FUJIFILM FinePix F30 Digital Camera

I'm not going to go on and on about what's good or bad about this camera. There are too many good points to list... So here's my list of the MOST IMPORTANT good points and the ones I perceive as being bad points...plain and simple.

Good points:
1. High sensitivity in low light conditions - you see a lot more of the picture taken in bad light
2. Battery life - absolutely fantastic!!

3.+ There are loads of other good points about this camera, but I've come to expect them of any Fuji camera, so I'm not going to list them all here.

Bad points:
1. Flimsy/fiddly USB port cover
2. AUTO mode tends to 'up' the sensitivity too much at times (resulting in a grainy picture when it is blown-up).

Solution:
I've owned the Fuji cameras F401, F410, F601, and F610 in the past and know what to expect of Fujis, including razor-sharp quality, so when this camera started generating pictures that were a bit 'grainy' I started to wonder what was going on... Basically, when taking pictures in AUTO mode the camera tends to 'up' the sensitivity 'a little too much'. It is for good reason, but does affect the quality if/when you blow-up the picture to over 200% - it comes out a little 'grainy'. This ONLY happens when taking pictures in, what is by photography standards, bad light. Take an 'outside' shot and the picture comes out perfect. So what should you do to eliminate this? Easy, use Manual mode and choose no more than ISO400 (I suggest start at ISO100/200 and see how the picture comes out, and then up the ISO if it's too dark). This WILL make the picture slightly darker (which is the whole reason for having high sensitivity), but will also eliminate the 'graininess' if/when you blow-up the picture.

Some people have been quick to criticise this camera for the 'graininess' I've mentioned above, (some have even complained about the camera not having features they knew it didn't have BEFORE they bought it!), but here's a challenge...take 2 pictures of a 'dark' scene with the F30 and any other leading brand camera, both in AUTO mode, and then take 2 pictures of the same scene with the other camera in AUTO mode and the F30 in ISO100/200, and then judge for yourself...the benefits should be self-evident! And lastly, if you buy a camera without certain features (e.g. a viewfinder), don't complain that the camera doesn't have one...it's not the camera's fault that you're human! :-)