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Select a Fujifilm digital camera ----- 2009 models ----- Fujifilm FinePix S200EXR Fujifilm FinePix F200EXR Fujifilm FinePix F70EXR Fujifilm FinePix S1500 Fujifilm FinePix Z33WP Fujifilm FinePix Z30 Fujifilm FinePix J250 Fujifilm FinePix J20 Fujifilm FinePix A150 ----- 2008 models ----- Fujifilm FinePix S100FS Fujifilm FinePix S8100fd Fujifilm FinePix S2000HD Fujifilm FinePix S1000fd Fujifilm FinePix F100fd Fujifilm FinePix F60fd Fujifilm FinePix Z200fd Fujifilm FinePix Z100fd Fujifilm FinePix Z20fd Fujifilm FinePix J150w Fujifilm FinePix J50 Fujifilm FinePix J12 Fujifilm FinePix J10 ----- 2007-2008 models ----- Fujifilm FinePix F50fd Fujifilm FinePix S8000fd Fujifilm FinePix Z10fd Fujifilm FinePix F480 Fujifilm FinePix A920 ----- 2007 models ----- Fujifilm FinePix S700 Fujifilm FinePix F40fd Fujifilm FinePix Z5fd Fujifilm FinePix A900 Fujifilm FinePix A820 Fujifilm FinePix A800 Fujifilm FinePix A610 ----- 2006-2007 models ----- Fujifilm FinePix S9100 Fujifilm FinePix S6000fd Fujifilm FinePix F650 Fujifilm FinePix F31fd Fujifilm FinePix F20 Fujifilm FinePix Z3 Fujifilm FinePix A700 Fujifilm FinePix A600 ----- 2006 models ----- Fujifilm FinePix F30 Fujifilm FinePix V10 Fujifilm FinePix F470 Fujifilm FinePix A500 Fujifilm FinePix A400 ----- 2005-2006 models ----- Fujifilm FinePix S9000 Fujifilm FinePix S5200 Fujifilm FinePix E900 ----- 2005 models ----- Fujifilm FinePix F10 Fujifilm FinePix Z1 Fujifilm FinePix A345 / A350 -- 2004 & earlier -- Fujifilm FinePix S20 Pro Fujifilm FinePix S7000 Fujifilm FinePix S5100 Fujifilm FinePix S5000 Fujifilm FinePix F810 Fujifilm FinePix E550 Fujifilm FinePix E510 / E500 Fujifilm FinePix F450 / F440 Fujifilm FinePix F410 Fujifilm FinePix A310

Category: Beginner to Serious Amateur

HANDLING & FEEL

The Fujifilm FinePix S8000fd joins the 18x optical zoom crowd and is Fujifilm's first ultra zoom with image stabilization (sensor-shift based). There's a really deep handgrip for a secure hold. It is most comfortably carried slung over a shoulder or around the neck. It has one memory slot which can accept either an xD-Picture Card or a Secure Digital (SD/SDHC) memory card.

The lens barrel juts out from the body at about 4 cm (1.5 in.). When the camera is turned ON, the lens extends an extra 2.3 cm / 0.9 in. (W) and 6 cm / 1.4 in. (T). See the side view further below the page for an idea how much it juts out.

Startup time and shot to shot times are not too fast, at about 3 sec. Though shutter lag is not really a problem, AF lag will depend on your subject contrast and lighting. Autofocus is generally fast and precise, even at the longer focal lengths (with the usual slight AF lag). Depending on subject contrast, AF can sometimes be challenging in low-light (even with AF-assist). Pre-focusing is recommended.

The FinePix S8000fd does not have the manual Zoom Ring of the S6000fd but does keep a wide-angle optical zoom lens and adds an effective sensor-shift image stabilization.

Included in the box are 4 AA Alkaline batteries but we recommend that you invest in 4 AA rechargeable NiMH batteries and battery charger (if you don't have them already) because they are longer lasting (and environmentally friendly).

The Terminal compartment is conveniently on the left side of the camera (viewed from the back) with a hinged rubber cover that rotates out of the way for easy-enough access to the USB/AV socket and DC socket.

There is an electronic viewfinder (EVF) with 230,000 pixels resolution and a large 2.5-in. LCD monitor (also 230K pixels) that both gain up very well in low light (though grainy, as to be expected). The frame coverage is approx. 97% for both and the refresh rate is a fast 30fps (or 60fps) for a smooth display.

The flash is powerful and has a range of 0.5 m - 8.8 m / 1.6 ft. - 28.9 ft., which is excellent. You need to manually pop it up before it can be used -- the type I prefer. When closed, you won't be surprised by the flash suddenly popping up and firing when you don't want it to. Press a small button and it pops up; you can then use the RIGHT ARROW to select 4 flash options: Auto Flash, Forced Flash, and Slow Synchro. To turn the flash off, simply close it (with quite a loud clack).

Controls

The top of the camera has the Shutter Release Button with the Zoom Lever around the collar, the Power ON/OFF switch (spring-loaded: slide right to turn on, slide right again to turn off), the Intelligent Face Detection/Red-Eye Removal button, the Dual IS (Image Stabilization) button, and the Mode Dial with usual PASM modes, plus Movie, AUTO, Picture Stabilization, Natural Light, Natural Light + Flash, SP1 (Scene Position 1) and SP2 (Scene Position 2).

