Fuji FinePix S9100 Digital Camera Review

Fuji FinePix S9100

Digital Camera Review

Sep 27, 2006 - By Richard Baguley
An update of the venerable (well, venerable in the digital camera industry, at least) FinePix S9000, the S9100 has enough features to confuse a Ph.D. student. For starters, there’s a 10.7X optical zoom, a 9 megapixel sensor that uses Fuji’s Real Photo technology, a flip-out 2-inch LCD screen, plus picture stabilization and an intelligent flash system which Fuji claims more intelligently balances the flash output with ambient light. There are also dual CompactFlash and xD-Picture Card slots. It’s all built around a 9 megapixel Super CCD HR Image sensor in a case that has the look and feel of an SLR camera, but has a non-removable lens. One thing to note: the S9100 is known as the S9600 outside of the US, where our images were taken at the Photokina show in Cologne, Germany. So we didn’t get out models confused: we just traveled a bit to get them.
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Fujifilm Finepix S9100 Digi...
 
Likes
- Long 10.7X optical zoom with wide angle capabilities
- Folding LCD screen
- Comfortable feel to grip
- Buttons are well laid out
- Records good quality video
Dislikes
- Image stabilization is electronic only
- Weak sound on videos
- LCD is small compared to the size of the camera
- Single command dial is a little awkward to use
- LCD screen feels fragile and could snap off if manhandled
 
Conclusion 
The S9100 is a nice camera; it has pretty much everything that most photographers will need, with a good selection of features that are easy to control. It can shoot decent images and reasonable movies and isn’t overly heavy or bulky. 
 
It would also be preferable if the screen was more flexible. The ability to flip out is semi-useful, but it would be even better if it could rotate so you could use from other angles, like most camcorder screens.
 
The Fujifilm FinePix S9100 has most of the features that enthusiast photographers will need, but not all. Like all ultra-zoom models, the fixed lens will either be seen as a major limitation or the reason to purchase the camera.  We weren’t able to test the performance, but you are stuck with it. With a proper SLR (which is only slightly more expensive), you can swap the lens out if it isn’t any good, but you won't get the expansive focal range or image quality for the same price. If users want a 10x or 12x equivalent focal range with strong optics, expect to pay about twice the cost of the S9100 for the body and glass. The 9100 also offers a movie mode for those hybrid shooters - a feature that is still unavailable on DSLRs.    
Overall Impressions Page 10 of 10
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