Has the perfect all-in-one solution arrived?

What I like:
SLR-like features and more - all in one package
What I don't like:
Battery life is too short - buy a spare!

After nearly 30 years of lugging around a large and very heavy bag full of lenses and equipment I'd had enough, so I was looking for everything all in one package - if it existed. This is where the S100FS met my needs perfectly. I'm no longer picking which lense to use as it's all in one. The range of features - Auto, Selective Bracketing (very useful), Fully Manual, Aperture priority, Shutter priority to name but a few leave nothing wanting for total control of shooting conditions and subject matter.

The purple fringing is there (as with many other manufacturers' offerings) but it is easily corrected in software such as Photoshop Elements(earlier versions being almost given away now).

Shutter lag is virtually non-existent and has been one of the main reasons for me holding onto 35mm until now.

The digital viewfinder is far superior to other"Best Buy" bridging cameras but it is still no match for an SLR. I have found that manual focusing can be difficult, albeit aided by a visual bar indicator.

Optically it is very good. Having been a frequent user of 28mm wide angles it is one of the few bridging cameras with it as for me the 35mm isn't quite wide enough. At the other extreme the 400mm telephoto is more than enough - and don't forget the 2x digital zoom if you really want to push it.

The tilting screen is superb and the best bridging camera offerings that I've seen by a long shot with images being crystal clear, even on a sunny day.
Although it has a miriad of features it is relativley easy to work through. The large rotary knob offers the most commonly(?) used functions and the context-sensitive menus are simple to use. It has 2 Custom settings which are great for creating such things as a one-touch external flash manual mode. Just put on the flash, switch to Custom 1 (or 2) and you're ready to go. It remembers that you have previously set the camera to Manual, 1/60th second, f-stop whatever and External Flash mode (assuming that you have, of course).
On the subject of flash, as it doesn't support dedicated flash, I can use both my old Olympus-dedicated, and when using my very old-and-trusted Vivitar 285 non-dedicated it produces superb results. It does have a built-in manually-operated pop-up flash but is somewhat limited in performance. Having said that I don't believe that it's anywhere near as poor as some reviews would have you believe.

I have fitted a 67mm UV/Haze filter to protect the lense front element and strongly suggest its use - remember that if you ruin the lense, you'll face a hefty repair bill or a ruined the camera.

I also purchased a slimline circular polarising filter (recommended by Fuji to prevent possible vignetting at wide angle). The results are very pleasing but I found it a little more difficult to see the effects when trying to adjust the amount of filtering when compared to an SLR.

Build quality is very good and although heavy, it has a great balanced feel, unlike many other offerings and"Best-buys" I tried that felt and looked cheap.

Whilst not a problem for me, those with long fingernails may have trouble using the small rotary controls for changing the focus (Continuous, Standard and Manual) and light metering modes (Average, Centre-weighted and Spot). Al other extrnal controls are well positioned and fall to hand (or finger!) after a little practice.

The S100FS takes either xD-Picture Cards, SD and the SDHC Memory cards. With the camera set to the highest resolution (11Mp-Fine) the book states that an 8MB SDHC can hold 1464 images at 5.4MB each, or 116 minutes of 640x480 Video at 30 frames per second. If you scale that down accordingly it will give you a rough approximation to the capacity of smaller SDHC cards.

A Hama Handrgrip to me is a must-have essential addition, as it gives the opportunity of single-handed carrying without fear of dropping the camera, particularly as I'm not a great fan of neckstraps.

The Fuji leather case design specifically for the S100FS is beautifully made with carry-handle and shoulder strap. It accomodates the camera with a snug fit but has little room for accessories, other than a puffer brush and a spare battery. I can't even get my polarising filter in!

If I were to loose my S100FS tomorrow would I by the same again? Without hesitation.

To me, the almost perfect all-round solution in one camera has finally arrived.

Great Camera

My husband bought me this camera for my birthday. I wanted a small camera that would fit inside my handbag or my husbands pocket! I did what the other review suggested and played around with it before taking it away on holiday.

I am so pleased with this camera. Im a novice photographer but the photos i have taken so far are fantastic.Particularly close ups of flowers and sunsets (The north devon location probably helped too!)

The camera battery is fab and downloading onto my PC is a doddle.

Cracking little camera

I got this Camera for my birthday and its superb. The improvement in picture quality and facilities since I bought my only previous digital Camera five years ago has to be seen to be believed.

This is smaller than my previous Camera has more facilities, and requires half the number of batteries. The basic settings are:
Auto
Movie
Landscape
Portrait
Digital Zoom
Red Eye Reduction
Picture Stabilization
Baby Mode

To be honest Auto and Movie are the only two I've used. The movie facility (with sound) is unlimited within the limitations of the memory card. The 1GB card provided will give you almost 1/2 an hour of video. The picture quality is very good and its easy to link to your PC. With the benefit of photo software even the most average picture can be cropped to look good.

Another excellent feature of this Camera is the large viewing screen (54mm x 40mm).

A great little Camera that does everything I need.

