Fujifilm FinePix S1500 Digital Camera – Black 2.7 inch LCD
Posted by Notcot on Jun 5, 2010 in Photography |
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After my old camera missed much of a recent event as the flash recharged, I chose to upgrade to the S1500 after seeing friends with one. Any initial doubts about buying have gone – it just works. The size is perfect, falling into your hand nicely. The weight is not noticeable. Batteries are still going after two weeks of daily use. Picture quality of static and moving objects is superb, even face detection working periodically. Two very neat features – the super-macro lets you take photos 1cm away from your object, and the ability to stitch 3 photos together to create a landscape is pretty cool.
Overall every photo taken has come out as good as, if not better, than I expected.
Niggles – the lense cap can come off whilst in a bag – not a big gripe.
Recommended.
Edit: after owning this for four weeks further thoughts. I remain impressed with picture quality (very detailed images capturing naturally light really well), the zoom and super-zoom functions. Niggle – when using the face-detection facility there is a slight delay between focus and picture taking – not much but it can be enough to miss a shot. The camera works just as well without this turned on. Battery life is brilliant, and downloading pictures via USB2 is really really quick. Recommended.
Rating: 4 / 5
A great camera, but dig a little bit deeper into your pockets, because for less than £30 more you can buy the Fujifilm Finepix S2000 which has the advantages of a wide angle lens and an HD-quality video camera.
However I like this Fujifilm Finepix S1500 camera for 4 main reasons:
(1) It is simple to use and takes great pictures! Just a few years ago digital cameras had 5 megapixels or less, and a 200mm lens was considered a very powerful zoom. This one boasts 10 megapixels and a lens equivilent to 35mm to 400 mm on a 35mm camera. OK, there are cameras out there for £40-60 more that take clearer photos, but for everyday family use and for the serious amateur, the results are just great, and far better than anything taken by our parents a generation ago.
(2) It feels tactile and reassuringly solid. It has an old-fashioned manual plastic lens cap which is great. My wife has ruined her last 2 cameras by getting dust or sand in their automatic lens opening mechanism.
(3) The camera has an electronic viewfinder as well as a large 2.7cm viewing screen which is handy to switch to in bright sunlight.
(4) The Fujifilm Finepix S1500 takes regular AA batteries, and they last a long time – for up to 300 shots.
The Fujifilm Finepix S1500 includes a video camera with a resolution of 640 x 480 at 30FPS , but you can hear the creepy sound of it focusing as well as the noise of the zoom during playback. The same is true of the Fujifilm Finepix S2000, but this model is a better buy because it is HD (‘High Definition’, like modern TV’s) and has a much better 1280 X 720 at 30fps resolution. The Fujifilm Finepix S2000 is also a better buy because of its 27.6mm (35mm camera equivilent) lens which can capture groups of people at short range.
Rating: 4 / 5
Got this camera as my Christmas present – have been allowed to use it early to get used to it…just incase it was too complicated to get decent shots on Christmas day.
I definitely needn’t have worried! It’s an absolute pleasure to use, and very easy to navigate aswell – it does look complicated but it honestly isn’t.
Every photo I’ve taken so far has been perfect. The images are sharp and clear, the zoom is incredible – the photos I’ve taken of the moon are wonderful! Indoor shots are perfect everytime.
If you are thinking about this camera – I highly recommend you buy it. I’m delighted with mine – utterly and completely.
Rating: 5 / 5
I’ve had my s1500 for two weeks now. It is easy to use, I’ve not felt that bothered by not having a printed manual. For the price this camera has a lot of features, and provides more scope than basic point and shoot (PAS) models.
But. like others I have struggled to get a really crisp image. I think it’s probably one or both of 1. poor censor – I see little advantage over my cheap Canon 7MP PAS for instance. Probably all the money has gone on electronic features and the zoom. 2. jpg artefacts – it looks to me like there is a little too much compression on the images right from the beginning – areas of flat colour for instance. Even at the highest quality the images are in focus, but look like they’ve had a soft-focus filter applied, and have artefacts especially around the edges. This is the biggest disappointment for anyone looking for an SLR substitute – but it’s a 1/3 the price of a cheap DSLR!
The camera is slow. It takes a long time to focus, to take the shot, and to process it. Deleting images also takes time – can’t shut the animation off which would speed things up. Focussing on supermacro takes about 2 seconds – no chance of catching anything lively.
There are manual functions but in fact there is not a huge amount of scope for changing the settings. For instance f4 – f8 is about the most you can expect. So not great depth of field. There are compensations from being digital, but the lens is upgraded PAS not a downgraded SLR.
I agree that at this price, and with a lens that is pushed forward on activation, I would have like the option for a filter for protection, and the lens cap a little more firmly attached (I’ve knocked it off accidentally a couple of times already).
On the plus side 12x zoom is great. Much better than digital zoom. The s1500 comes with digital zoom switched off. I tried it but switched it back off again. The panorama function is great fun. Battery life is good – I forked out for rechargeables now I’m using 4 at a time! Unlike another reviewer my camera has no problem with red – I’ve got some spectacular sunsets (in panorama) already. The super macro allows you to get very close to your subject – and the zoom is switched off so there’s no confusion about what kind of photo you’re taking (someone complained about macro/zoom focussing in another review).
If you are on a restricted budget but wanting features to play with then you may find this camera suits you. If you think you’ll get DSLR quality you’ll disappointed – this is a step up from PAS, but not a giant step.
I think those people who have given this camera 5/5 are not realistic and must have had very low expectations indeed. Similarly the very low reviews seem to have unfairly high expectations. This is an OK camera for the price. It’s fun. I’m stuck with it because of my budget, but I can see it’s going to keep me amused. There are always limitations.
Rating: 3 / 5
This is an excellent little machine that I would recommend to anyone who wants a more-than-basic digital camera and doesn’t mind that with its chunky SLR-style shape it won’t fit in their pocket. (It’s small and light, and you can get a good carrying case for it.)
The specifications, performance, and image quality are all very impressive. The optical zoom range (there’s also digital zoom on top of that but of course that brings lower quality images) is wide, and I do like the “SLR” design, even if it’s smaller than a “real” one. My preference is for a viewfinder when framing shots, a legacy of my film photography days, though I have to say the screen here is large and well-illuminated. The handgrip is useful as well, and it houses the four AA batteries used – there’s no down time charging batteries though I would recommend using lithium AAs after exhausting the alkaline ones provided. The whole feel and experience of using this camera is a delight. My larger (and more expensive) Nikon D60 is going to sit in its case for special occasions, this camera is much more portable (and with a longer zoom) for easy carrying and use when out and about.
That’s not to say everything is perfect. It’s best to confine video capture to scenes where the aidio isn’t important as the noise from the tracking autofocus can be obtrusive. The USB cable provided for downloading the pictures is half the length I’ve had on other cameras or even my mobile phone, and that makes the download experience a bit awkward. The bundled software is slow and clunky – I uninstalled mine, and have no difficulties downloading the pictures direct as the computer reads the camera as an external storage device no problem. Oh, and would it have killed Fujifilm to provide a filter thread at the front, even if just for a skylight to protect the lens?
But despite these niggles I’m still giving this camera five stars. That’s how much I like it.
Rating: 5 / 5