Fujifilm Camera

Fujifilm FinePix S100FS Review

Review based on a production Fujifilm FinePix S100FS

For many years, consumers wanting more control and range than a compact but lower weight and cost than a DSLR have been able to buy 'bridge' cameras, which look a lot like DSLRs but do away with the bulky, expensive mirror assembly that defines an SLR. They have traditionally had smaller sensors which allow long zoom lenses to be created in a relatively smaller space.

However, in recent years, more manufacturers have started to compete at the bottom end of the DSLR market with slimmed-down offerings at ever-more aggressive prices. This has left the bridge camera in a tight spot - why buy a DSLR-like camera if you can nab the real thing for around the same money? Until recently, it appeared to be a question with no answer: most bridge cameras shrank from the challenge and began to look and feel more like compacts with an absurd zoom on the front. Fujifilm's fully-featured S9100, launched back in August 2006 disappeared from the market without any sign of a replacement.

Until the announcement of the Fujifilm S100FS, that is. And it's an interesting package: one of the largest sensors we've seen in a non-DSLR for many years, a lens covering a 14.3x zoom range (that, importantly, starts at a usefully wide-angle 28mm equivalent), and the eighth generation of Fujifilm's Super CCD sensor technology. There's some photography-related features that have been added too, such as presets designed to mimic the behavior of specific Fuji films and a dynamic range expansion mode.
Headline features

* 14.3X optical zoom (28-400mm equivalent)
* 2/3" sensor with 11.1 million effective pixels
* Eighth generation Super CCD HR sensor
* 2.5" tiltable LCD screen
* Film simulation modes (imitate the behavior of Fuji films)
* Dynamic range expansion mode
* Exposure, dynamic range and film simulation bracketing