too light and plasticky. With the breakdown, I'll never buy a Fuji again.

After a couple months of good performance my camera wouldn't power up. Still under warrenty mailed off to Fuji in NY and got it back the next week with details of repair and they also repaired a cosmetic problem without being asked!
great service from Fuji!
Only problem with camera is a little slow to cycle pictures but for general snap shots its good.

I got this camera a couple of years ago for my birthday. It worked great for about two years and then it just went dead! It wouldn't power on at all no matter what we did (fresh batteries, etc.) I took it to a camera repair shop and they said that it would cost more to fix it (if they could even do that) than to buy a new one. I see by the reviews of others that it is a common problem. I was planning on getting another, but was sort of leary about it. Now I will DEFINATELY NOT be buying another like this!

This camera takes very good pictures and all the extra functions it has are great. But the 3800 does have some problems. My second Fuji 3800 camera died last weekend, worked great, then turned it on and the viewfinder and lcd screen is so fuzzy you can't make out what you are seeing, if you take a picture, the colors are all messed up and it has (video) lines thru the picture when viewed. My first Fuji 3800 camera worked great, until one day I turned it on and it decided it would turn it's self off and never would power up again. The camera worked so good, I had to
purchased another one (I had extra lens and cards), the 1st camera lasted a year and I did take over 6000 pictures with it, the 2nd only lasted 6 months (2000 pictures). May be I over worked them. But be aware they do have problems. I am puchasing a Fuji s3100 and hope it will last longer than the 3800, like I said, they took great pictures. But I would not purchase another 3800.

My dad has this camera and I fell in love with it and was very happy to find one on Amazon. It takes great pictures.

I was previously very interested in this camera. However, after using it for a time, it has been very possibly a nearly useless camera. The autofocus is poor at best, the movie is only 320x240 max, and less than 30fps.

There is also a considerable delay in taking pictures, as the autofocus has a meeting someplace inside the camera to discuss if there is any point in focusing on anything in particular!

There are many better choices, not to mention the Finepix S7000!

The Fujifilm Finepix 3800 was my first foray into the digital world. After buying my first Minolta 35mm back in college, i was ready to see what i could find in the viewfinder of a digital world.

I liked what i saw.

In fact, this 3800 helped me get into freelance photography.
My job is fairly specialized. I get to fly over a major metropolitan city on a daily basis - and due to the nature of my job am witness to several interesting events on a weekly basis.

One of those events turned out to be a fatal accident involving a runaway boat on a local freeway. Being first on the scene, i was able to capture some great shots with the 3800 that by word-of-mouth caught the attention of the local LA Times bureau.

Next thing i knew, i had been published in the Times with just a 3Mp camera! (as Napoleon Dynamite would say; "Luckeey!" )

As others have noted - the one drawback of the 3800 is the problem of focusing in low light situations. I have several shots in my recycle bin of blurry portraits indoors.
In spite of that, however, this has been a very good camera.

I appreciate the form factor of the handgrip (which doubles as the AA battery compartment). With the rubberized patches it helps you to have a good grip on your camera in on-the-go situations.

A pilot-friend of mine has also purchased a Fuji 3800 and seems to be happy with its capabilities.

(i've since upgraded to a Nikon and continue to get published occasionally AND fairly steady work as an event photographer).

It was a nice camera until it stopped working in the first week of my three week Paris, France trip. It was working fine, I took couple of pictures and turned it off and then it never turned back on. Also from other reviews you will see the same engineering mistake. There is a small screw coming out and shorting the circuits and power. I called Fuji, they told me to send it to a repair center, and the cost of repair is same as the camera itself now, I won't get it fixed or buy any other Fuji product again. This is a common problem that they had with their design in this particular model and they should fix it with no cost at me. If a car has such a common problem, they recall it and fix the problem for you with no cost but for cameras you pay 400 dollars (it is some money, maybe not same as cars but why do we measure respect with money) and they don't respect their customers, then ok, they won't have loyal customers either. NEVER TRUST FUJI, go buy a better camera from sony or canon.

I got this about a year ago and have used it to record all of my children's development. My family is a long way off so I need to take lots of pic's & send them home to Grandma & Grandad. This camera consistently takes great photos! I have blown some up to 8X10 and they still look good enough to frame & display (even at 2MP setting, never mind 3mp Fine). As I said I use it a lot and have never had a single problem with it. It has a good feature range (most of which I don't even use never mind understand!).

