Physical Tour

 **Front**The front of the S9100 is dominated by the large, fixed 28-300mm lens, which makes the camera five inches deep. With the lens at the maximum zoom setting of 300mm, this expands to just over eight inches, making this a somewhat bulky camera. The other major features are (from top left, clockwise) the shutter button and record/play mode dial, the AF assist illuminator, the pop-up flash, and the flash button. 

BackThe rear of the camera is the home to most of the buttons and other controls, including the 2-inch display which can pop out and tilt to a 90-degree angle. This has 235k pixels and is impressively clear and bright. From the top right (going clockwise) we have the diopter adjustment dial for the viewfinder (which I, as a spectacles wearer, wholeheartedly endorse), the viewfinder itself, the auto exposure lock button and metering mode dial (with three settings: spot, center weighted and average), the mode dial, the command dial, the viewfinder or LCD selector button, the focus check button (which enlarges the center of the image to check focus), the menu button and 4 directional controls and the display button. There is also the Finepix button, which gives quick access to a number of commonly used settings, such as image size, ISO setting and color mode in a special quick access menu.  **Left Side**On the left of the camera are a number of controls and other features: from the top left clockwise, we have the flash button, the microphone (for recording short narrations to go with images), the info button (which brings up information such as the current shooting mode, exposure mode, etc), the focus mode dial and the macro button. Underneath a rubber port cover are the USB 2.0, AV output and power ports. 

  **Right Side**On the right side, the only major feature is the cover that sits over the dual CompactFlash and xD Picture card slots. These can be used independently, but you can’t write images to both cards at the same time: you have to choose one to write to. However, having both does provide a good degree of flexibility.  **Top On the top of the camera body, we have (from top left, clockwise) the adjustment dial (which is use to change settings like shutter speed and aperture), the mode dial, the flash hot shoe (a standard model: unusual in these days of manufacturer specific hot shoes), the shutter button (with the power, record and playback mode dial on the outside), the flash button, the exposure compensation mode button and the shooting mode button.  Bottom**The only excitement on the bottom of the camera is the cover for the battery compartment, which holds 4AA batteries. These can either be disposable or Ni-MH rechargeables, an arrangement which provides flexibility: you can use either depending on what’s available.