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The Good, The Bad, and the Fantasy Claims of the Fuji S7000...
Date of Review: May 18, 2004
The Bottom Line: If you can find it at or below $500, and can use Photoshop (or similar) to bring out the best in the images, fine. Recommended with reservations.
WHAT IT IS AND WHAT YOU GET
The Fuji S7000 falls into what is typically called the 'prosumer' range of digital cameras. Meaning, it's not meant to be used as a 'point-and-shoot' casual camera. With a full range of manual controls (shutter speed, aperture, white balance, effects) it's for those who are a bit more serious about photography than mom and pop, or the grandparents. It's surprising then, that a couple of features that this model SHOULD have, are left out. More on that later.
The S7000 features a 6 megapixel Fuji 'Super CCD', which due to the unique shape of the sensors on the chip, are supposedly able to capture more detail than a typical sensor of the same resolution by other makers. A 6X optical zoom gives a range of approximately 35-210mm of zoom (equal to a film cameras lens). The camera stores photos on three different media cards... the tiny XD cards (of which a puny 16 meg is included), Microdrives, and Compact Flash cards; Fuji does not stress the use of Compact Flash in the manual however, but I tried two (Simple Tech and Lexar) and both worked fine with this camera. For the more experienced photographer, shutter speeds range from 1/4 second to 1/2000 seconds, with a 'bulb' setting of up to 15 seconds. Apertures range from F2.8 to F8. The ISO ('film speed', so to speak) choices begin at 200iso to 800iso, with unfortunately nothing lower than 200. A reasonably bright and clear LCD is on the back, as well as a color electronic viewfinder which can be used when in conditions that are too bright for the LCD to be used. A pop-up flash is adjustable in power, and external flashes can be used via a hot shoe on top of the camera.
Physically, while made of black plastic, the S7000 is pretty solidly built, with only one corner dial feeling a bit cheesy. The rest is solid to hold, with a big hand grip. It looks very much like a more expensive digital SLR, although it isn't. I have larger hands and find it to be a very comfortable camera to hold, although those with smaller hands, or women, might not like the bulk.
With your purchase you get of course the camera, a small 16 meg XD memory card, tethered lens cap, neck strap, USB cables, and video cables for connecting to a TV, as well as driver and photo viewing software. Four alkaline AA batteries are included, but you will want to invest in some Ni-MH rechargeable batteries right away as they'll provide much better life per charge.
FEATURES, BENEFITS, AND DRAWBACKS
Fuji and some retail outlets advertise the S700 as a '12 megapixel camera'. This is not entirely correct. As briefly mentioned above, the unique Fuji SuperCCD sensor supposedly has the ability to capture more data than other maker's CCDs. In theory it should, but in reality, it really doesn't do as it claims. Basically, this is a 6 megapixel camera that uses its own method of 'interpolation' (adding fake pixels to fill in areas to enlarge an image) to produce a 12 megapixel image. You could actually do this yourself by simply opening the image in Photoshop or any other image editing program, and going to the 'resize' command, and simply add in more pixels. Some say the Fuji sensor does a better job of it than software, some disagree. I personally go the software route, but it does eliminate that one step in front of the computer for those who are in a hurry if you let the camera do it for you.
A drawback of this camera, and one that causes Fuji designers to deserve a hard slap on the back of their heads, is the exclusion of compression settings, or, quality settings in this camera. Most digital cameras offer settings of good/better/best, or normal/fine in their menus. These control the amount of compression in your image. The better the setting, the more data is kept in the image and the better prints look. The lower the quality setting, the more data is taken out. File sizes will be smaller and you'll fit more photo on your memory card, but in print they'll look worse. While the S7000 allows you choices in image sizes ( from 1280 x 960 up to 4048 x 3040 pixels), it does NOT have any quality setting choices for any of the resolutions. The one exception to this is the highest 12 megapixel setting of 4048 x 3040 where you have normal, fine, and 'RAW', but remember, this is an interpolated resolution, so the better quality settings don't make a huge difference at this size. The camera has a pretty heavy level of compression then, that it applies to all images. This results in smaller file sizes, which does allow you to store more photos on a memory card than comparable 6-12 megapixel cameras from other makers, but again, results in a bit of a loss of quality in the images.
