Fujifilm FinePix S1500 Review
Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 10 megapixel JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 4.5Mb.
With Fujifilm's populist intentions, you'd expect the images that the FinePix S1500 delivers to be nigh-on perfect straight out of the camera, and so, in terms of colour and detail they almost are, though we found ourselves on occasion playing with contrast to add some visual punch and depth to the shots - particularly when shooting in less than perfect light when results can appear a little flat.
There's no denying that like any camera with a broader than average focal range, the S1500 opens up a lot of creative framing possibilities and the option to attain some naturalistic candids, plus, moving from this camera back to a regular 3x optical zoom point and shoot you definitely appreciate the 12x range. That said inevitably there's a lack of crispness and bite to images shot handheld at maximum telephoto, despite the on-board image stabilization - and it's not always that easy to tell purely from the LCD screen at the time.
Perhaps inevitably there is some purple fringing visible between areas of high contrast, though it's well controlled and only really noticeable when enlarging an image to purposefully look for it. Lens flare is occasionally an issue in strong sunlight too - again this is nothing out of the ordinary - and Fujifim has a curious habit of rendering blue skies an unreal turquoise when there's a lot of green in the foreground. Highlights are also frequently blown - if you're not watching - when there's plenty of strong light around.
In terms of ISO performance, up to ISO 800 it's a clean bill of health - images noise free and sharp. From ISO 800 onwards there's some noticeable softening of detail, at ISO 1600 noise is readily visible, becoming more aggressive at ISO 3200 and rendering results at ISO 6400 akin to a poorly tuned TV signal. So, as we've found with previous Fujifilm bridge cameras such as the S8100fd, sticking to ISO 800 or below is the sensible option.
Noise
There are 8 ISO settings available on the Fujifilm FinePix S1500. Note that the image resolution is reduced to 3 megapixels for ISO 3200 and 6400. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:
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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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Focal Range
The Fujifilm FinePix S1500's 12x zoom lens provides a focal length of 33-396mm in 35mm terms, as demonstrated below.
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33mm |
396mm |
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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 bit soft at the default sharpening setting, and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop.
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Original (100% Crop) |
Sharpened (100% Crop) |
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Chromatic Aberrations
The Fujifilm FinePix S1500 handled chromatic aberrations very well during the review. Just a little purple fringing was present around the edges of objects in high-contrast situations, as shown in the examples below.
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Example 1 (100% Crop) |
Example 2 (100% Crop) |
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Macro
The Fujifilm FinePix S1500 offers a Super Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is 2cms 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 S1500 are Auto, Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Slow Synchro, and any of those modes combined with Red-eye Reduction. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.
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Flash Off - Wide Angle (33mm) |
Flash On - Wide Angle (33mm) |
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Flash Off - Telephoto (396mm) |
Flash On - Telephoto (396mm) |
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And here are some portrait shots. Neither the Auto or Red-eye reduction mode caused any amount of red-eye.
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Flash On |
Flash On (100% Crop) |
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Red Eye Reduction |
Red Eye Reduction (100% Crop) |
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Night
The Fujifilm FinePix S1500's maximum shutter speed is 8 seconds, which is fairly good news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 1/12th second, aperture of f/2.8 at ISO 64. 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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Sample Images
This is a selection of sample images from the Fujifilm FinePix S1500 camera, which were all taken using the 10 megapixel JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.
Sample Movie & Video
This is a sample movie at the highest quality setting of 640x480 pixels at 30 frames per second. Please note that this 14 second movie is 11Mb in size.
As of February 2025, we are no longer providing full size sample images or videos for download.
Please contact us if you have any feedback on our new policy.
Product Images
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Front of the Camera |
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Front of the Camera / Pop-up Flash |
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Isometric View |
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Isometric View / Pop-up Flash |
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Isometric View |
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Isometric View / Pop-up Flash |
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Rear of the Camera |
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Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed |
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Top of the Camera |
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Bottom of the Camera |
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Side of the Camera |
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Side of the Camera |
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Battery Compartment |
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Memory Card Slot |
Conclusion
Like all bridge cameras the Fujifilm FinePix S1500 sets itself up as a jack-of-all-trades device, and this time for a reasonable price indicative of its manufacturer's mass-market intentions. In fact, for just over £200, it feels like a lot of camera for the money.
Like most things in life it's not perfect however. White balance is variable, metering occasionally off, highlights blown, there's visible softness towards the edges at maximum wideangle and overall at maximum telephoto zoom settings – though neither is a deal breaker – and it's really not worth straying above ISO 800 despite the fact a maximum capability of ISO 6400 looks good on paper. Don't get too ambitious, shoot in sunny conditions and the Fujifilm FinePix S1500 won't disappoint however.
In conclusion, like its predecessors the S1500 does offer some interesting and useful hand holding features that make it easy enough – almost – for anyone to use, whilst throwing a few enthusiast pleasing/intriguing gimmicks into the mix. The panorama feature for example is both simple to use and fun, delivering better than expected results.
