Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd Review
Review Date: October 4th 2007
Author: Mark Goldstein
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 8 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 3Mb.
Noise
There are 8 ISO settings available on the Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd which you can select at any time if the camera is in any of the creative shooting modes. Note that the image resolution is reduced to 4 megapixels for the fastest settings of ISO 3200 and 6400. There is virtually no discernible noise at the slowest settings of ISO 64, 100 and 200, but noise and slight loss of detail is apparent at ISO 400, particularly in the shadow areas. At ISO 800 image quality has deteriorated quite a lot as the camera blurs detail to try and hide the noise, and ISO 1600 should really be avoided at all costs. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:
ISO 64 (100% Crop) |
ISO 100 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 200 (100% Crop) |
ISO 400 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 800 (100% Crop) |
ISO 1600 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 3200 (100% Crop) |
ISO 6400 (100% Crop) |
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Sharpening
Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are quite soft at the default sharpening setting of Standard and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. Alternatively you can change the in-camera sharpening level if you don't like the default results.
Original
(100% Crop)
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Sharpened (100% Crop) |
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File Quality
The Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd has 2 different image quality settings available, with Fine being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.
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8M
Fine (2.88Mb) (100% Crop)
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8M
Normal (1.63Mb) (100% Crop)
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Chromatic Aberrations
The Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd handled chromatic aberrations very well during the review, with only small levels of coloured fringing mainly present around the edges of objects in high-contrast situations, as shown in the examples below.
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Example
1 (100% Crop)
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Example
2 (100% Crop)
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Macro
The Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd offers a SuperMacro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is just 1cm away from the camera! The first image shows how close you can get to the subject in Macro mode (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.
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Macro Shot |
100% Crop |
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Flash
The flash settings on the Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd are Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, and Slow Synchro Red-eye Reduction + Slow Synchro . These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.
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Flash Off - Wide Angle (27mm) |
Auto Flash - Wide Angle (27mm) |
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Flash Off - Telephoto (486mm) |
Auto Flash - Telephoto (486mm) |
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And here are some portrait shots. Both the Auto setting and the Red-eye reduction modes caused a very small amount of red-eye.
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Auto |
Auto (100% Crop) |
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Red-eye reduction |
Red-eye reduction (100% Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd's maximum shutter speed is 4 seconds, which is limiting if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 4 seconds, aperture of f/2.8 at ISO 100. I've included a 100% Crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
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Night Shot |
Night Shot (100% Crop) |
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Anti Shake
The Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd has an anti-shake mechanism (CCD-shift type), which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the ISO speed set to 100. The first shot was taken with anti shake turned off, the second with it turned on. Here is a 100% crop of the image to show the results. As you can see, with anti shake turned on, the images are much sharper than with anti shake turned off. This feature really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.
| Shutter Speed / Focal Length |
Anti Shake Off (100% crop) |
Anti Shake On (100% crop) |
| 1/25th sec / 170mm |
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| 0.3 sec / 128mm |  |
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Overall Image Quality
The Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd produced images of good quality during the review period. The S8000fd dealt very well with chromatic aberrations, with limited purple fringing effects appearing only in high contrast situations. The built-in flash worked well indoors, with a tiny amount of red-eye and good overall exposure. The night photograph was OK, with the maximum shutter speed of 4 seconds allowing you to capture just enough light for most situations. Macro performance is amazing, allowing you to focus as close as 1cm away from the subject and capturing lots of detail. The 8 megapixel images were a little soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpening setting, which can be changed in-camera. The S8000fd produced noise-free images at ISO 64, 100 and 200, with ISO 400 showing some noise and slight blurring of detail. ISO 800 has quite visible noise and ISO 1600 is best avoided at all costs. Anti-shake is a feature that sets this camera apart from its competitors and one that works very well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range.
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organisation. Our test results for the Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd
have been submitted to DIWA
for comparison with test results for different samples of
the same camera model supplied by other DIWA
member sites.