Fuji S1000fd

The long-zoom digicam class has ballooned from just a couple of models less than ten years ago to the absolutely bloated list of entries currently available, and that means each new extended-zoom model is obliged to provide something to make it appear to be unique in order to garner any notice. To this end, Fuji claims the S1000fd (which replaces the S700) is the world's smallest 10 megapixel digital camera with a 12x optical zoom.

FEATURES OVERVIEW
The S1000fd's main claim to fame is its 12x (33-396mm equivalent) Fujinon optical zoom, but strangely Fuji provides no optical or mechanical image stabilization – users looking for IS will have to buy Fuji's larger and more expensive S8100fd. The S1000fd offers users Fuji's version of Face Detection AF (with automatic red-eye removal), which works by triangulating the eyes and mouths of the subjects in the image frame and then optimizing all exposure parameters (AF, white balance, sensitivity, etc.) for up to six faces.
In addition, the S1000fd features a 1/2.3" CCD imager, a 2.7-inch TFT LCD screen, an electronic viewfinder, 30 fps VGA movie mode, sensitivity that goes as high as ISO 1600 at full resolution, high-speed shooting, a combined xD/SD/SDHC memory card slot, and a panoramic shooting mode.

CONCLUSIONS
The S1000fd is obviously aimed at serious shooters, but it lacks some of the basic features that a photography enthusiast would expect – manual color, saturation, and contrast adjustments, for instance – plus it doesn't provide image stabilization. This puts the camera in something of a bind: the S1000fd doesn't really measure up for the serious/creative photography demographic, but it is too complex and difficult to use for the casual shutterbug and point-and-shoot crowd.

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