Fujifilm Finepix S9500 Zoom
(Fujifilm Finepix S9000 Zoom in the USA)
Review Date: November 28th 2005
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 9M Fine mode, which gives an average image size of around 4.5Mb - 5Mb.
Noise
There are 6 ISO settings available on the Fujifilm Finepix S9500 Zoom which you can select at any time if the camera is in any exposure mode. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:
ISO 80 (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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There is virtually no discernible noise at the slowest settings of ISO 80 and 100, and ISO 200 also looks very clean. Noise can be seen at ISO 400, but it isn't too bad at all. By ISO 800 the images from the Fujifilm Finepix S9500 Zoom are showing objectionable noise, and I would only use ISO 1600 as a last resort.
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 perhaps a little soft at the default sharpening setting of Standard and benefit only slightly from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. Alternatively you can increase the in-camera sharpening by choosing the Hard option.
Original
100% Crop |
Sharpened 100% Crop |
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File Quality
The Fujifilm Finepix S9500 Zoom has 6 different file quality settings available, with 9M 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.
| 9M
Fine (4,468Kb) |
9M
Normal (2,256Kb) |
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| 5M
(1,253Kb) |
3M
(782Kb) |
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| 2M
(596Kb) |
0.3M
(119Kb) |
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Chromatic Aberrations
The Fujifilm Finepix S9500 Zoom handled chromatic aberrations extremely well during the review, with only very limited purple fringing present around the edges of objects in very high-contrast situations.
| Example
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Macro
The Fujifilm Finepix S9500 Zoom offers a Super-Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is just 1 cm away from the camera. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.
| Macro Shot (click to view full-sized image) |
100% Crop |
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Flash
The flash settings on the Fujifilm Finepix S9500 Zoom are Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Slow Synchro. and Red-eye Reduction + Slow Synchro. These shots of a magnolia coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.
| Flash Off - Wide Angle (28mm) |
Auto Flash - Wide Angle (28mm) |
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| Flash Off - Telephoto (300mm) |
Auto Flash - Telephoto (300mm) |
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And here are some shots of yours truly. As you can see, neither the Flash On setting or the Red-Eye Reduction option caused any red-eye.
| Flash On |
Flash On (100% Crop) |
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| Flash - Red-Eye Reduction |
Flash - Red-Eye Reduction (100% Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Fujifilm Finepix S9500 Zoom maximum shutter speed is 30 seconds, plus there's a Bulb setting for even longer exposures, which is great news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 30 seconds, aperture of f/11 at ISO 80. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
| Night Shot (click to view full-sized image) |
100% Crop |
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Overall Image Quality
The Fujifilm Finepix S9500 Zoom produced images of excellent quality during the review period. The 9 megapixel images were sharp straight out of the camera and don't really require any further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop. The Fujifilm Finepix S9500 Zoom dealt extremely well with chromatic aberrations, which only appeared in a few of the test shots - very limited purple fringing effects could only be seen in very high contrast situations. Macro performance is about as good as it gets, allowing you to focus just 1 cm away from the subject. The built-in flash worked well indoors with no red-eye and good overall exposure. The night photograph was very good, with the maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds plus a Bulb option offering lots of scope for creative night photography. The Fujifilm Finepix S9500 Zoom's handled noise very well too, with ISO 50-200 showing hardly any signs of noise. The faster speeds of ISO 800 and 1600 are noisy though and are not on a par with the majority of digital SLR cameras that the Fujifilm Finepix S9500 Zoom is trying to compete with. A great performance from what is after all a compact digital camera with a relatively small sensor.
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Zoom have been submitted to DIWA
for comparison with test results for different samples of
the same camera model supplied by other DIWA
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