Fujifilm FinePix S7000 6.3 MP Digital Camera w/ 6x Optical Zoom
See it at Amazon.com for $999.00Average Customer Rating
(5.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First (5 out of 5)Update after half a year's experience
Now that I've had the camera for several months its seems like a good time for an update, especially given some of the criticisms that have been leveled at the S7000.
The short answer is that I still love the camera, even though it's not perfect. The long answer deserves some explanation.
I have many years experience with 35mm film, but also many years experience with computers and computer graphics. Even today, film has capabilities that can't be matched with digital cameras, except possibly by cameras beyond the means of most people. On the other hand, digital photography has huge advantages in terms of immediate accessibility, cost per shot, electronic distribution, editing and enhancement, and the ability to control the printing process to get prints that look the way you want them to.
My initial path into digital photography was to buy a film scanner and scan 35mm slides, which in some ways still represents the best of both worlds. But it is a time consuming and expensive (on a per shot basis) approach. My move into digital cameras has occurred in two steps. The first was to replace my "little" 35mm camera with a compact digital camera. For recording events and snapshot photography digital cameras became the preferred approach several years ago, and I'm on my second generation compact digital camera. I love being able to go to a family gathering, then go home and do a quick sorting and editing of the pictures, dump them on the web, and e-mail out a URL so everyone can see them while the gathering is still fresh in their minds.
Replacing my 35mm SLR is a tougher problem, and one that hasn't been completely solved yet. The biggest issue I have is that the format of available digital sensors means that there are no really wide angle lenses available for reasonably priced digital SLRs. This, more than any other issue, keeps me from buying a digital SLR. I bought the S7000 as a way to get most of what my 35mm SLR does at a reasonable price, while retaining the 35mm SLR, the film in the refrigerator, and the film scanner as a backup until there is a digital SLR that comes close enough to my ultimate requirements that I'm willing to pay the extra money for it.
The S7000 is a remarkably capable camera for the price. The wide end of the zoom is restrictive for me, but I have an adaptor and a Raynox 0.66x lens that help. A fast 1GB compact flash card makes it easy to take a lot of pictures at essentially zero marginal cost. It is true that the lack of control over the compression is an occasional annoyance, but the compressed pictures usually come out very well.
Then there is the noise issue. There is no question that if you want to blow up the images and look for noise you will find it. For many shots it's not an issue, but for clear skies and a few other situations you can clearly see it. In most cases screen images and prints of modest size won't show unacceptable noise, but there are situations where it will be evident. Note that there are tools available to make the nose less apparent in images, and if you only occasionally make big enlargements they may solve the problem (if it is one) for you.
To continue on this issue, if I scan a slide from ten or more years ago I will generally get grain that is more evident than the noise in an S7000 image. Newer film, thanks to the intense rivalry between Kodak and Fuji in the 90s, has noticeably less grain, but it is still there. So it is all a matter of expectations. The S7000 can create images with noise no more evident than the film grain of days not long since past. Yes, for half again as much you can buy a camera with less noise, but is that a reason to criticize the performance of the S7000?
The S7000 can create marvelous images at a great price. It doesn't quite match the capabilities of a cameras that cost significantly more, but why should it?
I'm delighted with the S7000, and have taken a lot of pictures that I really like with it. I like being able to shoot hundreds of pictures without changing film. The battery draw bugs me a little, but the problem is not that I've ever had to stop while shooting to change batteries. The strange thing is that it draws down batteries while it is turned off, so I have to plan on inserting fresh batteries each day. But that's a small problem when you expect it.
I keep up on what's happening in the digital camera world, and I knew when I bought it that it was possible to buy a better camera at a higher price. But, as I alluded to above, I'm waiting for the digital SLR system that gives me everything I want before I make a big investment, and this camera offered pretty much everything available at its price point or even a step or two higher. The one competing camera that intrigues me is the Sony DSC-F828, which has a wider zoom and a four color CCD mask. But it not only costs half again as much, it weighs nearly twice as much as the S7000. So I still think the S7000 is the right camera for me at this time. That doesn't mean that it is the right camera for everyone. But when you compare its strengths and weaknesses it should be clear why many people love it even though, as some critics point out, it certainly isn't perfect. But it is a very capable and fun camera!
(5 out of 5)One of the better Prosumer Digicams
This camera evokes love/hate relationship based on the numerous reviews and comments from users. So the bottom line really is the picture quality.
Prior to owning this I had been an Nikon and Canon SLR user but like many, I also have to adapt to the current trend in using digicams. So before purchasing, I spent a whole month researching through the web, visited shops and get a feel of the current digicams on offer. In my quest for the best digicam for my needs, I have seen their output, held the camera itself and thoroughly inspected everything about them. Besides, Im spending U$600-700 so I really need the best for my needs. In those times, I have seen them all, and finally purchased the S7000.
What about S7000? I must say that the picture quality of this camera is best at 6mp native resolution. Although it is capable of taking 12MP interpolated photos, I would personally skip that because at that resolution it does become noticeable noisy. However, pictures taken at 6MP and below are by far the best amonth the current offerings. I have tested the Minolta Dimage A1, Nikon coolpix 5700, Sony F707 and the Canon and by far the Fuji have the best color saturation, more natural, vibrant and crisp photos among these cameras.
At U$650, you just cannot go wrong with the S7000. The other cameras mentioned here are even pricier and doesnt give all the extras that the Fuji can give.
Right now, I am having a blast taking photos with this baby witout worrying about film development cost. It is a great way to learn the ropes about photography espcially in manual mode because as long as you have the memory, you can practice your skills endlessly.
