The gazillion buttons studding the surfaces of the FinePix S9500 are a tip-off that that Fuji has stuffed this camera full of interesting features. The 28mm-to-300mm zoom garners a lot of attention: it's relatively fast (f/2.8 at wide-angle and f/4.9 when cranked all the way out to telephoto) and compact, and it focuses down to 10mm with the Super Macro option or 100mm in regular Macro mode. Shutter speeds range from 30 seconds to 1/4,000 second, with EV adjustments of plus or minus 2EV in 1/3EV increments. You can set the sensitivity between ISO 80 and ISO 1,600. Although the Anti-Blur mode sounds like image stabilisation, it actually programs the camera to boost ISO at slow shutter speeds. In practice, this can result in steadier shots, but you compromise by increasing noise.
The four AA batteries that power the S9500 provide enough juice for the beefy internal electronic-flash unit, which is good out to 5.6m with ISO set to Auto. The flash has the usual red-eye, on, off and slow-sync settings (for coupling the speed light with ambient light for better-lit backgrounds) and enough spread to evenly illuminate scenes with the lens in the 28mm wide-angle position.
Although burst mode captures only 4 frames, you can either capture the first 4 frames after you press the shutter button, or you can hold down the release for up to 40 frames, saving only the last 4 to your memory card. This can be useful when you're not sure exactly when the peak action will occur. With the camera set to Auto or any of the scene modes, you can snap up to 40 frames continuously at intervals of 1.1 frames per second.
Performance
The Fujifilm FinePix S9500 Zoom scored decent to high marks on every performance test and you can tweak it to do even better. Shutter lag is pretty good at 0.5 seconds under contrasty illumination and average at 0.9 seconds under more challenging low-contrast lighting. The green focus-assist lamp helps by casting a contrast-enhancing pattern on the subject when the lights are low. However, switching to the optional High Speed Shooting mode sets an all-purpose focus distance, and taking the autofocus system out of the equation cuts shutter lag to 0.4 seconds or less.
Waking the camera up from a deep slumber took only 1.6 seconds, and we were able to snap shots every 1.7 seconds thereafter. With flash, however, per-shot intervals stretched to more than 5 seconds. When shooting in raw format, be prepared to wait 18 seconds between shots. The S9500 squeezed out only four shots in burst mode but captured a hair over two shots per second when shooting at full resolution or in 640x480-pixel VGA mode.
The electronic viewfinder shows 100 per cent of the field of view and can refresh at a frisky 60fps, but it's still coarse and dimmer than the best dSLR optical viewfinders. Also, like all LCDs that double as information displays, it can become annoyingly cluttered when everything you want to know is on view.
Shooting performance in seconds
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
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Shutter lag (bright) | |
Shutter lag (dim) |
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828
0.3
0.7
Konica Minolta Dimage A2
0.4
0.6
Fujifilm FinePix S9500
0.5
0.9
Olympus Camedia C-8080 Wide Zoom
0.6
1.6
Konica Minolta Dimage A200
0.8
1.5
Canon PowerShot Pro1
1.1
1.9
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User reviews3
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Martin Jones 21 November 2006
Good: Macro pictures are stunning
Bad: Not much really
Comment: Great choice for returning to SLRs or trying them out for the first time.
Being able to control how you take a picture is a relief - just like the old days!
Pieter Eksteen 9 October 2006
Good: Optical zoom, rapid startup, ease of use
Bad: Bulk
Comment: An excellent alternative to one of the digital SLRs. Most of the functionality at half the price. Built-in zoom lens meets 95 per cent of requirements plus it ensures that no dust gets onto a filter. I have not experienced any issues with image quality except in manual mode, where it is easy to stretch beyond the capabilities of the sensor.
Ryan Morrison 10 June 2006
Good: The brilliant 28-300mm lens and ISO range of 80-1600
Bad: JPEG compression (not bad if you shoot in raw) and noise levels
Comment: A first class point and shoot camera with all the basic features of a dSLR but without the stress of having to change lenses.
The 28-300mm lens is much better than the one that comes with often more expensive dSLR cameras and the ISO range (for someone who takes photos for work in conditions ranging from an outdoor festival in the summer to a dodgy backstreet club) better than even some high-end dSLRs.
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