The Fuji F710 Zoom is the one of the first cameras to use Super CCD SR technology, which claims to deliver better use of mega pixels delivering better quality rather than just bigger image files, this 6 mega pixel camera isn't exactly short of mega pixels but if you believe the claims that makes it head on competition for units with superior pixel count.

The package also boasts a 4x optical zoom (32.5 – 130 mm) which adds a little weight to the unit but ensures that you won't have to rely on that horrible "digital zoom" which is responsible for mutilating so many images, the lens can also offer a wide angle capability and a macro mode which works at as little as 8cm.

Clad in matt metal grey the unit certainly has style and its main selling point to most users is it's LCD screen  which at 2.1 inches dominates the rear making both picture taking and menu navigation so much easier. Unlike so many cameras we've seen this Fuji has a very bright LCD screen in fact it is useable in bright sunlight, which is good as most of us prefer to use the LCD to take shots rather than the viewfinder.

While we are all in favour of being able to drive digicams manually (which you can with the F710) the automatic mode is so important to the normal user, we found that the focus system on the F710 is pretty speedy and very accurate but the novel continuous focus mode supposedly useful for tracking action like sports seemed to be easy to fool especially in less than perfect lighting conditions.

Images are stored on the supplied 16mb XD picture card, the technology behind xD had recently been proven to be almost indestructible even after being boiled, baked and nailed to a tree, sadly we could have done with a bigger card we'd have to recommend a 512mb one or at least 256mb if you really want to get the most out of the Fuji. Downloading images from the camera (rather than extracting the card) is achieved via a USB 2.0 connection which is some 4 times faster than the older USB 1.1 standard favoured by most cameras available today, simply sit the F710 in its cradle and it will charge and sync pictures to your host PC.

Image size depends on what resolution you run the unit in at 6 mega pixels the Fuji will only get 5 images on the standard 16mb card and if you decide to record in RAW format each image is nearly 13mb in size, the average user is unlikely to use the RAW uncompressed format but even at 3 mega pixels you'll only get 19 images on a 16mb card.

Battery life seems about par for the course with us squeezing off about 300 shots before the unit gave the dreaded low battery warning, this is a hugely variable figure as it depends how much LCD viewing you do and also use of Zoom and flash.

The recent fashion for making a digital camera into a camcorder hasn't passed Fuji by, the F710 is capable of recording video at up to 30fps in VGA resolution, which if you intend to use it (it works very well) will be yet another reason to get a nice big xD card.

There is also a very handy burst mode where the camera can take multiple shots in just 5 seconds ideal for capturing very fast action and a rather unusual widescreen mode? which is claimed to take 16:9 images but it does this by cropping a 6 mega pixel 4:3 image to a 16:9 4 mega pixel one, while it works you could easily do that on your PC.

So what are the pictures like? well they are good but we do have to cast some doubt over the Super CCD Sr technology as at least to our eyes the images do not appear to be as sharp as other 6 mega pixel units, they are very colourful and deal with contrast well but there is something just a little soft about them. In fact comparing the F710 to other cameras at around the £300 mark you do have to question if on image quality alone the F710 stacks up, however throw in the huge LCD screen, movie mode and fast picture cradle and it becomes a tough choice.

As always it comes to price, the Fuji F710 Zoom costs £299 and comes with a 16mb card and cradle but sadly no carry case, for £20 less you can get our current top camera the Canon Ixus 500 which while limited to 5 mega pixels seems to take slightly better sharper images than the F710.

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