Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd
The S8000fd is an 8 mega pixel camera with 18x optical zoom lens. The lens starts at 27mm wide and ends at 486mm. This should be large enough to fit virtually everything into a photographic situation. With a refresh rate of 60 frames per second the S80000 has a 2.7-inch LCD screen and an electronic viewfinder. It also comprises of a face detection system.
Having dimensions of 111 x 78 x 79 mm and weighing approximately 505 g with memory card and batteries, the LCD screen of the S8000 shows live preview of the screen. The S8000 can be held in one hand due to the presence of a sturdy hand grip on the right hand side of the camera. The body of the S8000 is all plastic but still provides a good feel to it in comparison to most of the other DSLRs.
Except for the ultra wide shots the 18 x zoom lens with a focal length of 27-486 mm should cover all the other needs of a photographer. The S8000 has a dedicated button for activating the image stabilizer. It also has an anti shake system called the Dual IS Mode. The camera can take up to 350 photos in one battery life and makes use of 4 x AA batteries alkaline or NiMH. When the auto or picture stabilization mode is in use the ISO speed is automatically adjusted by the camera itself. The external controls present in the S8000 are limited which underlines the camera as an entry-level DSLR.
The various modes available are Auto, Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority and Manual. A menu button is present at the back end of the camera which allows access of the software menu system. The main menu can be accessed easily with the help of Menu/OK button present in the middle of the navigation pad. Due to its large size, the LCD screen helps while reading various menu options.
File quality setting, ISO speed and colour settings can be accessed by a tiny silver button having an F letter printed on it. xD/SD compatible memory card slot is present in S8000, hence allowing xD Picture Card, SD or SDHC cards being used for increasing the memory of the camera. A large 58 MB of internal memory is available which is much more than most cameras of this range provides.
The dedicated face detection button helps in maximizing the use of features such as focus, white balance and exposure for up to ten faces in one frame which would be appreciated by any photographer using the S8000. Red eye can be fixed even before the image is actually stored by the help of the Intelligent Face Detection technology being used by S8000. To ensure that the screen in front appears natural in the view finder the revolutionary EVF display is used. This provides a higher resolution of 230,000 pixels and a faster refresh rate of 60 frames per second. The EVF allows diopter adjustment and also shows 97% of the scene which is more than many of the optical viewfinders used in other cameras would have been able to show. The 2.5 inch LCD monitor also provides similar specifications of 230,000 pixels resolution and covers a maximum of 97% providing a 60fps frame rate.
The S8000 has a manual mode which gives the photographer complete control and also includes other options such as shutter-priority and aperture-priority. During low light conditions the picture stabilization mode makes the camera select a faster shutter speed along with setting a fast ISO speed and using the flash. A new mode called Natural Light and Flash takes two pictures simultaneously, one with flash and one without flash thus allowing the user to decide which one to choose.
The refresh rate, resolution and visibility of the LCD monitor and the EVE are good. The S8000 requires around 2 seconds for storing an image in JPEG format and there is no black out time of the LCD in-between each image. The long period mode takes 0.5 frames per second for an unlimited number of images. The S8000 also has a High speed mode and Ultra High Speed mode as well.
The image quality provided by the S8000 is good. Purple fringing affect only appears when the contrast is high. Red-eye is controlled well along with the exposure while the built in flash is effective when light conditions are low. The place where the S8000 fares the best is the macro setting which allows great detailing of objects. The various ISO levels available are ISO 64, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1600. ISO 400 shows some noise while ISO 800 and ISO 1600 are best avoided. The anti shake is another impressive feature of the S8000 which is especially helpful during low light conditions.
Once a photo has been taken the S8000 provides lot of options to play with the image like zoom in and out, view thumbnails, sort images by date, view slideshows with various settings, delete, trim, protect and rotate an image. Sound clips can also be added to a particular image.
The S8000 with its beautiful design, impressive list of features, brilliant picture quality and user friendly approach is surely a total value for money camera, which would be loved by professionals and novices alike.
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Filed Under: Fujifilm Finepix Digital Camera
