Fujifilm FinePix S1 Review

February 27, 2014 | Mark Goldstein | Rating star Rating star Rating star Rating star

Introduction

The Fujifilm FinePix S1 is the world’s first weather-resistant bridge camera. Looking and handling very much like a DSLR, the Fujifilm S1 can safely be used in wet weather or dusty conditions thanks to sealing on approximately 70 areas of the camera. The S1 boasts a 50x zoom lens which covers a 35mm equivalent focal range of 24-1200mm and features 3-stop lens-shift image stabilisation and manual zoom controls. Other highlights of the Fujifilm S1 include a 1/2.3-inch 16.4 megapixel backlit CMOS sensor, a 3-inch vari-angle 920k-dot LCD monitor, 920k-dot electronic viewfinder, and full 1080p HD movie recording at up to 60fps with stereo sound and 5-Axial image stabilisation. In addition there's an ISO range of 100-12800, built-in wi-fi connectivity, continuous shooting at 10fps, interval shooting function, High Speed movie capture at 480fps, Focus Peak Highlight function, a customisable Function button, full manual controls and support for the RAW file format. The Fujifilm FinePix S1 is available now for £399.99 / $499.99 in the UK / US respectively.

Ease of Use

The Fujifilm FinePix S1 looks and handles very much like a mid-range DSLR. Designed as a do-it-all, all-in-one solution for the enthusiast, the Fujifilm FinePix S1 is more than weighty and well built enough to withstand a few glancing knocks in the heat of the action. The moulded curves of the body and rubberized matt black finish deliver a purposeful look that is as aesthetically pleasing as it is practical, with nice chunky controls, an ergonomic control layout that allows both quick and easy access to functions, and a deep hand-grip with a well-thought-out indentation into which a middle finger slots comfortably. The S1 is the first weather-proof super-zoom camera in the world, with 70 points of weather sealing offering dust-resistance and water-resistance.

At the heart of the S1 is an incredible non-interchangeable 50x zoom lens. This incredibly versatile lens offers a focal range starting at an ultra-wide 24mm and finishing at an ultra-telephoto 1200mm, which, as Fujifilm cannily point out, would take at least two super-zoom DSLR lenses to offer similar reach. Throw in the 1cm Super Macro Mode and impressive maximum apertures of a bright f/2.8 at 24mm wide-angle to a slightly slower f5.6 at 1200mm telephoto, and it's clear that the S1 is perfectly suited for any subject that you can think of, near or far.

To help avoid blur resulting from camera shake when shooting in low light or hand-holding the camera at the telephoto extremity of the zoom, Fujifilm have added a 'belt and braces' solution of high ISO sensitivity, stretching up to ISO 12,800 at full resolution (Small JPEG only), a built-in mechanical stabilizer with Continuous or Shooting Only modes, and digital image stabilisation too if required. Activated via the IS Mode menu option, you can set the system to Continuous, Shooting Only, either mode with the addition of digital stabilisation, or Off. Note that the camera will only automatically adjust the ISO speed when using the Auto shooting mode - in the other modes the ISO speed that you select will always be used, so only the mechanical sensor-shift part of the system is used.

From the front the Fujifilm S1 looks like a serious bit of kit. The large optically stabilised zoom lens dominates proceedings, with a push-on lens cap, retaining strap and petal-shaped lens hood provided in the box. Above the lens and extending out across the lens barrel, which boasts a textured surround allowing you to get a good firm grip, is a sloping ridge that conceals the pop-up flash (when not in use), which is activated via a dedicated button positioned on the right. Still viewing the S1 from the front, the stereo sound speakers are positioned just behind the pop-up flash. There's a familiar dual purpose AF-assist illuminator and self-timer lamp to the left of the lens, and located on the right are two clever controls that make zooming with the massive 50x lens more intuitive. Above the pop-up flash is another DSLR-like touch - a hotshoe for additional illumination via an optional external flashgun.

Fujifilm FinePix S1 Fujifilm FinePix S1
Front Rear

The S1 has a a side lever that allows you to smoothly operate the zoom with your left hand, leaving your right hand free to operate the shutter button. You can also assign one of two levels of zoom speed to this lever, with the fastest zooming in/out in just two seconds. Above the size zoom lever is a button which zooms back out slightly to allow you to see more of your subject, useful if you're trying to track a moving object that has left the frame.

