FUJI S9600 - Experiences?

PaulyB63

Hi All,

I have been using a Fuji S5000 for about 3/4 years now and have been delighted with the results over the years... It's (I've) taken some stunning shots with it in it's time. I bought it reconditioned on eBay for €270 some time back and it's been a faithful companion throughout. Alas, the dog got a hold of it 2 weeks ago (my fault - I left it on the kitchen table and he is just a puppy....:eek: :eek: )

Anyway... I have just purchased the Fuji s9600 ( http://www.fujifilm.co.uk/digital/cameras/s9600/index.php?&flash=9 ) and I'm hoping to have great experiences with this camera... Having read various reviews around the web I'm finding it hard to find many negative reviews...

So... Are there any Irish punters with experiences of this cam to share (or the s9500... I believe they are similar less a few minor upgrades...)

Thanks....

P

unklerosco

I got mine about 2 weeks ago.. havent had a chance to use it yet. Had a Sony R1 before but didnt like it at all. 70% of the time it drove me mad, the other 30% it took fantastic pics.

To me the sony was useless for indoor shots so i got rid of it. Been messing about with the fuji indoors n its a hell of allot better, the auto settings are way better... Got an external flash with it, I needed it as i take my cameras to allot of indoor events. Hope to get out n about on sunday with it n get some pics... Try n fill that 4gb card i got...

PaulyB63

Sounds good.... I've tried a Sony camera before, my father-in-law has one of the cyber shots, and I didn't like it at all... I think Sony should stick to video cameras.... They do a great job on those!!

I have taken some outdoor stuff over the last few days with the new Fuji and so far so good... I have ordered a 2GB SANdisk extreme III CF card... At the moment I just have my old 256MB XD card which fills up in a flash at 9MP!

I'll post a few shots if I get some good ones over the weekend... I want to do some night time tripod shots in town also.....

unklerosco

What u pay for the card??

bp_me

Had a 9500 for a year. It works well. AF is a little slow but probably as fast as anything else in the same market segment. Images are noisey at higher ISO levels. Best kept at 100 (or 80 if the situation allows). It does absolutely chew through batteries, especially if the situation is any way "difficult" at all.

The dual memory cards are a nice feature though you have to swap manually between them and cant copy files between them either. Menus are a breeze to navigate and you generally wont need the manual or be left wondering where things are.

Manual focus is next to impossible....

decsramble

I have a s9500. Bought it for a trip to Australia where I didnt want to worry about an expensive DSLR and lenses plus the hassle of dust and dirt on the sensor. It worked brilliantly. Photos are very nice, auto focus seemed a little soft at times It's a rugged enough camera considering the number of times I dropped it. I did get sand in the zoom barrel but that's not too bad. The grip is the only piece that didn't hold up well, the rubber came unstuck and lifted off in the heat. Not too bad just a small annoyance to play with when holding it. I like the swivel screen at the back. You can hold the camera above your head and still see what shots you are taking.

The things I didn't like were the manual focus, practically useless, very awkward and took a long time before I got used to it, even then I stick to auto 99% of the time. The viewfinder was another annoyance, it's an LCD so that was a bit distracting to start with. Plus I found I couldn't wear polarized sun glasses with it. :-) It eats batteries so carry good rechargeables with you. I have heard people complaining that the command dial on the s9500 can break, but it took a beating from me and works fine (fingers crossed)

All the australia photos on my flickr page were taken with it. http://www.flickr.com/photos/decsramble/

I've no regrets about buying it and I still have it, though I use a Canon 350D more now.

melekalikimaka

i think by the nature of digital photography all images are a bit soft, a bit of ps after tidies it all up after so its not the worst thing in the world

PaulyB63

I Paid €31 on eBay for the card... I can probably source 'em cheaper but I like my shopping to come to me rather then me going to the shopping....!

stephendm

Very nice camera - the wife has one. (I've a Canon 400D)

As mentioned, the manual focus isn't the best but the range on the lens is excellent. Tis a fair bit noisy though (even at low enough ISOs) but get yourself a program called NeatImage and you won't have to worry about that much.

Battery-wise.....buy any rechargeables that are NimH 2500mah +
We've discovered that anything below will run out quite quickly but 2500+ last for a long time!! A few sets of those and you're sorted (thery're not expensive....and only about €40 in Maplins for a 20 minute charger -- works like a charm!)
Also can't take a Fuji dedicated flash but got a multi-dedicated one for about €25 (in Spectraphoto, Sligo) and that's actually class for the cash!

...work now. Happy snapping anyways

bp_me

stephendm wrote:

Tis a fair bit noisy though (even at low enough ISOs) but get yourself a program called NeatImage and you won't have to worry about that much.

Any program designed to reduce digital noise is also going to soften the image overall....

stephendm wrote:

Battery-wise.....buy any rechargeables that are NimH 2500mah +
We've discovered that anything below will run out quite quickly but 2500+ last for a long time!!

Not all 2500mAh batteries are created equal and I found that the best performing batteries for me were some 2100mAh I got in Aldi/Lidl. It's not all about the big number on the side. Though of course they dont tell you anything else :rolleyes:

PaulyB63

Are the ALDI batteries always available or do you have to watch out for the special offer days?

bp_me

PaulyB63 wrote:

Are the ALDI batteries always available or do you have to watch out for the special offer days?

Havent a clue..

stephendm

bp_me wrote:

Any program designed to reduce digital noise is also going to soften the image overall....

That's the beauty of Neatimage - very VERY little softening...it's a fantastic bit of s/w

bp_me wrote:

Not all 2500mAh batteries are created equal and I found that the best performing batteries for me were some 2100mAh I got in Aldi/Lidl. It's not all about the big number on the side. Though of course they dont tell you anything else :rolleyes:

You could be right but just from our experience any of the many many rechargeables we tried under 2500maH were useless (and any ones that were 2500+ lasted ages).
The maH number is usually a fairly good way guarantee but please note: out of sixteen 2500maH batteries we got on ebay, half of them were dead (the other 8 were perfect) - probably best to stay away from there when buying batteries to be safe. Lidl's probably a good bet but I'm not sure are they only on specials. (we don't got an Aldi round these parts so I can't say there! )

Dilbert75

Its a good few months now since I saw rechargeables on sale in Aldi, even longer since I saw them in Lidl. Hopefully that means they'll be back around soon.

BTW, got delivery of my S9600 from Pixmania today. Just have to figure out how to read the (French) manual (I have downloaded the English version) and I'll post a few pix.