Mark

A keenly-priced long-zoom digicam with CCD-shift image stabilisation, which can use SD or xD-Picture Card storage media.With the release of the FinePix S8000fd, Fujifilm brings to market a smart-looking digicam with an 8-megapixel imager, one of the longest zoom lenses in the market plus a compact, and relatively light, camera body. The cheapest of three similarly featured long zoom cameras in the current market, the S8000fd has the distinction of being able to use both xD-Picture Card and SD cards (including SHDC), which are fitted in a single dual-format slot.

On test, the S7000 produced sharp images with accurate colours and well-balanced exposures in adequately-lit situations. Low light shots were clean and almost noise-free, and white balance performance was above average for both auto and manual settings. It took roughly four seconds to start up and shut down and capture lag averaged 1.0 seconds. The pop-up flash was powerful enough to illuminate an average room.

A competent and versatile camera for anyone who wants to learn the finer points of digital photography.Unveiled at Photokina in September, Fujifilm’s latest enthusiast digicam, the FinePix S6500fd, is the first to include a new LSI-based ‘Intelligent’ Face Detection technology (hence the ‘fd’ in the model name). Equipped with a 10x optical zoom lens (28-300mm equivalent) and sixth generation 6-megapixel Super CCD imager, it also boasts the second generation of Fujifilm’s Real Photo Processor technology. Taken together, these features promise the performance and versatility many enthusiasts require.