Looking down on top of the Fujifilm FinePix S1 when viewed from the rear, there's a clearly labeled and logically laid out control set. Press the slightly recessed On/Off button to turn the Fujifilm FinePix on, and the rear LCD or electronic viewfinder – depending on which one you previously had selected – blinks into life, a process taking around half a second, as good as most DSLRs. The Fujifilm FinePix S1 is quick to determine focus and exposure with a half press of the shutter button, only taking 0.16 seconds to lock onto the subject in ideal lighting conditions. Both JPEGs and RAW files are quickly committed to SD / SDHC / SDXC memory in single-shot mode with only the briefest pause between each one.

The S1 has a chunky, ridged shooting mode dial which is reminiscent of those found on, yes you've guessed it, DSLR cameras. Ranged around the dial, which turns with just the right amount of resistance for it to lock firmly into place at each setting, are the expected shooting options, such as full auto, program, shutter priority, aperture priority and manual modes, along with a customizable mode via which favoured shooting settings can be saved for rapid access, plus a scene position mode that's pre-optimised for common subjects.

In addition, there are several more shooting modes that are particularly noteworthy. First up is the SR Auto mode, which is an 'auto everything' scene recognition mode. Although far from infallible - if you're not paying close attention and it's presented with a busy scene it will call up landscape when macro is needed and vice versa – it instantly makes the S1 more beginner friendly, automatically recognising 10 basic scenes and applying the right mode.

Fujifilm FinePix S1 Fujifilm FinePix S1
Tilting LCD Screen Side

Next is the rather misleadingly named Advanced mode, which actually has four options that are well suited to all experience levels. The first shooting mode is the Advanced Filter, which as the name suggests houses a range of artistic filters that can be applied to your photos as you take them. The Pro Low-light mode uses multi-bracketing technology, taking a series of four high sensitivity/low-noise shots in quick succession and combining them into an image with less noise than the single exposures. In the HDR advanced mode the Fujifilm FinePix S1 can combine three seperate images into one with greater dynamic range. The Natural Flash mode takes one shot with flash and one without at the same time, while the Zoom Bracketing mode takes three shots with a single press of the shutter button, at varying degrees of magnification (original, 1.4x and 2.0x).

The final shooting mode on the top dial is the Panorama option, clearly inspired by Sony's popular Sweep Panorama function. This lets you capture a 120, 180 or 360 degree panoramic image very easily without the use of a tripod. All you need to decide is whether you would like to start from left or right, top or bottom, then press and hold down the shutter release while doing a "sweep" with the camera in hand. Exposure compensation is available before you start the sweep, with the exposure fixed once you depress the shutter button. After you are done with the sweeping, the camera does all the processing required, and presents you with a finished panoramic image.

Although undoubtedly fun, there are a few catches. The final panorama is of relatively low resolution, and if you do the sweeping too slowly, or you let go of the shutter release button too early, the panorama will be truncated. If the exposure varies throughout the scene, then some areas will be over or under exposed, depending upon the exposure value that was chosen as the panorama was started. Finally, people and indeed anything that moves in the frame are recorded as several ghost outlines, which means that you can really only record static, empty scenes, something that Sony have solved in the latest iteration of their Sweep Panorama feature.

Below the shooting mode dial is a smaller command dial with a positive clicking action which is used for scrolling through features and captured images, and will feel immediately intuitive to anyone who has handled a DSLR before. The same dial is also used to change the aperture and shutter speed when using the more advanced shooting modes. In the Manual mode, you hold the Exposure Compensation button down with your forefinger and give the dial a flick with your thumb to change the aperture, not as intuitive as having two separate command dials but perhaps understandable given the S1's target audience. Otherwise the exposure compensation button works largely as you'd expect, with a visual slider graph on screen accompanied by a live histogram.

Fujifilm FinePix S1 Fujifilm FinePix S1
Pop-up Flash Top

Next to the EV button is the rather innocent-looking Continuous Shooting button, which accesses another of the S1's mouth-watering features. Pressing this button brings up six options - Off, Continuous H, Continuous M, Continuous L, Best Frame Capture and AE bracketing. The Continuous H option shoots at 10fps for 9 frames at full resolution. Once the burst is completed, it takes just over four seconds for the camera to clear the buffer, during which you cannot take another picture. Forward of these two controls is the main shutter release button encircled by a responsive zoom lever.

Manual focusing is activated by setting the Focus Mode menu option to Manual and using the rear command dial to set the distance, with the LCD display automatically zooming in on the subject to help you judge the sharpness. There's a handy distance scale along the bottom of the LCD screen with a white bar indicating the the focusing distance. The S1 also offers a Focus Peak Highlight function with High and Low settings, which displays a white line around the subject when it's in focus. This addition makes manual focusing on the S1 much more of a pleasure than a chore.