Zoom Bar

The Zoom Lever is a collar around the shutter release button, has a short angle of motion and it only takes a quick 3 sec. to zoom all the way from wide-angle to 18x telephoto. I counted about 17-28 intermediate steps (depends on how gentle you can touch the zoom lever) and a zoom bar displays to give you an indication of where you are in the zoom range.

The Image Stabilizer is selected by pressing the Dual IS button on the top of the camera. This turns on the CCD-shift image stabilization feature to reduce/eliminate the blurring caused by camera shake. If the shooting mode is AUTO or Picture Stabilization (set on the Mode Dial), then the camera will also reduce blur caused by a moving subject by favouring a high ISO (and high shutter speed, if possible).

Manual Focus is selected in the MENU. Note that the central portion of the screen is not enlarged but the camera will turn the central circle yellow when it thinks focus is achieved. To operate the MF control, you hold down the [+/-] exposure compensation button while using the zoom lever.

The Mode Dial rotates easily (but not loosely), and you can use your thumb to do that while holding the camera. It clicks solidly in place and I've not had any problem where the setting on the Mode Dial is inadvertently changed.

In case you're wondering why there are 2 Scene Position modes on the Mode Dial, this is just Fujifilm's way to allow you to customize your 2 favourite scene modes on the dial. Both SP1 and SP2 give you access to all 13 scene modes, so you can set SP1 to one scene mode and SP2 to another scene mode (though you cannot, and would not want to, set SP1 and SP2 to the same scene mode). By default, SP1 is set to Portrait scene mode and SP2 to Landscape scene mode.

The Natural Light scene mode disables the flash (even if it is popped open), turns on High Sensitivity (sets ISO to AUTO) to capture an image that retains the natural ambience of low-light photography (indoors, by candlelight, in restaurants and museums).

But what if you are not sure whether to use the flash or not indoors? The Natural Light + Flash scene mode is so far unique to Fujifilm digital cameras and takes 2 images with one press of the shutter release button: one as in the Natural Light scene mode (which captures the "ambiance") and a second one with the flash fired (which requires that the flash is up) to correctly expose your main subject. Then it's up to you to select the one you prefer or merge them in a photo editing software to have a picture that is correctly exposed for both the main subject as well as the background.

The Picture Stabilization scene mode tells the camera to use a high ISO and a fast enough shutter speed to minimize blur caused by a moving subject. Combines with the Dual IS mode, you effectively compensate for camera shake and subject motion.

You can record movies with sound (until the memory card is full or 2GB is reached -- when using a super high-speed SD memory card) at either 640 x 480 or 320x240 pixels at 30fps. You can preset optical zoom before any movie mode recording, but cannot zoom (optical or digital) during movie recording. Sound is always recorded.

As you can see, you can't record too much onto the approx. 58MB internal memory. We recommend a 1GB or larger capacity SD/SDHC memory card.

As the above chart shows, at 8MP Fine image quality, you can store only 14 images in the 58MB Internal Memory. We recomend that you purchase at least a 1GB xD-Picture Card or SD/SDHC Memory Card, depending on the number of images you normally shoot in one session.

Mouseover image for closeup of controls

The lens extends quite a bit (about 6 cm/1.4 in.) at full Tele.

LCD & Menus

The electronic viewfinder (EVF) and LCD screen each has a high 230,000 pixels resolution, a fast 30fps (or 60fps) refresh rate for a smooth display, and gains up very well in extreme low-light situations to permit you to compose. Coverage for both is approx. 97%. The eyepiece is large and has an effective diopter correction.

The UP ARROW button allows you to instantly increase the LCD brightness, useful when viewing the LCD in bright sunlight.

The circular projection between the flash and the handgrip is the AF-assist illuminator. The AF-assist illuminator (orange light) is quite effective, but you have to remember not to get your fingers in the way; also, the relatively long lens can be in the way of the AF-assist light illuminating a subject that is very close (e.g. in macro photography).

There is no lens shade included. I'm not sure if the lens is threaded or if the concentric rings are just part of the internal lens barrel construction. There is a "38.1mm diameter" printed on the lens barrel; however, there does not seem to be any filter available for this camera from either Fujifilm or a third-party vendor at the time of this writing.

You can display a framing grid of horizontal and vertical lines by pressing Disp/Back button, which is very useful when you need to align vertical and horizontal lines precisely. Fujifilm terms this framing grid "Best Framing" and is perfect for the Rule of Thirds composition use.

A great feature is the AF Area mode, though you now need to access it in MENU. Once set ON, you use the ARROW keys to move the AF target point to any of (7 horizontal x 7 vertical =) 49 positions and the camera will focus where the AF target point has been moved. I find this very helpful in macro photography and whenever the subject is off-center.

