Fuji Finepix A345 Review

The Fuji Finepix A345 is a basic digital camera that is aimed at someone looking for an easy to use point and shoot model. This camera is about as simple and straightforward as you are likely to find and will appeal to anyone who is enjoys taking photos without getting too serious about photography.

The Finepix A345 is a four megapixel model with a three times optical zoom lens.

As is typical of a digital camera in this price bracket the Finepix A345 is much more at home outdoors than indoors.

The outdoor shots come out well enough and indicate that you should be able to take good quality landscape type shots with this camera. It manages to retain a good level of detail even in the darker areas although there is a touch of purple fringing that shows up around the edges of very light objects occasionally.

The test for colour works well and the Finepix A345 can produce particularly strong blues.

The indoor shots are disappointing. In fairness this is an area where the more basic models tend to struggle, but even so I would have liked to have seen a sharper focus in the shots. This underlines the importance of trying to increase the lighting levels whenever you can indoors.

Despite its limitations in other areas the Finepix A345 proves that you can find a digital camera that can take a good close up without paying very much money. The macro picture taken for the test is clear, evenly lit and shows a good level of detail. You should have no problem producing pictures of jewelry and similar items to display on websites.

Shutter lag is the time it takes to take each picture. A constant criticism of digital cameras is the delay in between clicking the shutter button, the picture being taken and also the camera being ready to take the next picture. From a pure shutter lag view the Finepix A345 took a picture and recorded it in 0.53 seconds. This is a relatively new test, so I feel a degree of caution is called for, but I have to say early indications are that this is a slow time.

In terms of recycling times I was able to take five pictures in the space of 17.58 seconds. That works out at a rate of 3.52 seconds per picture. I am not claiming that this is the most scientific tests, but it should give you an indication of the recycling speed of the camera. This is a slow time. My test is carried out indoors under standard conditions and it is possible that you would see better results outside.

There is a fully automatic mode that allows you to simply turn the camera on, line up a shot and take a picture. In addition to this there are four scene modes available to use. These are for portrait, landscape, night and sport. Scene modes come in handy when you are taking certain types of photos. For example if you are taking a portrait picture by using the portrait scene the camera realises the type of picture you are about to take and optimises its settings accordingly.

The three times optical lens is the equivalent of a 35 - 105mm on a 35mm camera. This is supported by a 3.6x digital zoom feature. For close up photography the macro mode lets you get in as close as 6cms from the subject.

There is a viewfinder for lining up shots or you can use the 1.7" LCD screen. The screen is also used for accessing the menu system and reviewing images you have already taken.

The built in flash unit has a maximum range of three and a half meters. This is reduced to three meters when the zoom lens is in use. You can set the flash to activate automatically, always fire, never fire or slow synchro. Slow synchro is often used at night when you would like both the subject and the background to be lit. Red eye reduction is also available.

Short movies can be recorded at a maximum speed of 15 frames per second. The maximum resolution is 320 x 240 pixels. The duration of each movie is only limited by the capacity of the memory card.

There is a self timer that you can set whenever you would like to appear in the picture. The delay can be set to either two or ten seconds.

Fuji supplies all the necessary cables and software to connect the Finepix A345 to a PictBridge compatible printer, computer and television set.

Although the specification mentions a manual mode there is no facility that lets for set the shutter speed and aperture. These are set by the camera itself. Shutter speeds range from 2 to 1/2000 seconds and the aperture from F2.8 to F4.7. Sensitivity is also automatically controlled in a range between ISO 64 and 400.

Manual mode gives you access to exposure compensation (-2.1 EV to +1.5 EV in 0.3 EV-step increments) and white balance (Fine, Shade, Fluorescent light (Daylight), Fluorescent light (Warm White), Fluorescent light (Cool White) and Incandescent light).

The main attraction of the Finepix A345 is its ease of use. It has a fairly minimal feature set. This helps to make the menu system pretty uncluttered and you can soon find the option you are looking for. Key controls covering zoom, flash, macro and picture review can be found on the back of the camera.

You can pick up a Fuji Finepix A345 for around £125. This compares to around £135 for a Sony DSC S40, £120 for a Nikon Coolpix 4600 and £120 for an Olympus C-480.

The Finepix A345 is a standard rectangular shape. It is quite light, weighing in at 132g, but it is on the large size for slipping into a pocket unnoticed. It is not going to win any awards for glamour, but its size and the grip on the front means that you should have no problem getting a good hold of the camera when you are about to take a shot.

Power is supplied by two AA batteries. The advantage of this type of battery is that you can find spares just about anywhere and they are relatively cheap to buy. Depending on how often you plan to use the camera it may be worth your while considering a set of rechargeable batteries to keep the overall running costs to a minimum.

xD Picture cards are used to store images on. A 16mb card is supplied by Fuji with the Finepix A345. I was able to take eighteen shots at the fine quality setting before the memory card became full. Therefore I would recommend that you consider picking up a high capacity card to go with your camera. Click here to save money on xD Cards.

Easy to use
Macro shots

Indoor picture quality

The Fuji Finepix A345 is a fairly basic four megapixel digital camera. When you buy a camera like this one you get exactly what you pay for and you will not be paying for features that you are never going to use. Outdoors you can still produce a good set of photos, but if you are looking for high quality indoor shots then you will need to pay a bit more. It is one of the easiest to use digital cameras that you are likely to find, but I feel it just falls short in terms of picture quality compared to one or two of its closest rivals.

Fuji Finepix A345 Front View

Fuji Finepix A345 Back View

Fuji Finepix A345 Top View

Sample Menus

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this site, please make sure you double check the feature set and specification at the point of purchase.

Fuji Finepix A345