|
Review
Fuji S7000
The Fuji S700 has actually been out for a while and is about to be replaced with a newer (but lower resolution) model by Fuji. There are however, still a decent number of these in the stores in various parts of the country and online. When this camera first hit stores, it sold for as much as $899.00 U.S. Since my site is not really geared toward the upper-end cameras ( most newbies wouldn't spend this much on their first camera after all ), I waited until the price started to settle down. As a result, prices have now started to drop, making this a better deal, hence why I chose to do a review on it at this time.For the record, in your box you get of course the camera, a neck strap, tethered lens cap, a set of four AA alkaline batteries, a good printed instruction manual, Software on CD, USB cable for image transfer, and Video cable for TV playback, and a very cheesy low-yield 16 meg XD memory card ( c'mon Fuji.... it's a 6 megapixel camera... you couldn't afford to put a 32 or 64 meg card in here?? ). You'll of course want to invest in a larger card of the XD or Compact Flash type ( more on that choice just below ), and some Ni-MH rechargeable batteries, as the alkalines won't last long.When you first unpack and look at the S7000, you'd be forgiven for thinking it's a digital SLR. It's larger, black, solid ( although still plastic ), with a large lens and large solid handgrip. This is not a digital SLR however. It still uses a traditional color LCD on back, and you cannot take off the lens and swap it out for other lenses ( although you can buy optional tele and wide angle lenses you can screw onto the front via an adapter ). Instead of an optical viewfinder, there is an electronic viewfinder for use when conditions are too bright for the LCD screen. Other features include a 6X optical zoom, full manual controls ( shutter speed, aperture, white balance, etc.), 6 megapixels of "real" resolution, and the ability to do an interpolated 12 megapixel image as well. Want movies? The S7000 can take 640 x 480 sized movies at 30 frames per second, until your memory card runs out of memory - and you have a choice of three memory formats ( XD cards, Compact Flash, and Microdrives ). Fuji's instruction manual does not encourage regular Compact Flash card use saying "not all cards may work properly", but I tried this out with a Simpletech and Lexar branded cards, and it worked fine.There are a variety of manual controls on the camera, so you don't have to go into the electronic menu system to change settings. Actual knobs and buttons for modes, flash controls, exposure, exposure lock, zoom, flash settings, focusing, and macro focusing, are on the back, side, and top of the camera. Besides a built-in popup flash, there is a hot shoe for external flashes, and on the shutter release button is a socket for a cable release for the shutter. In other words, while the S7000 CAN be used as an all-auto point and shoot camera, it has the features and controls for more serious photographers. Most of the controls feel solid and sturdy, too - except perhaps one mode wheel on the top corner which is a bit cheesy. Want to use filters? There is a threaded ring around the lens barrel which with the use of an optional adapter, will allow you to use filters, as well as a couple of lens attachments for wide angle, and telephoto. A ring around the barrel also acts as a secondary zoom control, if you prefer not to use the zoom buttons on the camera back. The LCD screen is standard sized at around 1.5 inches, but pretty clear, and the electronic viewfinder is a little grainy, but useable.
Everyone knows I avoid too much geek talk or overloading on specs, but if you are more of an enthusiast who wants to read up on all the technical specs on this camera, click HERE to visit Fuji's page for it.
