I really liked the
5-Megapixel Fuji FinePix S5200 with 10x optical zoom, which I used some time ago. It did not have a feature I consider very important however. It did not have wide angle capability. The new Fuji FinePix S6000fd features a 10.7x optical zoom lens that starts at a wide 28mm and goes to 300mm. It also improves on the S5200 in other ways.
What Is Canon Fuji FinePix S6000fd? The Fuji FinePix S6000fd is a 6.3-Megapixel 6th Generation SuperCCD digital camera with a 10.7x non-extending optical zoom (38-300 mm equivalent, f/2.8-4.9), a 2.5-inch LCD screen and an electronic viewfinder, powered by 4 AA batteries (disposable batteries included, rechargeable recommended).
The S6000fd features face detection, features ISO range of up to ISO 3200, fast startup and shutter lag of 0.01 sec when pre-focused. The camera stores pictures on xD-Picture memory cards (the camera has 10 MB of built-in memory) and features fast USB 2.0 Hi-Speed connection to PC and Mac computers. The camera stores photos in JPEG or RAW format and can store short video clips in AVI format.
The camera has a lens that accepts 58mm filters and looks like an SLR camera (although it is not an SLR, but rather an advanced digital compact camera).
First Impressions Once the camera arrived, I was immediately impressed by its build quality, ergonomics and styling. Several things were immediately exciting for me: wide angle optics, ability to use 58mm (I have UV and polarizing 58mm filters). The camera looks like a digital SLR camera, although it is not one. It has a large, convenient handgrip covered in soft textured plastic with a shutter release button on top, a large mode selection dial on the top deck, a relatively long lens barrel and other elements that make it convenient to use and make it look like a compact SLR.
The camera uses 4 AA batteries and I used four rechargeable 2300 mAh NiHM batteries with it. The battery compartment door is sturdy and the battery polarity is marked well. The camera stores photos and videos on xD-Picture memory cards, but I used the internal memory at this point (all 10MB of it). You might want to get a large xD card (fortunately they are no longer expensive).
The camera has a 2.5-inch LCD screen and the control buttons on the rear panel are well-made and have good tactile response. The memory card door is also sturdy, yet easy to open and the same applies to the rubberized door that covers the USB, A/V and DC ports.
The camera has a built-in pop-up flash that pops up automatically when needed or when you select the forced-flash mode. There is no mechanical switch to make the flash pop up.
Operation The S6000 is a pleasure to use. Although it is larger than some of its competition, due to its non-extending lens, it is much faster than the competition in the startup and shutdown speed. Since the competitors like
Sony H2,
Canon S3 IS or
Panasonic FZ7 use designs where the lens extends on startup, whereas the S6000fd does not have to do that, the startup time of the S5200 is only 1 second, whereas the others have a startup time of several seconds.
I have to immediately state that if you want compact size when turned off, the S5200 might not be the best choice. But if you want a SLR-like startup and shutdown speed, this camera delivers. This kind of design also makes it easier to use filters (58mm) with no need in adapters of any kind (unlike the aforementioned competition). The camera even comes with a lens hood.
The camera is turned on by a switch in front of the handgrip. You can rotate it from its OFF position to the review or shooting mode. The shooting mode is selected by rotating the mode selection wheel/dial to one of the positions clearly marked on it: Auto, P (program), A (Aperture Priority), S (Shutter Priority), M (Manual), movie, landscape, portrait, SP and image stabilization mode (faster shutter speed at higher ISO).
The camera uses a lens cap that you have to remove by hand. It is attached to the camera body with a cord to prevent it from being lost. The lid is sturdy, protects the lens well and is easy to remove or place back.
The S6000's top deck also has buttons to control burst mode and set exposure compensation. The side next to the lens barrel has a switch between and manual focus or two auto focus modes (C and S).
LCD The camera has a 2.5-inch LCD screen and an electronic viewfinder (EVF). The LCD screen is fluid, well-visible in the dimly-lit environments (gains-up) and has good resolution (235,000 pixels). I was slightly disappointed by the EVF, however. It is slightly "grainy" with lower resolution than the LCD, but is still fluid.
Flash The flash is quite powerful for its size and works well. The recycle time is 5-7 seconds, depending on output.
Focusing The automatic focusing system works well, even in low light. It focuses in under a second at wide angle and I noticed that most of the time it does not even have to use its powerful green focus-assist light. In near-darkness, the light comes on for a brief moment and the camera still focuses in under a second.
At telephoto, however, the focusing in low light slows down substantially. At full telephoto, it may take up to 5-6 seconds for the camera to obtain focus. In good light, it focuses in under a second at either wide angle or telephoto.
The camera lets you select between auto focus, continuous auto focus and manual focus. I did not notice any improvement with continuous auto focus in comparison with regular auto focus, aside from possibly depleting battery faster. I would avoid using the C-AF (continuous auto focus) at all times.