Moving to the rear of the Fujifilm FinePix S1, your attention is immediately drawn to the large 3-inch monitor, which offers 100% scene coverage and a respectable resolution of 920K dots. The S1's LCD screen is a vari-angle model that can be flipped-out to the side and tilted through 270 degrees, giving you a lot of flexibility in composing your shots, and well-suited to shooting video.

Above the LCD screen is a small button for swapping the display between monitor and the 920k-dot resolution electronic viewfinder, complete with 100% scene coverage and surrounding eyecup. The EVF also has its own dioptric correction wheel to its immediate left, which is far less stiff and physically larger than found on competing models, meaning that for the myopic adjustment can be made in a fraction of a second. The viewfinder display is large, bright and clear, though the temptation to predominantly utilise the more flexible LCD below is almost overwhelming.

To the right of the Fujifilm FinePix S1's LCD screen again is the one-touch movie record button. The S1's full 50x zoom range be accessed in the Motion JPEG format movie mode, with the S1 offering full 1920x1080 pixel footage at up to 60 frames per second with constantly adjusting auto exposure and auto-focus with stereo sound. You can also manually focus during movie shooting. It can record video clips up to 29 minutes long for the 1920x1080 and 1280x720 pixel formats, with longer times available for VGA and SVGA modes. The dedicated Movie button on the rear makes it quick and easy to shoot a movie without missing the start of the action, and there's a mini-HDMI port for connection to a HDTV (cable not supplied). You can select one of the Film Simulation or Advanced Filter modes to give your footage a more creative look, and there's the option to take a still photo at any time during movie recording.

Fujifilm FinePix S1 Fujifilm FinePix S1
Memory Card Slot Battery Compartment

In addition to these "normal" movie modes, the S1 also offers several high-speed modes. There are three different speeds on offer - 480, 240 and 120fps, with the file size varying from 320x112 to 640x480 pixels. This slow-motion effect is initially very appealing and sure to impress your friends, but there are some drawbacks to be aware of. Sound isn't recorded at all, horizontal bands can appear as the lighting fluctuates, and the actual sizes of the recorded movies are pretty small.

Underneath that a self-explanatory playback button for quickly viewing captured images. Below that is a familiar four-way controller with a dual-purpose menu/OK button at its centre. Ranged at north, south, east and west around this control are variously, the customisable Function button which can be set to one of 10 key options (also doubling up as a file deletion button when in playback mode), the various flash modes, the self timer options, and shifting focus from infinity to either macro or super macro.

Press the Menu button in the shooting mode and you get a comprehensive choice of options from two main folders, Shooting and Set-Up, with up to 6 screens containing 6 icons per screen. Most of the options are the "set once and forget" kind, so you won't have to dip into the menu system too often. Below the navigation pad is a dual-purpose control marked Display/Back that switches between the various LCD modes and also allows you to retrace your steps at any point.

Completing the rear of the S1 is the new wi-fi button. Install the FUJIFILM Camera Remote App and you can transfer your pictures immediately to a smartphone or tablet PC and then edit and share them as you wish, transfer stills and video onto the camera, and embed GPS information in your shots from your smartphone. You can also control the camera remotely, with the list of available functions including the shutter release for stills and movies and operating the zoom lens. The built-in wi-fi also provides a simple means to backup your photos to your home PC.

The right hand flank of the Fujifilm FinePix S1 features a chunky rubber flap hiding the S1's mini-HDMI port and the regular USB / AV out sockets. The base of the Fujifilm FinePix S1 features a screw thread for a tripod, sadly made of plastic and not in line with the lens barrel, and a sliding door hiding the compartment for the Lithium-ion battery and the SD / SDHC / SDXC card slot. At around 350 shots battery life is respectable enough thanks to the use of a Lithium-ion rechargeable battery. There are metal eyelets on either side of the body for attaching the provided shoulder strap.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 16 megapixel Finel JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 6Mb.

The Fujifilm FinePix S1 produced images of above average quality during the review period. It handled noise fairly well, with some noise already appearing at the relatively slow speed of ISO 200 and then becoming progressively worse at ISO 400 and ISO 800. The fastest full-resolution settings of ISO 1600 and 3200 suffer from a loss of fine detail and colour saturation, while the headline-grabbing settings of ISO 6400 and 12800 are both actually shot at a reduced resolution for JPEGs (medium and small respectively) and they're very noisy too. Chromatic aberrations were well controlled, with limited purple fringing effects appearing only in high contrast situations. The 16 megapixel images were just a little soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpen setting.

Macro performance is excellent, allowing you to focus as close as 1cm away from the subject when the lens is set to wide-angle. Commendably barrel distortion is well controlled even at the 24mm focal length. The built-in flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and adequate overall exposure, although there is noticeable vignetting at 24mm. The anti-shake system works very well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range. The maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds allows the cameras to capture enough light for most after-dark situations.