If you are looking for a great entry level digital camera that takes great pictures and is very easy to use I recommend it highly.

The only comment I would have is that it is NOT a pocket camera. You will have to carry it around in a fanny pack or case of some sort which is not a big deal from my perspective!

I got the camera a little over 2 yrs. ago and loved the photos it took. Exactly 26 months later, the camera simply stopped working. The repair center told me it is $150 just to open the camera on the repair bench, PLUS whatever the repair cost will be. I was advised that the cost of repair wasn't worth it and in the long run it's more cost effective just to buy a new camera.
Call me crazy but, I think a camera in the price range of $300 and up, should last more that 26 months.

After 28 months it quit working, factory wants $86.00 to fix....no more Fuji products for me!!

It just stopped working after like 2 years. My previous camera was my father's, that he used for like 20 years. No problems for him or me.

I don't believe cameras should just stop working after 2 years. From looking online it seems it is a common problem but people just expect electronics to have the quality of cars made by GM in the 1970s. Sorry I expect things to work and not just for a short while.

I owned this camera for two years and it just stop working. All was well but nothing changed and it just went.

I have owned a Fujifilm 3800 for about 2 1/2 years and loved it, until it stopped powering up. There was no warning, no indication that there was anything wrong, it just stopped. From reading other reviews I can see that this is not an unusual problem. As someone else put it: it stops right after the warranty expired. I cannot afford another camera, so I will go back to using my old standby, the Pentex K1000.

From the start, it was never able to take recharable batteries. 1.2v nimh's were not enough, it would only take 1.5v alkalines. And whenever it was low on battery, instead of telling me, the lens just kept going in and out. I've probably spent over $60 on alkalines, pretty rediculous. The pictures arn't bad, but most digital cameras arn't bad. This thing is a heavy piece of junk, with a lens cover that always gets in the way, and a strap that doesn't help it's purpose. It's just an annoying camera, and now It's so worthless I can't sell it.

I bought this camera 2-1/2 years ago and it was a great camera until recently. After owning the camera with no problems for 2 years, the screen now goes black half the time when you want to take a picture. We have to fiddle with it hoping the screen will come back on and allow us to take a picture. It is really annoying! You expect a camera to last longer than 2 or 2-1/2 years. I would NOT buy this camera again. It is a piece of junk!

I have had this camera for over three years now and I bought it when it was valued at $400. I love the quality of the pictures it takes. I love the design, it feels more like a professional camera.

I've read the reviews below this one, where people have had complaints of the camera not working. I've experienced the camera shutting off on me for no appearant reason. So far, it still works. But I do have another digital camera that I use often too. If my camera stops working, I will update.

I was surprised and feel fortunate that my fujifilm 3800 never left me down like some of the other reviewers. The camera will shut off if left in the "on" position and you need to turn it off and back on again to get it working but it never completely quit.

After an expensive professional photographer left me down with a photo session, I took some outdoor pictures myself and they turned out better than the indoor pictures from a professional! My co-workers were amazed and several others have purchased this camera and have owned for several years without any problems.

I've owned this camera ever since it was first manufactured and paid around $400+ for it.

I purchased the Fuji FP 3800 in August of 2003. I used the camera very little during that period, and it was kept in excellent physical condition.
This year I started doing some shooting with it, and found that often the viewfinder display often come up blank, even with fresh batteries or the A/C adapter. Some times it would display, sometimes it wouldn't.
Now, it fails consistently...
I read numerous user reviews on this product, and it's obvious to me that this problem is "systemic" with the 3800, and not the result of misuse, or associated with normal wear and tear problems. It's a defective product.
Just Look at the number of "no display" and "flashing display" complaints here on Amazon... I lost count.
Fortunately for Fuji, this failure occurs just after the warranty period, has ended, and as far as I am aware, Fuji has never recalled this obviously defective camera, or... offered any form of reparation.
I will never purchase another Fuji product, and I will encourage my friends and associates to do the same.
Fuji used to be well a respected company, known for good products at good prices.
Sadly, that is no longer the case... and even sadder... I can't give the Fuji FinePix 3800 a "0" rating.

