FujiFilm FinePix S9000 Zoom (FinePix S9500)

Opinion: I bought this camera as a back up for my S2Pro for professional shoots (weddings, etc.). I could not afford another SLR body, so there it is. I bought it specifically because it had a PC connector and I could therefore use all of my already owned equipment. At any rate, I found that the image quality, particularly up to 200 was very good, almost excellent, and certainly enough to meet my needs should the S2Pro fail (which it never has!). People pics up to 8X10 are excellent and 11X14 are very good, but not beyond that for my taste. The camera is well built enough (I am not ham-handed with my stuff) and I have never had problems with stuff breaking off (from any of my cameras). I shoot at least one event per week on the average. Probably 300-600 shots. (Sometimes more, but that would be the median range.) I use a Vivitar 285 HV and a portrait bracket that holds the flash above the lens. The results are excellent. Don't use the pop-up flash (except for MAYBE the occasional fill flash). Frankly I don't think I've evershot landscapes with this camera, simply because that's not what I bought it for.

Opinion: Image quality is bad, noise eminent, and shutter lag is unbearable. Compared to my previous Nikon 5400, the image results are not nowhere near. The high image size is only an eyewash. Features are great, and I was sold for the image size and wide to zoom range, but I am highly disappointed.

Opinion: We bought the camera in 2005 and have been using it all the time. We, both my wife and me, are very happy with the IQ from this camera. The features are good as a bridge to dslrs. This camera is very good for portraits only at good light conditions, but hopeless for landscapes. The in-built flash is a disaster. Whenever we use it for indoor photography, it tends to underexpose the frame. It is not a great camera, but it is a good camera considering the IQ from our unit. Maybe we are just lucky to have a very good one, since we have seen a lot users complaining about the iq from the very beginning when it was released.

Opinion: My 3rd digital camera. I am very happy with it. I mostly use it for fun pictures of friends and family, but also managed to make some money using it as a professional tool. I added an external flash, second hand Metz 32 Z-2.
If tilted upwards, the flash bounces off the ceiling and gives the best exposure. The command dial malfunction happened to my S9000 too, but it was fixed free of charge within the valid warranty. In my view even today it is one of the best bridge cameras.

Opinion: I've been using this camera for ~8 months and i am a little bit disappointed with my choice.

Good things that this camera has are:
* nice design
* ease of use
* many features (good if you are looking forward to buy a real SLR)

Several things that i don't like:
* terrible noise even at ISO 200 (i had a Canon A75 camera before and it produced better results)
* veeeerrryyy sloooow write speed even with fast CF cards (RAW file writing takes more than 10s)
* the cap for memory card slot is made from a very cheap plastic and can break of stop functioning if opened and closed too often
* where the hell is an image stabilizer? (don't forget to buy a tripod - you will need it at slower shutter speeds)
* maybe i'm wrong but it seems that the camera doesn't write the direction of a taken image in EXIF. So you'll have to rotate all images manually.
* looks like a cap that holds the batteries will break soon.
* usually the camera sets wrong white balance when using auto WB

In other words this camera or S9600 (the same hokey-pokey) will fit your needs if you don't have enough money to buy some low-end DSLR with a good lens and you want to enter the world of DSLR cameras.

Opinion: Best value for money camera, with all SLR features, lovely zoom lens, outdoor daylight shots can never be any better, A real MADE IN JAPAN camera, and it stands for its name
Good job Fuji

Opinion: I have had my Olympus C-8080 for a few years, with its pros and cons (amazing indoors, if you get the white balance right, and the Olympus flash is an excellent complement, while some other issues are not so good, like the complex menus and buttons - 21! - if you count all ways you can move the four way button as one each) and its less satisfactory behavior when used in backlight situations - the LCD is just worthless).

But I really wanted a longer zoom, and after some delibitating I decided to buy a Finepix S9500 (called S9000 in the US). I hoped that it would be a good complement to the C-8080, and that it really is.

Maybe not as good indoor and at night as the C-8080, but it shines in almost all respects: Easy menu system, excellent in daylight, backlighted, or not.

I also like that is uses ordinary AA cells, and not some special model that might soon go out of production.

Compared to the C-8080 the S9500 is typically a two-hand camera, while the C-8080 is easily handled with just your right hand.

As long as you set the white balance right it gives excellent results, especially in good lighting conditions, as increasing the ISO increases the noise a lot.

Again, compared to the C-8080 it has manual zoom, and twice the zoom range, much better than the Olympus's 5-position electric zoom. Both goes down to 28 mm, which is nice!

I got a Raynox DCR-2020PRO 2.2x focal length multiplier, that works perfectly with the Fuji, while it doesn't really work with the Olympus C-8080. Amzing to have 660 mm focal length at your disposal - it does restrict the zoom range to little more than zero, but I can live with that!

Opinion: Ottimo apparecchio, dalle funzioni complete ma non sempre accessibili con facilità. La qualità dell'immagine è senza dubbio notevole, grazie anche alle calde tonalità dell'obiettivo Fuji. Messa a fuoco e zoomata manuale, sensibilità fino a 1600ISO, completezza di tutto ciò che occorre, ne fanno certamente un oggetto appetibile. E' assemblata molto bene, anche se i materiali sono orribili. Display ruotabile (ma molto delicato). Buoni filmati a 30ftps.

Opinion: I bought this model following the failure of my previous Finepix 602 Pro zoom which decided to perform all manner of unpredictable functions including sudden close down only seconds after switch on sometimes triggered by touching one of the control switches. I would have bought another 602 had it been available but the only similar model at the time was the 9500. In fact I have found the camera to be more user-friendly for me as a widlife photographer until (just like the previous posting!) the aperture/shutter speed control wheel failed only two months after purchase! The camera was returned to Fuji who replaced it with a new camera as there was potentially a long delay in obtaining spare parts from Japan. I find that the 'noise' can be a bit of a problem especially if images are under-exposed (by choice).