Fujifilm FinePix Z33WP 10MP Digital Camera with 3X Optical Zoom (Green) (Old Model)

If you're a novice at photography and want to take pictures either out of or under water, you couldn't ask for a bettter camera. Especially for the price. Either the people who gave this camera a bad review didn't know how to use it, they have too high a expectation, or are expert photographers who may need a more expensive camera. Or perhaps their camera just didn't work properly. I wasn't expecting a lot from this camera based on the price and some reviews, but because of some of the shared photos, I decided to give it a try. If it didn't work, I at least didn't spend a whole lot. What I got was an amazing camera for a great price. I'm an extremely picky person and it takes a lot to impress me, but that is exactly what this camera did. Since I was snorkeling and floating on top of the water bobbing up and down, fighting against the current and using mostly the zoom feature my expectation was a lot of blurred pictures. So much so, that I wasn't even eager to get back to the ship to load the pictures onto my laptop to see what I got. When I finally was mentally set for a big disappointment I loaded my pictures onto my laptop. What I saw couldn't have surprised or excited me more. The pictures were beautiful and the movies I took were phenomenal. If you are a novice or a intermediate photographer, I highly, highly recommend this camera especially if you want to take underwater photos. I think it does great out of the water too. I have uploaded a few of the pictures I took so you can check those out. My two disappointments were that it was overcast (Fugifilm has no control over that)and I think some of the photos would have been better had the sun been out showing off all the colors of the fish and coral. And that the camera is only good for 3 meters under water. So I wasn't able to swim to the bottom of the ocean with it to take pictures. I had to stay on the surface. Regardless, it had the zoom that worked perfectly. One other nice thing was that I didn't have to worry about it if it rained or got wet while out on the ocean.

I wanted a durable underwater / beach camera for a trip to Hawaii and didn't want to spend a lot of money. I had used a cheap used 5 Meg pixel camera in an underwater pouch before. Worked great, but the sand and salt destroyed to camera. I decided give this camera a try. The first one was defective. I sent it back to Fujifilm for warranty repair. To their credit they simply replaced the camera. Pros: Small and easy to carry. I like the push button setup. Easy to learn and gets you quickly to where you want to go. Videos were clear and made capturing some fun underwater moments of my kids and nieces. Just need to remember to prefocus before shooting videos. Focus on something in the distance and maintain relative distance from the subject and it comes out great. Beach videos clear with good sound capture. Videos of us snorkeling in deep water off Lanai and in Pupukea on Oahu were fantastic for the small lens of this camera. Cons: Need to add a wrist flotation device. I found a good bright orange one that works. Caution read the reviews; there are similar looking ones that aren't buoyant enough to hold it up. I found this one on E-bay from an Australian merchant. Also the wrist strap got in the way when we went kayaking. It keeps hitting the side of the kayak. I was worried that it damage the camera or breaks off. Need to add a neck strap as well. This kind of camera needs quick and easy access to take pictures and not worry about environment around it. Too hard to keep in pocket when kayaking. In bright light the display screen is nearly useless. I had an old Minolta 35 mm underwater camera years ago. It was bright yellow floated and had a strap on aiming target. Would like to see some thing similar to help line up the camera to what you are photographing. Would like a dedicated button to switch between underwater and surface shooting modes. It is a menu selection, but since this is an underwater camera, it would be handy to switch back and forth directly. Side note, I am very careful about rinsing the camera clean before opening the bottom. But on one beach (Kailua) the sand is very fine. It sounds like some got inside the under cover slider. I can hear a grinding sound I haven't heard before. Hopefully this will not affect the water tightness of the camera.

I was very excited about purchasing this camera. My husband and I are avid paddlers and we thought this would be great to take with us canoeing. When we planned a trip to the beach on Labor Day of 2009 we decided to take advantage of the waterproof feature and take pictures of fish. It worked for a day until it got water in it. We did not even take it into deep water. This was only a couple of weeks after I purchased the camera and the first time I had used it for its intended purpose. I sent it in for repairs under warranty. When a refurbished camera was returned to me the flash did not work. I sent it back and received another refurbished camera. We returned to Florida again in 2010. This was the first time I tried using the camera underwater. This time it would not even turn on when I tried to take a picture because - you guessed it - it got water in it. When I contacted Fuji again - they said they would repair it but they would charge me because it was no longer under warranty. I also learned that there is a year warranty until you get it repaired then its reduced to three months. So after I purchased the camera, had to get it repaired less than a month later, my warranty was reduced by more that 70% - does that make any sense? No. I will say that it did take good pictures, was easy to use - just don't take it in the water. But now I have a useless camera and will have to pay to get it repaired. I will NEVER purchase another Fuji camera.

