Fujifilm FinePix S8100fd

The S8100fd (a minor update to the S8000fd) is the latest in Fujifilm's second-tier of SLR-like cameras, sitting below the fully-featured S100FS, but above the S1000fd and S2000HD. The S8100fd has fewer direct control buttons than its more expensive sibling, but offers a more expansive (and more useful) lens range than the less expensive S2000HD (although it doesn't offer that model's HD video capability).

Like all FujiFilm's recent long-zoom cameras, the S1800fd offers what the company describes as 'Dual Image Stabilization,' which is a combination of CCD-shift image stabilization and the use of high sensitivity (ISO) settings to keep the shutter speed up to further reduce image blur. Image quality is decent enough in good light, though in truth there's little to choose between this camera and it's various very similar competitors and ultimately the S8100fd is a camera that is defined more by what it doesn't do wrong than by what it does particularly well.