Fujifilm FinePix S1000fd

I purchased this camera to replace my Finepix S5100. Mind you, there was nothing wrong with my 5 year old S5100. I just felt the need for something newer. The S5100 was a 4MP camera - the S1000FD is 10MP. I loved my S5100 and it did right by me for years, so I stuck with Fuji. It's still in the family...I gave it to my daughter and she's using it now. (Still ticking after 5 years!) I am not a professional photographer, I just like to take pictures and I don't know a lot about manual settings and such. All I know is, I keep the camera on AUTO and 99% of my pictures come out perfect. The camera does have face finder technology and for the most part, I don't have to fix red eye manually anymore. The large LCD screen is great. Battery usage is normal. (Invest in rechargeables! Save a fortune in batteries!) The zoom is decent, but the real test will be from my seats at Yankee Stadium! I'll update on this one later on. The S1000FD also accepts both SD and XD cards. I am able to use the 1Gb and 2Gb cards from my S5100. I purchased 4Gb SD cards for my Creative Zen and can use them with the S1000FD as well. I don't have issues with close-ups coming out blurry as some have complained about. The camera is a step up from the typical point and shoot cameras and a step (or two) below the expensive SLR's. It's much lighter than the S5100 and smaller. Check out the pics I posted which were taken with the camera. I don't think you'll be disappointed in this camera if you get it.

I love the feel and the size of the camera. The ability to choose the settings most used and save them is nice also. Low light pictures are very good. The quality of the pictures so far is great.Can't beat this ZOOM either.
The larger size Lcd is also nice and the fact that you can turn it off and use the viewfinder, or lower the brightness is very much a help at conserving battery life.
Speaking of batteries the best part about them is they are available Everywhere.
So if your rechargeable AA goes dead you can pop in a store bought AA battery in a pinch.
Bottom line very very happy with my purchase.
5-30-08
After using now for a while here is an update..The camera is light weight has a powerful zoom and flash.Tripod may be needed if zoomed all the way out.
I have owned a fuji camera prior to this one and it had manual focus this does not . Poor judgement in my opinion camera would be much better with it.
The pictures I have taken for the most part were fantastic but there are ones that I could not get to focus and these were missed opportunities of some great wild life pictures.

It's unbelievable that you can now get a 10 Megapixel camera with 12x optical zoom for just over $200. Some surprising features include:

- the ability to do in-camera panoramas. The camera helps you position the 2nd and 3rd shots to match up correctly, but even when I do it hand-held, the result is amazingly seamless.

- exposure bracketing with several choices up to -1 to +1 EV.

- several white balance modes, and of course you can preview what the WB will look like before you take the shot.

WHAT I LIKE:

- small, lightweight (smallest of the super-zooms, from what I've read)

- ranges from a simple point & shoot to a versatile, customizable camera.

- Anything you need to learn about photography before you progress to DSLRs can be learned on this camera (manual exposure, aperture priority, white balance, etc.)

- rich colors in Chroma mode, over-saturated but OK.

- you can pre-set any of several custom modes in an easily accessible way.

- Surprisingly low noise results at ISO 64. Personally I would avoid anything over 100, so it's best in bright light or with flash.

- I never have to change a lens or worry about dust on the sensor chip.

- Fun and easy to use, with lots of features to play with.

- The in-camera 3-photo panorama stitching is impressive.

- For about 1/2 the price, I get twice the camera I could 3 years ago. - A great value.

- you can review your shot with histogram exposure information, if you like.

WHAT I DON'T LIKE:

- It has even more shutter lag than my old Fujifilm S5100 from 2005. You generally get the moment AFTER the moment you were trying to capture.

- very noisy and high color fringing at higher ISOs.

Check out the review from 5/25/08 by Challenging Designs and the one from R. Yomes from 7/10/08. Something is not right with this camera. I am putting my comment here to share my experience.

I've been experimenting with this camera for the last month and a half. I sometimes don't get focused shots because of the delay and miss out on pictures of my children. I used it at the marina on an overcast day and on AUTO setting and my pictures were far too dark and some were black. Today I placed fresh batteries in it (just in case) and I used it while out golfing at beautiful Kanehohe Bay in the loveliest of conditions...also on AUTO. Half the pictures turned out normal, the other half, all along the ocean in gorgeous conditions, were too dark (black, practically) just as the ones from the overcast day at the marina. My visiting uncle was using his new Panasonic Lumix (I will post it here when I find out which one he has) on AUTO, comparable but about a hundred dollars more expensive, and it had NO trouble on the overcast day at the marina. We even shot several of the same subjects! ALL his exposures were perfect with his Lumix! None of mine were successful. I could not understand what was happening as I held my camera side by side with his to compare. Then I read the review by Challenging Design from 5/25. I have found that my indoor pictures are grainy with the flash and brassy without.

My husband and I have been happy with our six-year-old Finepix F601Zoom which, much to our surprise, takes better pictures than this S1000fd. The old F601Z has a delay, another reason, besides more pixels and more zoom, that we attempted to upgrade. My Finepix S1000 will be going back to the store.

As of today, I find it interesting that a third person (R. Yomes, 7/10/08) has had black pictures, so that's three of us who are disappointed in this camera. I was wondering what I was doing wrong on "Auto" mode. I was glad to have had the chance to compare it with another camera so that I could be sure it was not overcast conditions at the marina the first day. There was no excuse for the failed pictures on the sunny day at the golf course. After being so pleased with our old Fuji camera, the new one is a huge disappointment. And yes, I returned it to where it was purchased (I had 45 days to try it...I only used it for about a week before it was malfunctioning). Not quite sure I want the Panasonic, either, as the pictures have great contrast between light and dark without as much depth of color between as I am accustomed to with a Fuji camera.

And, like another reviewer, I am annoyed at how easily the lens cap falls off. The "missing" lens cap was my biggest complaint repeatedly my first day using it until I started experiencing the black pictures.

I think there's a trend here....three of us have found it takes almost black pictures.

I love this camera. It is light weight and takes stunning pictures.I bought it to replace a sony cybershot and I couldn't be more pleased. Great zoom and takes wonderful low light photos too. You can't go wrong with it.