A friend and I each purchased this camera earlier this month for a cruise vacation. I hesitated to buy it because it was an older model, but it had the best combination of price and good reviews; there was a far less expensive one but it was a no-name brand with too many bad reviews for my liking. I found the picture quality comparable to that of my Nikkon Cool Pix and a similar Cannon camera I own, despite the lower number of megapixels of this camera (10 MP compared to 11 MP of the Cool Pix, and 14 of the Nikkon). Both cameras held up under water several times. The quality of the underwater pictures were very good, I did not get to use it for snorkeling as much as I'd hoped, as water conditions weren't the best, so I can't vouch for how it photographs colors of fish, etc., but the underwater pictures came out as clear as it looked when I was viewing the water through a mask. As I'd forgotten my regular camera, this was my main camera for the trip and it took great pictures out of the water, as well. I was surprised to find it was easy to adjust settings such as ISO manually to get better pictures at some outdoor nighttime shows. I never even rinsed it with fresh water as directed and the camera still works fine. Only 1 or 2 pictures had water drops on them from failing to dry it before taking a picture outside of the water. Oops. My one and only complaint is that somehow there is now a small crack/hole on the corner of the battery compartment...probably my fault as I dropped it once or twice....obviously this renders it no longer waterproof, although still usable. Also, the wrist strap is incredibly difficult to attach, I helped my friend with hers but lacked the patience required to attach mine, so I'm lucky it didn't fall down a waterfall or sink to the bottom of the ocean. I should note, another friend on the trip bought a slightly more expensive waterproof camera of a different brand...hers went kaput the second it hit the water...we had TWO of these that made it through the whole trip...albeit one no longer waterproof...

We got this camera to replace a Valo waterproof camera that filled with water & was destroyed first exposure to H20. Wasn't sure whether to chance it again. This camera takes fantastic video & still jpegs in the pool on a sunny day. We brought it into the Altantic Ocean on the north-east coast, where the water is greenish-- darker than I've seen it in Florida. The camera was not able to get images through the ocean. However, because it's so water-resistant, we were able to get great shots of surfing & playing in the ocean, without worrying about the water damaging the camera. The clarity is great, and the shutter speed is so fast that it really catches a spray or splash of water-- really cool as you see all the droplets fanned out, sparkling in the sun. Where this camera falls short is when lighting is low. The flash is poor and when it is not bright and sunny the picture becomes grainy. However, for catching water fun on camera, it was amazing. If it is your only camera, you may find it frustrating with indoor and low light photography, but for a great, fun way to capture fun in the sun & water, it was fantastic. Another feature that we like is the rechargeable battery. It does seem to run out of charge fairly quickly-- after 2 days of taking pictures & videos & reviewing them frequently, we needed to recharge. But charging doesn't take too long-- maybe an hour (haven't actually timed it, tho), and it's so much fun to get those water shots.

I vacation a lot in water/beach locales and love to snorkel in particular. I've typically purchased the throwaway underwater cameras and have been dissatisfied with the results since I get spotty images and am very limited in picture quantity (usually 24 shots). Coupled with the fact that I have to get them developed - the costs start to add up since I usually brought about 2-3 of the 24 exposure cameras along. I considered underwater casing as well for my land camera - but thought this a bit pricey for a "case" and unconvinced it would be comfortable using underwater and truly "waterproof". Didn't feel like finding out the hard way. At a little over $100 - this camera totally pays for itself vs. the throwaway underwater cameras. I used a 2GB card and took over 500 pictures of the gorgeous reefs and tropical life in Belize. I'm so pleased with the image quality and ease of taking pictures underwater. I received the day before we left and didn't even have to read the instruction booklet - it was so easy to use and very intuitive. The screen is great underwater and it worked great after three half-day snorkelling trips (over 1.5 hours underwater each trip). Battery life is pretty good too -- though I messed around with the flash function the first day and, as expected, this seemed to drain the camera much faster. The camera can be used out of the water as well and takes great pix too as can be expected from a Fuji camera. I considered buying the floatie "kit" -- but decided against it and am glad I declined. I just used the wrist strap that came with it and it was just fine. (just make sure the strap is wrapped around your wrist securely of course!) Highly recco this little camera if you want to take pix in or underwater -- on vacay or at the beach/pool without the worries of messing up your land camera. I'm thrilled with it and believe it was money well-spent just for the memories I captured on this one trip.

