The Fuji Finepix S8000 is an 8 megapixels digital camera. Its main attraction is the extra long 18x optical zoom lens. This is the longest lens you can find on a consumer digital camera at this moment in time. The long lens is ideal for zooming right in on any subject, but it is likely to be especially useful for wildlife and sports photography. The Finepix S8000 also comes with other more typical features such as image stabilisation and face detection focusing.
Image Quality Fuji Finepix S8000 test shots
Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom)
I am quite happy with this photo. There is enough colour and light to produce a pleasant, bright image. Focusing is good. With only a small percentage of the zoom being used sharpness is good throughout the photo. There is the inevitable sun glare produced at this time of the year, but the camera handles this problem as well as it can be expected to.
Outdoor 2 (No Zoom)
This is also a bright photo, with plenty of colour in the sky. Considering the fact that this is a wide angle lens the Finepix S8000 does well to keep the photo as sharp as it does as you move towards the edges of the shot.
Outdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom)
Purple fringing is a problem that more or less every super zoom camera faces. This is where a thin purple line is added to the edge of bright objects when light strikes them. In my tests the amount of purple fringing is quite pronounced when the zoom lens is used to its full capacity. This problem can be tidied up with packages such as Photoshop, but if you are not planning to do that then it could be a problem for you. Focusing also slips away as you move away from the centre of the scene.
Outdoor Portrait
This shot works well. The colours suit my own personal taste. I used the shade white balance setting to give the colours a boost and what I like is the fact that they still look natural.
Indoor Portrait with Flash
I am really happy with the clarity of this shot. The Finepix S8000 is some way above average when it comes to this test. The flash unit is quite strong, but it manages to retain plenty of colour. With the flash popping up the chances of red eye are radically reduced. The chances of red eye are further reduced as Fuji have also built in some special processing that attempts to identify any red eye and then remove it automatically.
Lowlight Portrait without Flash
This is a relatively new test. The Finepix S8000 is the first camera I have tested to produce a shot of suitable quality. It is able to offer a true choice when the light begins to dip between natural light portraits and using flash.
Colours
I really like the colours this camera has produced throughout my test shots. Some cameras tend to lose some of the power from the colours when the zoom lens is in use. Even when using the full 18x zoom the Finepix S8000 produced photos full of colour.
Macro
For close up shots the Finepix S8000 has a super macro mode. This allows you to get in as close as 1cm from the subject. The camera manages to produce a sharp and clear close up shot.
ISO 400
This is a good effort. Many cameras struggle as soon as the ISO levels are raised. There are some signs of noise at this level, but overall the photo is much better than standard and you should be able to use this setting to take better photos when the light is becoming low. You may need some practice to get to know the limitations the camera has first.
ISO 1600
At ISO 1600 there is a lot of noise creeping into the shot and therefore definition is lost. Even so it is a better attempt than many cameras manage and the colours are not affected in the way that they can be with other cameras.
Overall
Shutter Lag
A single photo took 0.46 seconds and five photos took 12.58 seconds. These are a little higher than I like to see. Better news is that turning the flash on made little difference to the times. Times with flash are 0.57 seconds for one photo and 14.82 seconds for five. These are good times.
You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.
Style: The camera looks like a small SLR camera with a grip on the front to help hold it steady. It has a black finish.
Dimensions: 111.3 x 78.2 x 78.9mm
Weight: 460g
Batteries: Four AA batteries are required. Fuji estimates you should be able to take around 200 shots in between charges.
Memory cards: A generous 58mb of storage have been built into the camera. This is more than you will usually find. I took 31 shots before the internal storage was full. The camera is compatible with both xD cards and SD cards.
Click here to save money on memory cards.
Ease of use rating: Good. Fuji digital cameras are quite easy to use. With the extra features this camera has it can take some extra time to really know your way around, but you can always revert to fully automatic settings if you need to.
Points I like:
Length of lens - build quality - colours - indoors
Where it could improve:
Purple fringing
Verdict:
It is hard to produce an 18x zoom lens. Fuji have done a good job though with the Finepix S8000. I am particularly impressed with my indoor results and I like the colour and brightness of the photos I have produced while testing the camera. It is relatively easy to use and feels good in the hand. Recommended.
Front View
Back View
Top View
Sample Menus
| Fuji Finepix S8000fd Summary |
| Description: | 8 megapixels and an 18x optical zoom lens |
| Ease of Use: | 8 |
| Features: | 8 |
| Colour: | 9 |
| Macro: | 8 |
| Indoors: | 9 |
| Value for Money: | 8 |
| Style: | 8 |
| Movie Mode: | 8 |
| Image Quality: | 8 |
| Build Quality: | 8 |
| Total: | 82 |
| Verdict: | I was impressed by the Fuji Finepix S8000. Picture quality was very good indeed and the 18x optical zoom is going to prove attractive to many people. It is also quite easy to use and is well worth a closer look. |
| Review Date: | November 2007 |
| Click for: | Specification Sample Images Features |
|
