Viewfinder

The SD9's viewfinder was bright and clear with a hard rubber eyepiece and a dioptre adjustment slider running along the top. Focus screen matting seems to be sufficient for manual focus.

Viewfinder view

When you first start using the SD9 it will take a few frames to get used to the 'Sports Finder' where you can actually see outside the captured frame. The area outside of the captured frame is shaded grey and has horizontal and vertical line markers (useful for getting horizons straight). The center AF area and AF frame are marked on the focusing screen. Below the main frame view is the LCD status bar.

The viewfinder LCD status bar relays some of the information provided on the top LCD information panel as well as having indicators for flash and auto focus lock / manual focus accuracy.

Batteries / Compartments

Similar to the Fujifilm S1 / S2 Pro the SD9 requires two sets of batteries (showing its film camera roots). The first set of batteries are two CR-123A* type Lithium's which fit into the base of the hand grip, these provide power to the photographic side of the camera (AF, AE, Focus motor, indicators). In the base of the camera is a tray of either four AA batteries or two CR-V3* Lithium batteries. I personally would like to have seen a single Lithium-Ion battery solution.

* These Lithium batteries are not rechargeable.

Compact Flash Compartment

The SD9's Compact Flash compartment is mounted in the side of the hand grip, the compartment door is opened by sliding a small release lever on the back side of the grip (the door springs open on its own). The SD9 accepts either Type I or Type II Compact Flash cards and fully supports the IBM Microdrive.

If you accidentally open the Compact Flash compartment while the camera is powered on or is still writing buffered images to the card a warning message will be displayed on the LCD monitor.

Connections

On the left side of the camera is a large rubber cover behind which you will find all of the SD9's connectors. From top to bottom: IEEE 1394 (Firewire) port (cable supplied), USB port(cable supplied), Video Out terminal(cable supplied), DC-IN power connector (SAC-1 AC Adapter supplied). Kudos to Sigma for including a Firewire port, this should deliver faster transfer of those large X3F files.