ive had this camera for over a year now and have taken it with me almost everywhere. pros: 1. waterproof, sand and dust proof and can survive drops. i have dropped this camera countless times the first time it fell the top left corner cracked alittle and the second time put a dent on the edge of the battery cover its covered in slight scratches but none on the lens or the back screen cause i have a screen protector on it. its still just as waterproof as before as well as dust proof and i really test the waterproofness of it whenever im in water. ive also burried it in dirt a few times and it came out just fine. altho the lock for the battery cover and the hinge were full of dirt but continuous use of it will make it as good as new again in short time. i also ran over it a few times with a wagon full of dirt while it was recording and it didnt turn of. tho when struck hard enough it will stop filming for that brief second then continue 2. picture quality is good for what i use it for. very good actually and if you use flash for night shots at close images its also very good. underwater shots are just as good depending on how clear the water is but then again in murky water it picks up more than my eyes can see. 3. video quality. video quality is good and you can record up to 37 minutes and 39 seconds at a time. this is not the max but thats the timer it gives you each time you start recording. you can record as much as you want as long as you have enough memory. 4. controls. the controls are very easy once you get used to them their big and easy to press while in the water 5. size the size is super compact. and will fit in your pocket easily. and weighs next to nuthing. this is an ideal camera to take with you daily cause you wont even notice it there, well not unless your wearing super tight pants... now for the cons. 1. battery life. battery life for the most part isnt to bad the battery will last u a decent amount of time if your only taking pictures. i got about 100+ at a car show before the battery died. then again i was filming as well. filming eats the battery really fast. luckily recharging it only takes about 2 hours and your good to go. you can also buy a second battery just in case. but sometimes maybe this is just me but the charger doesnt connect to the battery all the way sometimes and the light just blinks for hours. 2. lanyard. for one its to short to wrap securely around your wrist and also hold the camera comfotably while in the water in case you mite drop it and its gone forever. plus its kind of thin and might break eventually. so i removed it and replaced it with a neck lanyard, works great. 3. lcd screen. it's good but not great in low light images come up really grainy when the picture itself comes out just fine. thats the only problem i have 4. zoom. the zoom is good but dont expect to get super close to far away objects (its only a 3x after all) but heres why for me its a con. you cannot zoom in and out while filming. you can zoom in or out before you press record but not while you are doing it. for me this sucks cause i use this mainly to record. 5. video/picture transfer. not really a con but get annoying sometimes. pictures and videos are kept in the same folder. not really a biggy but when your trying to separate them sometimes u miss one or to and cant find it cause its in a different folder on you computer. overall this is a great camera that will survive just about any accidental drops into concrete or water. and if you feel like burying it go ahead. it can take that to.

My wife and I were very much looking forward to using this camera. The features seemed to be amazing and the previous reviews were mostly excellent, so we were stoked...until it arrived. Our biggest problem with this camera is that it does not take good pictures at all. We took several photos with it out of the box and every one came out slightly blurry. The first night we blamed the less than perfect indoor lighting conditions and kept our hopes up. That didn't last. The following day we took several outside shots with optimal sunlight and still the pictures were not crisp and sharp. I was a film and photography major in college, so I adjusted several of the manual settings, but we still could not get 1 clear picture. And to answer the lingering question, yes I did hold down the shutter button until the subject was in focus and I got the ever loving go ahead and take your picture "beep". The video quality was average, but definetely not good enough to keep the camera. We ultimately sent it back and got the Kodak Easy Share M-1033 which is not an underwater camera, but takes far better pictures. I guess it is possible that the camera I received may have been defective, but I did not want to risk having to ship back another camera. I actually hope I did receive a defective one and the rest of you have better luck, but proceed with caution. I wanted to ignore the other bad review that this camera got, but unfortunately I am in the same boat with her. ALOHA!