The Pro Low-Light scene mode produces better image clarity at high ISO levels at the expense of a loss of fine detail, while the HDR mode effectively produces images with greater dynamic range. The Sweep Panorama mode works largely as advertised, making it simple to take hand-held low-light and wide-vista shots, although there is a clear ghosting effect around any moving subjects. The expanded range of Advanced Filters provide some creative control over your JPEGs.

Noise

There are 8 ISO settings available on the Fujifilm FinePix S1. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting for both JPEG and RAW files:

JPEG

RAW

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

iso100.jpg iso100raw.jpg
   

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

iso200.jpg iso200raw.jpg
   

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

iso400.jpg iso400raw.jpg
   

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

iso800.jpg iso800raw.jpg
   

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

iso1600.jpg iso1600raw.jpg
   

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

iso3200.jpg iso3200raw.jpg
   

ISO 6400 (100% Crop)

ISO 6400 (100% Crop)

iso6400.jpg iso6400raw.jpg
   

ISO 12800 (100% Crop)

ISO 12800 (100% Crop)

iso12800.jpg iso12800raw.jpg

Focal Range

The Fujifilm FinePix S1's 50x zoom lens provides an astonishing focal range of 24-1200mm in 35mm terms, as demonstrated below.

24mm

1200mm

focal_range1.jpg focal_range2.jpg

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, but don't really benefit from further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop.

Original (100% Crop)

Sharpened (100% Crop)

sharpen1.jpg sharpen1a.jpg
   
sharpen2.jpg sharpen2a.jpg

File Quality

The Fujifilm FinePix S1 has 2 different JPEG image quality settings available, with Fine being the highest quality option, and it supports the RAW format too. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

Fine (5.95Mb)

Normal (3.44Mb)

quality_fine.jpg quality_normal.jpg
   

RAW (23.6Mb)

 
quality_raw.jpg  

Chromatic Aberrations

The Fujifilm FinePix S1 handled chromatic aberrations well during the review. A little purple fringing was present around the edges of objects in high-contrast situations, as shown in the examples below.

Chromatic Aberrations 1 (100% Crop)

Chromatic Aberrations 2 (100% Crop)

chromatic1.jpg chromatic2.jpg

Macro

The Fujifilm FinePix S1 has two macro modes. The standard macro can focus as close as 5cm at wide-angle and 1.3m at full zoom. Go into super-macro and you can close into 1cm. However, the zoom is disabled in this mode.

Macro

Macro (100% Crop)

macro1.jpg macro1a.jpg
   

Super Macro

Super Macro (100% Crop)

macro2.jpg macro2a.jpg

Flash

The flash settings on the Fujifilm FinePix S1 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.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (24mm)

Flash On - Wide Angle (24mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64
   

Flash Off - Telephoto (1200mm)

Flash On - Telephoto (1200mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64

And here are some portrait shots. Neither the Auto or Red-eye reduction mode caused any amount of red-eye.

Flash On

Flash On (100% Crop)
flash_on.jpg flash_on1.jpg
   

Red Eye Reduction

Red Eye Reduction (100% Crop)

flash_redeye.jpg flash_redeye1.jpg

Night

The Fujifilm FinePix S1's maximum shutter speed is 30 seconds, which is great news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 30 seconds at ISO 100.

Night

Night (100% Crop)

night_program.jpg night_program1.jpg

Anti Shake

The Fujifilm FinePix S1 has an anti-shake mechanism, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, we took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken with anti shake turned off, the second with it turned on. Here are some 100% crops of the images to show the results.

Shutter Speed / Focal Length

Anti Shake Off (100% Crop)

Anti Shake On (100% Crop)

1/14th / 24mm antishake1.jpg antishake1a.jpg
     
1/4th / 1200mm antishake2.jpg antishake2a.jpg

Intelligent Digital Zoom

The Intelligent Digital Zoom function can digitally boost the optical 50x zoom up to 100x, the equivalent of a 2400mm focal length!

50x

50x (100% Crop)
digital_zoom1.jpg digital_zoom1a.jpg
   

100x

100x (100% Crop)

digital_zoom2.jpg digital_zoom2a.jpg

Advanced Filter

The Advanced Filter mode on the Fujifilm FinePix S1 offers 10 artistic special effects to help customise the look of your images as you take them.

