FujiFilm FinePix S9000 Zoom (FinePix S9500)

Opinion: Having read the guidelines I realise that this opinion will need to be edited as I get more experience of the camera. However I have just bought this camera today Monday the 5th Sept and realise that others will want to know how it handles (as I did). So here are my first impressions after taking only about 100 pics. Firstly I can only compare this against the S7000 which I have just sold to buy this camera. The first thing is that the zoom is mechanical (no buttons to zoom in and out) this surprised me as on the s7000 you used the buttons. On the S9500 you turn the barrel. It takes a quarter turn to go from close up 28mm to telephoto 300mm. The body is more plastic than metal but feels good and warm to the touch. Buttons are very much like the s7000 but the main dial is a littel bigger and easier to use. On the dial which has the 'auto' setting the next position is the anti blurr setting which I have already used and it works and seems fine. I have downloaded about 100 pics and used the 9m normal setting. The pics look great, good colour and very clear with lots of room for cropping and still not grainy. I get the feeling that the extra £150 for the s9500 against the S7000 will be worth the money. You get very useful extra zoom. better definition and more options. By the way I'm a voluntary worker at a children's home in Tanzania East Africa and will use the camera for the charities website (pictures of the orphans - smiling faces!) and I also visit the serengeti and always want that extra bit of zoom (also useful taking action pics of kids playing games - football etc). The video feature will also be useful since no-one realises that a still camera can take movies. Will be back to edit this review when I return to the UK at the end of Sept having taken a few hundred pics.
By the way the pictures already on the website bethanyonline.org are mostly taken with the S7000 but will shortly be from the S9500

Opinion: Previously I wrote "I can't help but be hard on this camera because of the problem below."

Ok then I was still to used to the s602. I have since been surprised by capturing some pictures with the s9500 which I consider impressive quality. So I feel that I should mention this, for prospectrive buyers, as this in my opinion is a big camera plus for any camera, since we all desire great pictures.

I still don't like the usability very much, for many of the reasons mentioned by other reviewers. I especially hate the slow operation of all previewing. Here fuji has definitely gone backwards and I would really like to know why?

But, I do very much like this camera as an alternative to my SLR and big lenses for a compact all round package.

I do feel that this camera has lots of room for improvement in later models, but who knows what fuji will do next? This cameras announcement was a surprise, and it was another surprise when I received it and discovered it was not what I expected.

For some photographer styles this will be an excellent camera, for others it will be almost useless. I think thats a reason for all the varying opinions.

Opinion: Finally I've chosen S9500 instead of the Panasonic FZ30. Initially I was disappointed to find out that S9500 doesn't have anti-shake. However, after testing both cameras, I realise the quality of photos by S9500 is slightly better than that of FZ30 when having adequate lighting and both using ISO80. The anti-shake in panasonic makes it a better camera for indoor photos, but I usually take photos outdoor, or with tripod.
With the zoom range of S9500 starting from 28mm (35mm equivalent) I find it more useful than the zoom of FZ30 which starts at 35mm.
Another reason I prefer the S9500 is it takes AA batteries.

Image quality is not as good as I thought it would be when Fujifilm claims S9500 has quality of DSLR. The noise above ISO400 is really serious, and ISO1600 is just bad. However, with the price (bought in Hong Kong for about US$610) and the ease of use I think I'll wait another couple of years before I upgrade to DSLRs. Having upgraded from S602Z, I'm quite happy with the image quality produced.

(please check out my sample page for some photos I've taken in the last 3 days.
at my website mcheng.com: <font color="#FF9933">http://mcheng.com/photos/S9500test/index.html</font>

Sorry I've forgotten to set the camera to "fine". But I have just taken some photos of my bookshelf with both fine and normal settings for comparison)

Low-light focusing has improved a lot in this camera, and with focus-assist lamp this camera is much better than S602Z or S7000 with indoor use. I find the focus-assist light being too strong though. And I don't understand why Fujifilm chose green instead of white or red light.

The startup and response time is very fast. Under 1s for startup!

Some people (in this and also other forums) mentioned that the screen blanks black after each shot. I have not seen this happened unless I use long exposure (over 1s) which the camera seems to take some time to process the image. You might want to switch of the photo post-view function though if you need to have the camera ready for the next photo immediately. Generally this is a very quick camera.

The camera is solidly built and feels well-balanced in hand.

Opinion: My first digital was the Fuji 4900, then Fuji s602, then Olympus E20 then E1 and now I've added this as I was attracted to the compactness/lightness and the resolution.
The image quality is really really good. Fabulous sharp detailed A4s. Better than E1 by a margin. 1600 asa is VERY noisy. 400asa is fine 800 not bad.
The camera really is a souped up s602 with much better image quality, a fast startup etc and it doesn't have that awful motorised lens extension. People complain that viewfinder blacks out when flash charging but other Fujis do that as well.

There is one quality in this camera which I love and you do not get it in Digital SLRs and S602.

It shows you what the picture will look like BEFORE you shoot (as long as you're not using flash), as from the exposure point of view, what you see is what you get. I find this invaluable in a camera, and in fact why electronic viewfinder cameras are in one way superior to slrs. You can easily adjust the exposure to get what you want.

This camera does not have noiseless high ISO like some slrs, but it has a huge lens range of the usual Fuji high quality and has terrific image quality at lower ISOs, and has a built-in flash, as ALL cameras should have in my opinion, and it weighs nothing.
If that doesn't please you, then there's nothing will please you!

I'm delighted with this one, as you may gather!