As a result of this flaw, images from the S7000 do appear upon close inspection to have a more 'patch-worky' kind of look to them... almost as if you're looking at a painting rather than a detailed photograph. At regular monitor viewing sizes, they look just just fine. Even in prints up to about 8 x 10 inches, they're still fine. But once you go beyond that size, they do begin to break up noticeably. A true 12 megapixel camera would allow you to get near film quality enlargements at 16 x 20 inches. The S7000 images will not allow good enlargements of this size, so it reality, you're talking about images from this camera that equal those that come from a decent 5 megapixel camera from other makers (such as Sony, Olympus, etc.).
The menu system is well laid out and accessed via two buttons on the back, and is easy to understand and use, even for beginners. The navigation pad allows you to work your way around the menu system, and while a little small, works fine. There are buttons for flash settings, macro (close up) focusing, zoom controls, exposure compensation, continuous shooting functions, and to pop up the built-in flash. A ring around the lens barrel acts as a second way to use the zoom but feels a bit sluggish when used. The lens barrel is threaded so that with an adapter tube (optional purchase ) you can use filters, or a wide angle or telephoto lens attachment that Fuji sells.
There is no auto focus assist light on the S7000 for aiding the auto focus in lower light conditions, but the focusing does seem to work fairly well indoors, so long as you have what some might call 'normal lighting conditions' in the room. In dimly lit rooms however, you might get a focusing error. Outdoors I had no focusing problems in sunlit or dusk conditions.
EXTRA FEATURES
The S7000 offers a movie mode that will take 640 x 480 sized movie clips, and at 30 frames per second which in terms of speed, places it close to DV camcorder quality. The heavy compression of its still images however, seems to have been carried over into the movie mode. While the movies are large and flow nicely, compression artifacts can be seen around some edges, and there's an overall lack of tack-sharpness to the movie clips. They're not 'bad' just not as good as they could be. I compared one of the clips to a 640 x 480 clip taken from a much cheaper Canon A70 ( at 15 frames per second ), and while the Canon clips were choppier in playback, they were sharper in appearance. If you plan on taking lots of movies note, you'll need BIG memory cards as this feature eats up memory ( 512 megs is a good sized card for heavy movie users ). A nifty feature but it won't replace your camcorder.
Warning.. 'Geek Talk': Mentioned earlier is a 'RAW' mode. RAW is a file format that does not compress images in the same way as the standard Jpg picture formats. Photos taken in RAW mode look muddy and dark at first, but once adjusted, can be better and allows you to fix potential errors in the image better than a Jpg image can. The S7000 offers a RAW mode, but only at its 12 megapixel interpolated size. You need to use the proprietary software that comes with the camera to convert the images into something an image editor can read such as Tiff or Jpg, but this software only converts and re-stores the image and it doesn't allow tweaking of the RAW images before you resave them. Very odd, and not worth the effort unless you have a third-party image software package that allows for RAW tweaking.
The ability to handle various memory cards is a plus. While XD cards are very small, they're also very easy to lose, and a bit more expensive than others. The S7000 can also handle Microdrives ( tiny hard drives ) but they're not very common, and prone to failure if dropped. As mentioned earlier, Fuji does not push for you to use Compact Flash cards, stating that some brands may not work properly. I have tried Simpletech and Lexar branded cards so far, and both have worked fine.
THE FINAL ANSWER
Reading this review you may think I really don't like the S7000. There are after all, a lot of flaws with the inner workings of this camera... enough to make you wonder what Fuji engineers really do at their desks all day ( certainly it seems they're not THINKING sometimes ). In my reviews however, I always try to consider price when deciding whether a cameras shortcomings are worth the hassle or not. When the S7000 first hit store shelves a few months ago, it sold for as high as $899.00 U.S. For that price, frankly, I would call it 'junk' based on the image quality for that price range. After all, for only $100.00 more, you can get a Canon Digital Rebel SLR which is faster, and takes much higher quality images.
A few months make a difference however, and with the announcement of a replacement model coming out soon, the S7000 price is dropping. Some greedy retailers are still trying to pry $699.00 out of buyers for it, but if you shop around, you can find some really good clearance sales, and even a $100.00 Fuji rebate through June. I found one that after rebate, would only run around $430.00. Now, for THAT price, the camera looks much better. It's solid to hold, has storage options, a good zoom, powerful flash, and while it doesn't live up to Fuji's image quality claims, can still produce good looking 8 x 10 prints. This camera at the right price would be best for someone who's experienced in getting the best out of camera settings, and using a photo editor like Photoshop to bring out the best in them as well.
My advice then, would be that if you can find this camera for around $500.00 or LESS, then you may wish to consider it. If not, then consider other options from other makers that offer better image quality for slightly more money.