Toy Camera

Miniature

advanced_filter_01.jpg advanced_filter_02.jpg
   

Pop Color

High-Key

advanced_filter_03.jpg advanced_filter_04.jpg
   

Low-Key

Dynamic Tone

advanced_filter_05.jpg advanced_filter_06.jpg
   

Fish-Eye

Soft Focus

advanced_filter_07.jpg advanced_filter_08.jpg
   

Cross Screen

Partial Color (Red)

advanced_filter_09.jpg advanced_filter_10.jpg

Pro Low-Light

The Fujifilm FinePix S1's Pro Low-Light advanced mode produces better image clarity at high ISO levels, with the camera automatically taking a series of four high sensitivity/low-noise shots in quick succession which are then combined together using in-camera processing into an image with less noise than the single exposures. The main drawback is a noticeable softening of fine detail.

Pro Low-Light Off

Pro Low-Light On

hdr1.jpg hdr1a.jpg

Film Simulation Modes

The Fujifilm FinePix S1 offers four different film simulation modes to help replicate the look of your favourite film stock from the past.

Standard

Chrome

film_simulation1.jpg film_simulation2.jpg
   

Black & White

Sepia

film_simulation3.jpg film_simulation4.jpg

Panorama Mode

The Fujifilm FinePix S1 allows you to take panoramic images very easily by 'sweeping' with the camera while keeping the shutter release depressed. The camera does all the processing and stitching, and there are three views available. The main problems are that the resulting image is of fairly low resolution - 1080 pixels high and 5760 pixels wide for the 360 degree image - and moving objects are recorded as "ghost" images.

120 Degrees
panorama1.jpg
 
180 Degrees
panorama2.jpg
 
360 Degrees
panorama3.jpg

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Fujifilm FinePix S1 camera, which were all taken using the 16 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Fujifilm FinePix S1 enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Fujifilm RAW (RAF) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movie & Video

This is a sample movie at the highest quality setting of 1920x1080 pixels at 60 frames per second. Please note that this 20 second movie is 73.9Mb in size.

Product Images

Fujifilm FinePix S1

Front of the Fujifilm FinePix S1

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Front of the Fujifilm FinePix S1 / Turned On

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Front of the Fujifilm FinePix S1 / Pop-up Flash

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Side of the Fujifilm FinePix S1

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Side of the Fujifilm FinePix S1 / Turned On

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Side of the Fujifilm FinePix S1 / Lens Extended

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Side of the Fujifilm FinePix S1

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Side of the Fujifilm FinePix S1 / Turned On

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Side of the Fujifilm FinePix S1 / Lens Extended

 

Fujifilm FinePix S1

Rear of the Fujifilm FinePix S1

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Rear of the Fujifilm FinePix S1

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Rear of the Fujifilm FinePix S1 / Image Displayed

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Rear of the Fujifilm FinePix S1 / Turned On

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Rear of the Fujifilm FinePix S1 / Main Menu

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Rear of the Fujifilm FinePix S1 / Function Menu

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Rear of the Fujifilm FinePix S1 / Wi-fi

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Rear of the Fujifilm FinePix S1 / Tilting LCD Screen

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Rear of the Fujifilm FinePix S1 / Tilting LCD Screen

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Front of the Fujifilm FinePix S1 / Tilting LCD Screen

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Top of the Fujifilm FinePix S1

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Bottom of the Fujifilm FinePix S1

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Side of the Fujifilm FinePix S1

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Side of the Fujifilm FinePix S1

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Front of the Fujifilm FinePix S1

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Front of the Fujifilm FinePix S1

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Memory Card Slot

 
Fujifilm FinePix S1

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The Fujifilm FinePix S1 is an impressive do-it-all camera that will satisfy a lot of people's needs, although the more discerning pixel-peepers may be disappointed by the high levels of noise at low ISO speeds.

The S1 really is an all-in-one camera that will cope with virtually everything that you can throw at it, from macro photography to sports and wildlife, safe in the knowledge that its weather-resistant construction should withstand most things that you subject it to. The S1 largely mimicks the handling of a typical DSLR camera, with the obvious advantage of not having to carry several big, heavy and expensive lenses to achieve anywhere near the focal range that the S1 offers out-of-the-box, although we did miss the manual zoom and focus rings of the slightly more expensive H50EXR.

The big fly in the ointment for the Fujifilm FinePix S1 is image quality - it's simply too noisy at ISO 800 and above, with even ISO 400 suffering from unwanted noise. That's a shame, as in most other respects the S1 delivers the goods for both stills and movies, especially when you consider that it's accommodating such a huge focal range. While RAW format support gives you a bit more latitude with post-processing, it does produce a little more noise too. On the plus side, the external flash hotshoe, command dial, tilting LCD screen, complete range of manual shooting modes, fast start-up, shutter-release and continuous shooting times, and full 1080p movie recording with stereo sound help to make the S1 a viable alternative to both a DSLR and video camera too.

