Fuji FinePix S6500fd Digital Camera

After much research it was evident that the Fuji S6500fd was by far the most superior camera within my budget, every review was glowing and in all honesty it did not disappoint.

Classed as a mid range on the spectrum it is just above a compact and just below a DLSR, the perfect "bridge camera" (between the two). The lens is rather special and is seen on no other Fuji model (to date) with a 10.7x optical and a focal range of 28-300mm, it would be a serious challenge to find another bridge camera with a greater zoom.

It has a great macro facility but not the best I’ve ever seen, what surprises me the most about this camera is the amount of features (way too many too list) and the battery life is also impressive from AA’s (providing you get the good quality rechargeable), really does economise the power very efficiently.

I would like to emphasise the user friendliness of this camera, if you are deadly serious about getting into photography but not willing to take the immediate leap to digital SLR – then this is the camera for you. I currently have two pictures either side of my fireplace, both have been framed, both have been hung with pride – and both have been taken with a 6500FD.

The good points:-

It supports RAW image, manual twist barrel giving the rare manual control, 6.0 MegaPixels Super CCD HR (this would be a bad point if they hadn’t of upgraded the CCD sensor from the previous model). Face detection (that’s what the FD stands for) its hardware based and proves to be very useful. It has high ISO sensitivity and of course records movies.

Now for the bad points:-

Non-interchangeable lens (but that would make it a DLSR), has a fixed LCD and I prefer a tilt one to enable angled shots, the biggest complaint that I can make is that the camera isn’t made out of metal however if it was then the retail price would have been more and it may not have ever been one of our greatest sellers.

I think to summarise a camera like this is a rarity, with this amount of professionalism and the specification it boasts, it really did up the stakes for it’s competitors and it still has no serious challenges (the closest being it’s bigger brothers the S9500 & S9600).

Bottom line is the price – too good a deal to turn down.

Super Power Photography 2009