Great camera

The Fuji Finepix F810 has been my long time photo companion for almost 5 years, and is still working ok now. Technology has evolved since, though, and I've just purchased a new camera of another brand.

Its strengths:
- good picture quality
- easy to use
- great manual control
- close ups quality is good
- can be set into video function
- durable
- good value for money

Its weaker points:
- no photo stability feature (it blurs easily)
- not so good to capture blues/purples
- the zoom is now less powerful than other cameras
- the battery life is rather low
- the 16MB card supplied is not enough (hence, having to buy a larger one - XD cards are less easy to find in the shops)
- casing not supplied (I recommend buying one)

It was my very first digital camera, and I find it wonderful. I highly recommend it if you're a novice.

Beware of this camera.........

I bought this camera just over a year ago from a high street retailer and have been so disappointed that I felt compelled to warn other potential buyers. My family and I have always bought Fuji cameras as they have been very reliable and easy to use. On plus side, this camera looks good and is lightweight. However the battery life is next to useless and over the past year I have spent a small fortune buying numerous high quality branded batteries (as high as 2650 mAh) in the hope of being able to take more than 6 photos before the charge is lost. Nothing works, except carrying a large supply of recharged batteries everywhere I go. I have returned the camera once and it has supposedly had a part replaced although I have not seen any difference at all in its performance. Additionally the camera is slow to take a picture so you cannot be spontaneous and on the majority of occasions I have ended up without the intended shot. Next there is no viewfinder which is a huge problem in bright daylight conditions as you cannot see anything through the LCD screen which turns black. Therefore during my once in a lifetime trip to Barbados recently I had to guess where the subject of my photo was standing and then check the playback to see if I managed to get them centred correctly. Naturally my family got fed up of me retaking their photograph until I eventually got the desired outcome. Finally the picture quality when printed or viewed via PC is poor and not what I'd expect of a 7mp camera. The photos are not sharp and are often dull looking despite great weather conditions. I have persevered with this camera for the past year and have now decided to go back to my old 2mp Fuji camera which despite being a bulky appliance, does produce a much sharper and brighter photograph. Therefore I would not recommend this camera under any circumstances.

Amazing little camera!

I've owned this item for almost a year now and it's such a brilliant camera.
I takes very good quality movies (with sound) and with a 2GB card installed I get over half an hour of high quality video. Armed with a bundle of 2gb cards I discovered I no longer had any need for my bulky movie camera. This is now my video camera.

The stills are excellent quality. The resolution is great. And it's tiny - where else can you get a video camera that fits in to your shirt pocket?

And I can fit over 3000 stills on to a 2gb card too (assuming the picture resolution is not too high).

It's a shame it is (apparently) discontinued.

I'm so very impressed with this unit.

Cracking little camera

I got this Camera for my birthday and its superb. The improvement in picture quality and facilities since I bought my only previous digital Camera five years ago has to be seen to be believed.

This is smaller than my previous Camera has more facilities, and requires half the number of batteries. The basic settings are:
Auto
Movie
Landscape
Portrait
Digital Zoom
Red Eye Reduction
Picture Stabilization
Baby Mode

To be honest Auto and Movie are the only two I've used. The movie facility (with sound) is unlimited within the limitations of the memory card. The 1GB card provided will give you almost 1/2 an hour of video. The picture quality is very good and its easy to link to your PC. With the benefit of photo software even the most average picture can be cropped to look good.

Another excellent feature of this Camera is the large viewing screen (54mm x 40mm).

A great little Camera that does everything I need.

excellent quality proffessional looking pictures

this is our first fuji digital camera and wow we cant get over the quality of the pictures and also how many small digital cameras do you know that will accept add on lenses to improve even more the picture quality i bought the wide lense which gives the picture so much more depth and the telephoto lense is awesome,a great buy and a awesome point and shoot camera which is a joy to own.

Exellent Fuji A600

This is a first class small camera,Ideal for people who Just want to take pictures with out having to set any controls. A very large and clear LCD screen with very good Clarity. I have taken a few Macro pictures and the definition was great.Its worth spending a few extra pounds on a Fuji XD picture card from Pixmania uk. I bought the 1Gb,so i had know worries about running out of space while away on Holiday. Well Done Fuji.

Handy little camera

I have recently purchased this camera, and bought it at a high street store in a clearance sale.

I think some of the other reviews are unnecessarily harsh. To address the point of the LCD screen: there is an optical viewfinder on this camera - to use it will improve your composition and reduce wastage of batteries. At night you can still use the optical viewfinder!

My criteria for purchasing a digital compact camera was to pay less than £50, have a good optical zoom, as many mp as i could afford and to not buy a camera that's too large.

I have good quality cameras, DSLR's etc, and was just looking for a pocket camera for nights out etc, that i can just pop in my handbag.

I've been very satisfied with the quality of prints i've achieved. I don't feel that 10x8" enlargements would be as good quality, but using a camera like this you're probably going to make photo's 6x4 or 7x5 and this camera is more than adequate for this purpose.

I find it quite sturdy and intuitive to use. I'm really chuffed with my little bargain!