£399 / $499 is undoubtedly a lot of money to pay for a compact camera with such a small image sensor, but if the image quality meets your requirements, then the S1 certainly makes a compelling argument to be the only camera that you need. While it's not quite as good as the range-topping HS50EXR or the likes of the Sony Cyber-shot RX10 and Panasonic DMC-FZ200, and despite our reservations about its noise performance, we can still recommend the new Fujifilm FinePix S1.

4 stars

Ratings (out of 5)
Design 4
Features 4.5
Ease-of-use 4
Image quality 3.5
Value for money 4

Main Rivals

Listed below are some of the rivals of the Fujifilm FinePix S1.

Canon PowerShot SX50 HS

The Canon PowerShot SX50 HS super-zoom camera has an astonishing 50x lens with a massive focal range of 24-1200mm. The Canon SX50 HS also offers a 12 megapixel back-illuminated CMOS sensor, 2.8 inch vari-angle LCD screen, electronic viewfinder, full manual controls, RAW format support, 10fps burst shooting and full 1080p HD movies. Read our detailed Canon PowerShot SX50 HS review complete with full-size JPEG, RAW and video samples to discover if it's the only camera you'll ever need...

Canon PowerShot SX510 HS

The Canon PowerShot SX510 HS is a small super-zoom camera with a 30x zoom lens. The Canon SX510 also offers 12 megapixels, a 3-inch LCD screen, wi-fi and GPS connectivity, full manual controls and 1080p HD movies. Read our in-depth Canon PowerShot SX510 HS review now...

Fujifilm FinePix HS50EXR

The Fujifilm FinePix HS50EXR is a bridge compact camera with a massive 42x, 24-1000mm zoom lens. The HS50 also offers an autofocus lag of just 0.05 seconds, full 1080p movies at 60fps with stereo sound, a 3 inch vari-angle LCD screen, 11ps burst shooting and a 16 megapixel back-illuminated EXR sensor with RAW support. Is this the only camera you'll ever need? Read our Fujifilm FinePix HS50EXR review to find out...

Fujifilm FinePix SL1000

The Fujifilm FinePix SL1000 is a brand new super-zoom camera sporting a massive 50x zoom lens. The SL1000 also features a 16 megapixel sensor, tilting 3-inch LCD screen, electronic viewfinder, 1080i movies, 10fps burst shooting, full range of manual shooting modes and RAW format support. Read the World's first Fujifilm FinePix SL1000 review now...

Kodak PixPro AZ521

The new Kodak PixPro AZ521 super-zoom camera features a massive 52x zoom lens with a focal range of 24-1248mm. Other highlights of the affordable Kodak AZ521 include a 3 inch LCD screen, full 1080p HD movies, and a 16 megapixel CMOS sensor. Read our in-depth Kodak PixPro AZ521 review now...

Nikon Coolpix P520

The Nikon Coolpix P520 is a brand new super-zoom camera with an incredible 42x zoom lens. The 18 megapixel Nikon P520 has a back illuminated 18 megapixel CMOS sensor, 3.2-inch 921K-dot vari-angle LCD screen, full 1080p high-definition movies with stereo sound, built-in GPS, an electronic viewfinder and 7fps burst shooting. Priced at £399.99 / $449.95, read our Nikon Coolpix P520 review to find out if that zoom lens is too big for its own good...

Olympus SP-820UZ

The Olympus SP-820UZ is a bridge compact camera that boasts a 40x zoom lens with an incredible focal range of 22.4-896mm. The 14 megapixel Olympus SP-820UZ also offers a 3 inch LCD screen, 1080p movie recording and a Backlight HDR mode. Read our in-depth Olympus SP-820UZ review to find out if this super-zoom is worth the £280 / $330 asking price...

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200

The Lumix DMC-FZ200 is Panasonic's premium super-zoom compact camera. Stand-out features of the FZ200 include a 24x zoom lens with a constant aperture of f/2.8 throughout the 25-600mm range, 1080p HD movies, a high-resolution LCD and EVF, fast auto-focusing, 12fps burst shooting and a 12 megapixel MOS image sensor. Read our expert Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200 review now...

Samsung WB5000

The WB5000 / HZ25W is Samsung's first entry into the big boy world of all-in-one super-zoom cameras. Offering a 24x zoom lens with 26mm wide-angle setting, the WB5000 literally has most photographic subjects covered, for both 12 megapixel stills and 720p movies. Throw in a range of hand-holding smart modes for beginners and RAW format and Manual mode for advanced users, and Samsung could be onto a winner at their very first attempt. Read our expert Samsung WB5000 / HZ25W review to find out if Panasonic, Olympus et al have anything to fear...

