15 out of 15 people found this review helpful.
My experience with the Fuji Finepix s7000 digital camera
Date of Review: Aug 10, 2004
The Bottom Line: I recommend you buy the S7000 if you want a versatile and easy-to-use camera with lots of options without a huge price tag. Have fun with it!
:::THE SEARCH:::
For quite some time, I had been searching for the "perfect" digital camera. While I realize of course that perfect with regard to digital cameras is subjective, I knew that I wanted a relatively easy to use digital camera that offered me a lot of options; at least as many as your nice SLR film cameras. After many "Which digital camera is right for you?" questionnaires (which were mostly advertisements in disguise... =o) ) and reading LOTS of reviews here on Epinions, I had a pretty good idea of a few cameras that might work for me. One of them was the s7000 which I finally chose to buy in May. I figured I should buy it before the rebate ran out (which it has now, for any of you looking at it. Sorry!). I've had it for 2 months now and here is my opinion thus far...
:::THE DETAILS:::
As far as lots of options and capabilities like an SLR camera, the s7000 definitely offers what I wanted! It offers an excellent 6x optical zoom (equal to 35-210mm), excellent macro capability (I took a picture of a bee on a flower and you can see even the little veins on the bee's wings! And this from a foot or two away!), both a shutter-priority (which helped me take some gorgeous pictures of a nearby waterfall) and aperture-priority mode (which has helped me take some great portraits of friends!), as well as an easy to use auto mode for when I don't feel like being creative. =o)
The FinePix s7000 also features a movie mode (with 2 different resolution settings) which I haven't gotten to use as much as I would like. What I have recorded with it using the lowest resolution setting had an excellent picture as well as relatively good sound for a non-camcorder video recording. My only complaint with the movie mode is that the s7000 can't zoom in or out while you are recording. So although it's handy to have around for an unexpected recording, it definitely WON'T replace your video camera!
Another great thing about the s7000 is that it uses xD pictures cards which are so portable it's almost sick. Plus they aren't too expensive, which makes it easy to afford a large one!
I had read on several reviews here that the camera eats battery power even when the camera is turned off - it's even in the manual that if it will be off for a while you should remove the batteries so they won't be drained - but I haven't had a problem with it. I've taken quite a few pictures with my s7000 in the 2 months I've had it and I'm still on my first round of 1800 NiMH batteries! Even if it is draining them while the camera is off, I don't see why that's a problem for anyone with 2 sets of rechargeable NiMH batteries.
The pictures I've printed - up to 8x10 have not shown any noise. Maybe I've just been lucky, but so far so good on that! They have all turned out beautifully!
I also really appreciate the easy switch from the LCD to the viewfinder for arranging shots. I love being able to see it on the LCD but sometimes in the sun the glare is bad so I switch to the viewfinder I can see it much better. Plus it helps for places where you don't want the light from your LCD to annoy people and it also makes it seem more like a traditional film camera.
:::HOW AND WHERE I'VE USED THE S7000:::
My largest shoot thus far was during a long hike up the tallest mountain here in the New York Adirondacks. I got to play around in sun and shade, various shutter speeds on several waterfalls, testing the macro capabilities with unusual plants and colorful mushrooms on the way up and down, as well as playing with the chrome mode vs. the standard mode. I also tested the zoom to see just how far I could see without it getting blurry. The pictures that came back are stunning and since I've only had one photography class in my life and am mostly just an enthusiast, I think I owe a lot to my camera. I put one of the pictures as the desktop background of my office computer and have had several people rave about it!
I also set up a small photo shoot with friends who are never happy with pictures taken in studios so I let them determine some aspects but mostly I played with aperture sizes to highlight various features of the shot and they turned out quite well. Some were close-ups and others were not but all turned out great.
The other main experience I had with the camera was shooting some landscapes of a pond and mountains near here. I used the chrome setting for that and ended up with some incredible pictures, despite it being a cloudy day. During that same time I also took some macro pictures of flowers (like the one with the bee I mentioned in my intro paragraph) and those turned out gorgeous!
:::NEGATIVE ASPECTS:::
Due to the somewhat different body style, I had to buy a rather large case to carry it in. In fact, I believe I bought one for a digital camcorder. Plus, when you put the batteries in and everything, it becomes a bit heavy. How it compares to other digital SLR's I don't know, but it seems that wearing it around your neck a while would get old, as with some older film SLR's.
As another reviewer (captainbk) mentioned, if you accidentally flip the switch just a tiny bit too far when going from photography to playback mode, you end up shutting the camera off and have to cycle the camera back through. I've done that more than a few times and it never gets less annoying.
Also, I don't know if it's just my camera, a sign of low battery life, or what, but if the s7000 is in photography mode for about 30 seconds without a shot being taken - for instance if it's just hanging around your neck - then the screen goes black and you have to go to playback mode and then back to photo mode when you want to take a picture. That gets old as well, and takes time.
:::CONCLUSION:::
I definitely recommend this camera for even an amateur to an enthusiast, based on my experience with it. The options are great and allow a lot of creativity and it's not hard to learn. Just read the manual! I read it once through and have looked up things on occasion when I forget, but it's not difficult to maneuver. I've shot in several different situations and areas and everything has turned out well. I've mostly used no flash (even in low light, as I use my body for a tripod) but on the rare time I've used a flash, the pictures have turned out well - for flash pictures. No red eye! =o) For the price, even without the rebate, this camera is still worth it!
Enjoy!
:::UPDATE!:::
It's been 9 months since I bought this camera and I'm still in love with it. I've recently - finally - gotten a much larger xD card and now the possibilities are endless. In case you're wondering, 9 months later, I still highly recommend this camera!