Controversies and CommentsThe S7000 has some controversy surrounding it, because of Fuji's claims on resolution. You see, the tiny CCD chip that captures the image in many Fuji cameras is not the same as those made by other manufacturers. Where others have square/rectangle shaped diodes that capture the colors and images, Fuji CCDs ( many of them ) are shaped like mini stop signs ( for the visual among you ) with smaller sensors in-between. This odd shape and combination according to Fuji, allows their diodes to capture more detail than others. So - as in this case, the 6 megapixel Fuji CCD is supposedly able to capture a 12 megapixel image. Does it work? More on that below. Regardless, there are fans and foes of these claims.Another controversy ( and criticism on my part ) is the exclusion of quality settings on the S7000. For example, on most digital cameras, you set your image size and then have choices as to how much the image is "compressed", or how much data is captured in it. This manifests itself in settings for "good/better/best", or, "normal/fine" and so forth. The better the setting, the more data is captured in the image, but the larger the file size and fewer images you can fit onto the memory card. The lower the setting, the less data that's captured in the image - image quality is worse, but you can fit more on the card. The S7000 is unique in that Fuji apparently decided users didn't want to be bothers with these choices, so they left these settings OUT of the menu system on most resolution settings. When taking a photo set at 1,3, or 6 megapixels, you have only the quality/compression setting that's the camera default, which is somewhat strong; more like a "normal" setting on other cameras... not "fine". At the 12 megapixel setting you do have normal, fine, and RAW choices ( a lossless compressed image that captures just RAW data without adding adjustments ). Keep in mind however, that the 12 megapixel size is really "interpolated" ( faked ) from the Fuji CCD, so even though you get a fine setting, it's using added data and not real image data to do it with. VERY odd, and a "boo" to Fuji from me for doing this. The S7000 is not alone - other Fuji models have gone this route too. Regarding ISO ( some still call it "film speed" although there's no film! ), the S7000 has a range of 200 to 800, but only allows you to take 3 megapixel image at 800, to avoid excessive noise in photos. Why 200 is the lowest is a mystery, as most competitors have a low setting of 50 or 64 ISO on their models.On a positive note, start up time is fairly quick. The autofocus system is reasonably quick as well, but there is not an auto focus assist light on this camera. Indoor or low lit areas can cause it to search a bit. Once you snap a photo, shutter lag ( delays from when you push the shutter to when the pic is actually taken ) is around half a second. Not super speedy, but not bad, really.Image QualityWith all the hype over the "Super CCD" - does it really deliver? In a nutshell, "not really". Between the heavier than usual compression of its images, and the equally unusual interpolation used to get the advertised 12 megapixel images, the S7000 photos are just not sharp and clear like those you get from cameras with traditional CCD sensors.Atlanta weather is really crappy this time of year, with thunderstorms popping up literally every evening. As a result, these test images aren't the best subject matter I could come up with, but given the time, this is it. What I've done below is put together three small images that are cropped from 100% views from three cameras. They are of the side of a tree trunk, with a wood fence behind it. We used the Minolta G500 which is a pocket point and shoot 5 megapixel camera, the Fuji S7000, and the Canon 10D digital SLR. Since digital SLRs are in a league of their own, we tried to make it fair by putting a really el-cheapo $114 Sigma lens on the 10D - not a top of the line expensive lens. ( If we had used a standard Canon branded lens, or higher quality third-party lens, the 10D image would be sharper still ).
It's important to point out that under most circumstances, you will never view a digital image at 100% size on your monitor, and that most digital images do look a bit fuzzy when viewed at that size - especially before any sharpening or other enhancements are made. Again, I apologize as this is certainly not the best subject matter I could ultimately come up with - but the best I could given the deadline to get this review up. Depending on your monitor, you may be able to tell that the S7000 image does show a bit more "noise" than the other images, and slightly less detail. The Minolta and Canon cameras both offer quality/compression settings such as "good/better/best" or "fine/superfine", etc. Setting these to their best settings causes them to use the minimum amount of compression to the images, retaining better detail. Since the S7000 does not have quality and compression options on most of it's resolution choices, it is stuck at a more mid-range, "normal" compression level, causing a bit less detail and more noise.Here is a single image which is a 100% size crop from one of the S7000s images taken at the 12 megapixel size. The 12 megapixel size is the ONLY size where you do have a choice of normal, fine, or RAW for quality on the S7000. Since this size is not a true 12 megapixel image, but is instead a proprietary form of interpolation, you're not really adding detail or quality over the 6 megapixel size from this camera. As you can see below, all the 12 megapixel setting seems to do is simply enlarge a smaller resolution size - you can visibly see detail breaking up, and the introduction of much more noise in the photo.