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX300

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX300 is a new premium super-zoom compact camera. A 50x, 24-1200mm lens, a 20.4 megapixel CMOS sensor, 1920x1080 50p Full HD video with stereo sound, high-resolution tilting 3-inch screen, manual shooting mode, 10fps continuous shooting, and a full range of creative shooting modes are all offered by the HX300. Read our detailed Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX300 review to find out if it's the right bridge camera for you.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX50V

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX50V is a new pocket camera with a massive 30x zoom lens. The HX50V also features built-in wi-fi and GPS tracking, full 1080p high-definition video with stereo sound, a 20 megapixel CMOS sensor, high-resolution 3-inch screen, manual shooting modes, 10fps continuous shooting, 3D photos, ISO range of 100-12800 and fast auto-focusing. Read our in-depth Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX50V review to find out if it's the best travel-zoom camera...

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 is a new premium super-zoom camera. Featuring a 28-200mm lens with a constant aperture of f/2.8, a 20.2 megapixel 1.0-type CMOS sensor, Full HD 60p/50p/25p/24p video recording, wi-fi and NFC connectivity and support for the Raw format and full manual controls, the Sony RX10 certainly seems to have every box ticked. Is this the best ever superzoom camera? Read our expert Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 review to find out...

Specifications

Model FinePix S1
Effective Pixels 16.4 million pixels
Sensor type 1/2.3-inch CMOS with primary colour filter
Total number of pixels: 16.8 million pixels
Storage media
  • Internal memory (approx. 37MB)
  • SD / SDHC / SDXC (UHS-I) memory card *1
File format
still image
JPEG (Exif Ver 2.3)*2 / RAW (RAF format), RAW+JPEG
(Design rule for Camera File system compliant / DPOF-compatible)
movie
Movie File Format : MOV
Movie Video Compression : H.264
Audio : Linear PCM Stereo
Number of recorded pixels L : (4:3) 4608 x 3456 / (3:2) 4608 x 3072 / (16:9) 4608 x 2592 / (1:1) 3456 x 3456
M : (4:3) 3264 x 2448 / (3:2) 3264 x 2176 / (16:9) 3264 x 1840 / (1:1) 2432 x 2432
S : (4:3) 2304 x 1728 / (3:2) 2304 x 1536 / (16:9) 1920 x 1080 / (1:1) 1728 x 1728

<Motion Panorama>
360° Vertical : 11520 x 1624 Horizontal : 11520 x 1080
180° Vertical : 5760 x 1624 Horizontal : 5760 x 1080
120° Vertical : 3840 x 1624 Horizontal : 3840 x 1080
 
