Discrete Vector

So there I was, out with my friends on a day trip. I had my handy Kodak V570 with me and was all set for some great nature photography. But to my dismay I found myself short handed during some of the shots. Oh, only if I could zoom a bit more, that failed macro shot which I just couldn’t get right, ahh the luxury of going manual. Lets face it, there were so many times where the ‘Auto’ was just not good enough.

So when I got back I told myself, never again! I was going to get myself something more decent than a compact. Several reviews later I had my mind all set for a Canon S5 IS or a Panasonic FZ 18. More latter than the former. But alas, the next day found me hunting all the large electronic stores in Bangalore with no luck. The FZ 18 was not to be found anywhere and the S5 IS was not in stock.

So finally I ended up in Whizz (The Forum) where I had bought my previous camera from. The guy said that he could get me the S5 IS in a couple of days but in the meantime he asked me to check out one of his personal favorites, and out came the Fuji S9600.

You wont be blamed for mistaking it for a SLR. Weighing 650gm and at 128×93x129 mm this camera falls in the bridge or prosumer category. The one thing that struck me that most and biased my buying decision towards this camera was the manual zoom. Not many bridge cameras have manual zoom, not even the S5 IS and for that matter, no other cameras in that shop! (except for the SLRs of course).

The shop assistant was pretty knowledgeable when it came to cameras. Some of the other shops I went to had pretty girls who didn’t know the difference between aperture and hair spray. (For all they know, aperture might be a very expensive manicure)

He let me play with it for sometime to get the feel of it. For a big camera, it fits well into your hand. The controls are easy to reach but the buttons could have been a little big bigger and slightly raised. The manual zoom was a joy to use and it really gives you that extra flexibility in terms of zoom. Electronic zooming moves the lens in steps and sometimes you end up with too much or too less and that can be a disadvantage especially in macro shots. And of course, there is the saving on the battery to consider.

There is virtually no shutter lag and the time between shots are less than 1.5 seconds. The lens’s focal length of 28 – 300 mm can give sufficiently wide shots as well as telephoto ones. Saves on the trouble of having to carry separate lenses (and get dust into your camera in the process)

The standard manual modes such as Aperture priority, Shutter priority, Programmed as well as manual is available.

The shots were great in auto and personally, excellent in manual. Very less noise in higher ISOs. The pictures are sharp and if you don’t like what you see, there is always the manual focus. The S9600 lacks optical image stabilization. An anti-shake mode is present but not as effective as optical stabilization on the S5 IS.

The one gripe I have about the S9600 is the flexibility of the display. It can be shifted to only three predefined positions unlike the S5 IS which allows the screen to be turned on an axis.

At its highest resolution (9MP Fine mode) images sizes were around 4 – 4.5 MB and in normal mode takes around 2.5 MB. RAW shots will take up to a whopping 18 MB per picture.

The camera uses CF and xD. CF comes for around 850 Rs for 1 Gig. xD is more than a grand for the same capacity. Get nothing less than one GB if you are buying cameras in this range. More if you can afford it. If you take videos at max resolution, your 1GB card will last you only for approximately 30 minutes.

Overall I was impressed with the camera. But I don’t like to be hasty when it comes to expensive buys. The sales guy (who spent a good half an hour with me) was nice enough to tell me to take my time, check out a few more reviews and then come back.

I did exactly that. And the next time I went to that shop, it was to walk out as a proud owner of a Fuji S9600.

PS: A strong warning. This camera is not for people who believe that expensive cameras automatically create great looking pictures. If you are the type who goes click click clicking on auto, this is not the camera for you. Stick to you compact. If you don’t have the patience with experimenting with manual focus, ISOs and such, give this one a wide berth. For such people, my Kodak v570 is for sale. If you are interested, drop me a mail.

Product Rating: 4 Widgets

Happy Shooting,
Alex

Specs

What’s in the Box:

The Camera (Duh!)
Lens Cap
Lens Cap Holder (Strap Attachment)
Lens Hood
Shoulder Strap
A/V Cable
USB Cable
Owner’s Manual
Software & Drivers CD ROM (Picture viewer, RAW file converter)

The following additional accessories were thrown in when I bought the camera and are not part of the standard package

FujiCell AA Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries (x4)
FujiCell Battery charger
Camera Pouch

Pictures

The pictures of the S9600 were taken with a Kodak V570. The Sample photos were, of course, taken with the S9600

Sample Photos
Mode: Auto, Flash: On, Lighting: Fluorescent 9MP (N)	Mode: Auto, Flash: Off, Lighting: Fluorescent 9MP (N)

More reviews

TrustedReviews

DPReview