Product Reviews

Fujifilm's FinePix S9500 Zoom has a 9 megapixel resolution and a long, 10.7x optical zoom. It may be an all-in-one camera, but its design and feature set suggests Fujifilm is squarely aiming it at those considering a budget digital SLR. Its sealed body means you can't swap lenses like you can with a digital SLR, but, then, you don't have to worry about dust getting on the sensor.

The most impressive feature of the S9500 is its Fujinon lens, which has an equivalent optical range of 28-300mm with a bright optical ratio of f2.8~4.9. Operated via a tactile mechanical zoom ring, this offers respectable wide-angle coverage all the way to long telephoto.

You focus manually via an electrically assisted ring on the lens barrel. The camera will focus as close as 1cm in super macro mode, but it's almost impossible not to cast shadows on the subject at such close proximity. Pulling back a little can deliver great results, though.

Having a 300mm equivalent focal length lens is all very well, but it greatly increases the risk of camera shake. Several manufacturers of long-zoom cameras have countered this risk with optical image stabilisation, but Fujifilm's solution is simpler: it has increased the sensitivity so you can use faster shutter speeds instead.

While most cameras of this class rarely offer anything higher than 400 or 640 ISO sensitivities, the S9500 can stretch from 100 to 1600 ISO. This certainly allows for faster shutter speeds, but inevitably at the cost of increased electronic noise. In its favour, though, the use of fast shutter speeds will at least freeze the entire composition, whereas the slow shutter speeds often used with image-stabilised cameras may keep backgrounds sharp, but could result in subjects becoming blurred as they move.

Exposures run between 1/2000 of a second and 30 seconds, and there's also a movie mode that records decent-quality 640 x 480 pixel video at 30 frames per second. Shooting options include the usual auto, program, manual, shutter and aperture priority modes, along with five scene presets, while a modest burst mode can capture four frames at 1.5fps.

The S9500 employs

ADVERTISEMENT

a 9 megapixel Super CCD HR sensor that delivers 4:3 aspect ratio images with 3488 x 2616 pixels, which is enough for reproduction at around 12 x 9in at 300dpi. Unlike many earlier Super CCD sensors, this chip doesn't employ scaling to increase apparent resolution: the S9500's sensor natively features 9 megapixel resolution.

This camera offers six different resolutions. The top 9 megapixel mode can record with two Jpeg compression levels or as a Raw file. Best-quality Jpegs measure around 4.5MB each and the images can be stored on either xD or Compact Flash memory cards, including Microdrives. To get you started, the camera comes with a modest 16MB xD card.

Measuring 128 x 93 x 129mm, the S9500 is roughly the same size as the Canon EOS-350D. It's well-built and has a decent-sized grip that also houses the four AA batteries that power the camera, although it's only supplied with disposable alkalines, so you'll need to budget for a set of rechargeables.

The camera body is packed with buttons, although none of them are dedicated to direct white balance or ISO adjustments. On the upside, the shutter-release button is threaded for use with cheap cable releases and there's both a PC Sync port and hotshoe for an external flashes in addition to the pop-up flash.

You can compose shots using either an electronic viewfinder or a 1.8in colour screen that can be flipped out and tilted vertically, although not twisted sideways. The screen's smaller than many of today's competition, but at least there's options for a live histogram and a useful grid to help with lining up subjects.

The S9500 handles well, delivering nicely exposed images that resolve slightly more detail than the current crop of 6 and 8 megapixel digital SLRs, although not quite as much as Sony's 10.8 megapixel R1. Our greatest concern was that there would be electronic noise on the physically small sensor, but the S9500 delivered surprisingly clean results up to 400 ISO, with noise only really becoming apparent at 800 and 1600 ISO.

Overall, it's an excellent camera, although it has some tough competition from the likes of Sony's R1 and Panasonic's DMC-FZ30. The choice between them is greatly influenced by which zoom range you need.

As to fixed-lens cameras versus digital SLRs, there's more to weigh up. Digital SLRs offer removable lenses along with lower noise levels, easy manual focusing and normally superior continuous shooting. By contrast, while you may not be able to swap lenses on an all-in-one model, they usually boast longer zoom lenses, screen-based composition, movie modes and no risk of dust. Should you decide a fixed-lens camera is a better bet for your needs than a digital SLR, the S9500 is an excellent choice.