An attractive prosumer that'll appeal to photography enthusiasts and resolution freaks, and it's priced not to break your bank.

Fujifilm's S7000 sports the firm's fourth-generation SuperCCD HR (High Resolution) sensor that allows the camera to capture digitally interpolated images of up to 12 megapixels. Even without the sophisticated interpolation algorithms, the S7000's "real" 6-megapixel photos already rival Canon's EOS 300D (a digital SLR) and beat Konica Minolta's Dimage A1. Other niceties include the relatively fast and sharp Fujinon 6x, 35-210mm (35mm equivalent) lens. Perhaps the best feature of the S7000 is its price. At AU$1,199, the S7000 is surprisingly good value!

Like most prosumers, the Fujifilm S7000 is larger than the average digicam, with its lens barrel sited on the side. To keep the camera balanced, four AA-size batteries take their place in the base of the handgrip. To improve on aesthetics, the Japanese firm has given this FinePix a large dose of sweeping curves. However, the camera's handgrip is unusually large and petite users may find difficulty getting a comfortable grip.

The Fujifilm S7000 is well thought-out. Controls are generally well-laid and the menus are easy to pilot around. However, as with the previous enthusiast-oriented FinePix units, the RAW image capture option is buried deep within the menus. Fortunately, the rest of the functions can be accessed easily and the wieldy Shift button allows changing of various settings without diving into the menus.

Shutterbugs will be pleased with the feature set of the FinePix S7000. Perhaps the only letdown is the rather narrow wide-angle position of 35mm (35mm equivalent). This will limit the S7000's ability to capture sweeping landscapes. However, this also means the 6x lens has more telephoto reach than even 7x lenses currently found in the 8-megapixel arena. Wide-angle buffs will have to shell out more dough for the optional adapter which enables the lens to use wide-angle converters.

Expectedly, there's plenty of freedom for creativity with the options to independently control both shutter and aperture or even full total manual operation. There's also a real-time histogram to aid in getting accurate exposures.

Besides its capable shooting options, the S7000 also records quite usable movies at 640 x 480 resolution with audio. As added advantages, movies are limited only by storage and as with previous Fujifilm cameras, the S7000 can double as a PC Webcam.

In our tests, we found the S7000's performance to be generally good. One of the biggest pitfalls of SLR-like prosumers lies in the viewfinder. Electronic viewfinders (EVFs) tend to lose out to TTL (Through-The-Lens) optical viewfinders in terms of clarity, dynamic range and detail. Surprisingly, the S7000 does reasonably well here. In macro shooting (where it's difficult to see if your subject is in focus), this Fujifilm had a magnify option which enlarged the center of the frame to allow you to verify that the subject is in focus. Although this had implications on composition and, to a certain extent, creativity (you can't tell which part of your subject or shot is in focus and which aren't), it was better than having almost everything out of focus.

What did hurt the S7000 was its sluggish start-up timing of about 4 seconds. Luckily, the unit was responsive in other respects. Shot-to-shot time for both JPEG and RAW files took about approximately 1 to 2 seconds. Timings lengthened to about 5 to 6 seconds with the flash enabled. In terms of continuous capture, the Top 5-Frame mode records five pictures at a blindingly fast 3.3 frames per second. In Final 5-Frame mode, the camera shoots up to 40 pictures at 2fps and saves the last five captures when you lift your finger off the shutter release.

Unlike the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 that grazed past our hands recently, the zoom mechanism was not mechanically linked. Instead, the focus ring is of the by-wire variety (electronic, servo-controlled) and doubles for both zoom and focus adjustments. The autofocusing (AF) system was also quite peppy, often taking less than a second for situations with adequate lighting.

Battery performance was also very good. We managed to obtain about 300 shots under heavy usage with four 1,700mAH batteries and the camera showed no sign of giving out. Unfortunately, Fujifilm bundled only normal alkaline batteries with the S7000, so you'd have to make the worthwhile investment in rechargeable batteries yourself.

In terms of image quality, the S7000 delivered mostly pleasing, detailed and sharp photos. We found the colours captured to be vivid and vibrant. Metering was also generally good and our pictures turned up well exposed. However, automatic white balance was iffy and needed touch-ups on certain occasions. ISO noise was prevalent at sensitivity settings above 400, which limited the usable selections to just ISO 200 and 400.

The FinePix S7000 holds its own against the rest of the prosumer models. If there's one thing good about competition, it's the tremendous value it creates. Because the S7000 does not sport an effective 8-megapixel sensor, this capable high-resolution prosumer can be had for a much lower price than the likes of Canon, Sony, Konica Minolta and Olympus, stretching the value-for-money stakes. You can expect this red-hot camera to fly off the shelves.

Fujifilm FinePix S7000
Company: Fujifilm
Price: AU$1,199
Distributor: Hanimex
Phone: 1800 226 355

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