Home > Consumer Reviews > Fujifilm Finepix J38 12MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and 2.7 inch LCD

I have little experience with this camera (just an hour or so), but wanted to put something up here since no reviews exist yet.

Pros (so far):

* Tiny. Basically the size of a deck of cards! Fits in your front pocket, back pocket, tackle box, purse, shirt pocket, whatever.
* Nice stills.
* Excellent low-light stills, even without the flash.
* Good-looking camera.
* Big display, considering the overall camera size.
* Pretty good selection of adjustments and modes for a compact, low-cost camera.

Cons (so far):

* Proprietary battery. If it dies, you're out of luck. My other camera uses AA's, so I can keep spares on hand for pretty cheap. No data on battery life yet, as I didn't charge it before I used it and I doubt it was fully charged when I received it.
* Video is 640x480 30 fps, but you cannot zoom once you start recording. The bigger bummer is that the focus is fixed when you start recording, so if your subject gets nearer to or further from the camera, it will be out of focus (this is straight from the manual, by the way, which you can find on the FujiFilm website).
* No viewfinder. Could be a problem if you're taking pictures with the sun at your back and its too bright to see the display. Also, some folks like to use the viewfinder instead of the display to save battery power.

Bottom Line (so far!): Hard to beat for just over $100, that's for sure. This is a second camera for me, mostly for my tackle box.

I finally bought this camera after the Kodak EasyShare M1033 10MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Bronze) and the Sony Cybershot DSC-S950 10MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom with Super Steady Shot Image Stabilization (Silver) failed. Honestly, this camera was actually my first choice, but I bought the others because of the price. Then, I had doubts because of the reviews about the zoom for this camera, which I will explain, later.

This camera has a ton of options for such a little camera. Not to mention, the 2.7 inch screen is pretty big for this size camera. Some bigger cameras do not have as big of a screen. It has a great picture when focusing. The picture is not as vivid as other cameras, but it is still takes sharp photos.

One feature I noticed is taken photos can be zoomed in on. After taking a picture, press the zoom button and it will zoom in on the picture. The photo can also be looked at in 360 degree angle. Also, the software can allow users to improve images of uploaded photos. This feature is called "Auto Adjust". For example, I took a few pictures, which were kind of dark. Well, clicking on "Auto Adjust" will show the taken image and an improved image. The improve image will be a little lighter and clearer than the original.

The shooting options are practically idiot proof. The SR Auto does everything for the user. The camera adjusts by which type of scene the user is in. Then, it has the face detection. The videos show very clear. Some reviewers on this website and others have said the camera cannot zoom, while recording videos. I don't know if they have bad cameras, but I was actually able to zoom, while recording. To prove it, I replayed the recording and voila! It recorded, while zooming.

The battery life is great for this camera, as well. The battery life indicator shows three bars as fully charged. At a football game, I was continuously taking pictures and turning the camera on and off. I left the football game with two bars left. That was pretty good. I cannot say that about the Kodak camera, which I previously had.

For those who are planning to download videos onto YouTube, be warned! It is not easy. I am only speaking for someone who owns a PC. With this camera, I found by using Internet Explorer, YouTube would only accept a small amount of shooting time from this camera, which is usually two minutes and under. If the user makes a video, which was longer, an unloading error would come on. This was weird. I tried to find solutions to this problem. I actually saw on YouTube, an internet program called Mozilla Firefox was supposed to be the solution, so I downloaded it.

Now, YouTube downloads my videos with extended time. It is weird, but I guess FireFox is more compatible with the FujiFilm format. Despite this, the videos do take a lot of time to download, though. For this camera, it takes YouTube 30 minutes to download a 10 minute video. That is craaaazy! I got to find out how to get a faster way of downloading. Disregard if you are not a YouTube user. The videos will still show on the software, which it came with. That takes virtually no time. The other two previously purchased cameras I had did not have this problem. Everything uploaded rather quickly.

Overall, if you are not big on putting videos onto YouTube, this camera is for you. Don't worry! You can quickly see videos on the software. The camera is great, though. If users are willing to overlook the YouTube stuff, this camera has too many other features, whch makes it worth owning.

I don't want to take my Nikon D-40 out all the time. I tried the Nikon S-230 (same price and size) and took it back next day. All I ask out of a $100 or so camera is that it at least be as good as my cell phone. Got this one a good old Wal Mart. Compared the same pictures I took quickly around the house with the little Nikon and this was noticeably better and I did not have the anti-shake option on.
The menu system on this is the most user friendly of anything I tried. I have not tried the video option nor care as I have a small HD camera.

I decided to purchase this camera at the last minute because I was going on a trip. I am totally pleased with my purchase! The camera is small and very portable! It takes great pictures in any light and is easy to operate! I didn't look at the directions once to set up or use the camera. I charged the battery once I got it, and so far so good! I recommend this camera for the budget consumer looking for a good camera for the price.

Buy this camera, if you want to take still images without blur this camera its the best you can even run and take a picture to cars in movement it wont blur your image, take my advice and buy this camera.