Al Campagna

I have had this turkey almost the same length of time as the other one star voters and have had almost exactly the same problems. Flickering in Photography mode and hit and miss correction maneuvers. In a camera used relatively infrequently. A common problem, apparently, ignored by the maker. This dud is now out of date. WHATEVER you do don't buy it used.

I purchased this camera in 2003. It has been stored in a climate controlled environment, within a protective case. It has been used very little - perhaps 100 pictures. It now has horizontal lines appearing across the viewfinder, and they appear in the pictures as well. My advise is to steer clear of Fujifilm products.

I was surprised to read previous reviews about reliability. I've taken my camera everywhere for years, including my deployment in Kuwait and Iraq, and it's still working wonderfully. I've taken thousands of pictures, and have never been unhappy with its performance. I am constantly being complimented on the quality of the pictures I show people, and I know it's because of my finepix. My two complaints....the d#$% lens cap will not stay on, and there's no real-time battery-life monitor. That's MINOR stuff for such consistently great pictures.

I bought the 3800 as my first step into digital photography. I planned on using it to figure out what I liked + disliked, and to upgrade to a digital SLR. That was almost 4 years ago, and I've never had the urge or itch for anything "better".

I'm not discounting anyone else's experiences, but mine have been exceptional.

I bought this camera in 2003. It recently went flakey on us giving our pictures light distortions. I absolutely miss this camera's pictures! The pictures outside were fantastic. I had very little motion blur and I took a lot of action pictures. The close ups were awesome. I took thousands of pictures! I'm reluctant to replace it with the same model if others have experienced reliability problems. I love the pictures, but am not willing to buy another camera every few years.

Bought the 3800 in autumn of 2003. It worked well for about 3 years. I liked the audio with video feature, design, ease of use and reasonable quality of pictures, though it was always super sensitive to movement and many pictures blurred. During this time, I easily shot over 4000 pictures. It began to flake out sometime last summer or autumn with the black screen described by many others and now it just refuses to turn on.

I don't think that I will purchase a Fuji again, for a while at least, but purchase a Canon next.

Note that I still have a Pentax SLR 35-mm camera that I bought in the 1970s, which cost about $400 at the time. It has travelled / backpacked through Europe, Africa, Tibet and China as well as the US Sierras and Rockies and it still works great, when I want to use a film-camera.

Will digital cameras ever last as long?

I wish I had access to the more recent reviews on this camera. Mine too has just went dead. It was not abused or over used. As several have already said it should last longer for $300. Fuji should have stood by their product. They will lose in the end as these cameras keep failing.

All the favorable reviews about this camera are true. If only I could still turn it on. It would have been great to have for the rest of my life.

I know exactly what the problem is. The batteries rest on metal tabs that do two things: They are electrical contacts, and they are supposed to act like little springs, holding the batteries up firmly against the electrical contacts in the battery compartment door. Unfortunately, these little tabs are now sagging. So the batteries no longer make firm contact, and, even with fresh batteries, the camera can't muster the power to take pictures.

Pulling the tabs back up is problematical. They are buried at the bottom of the battery compartment and very hard to get at.

The camera still works fine if run off its power adapter. You have to be near a power outlet. This basically turns it into an indoors-only camera.

Didn't the Fuji engineers know that a thin strip of metal, placed under constant pressure, will eventually sag? Maybe they were well aware of this. Maybe this is an example of "planned obsolescence".

This was a great camera while it lasted. We bought ours in Aug. 2003 and it has been everywhere with us. It took very decent pictures and was easy to use. It's a bit bulky. WARNING: our camera recently passed away. We took very good care of it, used rechargeable batteries (the only way to go, etc... but a few weeks ago it just stopped working. I had used it all morning and then it just wouldn't turn on. I've tried recharging the batteries, using different batteries, toggling the switch... nothing works. I hate to think of the hundreds of dollars we spent to "rent" this camera for a few years. Technology changes quickly, and there are much better cameras on the market now... but products shouldn't just cease to work for no reason.

The same as the above posters, our camera just died...I think fujifilm should recall this camera due to it just stopping to work. What now a $300 paperweight? Was an excellent when working.

Love my camera, it takes the greates pictures even it your not a professional. I love the video also. The quality is excellent and mine was refurbished.

Our office purchased this camera a couple of years ago. I am the primary user of the camera. (This model provided the balance between features and price at the time it was purchased.) This is a good little camera, adequate for general use, with one or two sticking points to be aware of.

