Fujifilm FinePix S6000fd

Viewfinder
The SLR-shaped Fujifilm S6000fd has an electronic viewfinder that is set within a nicely-cushioned eyecup. The rubber cup protrudes about an inch so that users won’t have to squish their noses onto the LCD screen – as much. The view jumps from the LCD screen to the viewfinder with a touch of the EVF/LCD button. The view is better on the LCD though because the viewfinder’s resolution isn’t very good. There aren’t any published specs on it, but the image looks awful in the viewfinder because of the poor resolution.

The viewfinder does have 100 percent coverage of the recorded image – but so does the LCD screen. The viewfinder has a diopter control that may also assist users wearing glasses; it turns to 8 different stops. There is a Disp/Back button that can be used to change the information shown on the viewfinder and LCD screen. The following views are available: blank screen, framing grids and file info, file info only, or three thumbnails of the last three shots taken on the left side of the screen with a larger live preview framed on the right. The diopter control is helpful and the eyecup is comfortable, but the resolution on the viewfinder makes it not as practical to use.

LCD Screen
The LCD screen has much better resolution than the viewfinder. It measures 2.5 inches and has 235,000 pixels. The amorphous silicon TFT LCD covers the entire frame 100 percent, so in that sense it is just as good as the viewfinder. The screen can be viewed left to right very well, but isn’t so good viewing above and below the head. It solarizes quite easily when viewing from above or below.

The center of the LCD screen can be magnified by the magnifying glass button; this zooms digitally, so it doesn’t always look good. One of the best aspects of the LCD screen is the great refresh rate. It can be adjusted to 30 fps or 60 fps in the setup menu. The quick refresh rate along with the great resolution give the LCD screen a smooth view that isn’t found on many other digital cameras.

Flash
The S6000fd has an i-Flash system that measures the lighting in the foreground and background and adjusts its output so as not to over-expose the subject and so that it can still keep natural details in the background. The flash component itself automatically pops up when needed; it cannot be manually pulled up. This is a problem when it comes to trying to snap a picture quickly; it takes just a little longer for the unit to pop out of the camera before the picture is recorded. The following flash modes are available from the right side of the multi-selector: Auto, Red-eye Reduction, On, Off, and Slow Synchro.

The Red-eye Reduction mode fires about three preflashes before the actual flash with the shutter; it seemed to work, since none of my test shot subjects came out with red eyes. The flash is quite powerful, extending fairly far. It is also raised so high above the lens that it can reach relatively close too. Here are the official specs: 1-18.4 ft in wide and 2-9.8 ft in telephoto with the auto ISO setting and 2-27.2 ft in wide and 6.6-15.1 ft in telephoto with the ISO 1600 setting.

If users aren’t sure whether to use the flash, there is a dual shot mode called Natural Light & With Flash. It is located with the scene modes in the menu with Natural Light. This mode snaps two pictures consecutively – one with flash and one without. The camera then displays both next to each other and saves them. Overall, the flash performed well and did what it said it would: the i-Flash system lit up subjects while still retaining most of the detail and lighting in the background.

Zoom Lens
This digital camera earns its ultra-zoom classification with its Fujinon 10.7x optical zoom lens. The lens isn’t like that on most digital cameras. This one has zoom and focus rings and looks very much like it could be removed and interchanged. Don’t be fooled though. The lens remains on the camera body, but conversion lenses can be attached. Available on the market now is a 0.8x wide conversion lens equivalent to 22.4 mm. By itself, the lens measures 6.2-66.7 mm equivalent to 28-300 mm.

The lens is already considerably wide even without the conversion lens. It has an aperture of f/2.8 at its widest and f/4.9 at its most telephoto; this is decent for a lens with such a wide zoom range. The zoom is controlled by the large textured rubber ring that surrounds the lens barrel. The ring has a good grip and is very sensitive. Of note is the 58 mm filter diameter at the end of the lens and the 2x digital zoom available in the setup menu.