The manual focus is much better-implemented than that of the S5200, although it is still not mechanical like in a dSLR.
The manual focus position of the switch lets you use the button in the middle of the switch to bring the center of the frame into focus. One surpise was that that this button worked when the standard autofocus failed. For example, I tried to focus on a dimly-lit object in my liiving room and it repeatedly failed to obtain focus. When I switched to manual focus and pushed the aforementioned button, it focused properly and instantaneously.
The camera magnifies the center of the frame when using manual focus and even shows you the direction you need to rotate the focus ring in to achieve the correct focus. And the cirle in the center of the frame becomes yellow to indicate that the focus is achieved.
Zooming The zooming is via a mechanical ring, which provides direct feel and fast operation. The ring has distance markings (28-300mm). Much better than the competition or the previous model.
Zoom Coverage and Optics The camera features 10.7x optical zoom with a range of 28-300 mm in 35-mm equivalent. The lens has a maximum aperture range of f/2.8-4.9. The zoom range is excellent and is on the wide side of the mega-zoom cameras. Keep in mind that not many cameras with high optical zoom go wider than 35mm, which makes this model unique. I really like its wide-angle coverage along with low noise at high ISO that let you use faster shutter speeds with no blur. Result: sharp photos at high zoom levels and/or in dim light.
Ease of Use The camera is rather easy to use in its automatic mode. You just point and shoot, the camera takes care of the rest. If you use the scene modes or manual modes, the parameter selection is also easy. In Manual mode, the camera shows you the exposure scale and you can figure out what parameters to set to make the photo well-exposed.
The camera menus are not difficult to use, but are not very intuitive in terms of icons. At least the most important menu is easy to use and easily accessible. The
F button on the back of the camera gives you instant access to the most important parameters: resolution mode, ISO and color mode.
Performance The camera features a fast startup because, unlike competition, it does not have to extend its lens. The startup is about 1 second, the shutdown is even faster at wide angle or several seconds at telephoto (but you do not have to wait for the camera to shut down, you can just place the lens cap on the lens barrel and put the camera away).
The focusing is faster than 1 second in good light at all focal lengths. It is fast (less than a second) at wide angle in dim light, slows down in dim light at telephoto (up to 5-6 seconds). Continuous auto-focusing (C-AF) does not improve the focusing speed noticeably.
The mechanically-linked zooming is precise and you feel like a pro rotating the ring around the lens. The speed of picture-taking is good. I was able to take photos at about one a second in single-frame mode. The camera also has several continuous/burst modes. In the continuous mode, the camera takes pictures at about one per second until the memory card is full (or you release the shutter release button).
Another burst mode lets you take 3 photos at about two photos per second. The auto bracketing mode also operates at 2 frames per second and takes three photos.
Battery Life I used 2300 mAh NiMH batteries and took about 170 photos with no low battery warning. The fact that the camera does not have to extend its lens and that you zoom manually seems to extend battery life comparing with other mega-zooms.
Connectivity I used the camera with a supplied USB cable to transfer photos to my computer. The camera has a USB 2.0 Hi-Speed port and the transfer rate was fast at about 2 MB per second. I did not have to install any drivers on my Windows 2000 SP4 computer.
Image Quality The camera features very good sharpness at most zoom levels. Most photos were sharp corner to corner. The photos have pleasing colors and good contrast. The exposure is generally accurate and the shadow and highlight detail is preserved well.
The chromatic aberration (purple fringing) is low, aside from corners of wide-angle photos. The noise levels are lower than average. The noise is very low up to ISO 200, but gets higher at ISO 800 and above with loss of detail. The photos are quite usable at up to ISO 200 for enlargements up to 13x19 inches. Photos at ISO 800 and higher may be used at 6x4 or 5x7. In fact, ISO 400 and 800 can be used for 11x14 prints.
Overall, I am very pleased with the quality of photos that the S6000 produces. The are sharp, have pleasing colors and look good when printed.
Face Detection The camera can detect faces and give them priority when focusing. The feature works well, although I find it of limited use to me.
Concerns The camera has no optical real image stabilization (OIS) and tries to compensate for it by using higher ISO settings, which may result in higher noise than that produced by its competitors with OIS, e.g.
Panasonic FZ7,
Canon S3 IS,
Sony H2. But since it does better than those cameras in terms of noise at any given ISO, this is not a big issue.
I am also not a big fan of cameras that use 4 AA batteries. I prefer either 2 AA batteries or a proprietary battery pack. But I am sure many people have no problem using 4 AA batteries. Also, cameras that use 2 AA batteries are slow at flash recycling. Canon S3 also uses 4 AA batteries.
Bottom Line I am very impressed with the Fuji S6000fd. It has excellent build quality, ergonomics, performance and it even looks good. It has unique features like wide angle optics, mechanical zoom, low noise and high sensitivity. The result is ease of use and sharp, pleasing pictures, even at high zoom levels. I highly recommend it.
