Digital Trends

Fujifilm Finepix s8100fd

March 14th, 2008 | by David Elrich

Features and Design

The FinePix S8100fd has a very D-SLR-like vibe albeit a small one like the Olympus E-410. It’s bulky and squat with a substantial pistol grip. The body is primarily black with silver accents and there’s a textured finish on the grip as well where your right thumb rests on the back while holding the camera. I found it very comfortable. The S8100fd measures 4.4 x 3.1 x 3.1 (WHD, in inches) and weighs 14.3 ounces without four AA batteries and card (17.6 with). It definitely won’t wreck your shoulder as you carry it around. Note: this is the replacement for the S8000fd which is basically the same camera other than having an 8-megapixel sensor; you’ll find this one for around $329 USD versus $399 USD list for the newer model.

As you’d expect with a mega zoom, the lens dominates the front and accounts for much of the 3.1-inch depth. This one ranges between 27-486mm, an incredible number only topped by the new $499 USD 10MP 20x Olympus SP-570 Ultra Zoom that’s 26-520mm. I’ve reviewed other Olympus mega zooms and they’re annoyingly slow, but that’s another story. The S8100fd has a silver ring surrounding the lens as well as silver touches atop the pistol grip. The Fujifilm and 10.0 megapixel logos aren’t too obnoxious. More importantly, there’s an AF Assist lamp to help focus in low light along with a pinhole mic for making voice memos and recording soundtracks of your videos.

On the top of the camera you’ll find a button to engage the Dual Image Stabilization mode which uses sensor-shift and ISO boost to shoot in available light with less blur. Another button engages Face Detection with Red-eye Removal on or off. Atop the pistol grip is the shutter button with surrounding wide/tele control and the power on/off switch. Nearby are the sturdy mode dial and a manual pop-up flash. The dial is one of your main controls and it lets you change between Auto, P (Program AE), Shutter- and Aperture-Priority, Manual (to adjust the shutter and aperture), Movie, SP to access 13 scene modes, Zoom Bracketing, Natural Light, Natural Light + Flash, and Picture Stabilization for shooting moving subjects. Most are pretty standard other than Natural Light + Flash that takes two shots one after the other with and without the flash. Zoom Bracketing is something new and it saves three versions of the subject you just shot (normal size, 1.4x and 2x enlargements). Although kind of cool, resolution drops to 5MP or 3MP, depending on the zoom boost.

Image Courtesy of Fujifilm