Fujifilm FinePix S9000?

On 2 Jun 2006 23:43:52 -0700, lorento wrote:

>> I'm thinking about getting the Fujifilm FinePix S9000. Anybody have any
>> experience with this camera?
>
> Pros :
> - very good photo qualty
> - good high ISO performance
> - can take sharp pictures

I have the smaller S5100 and it can focus manually, but it's
usually not worth the effort. The S9000's manual focusing is much
better. Easier, faster, more accurate.


> cons :
> - memory card too tiny
> - its like SLR like but its not SLR camera
> - software package not good enough

Fat fingered photogs that don't care for xD cards can use CF cards
in the S9000 if they wish. At least I assume that they can since
the previous version, the S7000 has that capability.
 >> Stay informed about: Fujifilm FinePix S9000? 

Had one (9500 which is a 9000 outside the USA) about a month now.
Taken about 800 pics. Only use the flash very ocasionally. It does have a
connection for a generic flash gun and also a sychronising cord connection.

Like:
(1) Lens zoom range especially the 28mm (equivalent) wide angle.
(2) SLR feel - Previous have owned film slrs from Pentax SV through to
Cannon EOS 1000.
(3) Viewfinder dioptre adjustment. Good for us old guys with glasses.
(4) Full range of exposure controls etc from Auto to full Manual.
(6) Manual zoom.
(7) Battery life and the fact it takes AA cells. I don't use the rear screen
very often.
( It has a threaded cable release socket.
(9) Picture quality - I mainly use 9MP fine.
(10) Two memory card slots. Good for travelling.

Don't like.
(1) Incredibly dificult to focus when taking outdoor night time shots also
there is no indication of focus distance.
(2) Poor bundled software especially for handling RAW files.
(3) Self timer resets after a pic is taken (only when I forget to take my
cable release when taking nightime pics)
(4) Noise levels at ISO 800 & 1600. Only use these when absolutely
necessary).
(5) The supplied Memory card is totaly inadequate and it shoulsd come with
rechargable batteries.

One thing about a large MP camera. If travelling you need a lot of storage -
We are planning on going overseas for 6 weeks and I am still figuring out
how to handle the storage. Don't want to load ourselves up with even more
electronic devices to keep charged and to have to worry about security. Will
probably just take a whole pile of 1 & 2GB cards.

Hope this helps.
Richard




<john.valceanu RemoveThis @gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1149287293.891188.173890@h76g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> I'm thinking about getting the Fujifilm FinePix S9000. Anybody have any
> experience with this camera?
>
> I'm particularly interested in how sharp the lens is, especially at the
> long and short ends. Also, how well does the built-in flash work, and
> does anyone have any recommendations for an accessory flash?
>
> Thanks,
> John Valceanu
>
 >> Stay informed about: Fujifilm FinePix S9000? 

<john.valceanu.TakeThisOut@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1149287293.891188.173890@h76g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> I'm thinking about getting the Fujifilm FinePix S9000. Anybody have any
> experience with this camera?
>
> I'm particularly interested in how sharp the lens is, especially at the
> long and short ends. Also, how well does the built-in flash work, and
> does anyone have any recommendations for an accessory flash?
>
> Thanks,
> John Valceanu
>

My wife uses one of these (actually, it's the 9500 in Europe) and it's an
excellent camera, although it still has the obvious limitations of a
non-DSLR. Colours are superb (sometimes better out-of-camera than my Canon
1DMkIIN), pictures are very sharp and it has an impressive range of
features. It's also very nice to hold and use. It performs well at both long
and short range (my wife gets some very good macro shots with it).

It does have limitations though - for me noise is the main one. Above ISO
400 I find noise levels are unacceptably high (although for a non-DSLR they
probably aren't that bad) and we use Noise Ninja in Photoshop to do a bit of
cleaning up. Another problem (again, related to this being a non-DSLR) is
low-light shooting. I also find it's hard to take shots with a shallow depth
of field (portraits etc.) Finally, I don't like the menu system much - but
that's probably because I'm used to Canon cameras. If you're an existing
Fuji user (or a newcomer who's not been "programmed" into a particular
manufacturer's design) then it probably won't be an issue.

I don't have any accessory flash recommendations as my wife uses the inbuilt
one - which works as well as can be expected but has a very short range.

One final thing to bear in mind if you're planning on shooting RAW - many
converters don't support Fuji RAW files so if you don't have the latest
Adobe converter you're going to have a problem.

Overall, I would say this is one of the top non-DSLR's out there and it
would be my recommendation to anybody considering buying a camera in this
class.

Hope that helps!
 >> Stay informed about: Fujifilm FinePix S9000? 

On Sat, 03 Jun 2006 19:12:03 GMT, Monkee wrote:

> In addition to what others have said (pros and cons)
>
> If you're interested in Zoom - this camera has no image stabilisation, it
> gets around this by increasing iso settings, but this is not as good as
> real stabilisation.

