Fujifilm Finepix S9600 Review
(also called the Fujifilm Finepix S9100)
Review Date: March 12th 2007
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were captured using the 9M (3,488x2,616) Fine JPEG image size option producing a file that is around 4.5Mb in size.
Noise
The Fujifilm Finepix S9600 has 6 ISO settings. There is virtually no discernible noise at the slowest settings of ISO 80 and 100, and ISO 200 also looks very clean, although there is slight blurring of detail. Noise can be seen at ISO 400, especially in the shadow areas, but it isn't too bad at all. By ISO 800 the images from the Fujifilm Finepix S9600 Zoom are showing objectionable noise, and I would only use ISO 1600 as a last resort. 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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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 a little soft at the default sharpening setting of Standard and benefit 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)
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Sharpened (100% Crop) |
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File Quality
The Fujifilm Finepix S9600 Zoom has 2 different JPEG file quality settings available, with 9M Fine being the highest quality option. A RAW mode is also available. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.
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9M
Fine (4.53Mb)
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9M
Normal (2.2Mb)
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9M
RAW (18.27Mb)
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Chromatic Aberrations
The Fujifilm Finepix S9600 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. Here is a 100% crop which shows the typical chromatic aberrations that you can expect:
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Chromatic
Aberrations (100% Crop)
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Macro
The Fujifilm Finepix S9600 offers a Super Macro 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 |
Macro Shot (100% Crop) |
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Flash
The flash settings on the Fujifilm Finepix S9600 are Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Slow Synchro. and 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 (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 portrait shots. As you can see, both the Flash On setting and the Red-Eye Reduction option caused a small amount of red-eye.
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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 S9600 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 4 seconds, aperture of f/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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Overall Image Quality
The Fujifilm Finepix S9600 Zoom produced images of excellent quality during the review period. The 9 megapixel images were a little soft straight out of the camera and benefit from some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop. Alternatively you can increase the in-camera sharpening level. The Fujifilm Finepix S9600 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 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 S9600 Zoom's handled noise very well too, with ISO 80-400 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 S9600 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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been submitted to DIWA
for comparison with test results for different samples of
the same camera model supplied by other DIWA
member sites.