Digital Camera Reviews

Fujifilm launched Finepix S8000fd which is a 8MP digital camera with an 18x optical zoom lens and a 3x digital zomm. This super zoom camera offers an equivalent focal range of 27 to 486mm stabilization, and featues face detection tehnology.

The Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd digital ultra-zoom camera offering an 18x optical zoom lens. Fujfilm have wisely included a CCD-shift image stabilisation system, which should ensure that most of your shots remain sharp even when using the massive telephoto range on offer. Interestingly the 18x lens starts at 27mm wide, just beating the 28mm lenses of the Panasonic and Olympus models, and ends at 486mm, which should cover virtually every imaginable photographic situation. An 8 megapixel sensor, 2.7-inch LCD monitor with a refresh rate of 60 frames per second, electronic viewfinder, Face Detection system and battery life of up to 400 pictures on a single set of Ni-MH rechargeable batteries complete the headline specifications.

Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd Image quality could also have been better and ends up about on par with the Olympus. While colors look accurate and the camera’s automatic white balance does a fine job of serving up neutral colors in all sorts of lighting conditions, images are not as sharp as we would have liked. We saw very little colored fringing and even then only under the most extreme circumstances. In some cases, the camera tended to underexpose a little when using the Average metering mode, which uses the entire scene to determine exposure.

The Fujifilm S8000fd sports a mini-dSLR design that’s smaller than a compact dSLR. It’s still too large to pocket but it’s no burden strapped over your shoulder and small enough to leave room in your bag for other essentials.The Fujifilm S8000fd is a handsome little machine with a better grip than some dSLRs and the Shutter button in just the right place. But the battery door hinge (on the short edge of the cover) is a pin floating in a slot (so the cover can slide open) rather than a hole, which makes it hard to align when you close it. And the memory card goes in only at an angle (another oddity), whether it’s an xD card or an SD card.

Features:-

* 18X optical zoom, giving a 27mm-486mm equiv. range
* 60 fps LCD refresh rate
* 8.0 million pixel sensor
* High-speed focus mode
* ISO 1600 at full resolution
* Face detection-combined In-camera red-eye reduction
* Face detection (up to 10 faces per shot)
* Rapid continuous shooting (up to 15fps at 2MP)                         
* ISO 6400 at 4MP
* Dual IS, combining sensor shift technology with high ISO settings
* Accepts both xD and SD cards, including SDHC

Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd Reviews:-

# Dpreview Review:- The S8000fd places a smaller sensor behind a much longer-range zoom lens in a less SLR-like body. Going head to head with the Panasonic FZ18 and Olympus SP560UZ the S8000fd is Fuji’s most ambitious zoom compact to date. It is also the first long-zoom camera from Fuji to offer image stabilization (in this case a CCD-shake system), which is offered by most competing brands and is pretty much essential with a zoom this long.

# Photography Review:- The Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd offers a DSLR-like design with all the advantages of a compact digicam. The new 18x zoom is at last accompanied by a mechanical image stabilisation system, and the electronic viewfinder is much improved.

# Reviews.cnet Review:- If forced to choose between the S8000fd and the SP550UZ, I’d probably go with the Fuji, but only based on its faster performance. Of the trio of 18x zooms, the Panasonic DMC-FZ18–if not live yet, the review should be posted within a week–looks to be the best option, though it, too, has its problems.