Not so. If two cameras are identical, other than one having IS,
then the IS camera has the advantage, because if the other tries to
reduce camera movement by using 2 or 3 stops worth of higher ISO, it
does so at the expense of increased noise. But consider if the
non-IS camera used a more sensitive sensor able to use the higher
ISOs without added noise. It wouldn't cancel out the advantage of
the camera using IS, but would be better. This is because the
camera using IS does so by being able to use a slower shutter speed.
Both cameras would have roughly the same reduction of blurring due
to reduced camera movement. But the camera using IS would have more
blurring due to subject movement since the other camera's use of a
higher ISO would allow it to have a faster shutter speed.

Having both IS and a better sensor is the ideal, and it would be
great if Fuji came out with an F50 having not only the sensor of the
F10/F11 but IS as well. If a camera's sensor was only slightly
improved, having the same noise at ISO 400 or 600 that most similar
cameras have at ISO 200, then while it would stop subject movement
better than a similar camera with IS and the less sensitive sensor
that needs to be used at ISO 200, the camera with IS would produce
more blur-free shots if only camera movement needs to be dealt with.
 >> Stay informed about: Fujifilm FinePix S9000? 

On Fri, 02 Jun 2006 23:28:13 +0100, john.valceanu.TakeThisOut@gmail.com
<john.valceanu.TakeThisOut@gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm thinking about getting the Fujifilm FinePix S9000. Anybody have any
> experience with this camera?
>
> I'm particularly interested in how sharp the lens is, especially at the
> long and short ends. Also, how well does the built-in flash work, and
> does anyone have any recommendations for an accessory flash?
>
> Thanks,
> John Valceanu
>

In addition to what others have said (pros and cons)

If you're interested in Zoom - this camera has no image stabilisation, it
gets around this by increasing iso settings, but this is not as good as
real stabilisation.


--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/
 >> Stay informed about: Fujifilm FinePix S9000? 

Mike wrote:
>
> One final thing to bear in mind if you're planning on shooting RAW - many
> converters don't support Fuji RAW files so if you don't have the latest
> Adobe converter you're going to have a problem.
>

is that so?
xD isnt supported by anyone besides Fuji and Olympus either.
The only advantage it would seem to have over the Lumix FZ-30
is it uses AA, has 9mp, and a bigger sensor;however, it has a
smaller lens(by 120mm).
 >> Stay informed about: Fujifilm FinePix S9000? 

On 17 Jun 2006 19:33:47 -0700, Mr.Bolshoyhuy wrote:

>> One final thing to bear in mind if you're planning on shooting RAW - many
>> converters don't support Fuji RAW files so if you don't have the latest
>> Adobe converter you're going to have a problem.
>
> is that so?
> xD isnt supported by anyone besides Fuji and Olympus either.
> The only advantage it would seem to have over the Lumix FZ-30
> is it uses AA, has 9mp, and a bigger sensor;however, it has a
> smaller lens(by 120mm).

Uhh, so eliminate the xD disadvantage by using a CF card in the
S9000 (as if that would make any difference). The S9000 has some
other advantages over the FZ-30 (if that's the model dpreview's
S9000 review compared it to). One being higher usable ISO, and
cleaner, lower noise at the lower 400 ISO. But its lens was found
to be not quite as good as the one on the Lumix.
 >> Stay informed about: Fujifilm FinePix S9000? 

Mike wrote:
[snip]
> One final thing to bear in mind if you're planning on shooting RAW - many
> converters don't support Fuji RAW files so if you don't have the latest
> Adobe converter you're going to have a problem.
[snip]

There is one option that may sometimes be useful. There are products
that support images in Linear DNG format when they don't do so via the
native raws. (You can converter to Linear DNG as a non-default option
in Adobe's DNG Converter).

For example, Silkypix will open Linear DNG files from (at least) S2 Pro
& S9500. I don't know all the products that can do this.
http://www.barry.pearson.name/articles/dng/dng_not_native.htm

The downside, of course, is that the demosaicing is done in the DNG
Converter itself, which uses ACR's code. But other features of (say)
Silkypix may be prefered to ACR.

--
Barry Pearson
http://www.barry.pearson.name/photography/
 >> Stay informed about: Fujifilm FinePix S9000? 

Hi,
Here are some photos taken at various focal lengths at ~F5 ... The original
RAW files are aviable for download (in Zip format.)
Hope these help.
Richard

http://www.poseruniverse.net/Photography/9500/9500_ZR1.html



<john.valceanu.TakeThisOut@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1149287293.891188.173890@h76g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> I'm thinking about getting the Fujifilm FinePix S9000. Anybody have any
> experience with this camera?
>
> I'm particularly interested in how sharp the lens is, especially at the
> long and short ends. Also, how well does the built-in flash work, and
> does anyone have any recommendations for an accessory flash?
>
> Thanks,
> John Valceanu
>
 >> Stay informed about: Fujifilm FinePix S9000?