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Fujifilm FinePix E900 Review
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Review
Date: Nov 3, 2005 |
Category:
Serious
Amateur
IMAGE QUALITY
The Fujifilm FinePix E900 is a digital
camera targeted to Serious Amateur photographers.
It has 9.0 effective megapixels resolution on
a 1/1.6 in. 5th Gen. SuperCCD HR image sensor.
The Fujinon lens is a 32-128 mm (35mm format equivalent)
F2.8(W)-F5.6(T), 4x optical zoom.
We find the overall image quality of the Fujifilm
E900 to be very good to excellent, though not
quite approaching the exceptional low noise capability
of the Fujifilm F10. Even then, many will find
both ISO 400 and ISO 800 an added bonus when printing
4x6 in. photos or for displaying for the web.
| 4x
Optical Zoom |
 |
 |
Wide-angle
7.2mm
(32mm, 35mm equivalent) |
Telephoto
28.8mm
(128mm, 35mm equivalent) |
In the above pictures, we show the coverage for
32mm and 128mm. Optional Wide and Tele Conversion
lenses can extend the focal length range from
a 24mm wide-angle to a 248mm tele. Filters can
be mounted with the appropriate optional adapter.
| Macro |
 |
7.2mm, Manual, Spot, Custom
WB
2.5 sec., F5.6, ISO 80, Macro |
The Fujifilm E900 can focus in Macro mode to
as close as 7.5 cm (3 in.).
| Auto White Balance
Indoors |
 |
 |
| AWB |
Custom WB |
As the above two pictures show, the Auto White
Balance (AWB) gives a slight pinkish cast under
fluorescent artificial light. The E900 allows
you to set a Custom (manual) White Balance, which
gives excellent results. As expected, AWB works
very well in natural light.
| ISO
Comparisons |
 |
| ISO 80 |
| |
 |
 |
| ISO 100 |
ISO 200 |
| |
 |
 |
| ISO 400 |
ISO 800 |
The 100% crops
above (area delimited by the white rectangle)
demonstrate the low noise at ISO 80, 100 and 200.
Noise starts to be visible at ISO 400 (and quite
visible at ISO 800) but should not be an issue
in 4x6 in. prints.
| Chromatic
Aberrations |
 |
CA (purple fringing) is visible in very strong
highlights situations. In the shot above, CA is
visible at the corner delimited by the red square
at centre left (reproduced at 100% crop at bottom
right).
The above shot was taken in the Natural Light
scene mode. The Natural Light Scene Mode is currently
unique to Fujifilm. It disables the flash (even
if it is popped open) and takes full advantage
of the low-light capability of this camera (made
possible by the use of Fujifilm's 5th Generation
SuperCCD HR image sensor and Real Photo Technology)
to capture an image that retains the natural ambience
of low-light photography (indoors, by candlelight,
in restaurants and museums).
| Long Shutter
Speed |
 |
7.2mm, Manual, Pattern, 15
sec., F4.0 ISO 80
Custom WB, Macro, Self-Timer (2 sec.), Tripod
Used |
The Fujifilm E900 provides a maximum long shutter
speed of 15 sec. in Manual Mode, making it possible
to take some nice night shots. Here I'm checking
out the presence of noise at long exposure (noise
usually increases the longer the shutter is left
open). As usual, I place Bamm-Bamm under my office
desk, in the shadows, to obtain a long exposure
of 15 sec. at F4.0. I use the extremely useful
Exposure Indicator to get a good approximation
when correct exposure is achieved. To eliminate
camera shake, I place the camera on a tripod and
use the self-timer (set to fire after 2 sec.).
Since the normal minimum focusing distance is
60cm (2ft), I switch Macro ON to allow me to move
in closer for a tighter shot. No noise reduction
is required to produce rich dark blacks, and so
no extra time is added to the 15 sec. exposure.
The pictures in the Fujifilm FinePix E900
Photo Gallery page provide a good sample of
what the camera is capable of. I have provided
samples at 800x600 pixels (compressed to Quality
60/100 in Photoshop Elements) as well as the 3488
x 2616 pixels original size (click on the image
for the original version).
You can safely assume that most macro shots and
slow shutter speed shots required the use of a
tripod. Any image that is adjusted for levels
in Photoshop has "_adjusted" appended
to the file name.
I have defaulted the image size to 800x600 pixels.
For those who have their monitor resolution set
to 1024x728 pixels, everything should snugly fit
and you should not have to scroll to see the whole
image. If your monitor is set to 800x600 pixels
resolution, start the slide show and then scroll
to the right to position the image within your
screen width. Then, press F11 (if you are using
Internet Explorer) to switch to full screen mode,
and the image should fill your screen nicely.
Press F11 again at any time to switch your monitor
display back to normal mode.
To return to this page from the Photo Gallery,
click on the animated graphics of the camera.
Please open and download the original size version
only if you need to and only once
to your hard drive -- and save me some precious
bandwidth. Thanks!
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