Fujifilm FinePix S7000 Zoom

Opinion: I've had this for two years and it was probably two years old when I bought it, as a re-introduction to digital photography a bit better than the P&S I was using before. I was impressed by its ease of use and the very high quality pics it was capable of producing. I supplemented it with an Olympus TCON 1.7 to give a useful extension to the zoom length, via a stepping ring.
Now it stays permanently in the vehicle as a standby camera as I have confidence in its ability to accurately record anything I happen to see on a trip where I don't have my other cameras with me. A big benefit is its use of AAs, no worrying about whether its battery is charged, it's dead easy to always have a spare set of charged AAs as they're so commonly used for other appliances.
I now tend to use this as a quick and dirty video camera, finding the VGA res video perfectly adequate for playback on a TV screen and 15mins /GB isn't too bad, especially with the low price of memory now.

Opinion: I have been using my S7000 for 4 or 5 years now. It has been an excellent choice for my camera needs. I have been able to produce very nice images in most situations. It also has many functions that enable me to capture great images in those situations that aren't so normal. It's low light capabilities have been astounding. I have taken sunrise and sunset shots, without the use of a tripod, and have gotten very good results. I have used the Macro modes with great results also. It has been a great tool for my beginning to the world of digital photography. Another plus to this camera is it's capability to produce pretty good video. It's use of AA batteries is a very good feature. With the advent of the new high capacity recharable batteries it is even a better feature. If you're thinking about moving up from a compact point and shoot camera and looking to advance into the DSLR world, this camera is a great stepping stone. It's point and shoot capabilites are very good and it has many features of the DSLR cameras.

Opinion: Bought the camera not long after it came out and have been happy with it ever since, I have thought about upgrading but I keep deciding to stick with old faithfull. It is well made, robust, nicely designed, easy to use and produces excellent images

Opinion: I think I bought the last one in Sydney in mid 2005, following owning a 6900 for 4 year. I had two specific requirements for a camera - firstly that it took AA batteries (invaluable if you are stuck with flat proprietary batteries in the middle of nowhere, and soured by my experience with the 6900's poor battery life and expensive NP80 batteries), and secondly that it would accept a barrel and filter to protect dust getting into the zoom mechanism. I am often in less than ideal conditions fro cameras, and this is vital. A have a colleague who used one without this protection, and the mechanism did fail. I have had no problems with the camera, find it easy to use and the picture quality is great. Hopefully it will last me a long time - from looking at them and reading reviews it appears the later models in this line are not as good.

Opinion: I have used my s7000 for 4 years and I enjoyed it's quality and features. When buying the s7000 I carefully researched the field and decided to go with the digicam over the SLR field, which at time was much narrower.

I found that I never appreciated it enough until I recently purchased a D80 Nikon with 18-200 VR lens. I found that digicam is loaded with many of the features. The contained zoom feature means no lens changing. Compact and easy to use, it works as a point-and-shoot camera, but you will soon be delving into the world of creative photogaphy.

I strongly recommend this camera as an alternative to SLRs if price is an issue. The contained zoom feature means no lens changing. I am now using it as a second camera and will keep it close at hand.

Opinion: I bought this camera 2nd hand online. I love it to bits! Just upgraded to a dSLR, but I love this camera too much to sell it. It's been with me thru almost all kinds of weather. Cold, damp, sandy, blazing hot... It's great!

It takes excellent shots and is packed full of wonderful functions. I love it...

-dan-

Opinion: i am by no means an expert with a camera but i have had the s7000 12 months now and can tell you it is a fantastic camera i nearly moved up to the samsung 815 a few weeks ago but that was just because of the bigger zoom and lcd to be honest it would have been hard to part with my 7000 it is well built if you are thinking of buying one go for it

Opinion: Bought one when they first came out ,what a top camera ,Buy one you
won't regret it !

Opinion: This camera is a good solid camera, capable of exceptional photos in good light. It is absolutely packed with features that will get many people on the road to SLR land, because as you learn to use all it's bits and pieces, it leaves you wanting more.

The 55 mm thread enables you to attach extra lenses, both wide angle and telephoto (you will need the latter) and being an earlier Fuji design, the menu system is fairly simple. The nested menu system of the S5600 and F10 had not been introduced with this 2003-launched camera. The earlier Fuji design means that although digital zoom is only available at lower resolutions, it does not use interpolation (rather a hardware cropping method) and there is no loss of image quality when used.

The big bonus is the programmability of the camera and shutter and aperture can be manipulated to your heart's content. More basic settings enable the novice to also use this camera and progress to more complex features as they learn how to use the S7000.

First 5 and Last 5 rapid fire multiple frames are available also at any resolution and a 40 frame repeat is availableat 3 megapixels and lower. One criticism of later Fuji designs (S5500 and S5600) is that this was reduced to first 3 and last 3.