Fujifilm FinePix F100fd

Opinion: Je ne compte plus les apn que j'ai achetez mais en
tous cas je note la progression toujours constante de la
qualité ce qui n'ai pas évident pour toutes les marques.
Certes on peut estimer que le F30/31 est un poil
meilleur dans les iso mais il reste que c'est un 6 mp
avec une focale moyenne. Ici on dispose d'un 12Mp et
d'un zoom 5 qui démarre à 28 mm. Je constate
d'ailleurs qu'il est vraiment bon. Les défauts d'
abérrations chromatiques ont pratiquement disparus et
ce talon d'Achile de Fuji est oublié. La netteté est
superbe pour un compact. La balance des blancs est
aussi nettement plus belle et équilibrée que sur les
anciens modèles. La montée en iso procure une qualité
supérieure sans conteste mais seulement d'une valeur.
pourtant en sous-exposition les zones sombres seront
toujours bien meilleures que sur d'autres compacts et il
est possible d'améliorer la dynamique par conséquence.
Travailler à 200 iso comme valeur de base avec
dr200/auto est ce que je recommande.
Fuji dispose donc de tous les outils pour fabriquer un
apn compact de référence comme le g11 de canon
alors pourquoi ne le fait-il pas ? Les bridges Fuji sont
certes très bien mais trop en concurrence avec les
reflex donc voués à l'échec.

Opinion: I've had a lot of experience with DSLRs, but this is my first P&S since the Nikon Coolpix 995, which I loved. This camera shows that P&S's have come a long way. I like the big file, and the wide angle zoom. The file is large enough to allow considerable cropping. Anti-shake seems to work well. Very easy camera to use. Nice, bright screen, although I miss my old 995's optical finder. F100 has very solid build, useful features, although there are times I'd like to override the settings, and do it myself, so I miss the A, S, and M settings. Image quality is okay, but certainly not up to DSLR standards in low light or high ISO. The extensive automation is mostly very reliable, in spite of a few autofocus misses. I do like being able to carry a camera in my pocket. With the Coolpix, it had to be a very large pocket.

Opinion: I was happy with my F10 camera and I upgrated to the F100fd thinking it will be
better : a nightmare.
The zoom key stupidely based at front, the battery to remove for recharging, no
possibility to use connected on power, ridiculus autonomy, mode change amazingely
stupid and difficult to use, slow power on and capture, and so one.
BUT at last, 100 ISO maxi or it is just noise.
I'M SO DISAPOINTED. I hate this camera.

Opinion: I needed a small P&S camera when I can't take my dslr. I chose this because of it's wide angle and 5x zoom as well as the excellent reviews and prior experience with Fujifilm cameras. While it's not a fantastic as my Nikon D90, it is very close and as good as I can expect from a P&S. I checked other P&S cameras from Nikon and Canon and this camera is far superior.

Opinion: I mainly use a digital SLR (Olympus E520) but wanted something smaller, with good image quality, for times when a DSLR isn't practical or just to keep with me "in case". I researched quite a lot and this had good reviews. I have had a Fuji compact before but wanted something a little more special as we are going on a cruise later in the year. I used to have an Olympus C70Z which had superb image quality but some colour balance issues. So, I thought, the Fuji F100fd was the one. My initial "out of the box" usage on Auto setting was extremely variable. Macro shots indoors showed this had a good lens but outdoors in mixed light it was inconsistent. Some of the images were so soft that I thought the camera was faulty and i took it back and swapped it. My conclusions now are that in good light and at ISO100 it gives good crisp images, some of which are excellent. At ISO400 or above or seemingly anything on Auto or Landscape settings are very average and unsatisfactory for a camera of this spec and price. I admit that I have not used all the scene settings but I don't think I want to. I do like the "chrome" setting which gives very good colour saturation. Menus are fussy and some of the options just won't be used or needed. Yes it is feature packed but there are too many options that are superfluous and controls are fiddly. All in all, and with the benefit of hindsight, I would not buy this camera for use at anything other than ISO100. Stick to that and you will get good results but there are better cameras for the price out there. That said, it is what it is and perhaps I am expecting too much from a compact. But my old Olympus C70Z beats this into a cocked hat.

Opinion: This Camera must be used only at 100 ISO.
Shoot at ISO 400 or in auto mode in dim light, crop the image and you will have a watercolor!
In standard mode colors are muffled, and sometime there is a cyan dominant.

Opinion: Good build Quality
Image quality outstanding.
Easy to use
Few possibilities of manual adjustments

Opinion: I waited for ages before I bought this camera having read so many negative views when it first came out. (It turned out mostly from people who hadn't actually used one). I finally bought it on a whim when I happened to be in Jessops buying paper and their price on it was quite good. I have had it for a week now and taken about 500 shots on it and I like it better and better. It's lighter and slimmer than it's predecessors and so slips into my smallest handbag easily and is thus with me! I love having a wider and longer lens and the shake reduction really extends its range. I rarely use flash and keep the settings usually on the so-called Manual setting with the ISO at AUTO(400) toggling the face recognition on and off as necessary. There is more barrel distortion than I would like but if it matters I can sort it out in Photoshop and the noise is really very minimal (at least up to 400ISO - I haven't experimented much further). I would love to have more options in the manual setting, particularly aperture or shutter priority, but in practice the way I use this camera rarely leaves me time for special settings and focus lock works well.
On the downside the controls are rather twitchy and I find in particular that I often mistake the Face Rcognition and ISO buttons for zoom and wide but guess I will get used to that. The image quality is well worth any niggles and in anything over 100ISO hugely better than image quality from my Panasonic DMC-LX2, so makes this a really viable alternative to carryig a DSLR with me.
I have some examples on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/marielou/3241359228/in/set-72157600024009042/
but not showing 1:1 detail I'm afraid.

Opinion: Pictures are outstanding, but Fuji still have a lot to learn about almost everything else.

Here are the good points:
Good construction quality, albeit let down by that dodgy styling.
Great image quality, plenty of detail and very low noise. It might even be as good as a Panasonic LS3, for half the money.
Lens is excellent, sharp throughout the zoom range with almost no chromatic aberation.
Excellent zoom range for such a small camera.
Image stabiliser works well.
Face detection works well and is a function not a feature.

On the negative side:
It is an ugly little camera, pincushion styling is stupid.
Lack of manual control. I mean SERIOUS lack of manual control even compared with much cheaper entry-level cameras form other manufacturers.
Quick menu has some absurb things on it, like power management and Fuji's unnecessary film emulation modes but NOT what you need, like exposure compensation!
Very limited control of ISO, and no control in scene modes.
No histogram.
Poor battery life.

Overall: Cracking images make up for its other shortfalls.
The final test: If it was stolen today, would I buy another one tomorrow: YES! Definitely.