On that note the Fujifilm FinePix S1500 comes Recommended. There are better performing bridge models or super-zooms out there if a broader focal range is high up among your wishes, but for the price investment in an S1500 can't really be discouraged, and it does offer a friendly way for anyone trading up from a basic point and shoot to achieve a wider variety of image taking.
| Ratings (out of 5) | |
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| Design | 4 |
| Features | 4 |
| Ease-of-use | 4 |
| Image quality | 4 |
| Value for money | 4.5 |
Review Roundup
Reviews of the Fujifilm FinePix S1500 from around the web.
trustedreviews.com »
The S1500 is an update of, and bears a very close resemblance to, the FinePix S1000fd, launched at around this time last year. The S1500 has the same extremely compact SLR-style body, the same 10.0-megapixel 1/2.3-inch CCD sensor, the same 12x zoom f/2.8-5.0 lens (equivalent to 33-396mm) and the same 2.7-inch 230k monitor. The size and weight are identical and it still uses four AA batteries for power, housed inside a large and comfortable handgrip.
Read the full review »
steves-digicams.com »
Fujifilm has updated their S1000fd from last year (2008), with the release of the new S1500. This new camera is almost identical to the S1000, with a few minor changes, like the addition of SR Auto (Scene Recognition Auto), Dual IS (sensor-shift + high ISO), and a slightly broader ISO range (up to 6400 @ 3M). Shared features include a FUJINON 12x f2.8 optical zoom lens, 10-megapixel image sensor, 2.7-inch LCD, 8 - 1/2000 sec. shutter speed range, AA power source, USB 2.0 (high-speed) connectivity, etc. Fuji has also removed the xD-Picture card compatibility on this model, sticking with strictly SD and SDHC type memory cards; kudos to Fuji for finally ditching that out dated memory format, it's about time.
Read the full review »
Specifications
| Model |
FinePix S1500 |
|---|---|
| Number of effective pixels*1 |
10.0 million pixels |
| CCD sensor |
1/2.3-inch CCD |
| Storage media |
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| File format |
(Design rule for Camera File system compliant / DPOF-compatible) |
| Number of recorded pixels |
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| Lens |
Fujinon 12x optical zoom lens, F2.8 (Wide) - F5.0 (Telephoto) |
| Lens focal length |
f=5.9 - 70.8mm, equivalent to 33 - 396mm on a 35mm camera |
| Digital zoom |
Approx. 5.7x |
| Aperture |
Wide: F2.8 - F6.4, Telephoto: F5.0 - F8.0, max 5 steps in 1/3 EV increment |
| Focus distance (from lens surface) |
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| Sensitivity |
Auto / Auto(800) / Auto(400) / Equivalent to ISO 64 / 100 / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1600 / 3200 / 6400 (Standard Output Sensitivity) * ISO 3200 / 6400: 3M pixels or lower (Number of recorded pixels) |
| Exposure control |
TTL 256-zones metering |
| Exposure mode |
Programmed AE, Aperture Priority AE, Shutter Priority AE, Manual |
| Shooting modes |
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| Image Stabilization |
CCD-shift type |
| Shutter speed |
(Auto mode) 1/4sec. to 1/2000sec., (All other modes) 8sec. to 1/2000sec. |
| Continuous shooting |
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| Focus |
Auto focus (Area, Multi, Center, Tracking) / Continuous AF AF assist illuminator available |
| White balance |
Automatic scene recognition Preset: (Fine, Shade, Fluorescent light (Daylight), Fluorescent light (Warm white), Fluorescent light (Cool white), Incandescent light), Custom |
| Self-timer |
Approx. 10 sec. / 2 sec.delay |
| Flash |
Auto flash Effective range (ISO AUTO):
Flash modes
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| Electronic viewfinder |
0.2-inch, Approx. 200,000 dots, FLCD monitor (R/G/B colors are displayed in a single dot), Approx. 97% coverage |
| LCD monitor |
2.7-inch, Approx. 230,000 dots, TFT color LCD monitor, Approx. 97% coverage |
| Movie recording |
With monaural sound * Optical or digital zoom function can be selected during movie recording. |
| Photography functions |
SR Auto (Scene Recognition Auto), Instant Zoom, Panorama shooting mode, Face Detection (with Auto red-eye removal), High speed shooting, Framing guideline, Post shot assist windows, Frame No. memory, Histograms, Silent mode |
| Playback functions |
Slideshow, Face Detection (with Red-eye removal), Trimming, Single frame and Multi-frame playback (with Micro thumbnail), Sorting by date, Image rotate, Voice Memo, Histograms (Highlight warning) |
| Video output |
NTSC / PAL selectable |
| Digital interface |
USB 2.0 High-speed |
| Power supply*4 |
4x AA type alkaline batteries (included), Ni-MH rechargeable batteries (sold separately) or Lithium batteries (sold separately) DC Coupler CP-04 with AC power adapter AC-5VX(sold separately) |
| Dimensions |
102.5(W) x 73.0(H) x 67.8(D)mm / 4.1(W) x 2.9(H) x 2.7(D)in. (excluding accessories and attachments) |
| Weight |
Approx. 324g / 11.4oz. (excluding accessories, batteries and memory card) |
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