Phillipgpar...

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A great all round camera at half the price of an equivalent SLR

Jan 6, 2009

Rating: 9 out of 10 (Spectacular)
Pros: Great handling, good high iso results, wide lense range, image stabilisation.
Cons: Chromatic aboration needs to be cleaned up on the pc in many shots.
Opinion:
I bought this camera to replace my S9600 and apart from the need to clean up chromatic aberration in many shots (a few seconds in Paint Shop Pro X2) its performance is excellent. The lens range 28mm-400mm covers just about anything and with optical image stabilisation I've taken sharp shots at 400mm, 1/100th.sec.
Although at 11.1m, it has only 2m more pixels than the S9600, far more detail is recorded, presumably because the sensor is physically much bigger. I guess for the same reason high iso performance is also much better.
The camera handles beautifully, all the controls are where you need them to be with few reasons to dip into the menu. For me, the "film simulation" modes are a bit of a gimmick, but the High Dynamic Range offering works quite well, helping to preserve highlight details while retaining detail in shadows. Battery life is a bit short, but its no problem to carry a spare and quicker to change than the old 4xAA batteries of the S9600. There is also an indicator to tell you how much battery power is left.
I calculate that buying an SLR with a live view flip out screen (Sony) and a 28-400mm equiv. lens (Tamron) would have cost more than double what I paid for the Fuji. I don't want to be carting a £800 camera around with me on my travels, so for now I am happy with the S100fs!