This camera has difficulties in low-light -- even ordinary room lighting -- without a flash. (In fairness, this disfeature is a fairly common occurrence in many cameras of this caliber and price range, though, as is the JPEG artifacts one gets in the images.) Using the flash will help with out-of-focus photos but go through batteries faster, the resulting photographs are usually less pleasing too -- people harshly lit with drastic shadows. (This can sometimes be minimized with thought and care.)

If you are not afraid to use the manual settings, brace the camera against something, or use a tripod, it is often the way to go. Some great shots can be had, even in room light, with manual settings, a tripod or steady hand, and a steady subject. In fact, using manual will often produce a better photo, with more natural color, than can be achieved with the automatic settings usually! Well worth learning.

The use of standard AA size batteries is a plus. I thought that the use of four AA batteries (rather than two) might mean longer life. I was incorrect. Be prepared with extra batteries and/or a good quick charger, especially when flash or zoom is used.

The biggest annoyance with this camera for me personally, though, is the fact that every time the batteries die, or are changed, the date must be reset before the camera will allow any photographs to be taken. (I don't even bother setting the date any longer. I just hit two or three buttons to skip past it all, but it's required every time the batteries die or are changed.) I've often wished the camera contained a capacitor or watch battery to maintain its memory while batteries were changed. (I believe newer Fugi models may have resolved this issue though; Fugi has some newer models with nice improvements and optical zooms up to 10x, in similarly price models.)

In the end, I would not discourage anyone from buying this model. The photo quality is on par with any of the rival models, just be aware of this model's quirks. Generally speaking, Fugi seems to make a fine camera. I just wish we had held off for another year and the newer models.

I had this camera for less than 2 years and used it only on rare occasions - you know, holidays and special events - so it has pretty low usage. Yet it has decided not to work. It turns on foe a second or two (with brand new batteries) then shuts itself off. Rearranging batteries and resetting factory default settings no help. Had similar reliability problems with another fujifilm camera. Fool me once shame on you, twice shame on me! Goodbye Fujifilm - forever!

I was given this camera about 3 years ago when I wanted a step up from my old (really old) 0.5mp camera. Let me jump right into the pros and cons and I'll try to explain a little about them afterwards.

PROS:
Feels good in your hands and not very heavy.
Plenty of manual features to get lost in.
Large enough LCD screen to see what you need before and after the shot.
Buttons placed for easy reach.
Cost.
Good battery life.


CONS:
Very, very bad low light images.
No manual focus option.
Even at 3.2 mega pixels the shots are still grainy.
Red reduction often ADDS red eye.
No interchangeable lenses.
Limited video sizes and bad audio.
Very slow shutter lag.

After a few years of owning this camera I really want to replace it. About 2/3 of my shots are taken indoors and this camera is useless inside unless the room is lit like a Hollywood set. The camera will not focus at any distance in normal indoor lighting. On the auto setting, inside shots always come out grainy. The flash is simply to weak to help. Since there is no way to manually focus the pictures you are constantly crossing your fingers hoping that the shot will come out somewhat decent so you can later fix the image on the computer.

The software that came with the camera does not have a red eye option to fix the red eye this camera is famous for giving your subjects. When you try to use the red eye reduction flash it always and I repeat always gives your subject red eye and always makes it worse had you left it off.

There is what looks like a screw on lens on the camera (not shown in product image) so you think you will have the ability to add a different lens. It is actually there to hold a filter. Since this camera is not a popular model FujiFilm has not made any filters (maybe 2) for you to use so its really just misleading.

The video sizes are 160 x 120 and 320 x 240. Which are ok for thumb nails but not something you are really able to watch. Since the camera is grainy at low light (meaning anything shot indoors) and the flash is only for pictures, your videos will be small, grainy, out of focus, and do nothing but fill up your memory card. The audio for the video is also useless unless you have bionic ears and can make out the mummbles.

The shutter lag is awful. No matter what trick you try you will always miss an action shot. There is a Sport mode on the camera but I'm not sure what it does since it does not help with focus, shutter lag, lighting, etc.

On the good side, it's a cheap camera but you get what you pay for with it.

I'll keep using it until I can afford a better DSLR camera but you can bet once my new camera shows up this one will be given to my teenage son to abuse.