And here's another shot ( below ) I took of the center of a daisy, using the S7000 macro mode. This is a 100% sized crop of the original image. It was taken in good light, using the camera set to 12 megapixel fine mode. Note, there does seem to be a good bit of noise in the image, and again, the heavy compression breaks up details:
Oh and there's one more nasty thing to watch out for, too. You'll see the words "chromatic aberration" which is also called "purple fringing" used in camera reviews. This is where either the lens, image CCD chip, or a combo of both, will cause magenta or purple lines to appear along the outlines of things with high contrast, such as tree limbs against a hazy sky, metal against sky, etc. Yep... the S7000 does have this problem. Below is a 100% crop from a 12 megapixel RAW image ( converted to jpg ) taken that shows heavy fringing on tree branches against a hazy sky. This does not show up all the time - only in extreme conditions, but it still does happen. Viewing the whole image on a computer, or in prints at 5 x7 or lower and you're ok, but at 8 x 10 and larger, the purple shows up pretty well. On normal "blue sky" sunny days you should not see this, but on hazy or sometimes overcast days, you might.
Through the criticism of the S7000s image quality, I will point out ( so I don't get attacked for not saying anything positive ) that under regular viewing sizes on a monitor, the images from the S7000 usually look great. Color is good, and images look sharp up to around 50% in size. Once you start zooming in past 50%, you start to see the sharpness break up and noise creep in. Here just below is one last sample - the same shot that's above of the flower center, only this time not zoomed in and cropped, just resized to a normal web viewing size. See? At normal viewing sizes, the images look ok:
In my print tests, using an Epson R300 photo printer and glossy paper, 4 x 6 and 5 x 7 images were great, and the 8 x 10 prints were very good as well. You really have to get right on top of the 8 x 10s in order to pick out some loss of detail here and there, and once framed and on a wall at normal viewing distances, you'd not be able to tell this from a film print. A friend has a large format Epson printer capable of doing 13 x 19 prints, but at the time all he had available was pre-cut 11 x 14 papers. So we at least did an enlargement at that size, and at 11 x 14, you do see the limitations of the Fuji CCD. At this size, noise became visible, details broke up a bit, and purple fringing could be seen in high contrast areas ( tree branches against a hazy sky ). Once again, if we framed and hung this on a wall and stood back 2 to 4 feet as you would when viewing an image of this size, it would look better, but you would probably not mistake it for a film print. Fuji execs may get angry when they hear me use a word I'm about to use... but, a "real" 12 megapixel CCD in a camera should be able to produce near film quality 16 x 20 enlargements.
Final CommentsYou might think I don't like the S7000, but actually, that's not the case. While image quality is not up to my picky standards, and I think Fuji dropped the ball by leaving out certain settings, there are still things I like about the camera. Memory card options, a decent zoom, solid feel when you hold it, and a powerful flash. Good features to have. The movie mode while not quite as tack-sharp as I've seen on Canon models, is still large and has fluid motion. The ability to use AA batteries in a pinch, instead of relying on an expensive proprietary battery is a plus for me, too; great for those who travel a lot, as it's easier to buy AAs in a tourist spot anywhere, but you can only special order proprietary batteries. If you know your way around Photoshop or the image editor of your choice, and can take the time, you can also clean up the images a good bit and improve them. If you're a novice who wants near perfect image out-of-camera however, the S7000 isn't for you.When this camera first hit store shelves, it sold for up to $899.00. Not worth it. Many sellers are still trying to get $699.00 for it. Sorry, but there's too much competition at this price level, and better cameras for that amount of money. However, "for the price" is a common expression I use. Some sellers are clearancing the S7000 to make way for upcoming models, and sales for as low as $425.00 have been seen in stores. Fuji also offers rebates in some areas, so in theory, it's possible to get this camera for as little as $350 to $450.00. Now, "for THESE prices", the S7000 is a fine camera. The shortcomings can be overlooked, as you'll not find anything else that offers the resolution ( faked or not ), zoom, controls, and overall features, at a price below $500.00. So look around. The S7000 is certainly not a replacement for a top-end digital SLR or prosumer model, but if you can find a deal like some are, it's worth it.
My "Grades"?Build Quality = 8 Features = 7.5 Image Quality (overall) = 6.5 ( 7.5 if you work on them using software )
If you found this review and site helpful to you, please consider making even a tiny donation to help offset operating and hosting costs. Visit the bottom of the Q&A page, or the Gallery page, for links for donations and more info.
(back to the home page) |
If
you're a return visitor, make sure and click on your browser's
"Refresh" button on each page to make sure you have the newest version
of this page loaded.
