Finepix s8100fd is it any good for wildlife photo's

[riggy]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I am looking at moving up from a compact digital camera and wondered if the finepix s8100fd is any good for taking wildlife photo's. I have seen a photo of a swan on here taken by someone using this camera and the quality looks good.

At around 147 pounds it seems good value.

Any comments or advise welcome

Cheers

Paul

[Lancashire Lad]

For the money, it is a very well specced camera, but before buying I suggest that you try it out in the shop to find out exactly how shutter speed and aperture are controlled.

Some of the Finepix cameras use the 4-way "joystick ?" type switch to control these functions, rather than having a dedicated control wheel. (I'm not sure if this one does or not). If it does, it makes manually changing these settings slightly more fiddly.

Apart from that - 18x zoom, super-macro etc. etc. great spec.

If your budget would stretch to £200.00(ish), I would have a look at the Finepix S9600 (It is now discontinued, but there are still a few about). I've got one of these and for that sort of money, can't fault it. (They were well over £400.00 when they first appeared).

The S100FS is currently Fuji's top spec bridge camera, with a higher spec than the S9600. (but it's about £375.00).

Both the S9600 and the S100FS are very much DSLR lookalikes, and have most of the facilities & specs of DSLR's.

Obviously, there are several other reputable makes in this sort of price range, so the bottom line advice would be to check out the specs of a few that you like, and then try to get a good hands-on test of each, at your local dealer.

Regards
Mike.

[riggy]

Thanks for the reply

Looked at the other cameras mentioned one is out of my price range at the moment and the other I can only find online not in a shop so I can get my hands on to see how it feels.

The s8100fd does seem to have the joystick type control from the pics I have seen on the web but I will have a play with one in the shops to see if this is too much of a problem.

Not be getting one till the end of jan so will have to see whats on offer at that time.

Cheers

Paul

[John D]

Hi Riggy, I don't have any experience of the S8100fd but I have been doing some research for my son and have read up on this camera.
If you enter into GOOGLE - 'reviews of Finepix S8100fd' you will get a range of reviews from 'experts' and 'users'. You will find that some are not so favourable.
The older Finepix S9600 seems to get a much better review and higher marks.

John D

[Kayleigh]

Finepix S9600
It is now discontinued
OMG I have only had this camera for a year.

Look in my Gallery this camera does far more than I can make it do..Well I have only been taking serious pics for under a year..
It does have an annoying habit of when you push the button there is a delay but maybe if I read the book I would suss what I was doing wrong..
Videos are good pm for some I have taken with this camera and macro is impressive...

[Lancashire Lad]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

...Finepix S9600...It is now discontinued OMG I have only had this camera for a year ......It does have an annoying habit of when you push the button there is a delay....

I wouldn't fret too much Kayleigh, Fuji dropped it from their current range soon after their S100FS appeared. But it is a very well specced camera, and should last for years. - I find that I'm still using mine a lot of the time, as it does much of what my DSLR kit can do, and I only need to carry the one item.

As for the time delay, there will always be a slight delay between pressing the shutter and the actual exposure. But this can be minimised by half depressing the button (to allow the camera to focus) and then fully depressing the button when focussing is completed.

Appreciate this won't always work for moving subjects, but it's the best way for landscapes & still subjects.

Regards
Mike.

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by Lancashire Lad

I wouldn't fret too much Kayleigh, Fuji dropped it from their current range soon after their S100FS appeared. But it is a very well specced camera, and should last for years. - I find that I'm still using mine a lot of the time, as it does much of what my DSLR kit can do, and I only need to carry the one item.

As for the time delay, there will always be a slight delay between pressing the shutter and the actual exposure. But this can be minimised by half depressing the button (to allow the camera to focus) and then fully depressing the button when focussing is completed.

Appreciate this won't always work for moving subjects, but it's the best way for landscapes & still subjects.

Regards
Mike.

Thanks LL,

I do half press to focus but like you say when the target is moving its usually a bird I get an empty bird table its a bit annoying..

[GTH]

I must say that when i started, some 4 years ago now, i used a Fuji ....S7000 I think.( still have it)and I also found that there was a slight lag from pressing to take a shot,to the shutter actually operating. It was a bit of a pain, however what photographs it produced !! Those photographs outwayed the lag.
I`ve just looked back on my pc and found a shot where i used the Fuji that shows the quality....and i expect the new camera`s are better ?

I hope this helps

Have fun

Geoff

[squishy]

you cant get it anymore! oh dear only amazon sell the S9600, and that is for the same price as the S100fs i'm glad i got mine before!

its a fantastic camera.

the S8100fd is sort of a glorified point-and-shooter, but that doesn't mean it cant take good photos, just have a look at these i got with an £80 canon compact:





it is much more down to what you do with a camera. a good expensive camera will always take better photos, but that doesn't mean you cant et good ones with a fairly cheap one

[barquar]

Very good photos squishy you caught the action with the wellie stomp.
Barquar