Manual Control Options
The Fujifilm FinePix S9000 provides the user with a lot of options and plenty of manual control. All of the standard manual controls are available such as shutter speed, aperture, exposure compensation, white balance, and ISO. Then the camera allows SLR-like zoom control and manual focusing with the lens’ zoom and focus rings. Manual control freaks can also elect to shoot in RAW format, change the color mode to black and white, and select auto focus and metering modes. The options just keep coming; they just aren’t organized very well.
Focus
Auto Focus (7.5)
The FinePix S9000 has a through-the-lens contrast type auto focus system that works in conjunction with the AF illuminator. This model can focus continuously, as it does in the movie mode, but it makes audible clicks and beeps. A button on the side of the camera shows a bowtie-shaped icon with the auto focus mode selections symbolized by letters: C for Center, M for Multi, and A for Area. The viewfinder or LCD shows frames where the camera is focusing, which is nice. The camera focuses fairly quickly except in the movie mode, where it sometimes takes a few seconds if zooming in on a subject quickly. There are two macro focus modes: a regular and a super macro mode. The regular macro mode can shoot from 3.9 inches to 9.8 feet, while the super macro mode closes in from 0.4 inches to 3.3 feet. When the macro modes aren’t being utilized, the S9000 focuses from 1.6 feet to as far as the iris can see. Overall, the auto focus system works well; the noise in the movie mode was the most obnoxious aspect. There was some loss of focusing capability in low light, but the focus remained adequate.
Manual Focus (6.0)
One of the nicer features of this high-end compact is that it has a decent lens with manual focus and zoom rings. These eliminate the awful sliding bar method of manual focus that many compact digital cameras have. The manual focus must be selected on the side of the camera near the little bowtie button. The actual bowtie-labeled button is the one-touch auto focus, which ironically only works in the manual mode. Perhaps if you’re manually focusing and give up, then you can press the magic bowtie button for a quick fix. While that is a strange feature, the focus ring is heaven sent for photographers who relish the option to truly focus manually.
Metering (7.5)
Fujifilm calls metering “photometry” within the camera’s menus. That probably makes their engineers happy. The Fuji S9000’s through-the-lens metering system can meter 256 zones, a solid four-fold increase over the measly 64 zones the earlier Fujifilm FinePix S5200 relied on.
The S9000 uses the 256-zone metering system to offer an evaluative mode, an averaging mode, and a spot mode. The three modes are becoming standard on digital cameras from even the more basic compacts to high-end DSLRs. The evaluative, or multi-zone, mode takes discrete measurements of several areas of the frame and evaluates them. It uses an algorithm to figure out which zone is the main subject, and sets the exposure for the subject, rather than the bright sky or dark floor in the background. Multi-zone is particularly good for automated exposure modes and even tonal scenes with lots of middle-tone values. Averaging mode takes a reading of the whole field of view, with an emphasis on the center of the frame. Spot mode measures a very small area in the center of the frame. Both averaging and spot modes are more useful in manual modes, when the photographer does the evaluation. All three metering modes are located on the camera body with a dial that switches to select them. The dial was stiff and required aggressive fingernail prying to set.
Exposure (8.0)
The Fuji S9000 offers a range of exposure modes, ranging from completely automatic to completely manual. The automated modes can be adjusted with an EV control that operates in 1/3 stop increments 2 stops above and below the metered exposure. The S9000 also offers a bracketing mode that makes exposures above and below the metered reading in 1/3, 2/3, and full-stop increments. The camera shows what’s going on with a live histogram, which could limit the need for bracketing in a bunch of situations if used correctly. An auto exposure lock button rounds out the controls.
ISO (8.5)
The FinePix S9000 can be set to ISOs ranging from 80 to 1600 plus Auto in every mode. The settings are spaced in full-stop increments, except for the jump from 80 to 100. Fuji has developed a reputation for good performance at high ISOs, so the inclusion of both 800 and 1600 settings is not surprising. This range does provide a middle ground between compacts whose range normally extends to ISO 400 and DSLRs whose range sometimes extends to ISO 3200.
White Balance (7.5)
The FinePix S9000’s white balance setting offers a fair selection of presets, but makes up for what it lacks with an above-average option for custom settings. The available presets are Fine, Shade, Fluorescent Daylight, Fluorescent Warm White, Fluorescent Cool White, and Incandescent. Other cameras offer a separate setting for cloudy weather, one for electronic flash, or two separate settings for incandescent lights. Many users find that most cameras’ fluorescent settings aren’t useful because fluorescent tubes come in such a variety of ugly color temperatures, and all of them shift color as they age. That’s the sort of problem that brings us to the S9000’s strength in white balance; it’s possible to set two different custom color balances. They’re easy to adjust, and the camera shows the results via a live view on its LCD.
Shutter Speed (8.5)
The Fuji S9000 shutter allows exposures from 30 seconds to 1/4000th of a second. That’s a wide range, but not all those speeds are always available. In most scene modes, the longest available exposure is ¼ of a second, while the top end is 1/4000th. The exceptional scene mode is Night, which allows exposures from 4 seconds to 1/500th.
Program, Aperture priority, and Shutter priority modes allow exposures from 4 seconds to 1/4000th, while Manual mode allows the full range of 30 seconds to 1/4000th. The Bulb setting limits exposures to 30 seconds. This range is becoming of a high-end compact camera, although some others are now offering shutter speeds as slow as a minute.
Aperture (7.0)
The Fuji S9000's 10.7x optical zoom lens has a variable maximum aperture – it opens to a pretty fast f/2.8 at the wide angle end of its range, but only to f/4.9 at the telephoto end. This is a stop and a half falloff and typical of less expensive zoom lenses available for SLRs (typically running 28-200 or 75-300, etc.). Also, the S9000’s lack of image stabilization really hurts here. In general, optical image stabilization gives you an extra 2 stops or so, helping users refrain from pushing the ISO and decreasing image quality. Unfortunately, when shooting with the S9000 in low light, the ISO and shutter speed will have to become the active variables and will require a tripod and sacrifice of image clarity. The aperture can be set in 1/3-stop increments, which offers a good amount of control. The minimum aperture is only f/11, so depth of field is limited. Veterans of film photography probably remember setting their apertures to f/16, f/22, or even f/32. The lens on the S9000 is simply too small for that. The aperture is tricky to set; users must hold down the exposure compensation button while rotating the jog dial. This is not intuitive and awkward.