If you use Face Detection to take a picture, then in Playback you can press the Face Detect button to identify on which face (if there are more than one faces in your picture) the camera focused on. Press the Face Detect button again to zoom in on the face and see if it is in focus. This provides a quick and convenient way to review a portrait and determine if accurate focus on the face (or, eyes) has been achieved.

You cannot save images in the RAW file format. Most photographers will not miss this, but I know some of you keen on capturing the best image quality possible might miss this feature.

There are 2 MENU screens and 4 SETUP screens. The user interface is very well implemented and easy to use. Some of the MENU screens are semi-transparent (but easily read); the SETUP screens have a solid white background.

	MENU 1 of 2 - Photometry: Multi, Spot, Average - White Balance: AUTO; Custom; Fine (Sunny); Shade; Fluorescent 1, 2, 3, Incandescent - High-Speed Shooting: Off, On (speeds up AF, uses more battery) - Continuous: Top 15 High (15 frames, 2M, 15fps), Top 15 Medium (15 frames, 4M, 7fps), Long Period (0.5fps), Bracketing, Top 3 (3 frames, 1.5fps) - Focusing: Continuous AF, SIngle AF, MF - AF: Center, Multi, Area
	MENU 2 of 2 - Sharpness: Hard, Standard, Soft - Flash Bracketing: 0, ±1/3 EV, ±2/3 EV - Auto Bracketing: ±1/3 EV, ±2/3 EV, ±1 EV - SETUP
	SETUP 1 of 4 - Image Disp.: Continuous, 3s, 1.5s, Zoom (Continuous) - Frame No.: Continuous, Renew - AF Illuminator: On, Off - Digital Zoom: On, Off - EVF/LCD Mode: 30fps, 60fps
	SETUP 2 of 4 - Date/Time - OPeration Volume - Shutter Volume - Playback Volume - LCD Brightness - Format
	SETUP 3 of 4 - Language: 17 languages to choose from - Auto Power Off: 5m, 2m, Off - Time Difference: Home, Local - Background Color: 6 colors to choose from - Discharge - Video System: NTSC, PAL
	SETUP 4 of 4 - Reset
	LANGUAGES -17 languages to choose from
	SP1 SCENE MODES 1 of 3 - Portrait - Landscape - Sport - Night
	SCENE MODES 2 of 3 _ Fireworks - Sunset - Snow - Beach
	SCENE MODES 3 of 3 - Museum - Party - Flower - Text
	SP2 SCENE MODES 1 of 2 - Landscape - Sport - Night
	SCENE MODES 1 of 2 _ Fireworks - Sunset - Snow - Beach
	SCENE MODES 2 of 2 - Museum - Party - Flower - Text
	SCENE MODES 1 of 2 - Auction Mode
	White Balance - AUTO - Custom - Fine (Sunny) - Shade - Fluorescent 1 - Daylight FLuorescent - Fluorescent 2 - Warm White Fluorescent - Fluorescent 3 - Cool White Fluorescent - Incandescent
	ISO 1 of 2 - AUTO (1600) - AUTO (800) - AUTO (400) - 6400 (4M) - 3200 (4M) - 1600 - 800
	ISO 2 of 2 - 400 - 200 - 100 - 64
	PROGRAM SHIFT - In P mode, Program Shift is accessed by first pressing the Exposure Compensation button and then using the UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW to shift the shutter speed and aperture in tandem
	Photo (F) Mode - ISO - Ships from factory set to ISO AUTO(800)
	Photo (F) Mode - Image Quality - Ships from factory set to 8M N
	Photo (F) Mode - Color Effects - Chrome
	Photo (F) Mode - Color Effects - B&W
	PROGRAMMED AUTO MODE 1st line from left: - P mode, Dual IS mode ON, Face Detection ON, Super Macro ON, Self-timer 2 sec., Multi-Pattern, 8M Fine, space left for 281 images 2nd line from left: - Custom WB, High Speed Shooting, Auto Bracketing, ISO AUTO (400) - Camera Shake Warning - Live Histogram - Shutter Spped, Aperture, Exposure Compensation
	NATURAL LIGHT MODE - Camera disables flash and selects a higher ISO
	PICTURE STABILIZATION - Camera selects a fast shutter speed to reduce camera shake (aperture and ISO are adjusted accordingly for correct exposure)
	MOVIE - 640x480 @ 30fps - 320x240 @ 30fps
	MOVIE - 18m42s left
	PLAYBACK INFO 1 of 2 - Minimal info by default
	PLAYBACK INFO 2 of 2 - To see EXIF Info, press the Exposure Compensation button in Playback - You can't see it clearly in this picture, but besides the Histogram, Highlight Warning is also flashing the areas that are overexposed
	MULTI-FRAME PLAYBACK - In Playback, toggle the Zoom lever toward the W once to display 2, 9 or 100 frames (Micro Thumbnail)

The Fujifilm FinePix S8000fd is a well-designed ultra zoom digital camera with good handling. Performance is good, but operation is not as fast as on the S6000fd or S9100. Beginner amateur photographers will find this camera easy-to-use; advanced amateur photographers will appreciate the many practical features and full exposure flexibility. We welcome the addition of the sensor-shift image stabilizer which helps tremendously when hand holding at the longer focal lengths.