name
Fujinon 50x optical zoom lens
focal length
f=4.3mm - 215mm, equivalent to 24mm - 1200mm on a 35mm format
full-aperture
F2.8 (Wide) - F5.6 (Telephoto)
constitution
13 elements in 11 groups
(includes 2 aspherical and 4 extra low dispersion elements)
Digital zoom Intelligent digital zoom approx. 2.0x (up to approx. 100x, with 50x optical zoom)
Aperture F2.8 - F11 (Wide)
F5.6 - F11 (Telephoto) 1/3EV step
Focus distance (from lens surface)
Normal
  • Wide : approx. 40cm to infinity / 1.3 ft. to infinity
  • Telephoto : approx. 1.5m to infinity / 4.9 ft. to infinity
Macro
  • Wide : approx. 5cm - 3.0m / 2.0 in. - 9.8 ft.
  • Telephoto : approx. 1.3m - 5.0m / 4.3 ft. - 16.4 ft.
Super Macro
  • Wide : approx. 1cm - 1.0m / 0.3 in. - 3.3 ft.
Sensitivity AUTO / AUTO (400) / AUTO (800) / AUTO (1600) / AUTO (3200),
Equivalent to ISO 100 / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1600 / 3200 / 6400* / 12800* (Standard Output Sensitivity)
  • * ISO6400 is effective in image size M or S. / 12800 is effective in image size S.
Exposure control TTL 256-zone metering, Spot, Multi, Average
Exposure mode Programmed AE, Shutter Priority AE, Aperture Priority AE, Manual exposure
Shooting modes
SP
Portrait, Landscape, Sport, Night, Night (Tripod), Fireworks, Sunset, Snow, Beach, Party, Flower, Text
MODE DIAL
SR AUTO, AUTO, Adv., SP, Panorama, P, S, A, M, Custom
Image stabilisation Lens shift type
Exposure compensation -2.0EV - +2.0EV 1/3EV step
Shutter speed (Auto mode) 1/4 sec. to 1/2000 sec., (All other modes) 30 sec. to 1/2000 sec. with mechanical shutter
Continuous shooting
TOP
H : approx. 10 fps max. 9 frames
M : approx. 5.0 fps max. 9 frames
S : approx. 3.0 fps max. 9 frames
LAST
-
Best Frame capture
H : approx. 10 fps 9 frames
M : approx. 5.0 fps 9 frames
L : approx. 3.0 fps 9 frames
  • * Use a card with SD Speed Class with or higher.
  • * The frame rate and the recorded number of frames varies with shooting conditions.
Auto bracketing AE Bracketing (±1/3EV, ±2/3EV, ±1EV)
Focus
mode
Single AF / Continuous AF / MF
type
TTL contrast AF, AF assist illuminator available
AF frame selection
Center, Multi, Area, Tracking
White balance
Preset
Fine, Shade, Fluorescent light (Daylight), Fluorescent light (Warm White), Fluorescent light (Cool White), Incandescent light, Custom
Flash Manual pop-up flash (i-Flash)
Effective range : (ISO AUTO)
Normal
  • Wide : approx. 45cm - 8.0m / 1.4 ft. - 26.2 ft.
  • Telephoto : approx. 3.5m - 4.0m / 11.4 ft. - 13.1 ft.
Macro
  • Wide : approx. 30cm - 3.0m / 0.9 ft. - 9.8 ft.
  • Telephoto : approx. 2.0m - 4.0m / 6.5 ft. - 13.1 ft.
Flash modes
Red-eye removal OFF
Auto, Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Slow Synchro.
Red-eye removal ON
Red-eye Reduction Auto, Red-eye Reduction & Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Red-eye Reduction & Slow Synchro.
Hot shoe YES (dedicated TTL Flash compatible)
Electronic viewfinder 0.2-inch, approx. 920K-dot, colour LCD viewfinder, approx. 97% coverage for shooting, 100% for playing back
LCD monitor 3.0-inch, approx. 920K-dot, vari-angle type TFT color LCD monitor, approx. 97% coverage for shooting, 100% for playing back
Movie recording Full HD 1920 x 1080 60p (max. 15 min.)
HD 1280 x 720 60p (max. 24 min.)
640 x 480 30p
with stereo sound, Wind filter
Optical zoom function can be used.
  • * Use a card with SD Speed Class with or higher.
Photography functions SR AUTO, High Speed Movie (120 / 240 / 480  frames/sec), Adv. mode (Advanced Filter for still image : Toy camera / Miniature / Pop colour / High-key / Low-key / Dynamic tone / Soft Focus / Cross  Screen / Fish-eye / Partial colour, Advanced filter for movie : Toy camera / Pop colour / High-key / Low-key / Dynamic tone / Soft Focus / Fish-eye / Partial colour, Pro Low-Light, HDR, Natural Light &amp; with Flash, Zoom Bracketing), Custom mode, Focus Peak Highlight, Framing guideline, Frame No. memory, Histogram display, Date stamp, Reverse Display
Playback functions Multi-frame playback (with micro thumbnail), Protect, Crop, Resize, Slide show, Image rotate, Histogram display, Exposure warning, Photobook assist, Image search, Favorites, Mark for upload, Erase selected frames, Movie edit
Other functions 35 Languages, Time difference, Silent mode
Terminal
Video output
-
Digital interface
USB2.0 (High-Speed) Micro USB terminal
HDMI output
HDMI Mini connector (Type C)
Power supply Li-ion battery NP-85 (included)
Weight Approx. 680g / 24.0 oz. (including batteries and memory card)
Approx. 640g / 22.6 oz. (excluding batteries and memory card)
Wireless functions Geotagging / Wireless communication (Image transfer) / View &amp; Obtain Images / Remote camera shooting / PC Autosave
Operating humidity 10% - 80% (no condensation)
Battery life Approx. 350 frames (AUTO mode)
  • * Fujifilm research based on CIPA standards
Accessories included Li-ion battery NP-85
AC adapter AC-5VT
Plug adapter
USB cable
Hot shoe cover
Shoulder strap
Lens cap and Lens cap cord
CD-ROM*3
Owner's manual
Optional accessories Li-ion battery NP-85
Battery charger BC-85A
Shoe Mount Flash EF-42 / EF-20 / EF-X20
Remote release RR-90
Protecter Filter PRF-72
Lens hood LH-S1
Adapter ring AR-S1

Your Comments

Loading comments…