Fuji is strange in an entirely different way from Pentax. I picked up a F550exr ($175 in amazon's used bin) and am quite impressed with what it can do - but
I do not believe that Fuji knows what it can do. If they do know, they sure aren't telling anyone! Great features can be discovered by reading hints from users online - some that are not even hinted at in their 'manual' (pdf.. boo
). It's a great little 8mpx camera, and I won't set it to 16M where users have demonstrated that its IQ is worse. Mine is set to medium image size which (apparently?) bins pixels in hardware and is not a simple software resize The DR setting is at DR400 (also hardware not software.. or so it seems??) and usually raw capture. It's absurd and frustrating that one cannot quite tell what the camera is doing: raw images
appear to come in two sizes (?!?!?), and some basic features like ISO range or max shutter speed mutate when in another mode.
I have yet to own a Pentax with such frustrations.
But for $175 pocket-size raw shooter with tolerable 25-370mm equivalent zoom, I'm
ok with the fuji - with the modifications found at the 'Nothing Special' blog. Sure am glad it's not showing the x10 'orb' issue that's burning up the pages right now.. really sad, and hopefully correctable with firmware. We shall see.