When I am done with it, I would like to upgrade to the Nikon D100 because despite the excellent features of s7000 it still is not perfect, but the s7000 is way ahead of the current Nikon, Canon, Minolta offerings at this price range.
(5 out of 5)A lot of camera for the price
I've only had this camera for a week now, but the "shake out cruise" at a local botanical garden left me anxious to get out and take more pictures with it. Even in 3 MP mode the images can handle significant enlargement, and my tests to date (partial frames printed on an Epson 2000P printer) suggest that the higher resolution modes will support at least 22.5x30" prints assuming you don't insist on pressing your nose against them to find fault with them. The super macro mode allowed very close up pictures of tiny flowers, and the "ISO 800" setting coupled with shutter priority mode allowed me to freeze the wings on a hummingbird. The electronic viewfinder works very well, and I like having a ring on the lens for zooming. I still haven't tried all the features, but I got a lot of decent pictures on the first time out. This is a digital camera that can do a lot of what I've done in the past with a 35mm SLR. (I shoot slides and scan them.) To be fair, it isn't perfect. I would have preferred the handgrip to be a little smaller, but I have small hands. I would have liked a 28mm equivalent short end on the zoom, but I have an adapter to give me that capability that I need to get out and try. More options on image compression would also have been nice, although it produces very good images given the level of compression it achieves. I do like the fact it runs on 4 AA batteries (but get high capacity NiMHs) and will take CF cards (preferably fast, high capacity ones). All in all, it's a lot of camera for the price.
(5 out of 5)Awsome photos
I had the chance to tinker with this camera and had it set to 12MP, Fine, and soft sharpness as suggested by one reviewer here. Started taking pictures mostly outside without the flash. I was so delighted with the shots that I had them developed at a local Kodak processing center. 5 A4 sizes and the rest in 6X4s. This is a native 6MP camera but the shots taken at 12 MP can rival a 9 or 10MP camera without paying extra. The printed photos were just amazingly clean of noise and artifacts.
I suggest getting a circular polarizer with it because it just brings out more vibrant color to your outdoor shots.
I am so thrilled with the performance that I have started buying accessories for it to really take advantage of all its features.
The accessories I bought are
1. Adapter ring (I suggest getting 55-55 not the suggested 55-52)I bought mine from cameragear.com because it is not availble from any stores in amazon.
2. Tiffen deluxe filter set (FL-D, Neutral Density, Warming Filter)
3. Tiffen circular polarizer
4. Vivitar 285HV Professional Flash (this one is highly recommended from pro to amateur users because of its price and features)I got mine from amazon as well.
All this accessories only cost me U$ 160.00 but it really brought out the best from the S7000.
For the price and feature set, nothing comes close to the s7000. It is the new king of prosumer digicams at the moment.
(5 out of 5)Enjoy the s7000!
The s7000 has the essential features I wanted : large 6 Mpixel sensor, dynamic range of light (no more white-outs!), excellent resolution and colors, value for money, 6x optical zoom, external flash hot shoe, standard AA batteries and compactFlash memory cards. The camera is very easy to operate, including with gloves. (tried it outside in winter!)
The image quality is great when using the best settings (12M pixels fine or RAW, ISO 200). The AUTO mode, the default sharpening, and the JPEG compressor for 1-3 MPixel images produce artefacts or boost sensor noise.
I just changed the rating of the camera from 4 to 5 stars after seeing what the raw format is capable of (not using Fuji's bundled software). Note that the s7000 is not a 12-MPixel camera: it has 6 MPixels. For a fair assessment of the s7000, use at raw files converted using a lossless format (e.g. TIFF) before magnifying the image at a 1:1 ratio on your monitor.
If you use the best settings, you will have excellent pictures. However, the s7000 is not comparable to cameras with larger sensors. If you really want to remove the noise, the "advanced sharpen" tool of Picture Window Pro 3.5 will clean it up. Resolution is great. Chromatic aberration is very low but can be noticed (by a purist) when viewing pictures at high magnification.
The viewfinder is comfortable and accurate. The delay for taking pictures is better than my other digital camera's (Canon S10). To aid focusing, you can hit a Focus Check button that pops-up a magnified area of the image. The macro photography modes allow for extremely close shootings (1 cm); the auto-bracketing works fine; the last-5 frames continuous capture is a great idea for action shots.
Video quality is awsome, and there is no limit to the duration of the videos. I don't need another video camera, since the s7000 is good enough for my needs.
Missing features:
- a tool for rotating images in the camera
- a mode for taking pictures to be stitched (panorama)
- 24 hour time format is not supported
- range of flash adjustment should extend beyond -0.6 EV
- 16 or 24 FPS video rate (only 30 FPS is supported)
- Zoom is not enabled during video shooting
- sensitivity cannot be set manually lower than ISO 200
- bundled RAW converter has no controls, and is not taking the best out of the RAW files. Use alternatives!
Minor annoyance:
- RAW setting should be available from the "F button" for Image Quality (not the SET mode).
- LCD display is fixed (many other cameras have an articulated extension)
- Audio annotations to photos require tedious manipulations
Nice Surprise:
Third party RAW converters are available on the web. For example, s7raw has more controls than RAW Converter LE that comes with the camera, and it can output 16-bit TIFF images. dcraw is also very good, and you can experiment with its source code.
rawgem (my own converter) is also available for download, and produces PSD 24/48 bit or BMP 24-bit files.
Problem
The histogram shown during picture taking in manual mode is different from the actual histogram of the picture taken. It can be way off -- don't rely on it for setting the camera aperture/speed.