Fuji FinePix S9100

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The viewfinder is an electronic .44-inch model with 235k pixels (the same number as the screen). It is clear and bright and has a diopter adjustment dial, which is very useful for spectacle wearers. There is a slight delay between the real world and the image on the viewfinder, but not enough to be problematic. However, sports shooters might prefer a proper SLR with an optical viewfinder: the delay between the real world and the display might be enough to miss a shot. The on-screen menus can be accessed on either the viewfinder or the LCD screen; you switch between the two using the EVF/LCD button located next to the viewfinder.

 

The 2-inch TFT screen is clear and bright and seems to be a big improvement on the screen on the previous model (the S9000) It pops out on two articulated arms, allowing it to angle up to 90 degrees and double as a waist-level display. However, you can’t rotate the screen, so you can’t use it to shoot self-portraits. We were not able to test it in daylight, but similar screens on previous models have not held up well in sunlight. 2 inches is not the largest screen we’ve seen (many cameras are now coming with three inch screens), but it’s adequate for checking images. One nice touch is the focus check button, which enlarges the center of the image so you can make sure the image is in focus this is invaluable for use with the manual focus.

 

The flash pops out from above the lens with a suitably dramatic spring-loaded thwacking noise, and seems well placed: the extended arms hold it a couple of inches above the lens, which should help avoid red-eye. Fuji claims a range of between 1 to 18 feet in wide angle mode. We weren’t able to test this, but it did seem to be reasonably powerful in our limited tests. The camera also allows you to control the flash power, pushing it up or down up to 2/3rds of a stop. Fuji also claims that their new intelligent flash technology more accurately balances the flash with ambient light for better exposed pictures. Again, we weren’t able to test this feature, but the claim has historically held true and our tests did seem to have better flash exposure than many we’ve seen.

 Zoom Lens

The zoom lens is a sizeable 10.7x Fujinon model, with a 35mm equivalent range of 28 to 300mm. That’s a good range for a camera of this type: many skimp at the lower end of the zoom range, which is generally more useful than the longer end. It’s not as wide as the Sony R1, though, which goes down to 24mm.  We weren’t able to test the image quality of the lens, but it seemed to be relatively free of problems such as barreling and color fringing. But we’ll have to wait until we can get a model for in-depth testing before we can draw too many performance conclusions. Although, the quality of the lens is critical on a fixed lens model like this: if it’s no good, you don’t get the chance to swap it out for a better one.