# Fujifilm Finepix S9600



## Guest

I'm after a new camera and the above is suppose to be pretty good. If anyone has one can you please tell me how you get on with it? If possible a few shots would be good too  

Cheers :thumb:


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## -ROM-

It is as good as you are going to get without going to a DSLR. You may also conisder the Panasonic FZ8, there is less than a cigarette paper between them in real life. The Panasonic has around 7 megapixels and the fuji about 9, but the sensor in both cameras is so small that the actual difference in the final image is next to nothing, and what the panasonic lacks in pixels it makes up for with a leica lens which is as good as they come on fixed lens cameras like these.

P.S. you could pick up an entry level DSLR like the Nikon D40 for the same sort of money and although it only has 6 megapixels in the real world the image quality will knock spots off either of the above mentioned cameras.


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## AJA

I have the above camera matey. I'm extremely happy with it. It's not too complicated and the results are excellent for what I need.


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## Guest

Thats what I was hoping to hear! I can get one brand new for £230 which isn't bad value for money really. Any macro shots AJA?


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## AJA

I have some macro's on the PC at home. I'll post up tonight 

An excellent feature is to set the focus point on an object and then move the camera slightly. I'll show you a pic tonight.


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## Guest

Cheers bud. I've seen some zoomed in shots but they all seem noisy, could be that my friend doesn't know how to use it properly though!


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## AJA

Here's a couple I found on my work PC. They don't really do the camera justice, I have some much better pics on the PC at home -


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## Deanoecosse

Does anyone know if the S96000 comes with a lens as standard or is it just the camera body?


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## 190Evoluzione

Good image quality AJA, but you might wanna knock a little Magenta out of them. Everything's looking a wee bit pink...
As said, the comparison with a similar Lumix will definitely be a battle
of Resolution over Lens quality. Fuji do make several incredible professional
cameras, as well as lenses for the Hasselblad H System. Not to be sniffed
at, even if the Leica tag is tempting...


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## AJA

It's a non detachable lens matey.


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## AJA

190Evoluzione said:


> Good image quality AJA, but you might wanna knock a little Magenta out of them. Everything's looking a wee bit pink...


right, got ya.


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## -ROM-

Gary_R said:


> Cheers bud. I've seen some zoomed in shots but they all seem noisy, could be that my friend doesn't know how to use it properly though!


The noise will be down to the size of the sensor being so small, that's why a noise free image from a 6MP DSLR will be capaable of being enlarged way beyond that of a 9MP point&shoot/bridge camera.



Deanoecosse said:


> Does anyone know if the S96000 comes with a lens as standard or is it just the camera body?


No it is a bridge camera and although it looks like a big DSLR it has a fixed lens.


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## Guest

Is there any way of getting round the noise? Seems a bit pointless to zoom in if the quality is going to be cack. Saying that though my friend may not have been using the best settings.


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## -ROM-

Gary_R said:


> Is there any way of getting round the noise? Seems a bit pointless to zoom in if the quality is going to be cack. Saying that though my friend may not have been using the best settings.


It is a very long drawn out explination as to why the noise occurs (not trying to patronise, just can't be doing with all that typing) but short answer is no, you can reduce the noise in photoshop but this will lose detail.

Basically the size of the sensor is about the size of a finger nail, and it has 9 million pixels, the size of a sensor on a DSLR for comparision is about 2.4cm x1.6 cm so by putting the pixels further apart less noise is created.

To lower the noise on any camera lower the ISO sensitivity. But this isn't always possible when the light doesn't allow, when you zoom in the amount of light these types of camera can let in is reduced so the camera increases the ISO to compensate. You could use a tripod so that you can have a longer shutter time but this can be a PITA.


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## 190Evoluzione

Gary_R said:


> Seems a bit pointless to zoom in if the quality is going to be cack.


^This should be printed on camera-shop counters.

As explained by rmorgan84, Tiny Sensor + 10x Compact Zoom Lens = doesn't stand a chance of avoiding noise.
So-called 'bridge' cameras are now very tempting as they are mostly well under £500 but not too long ago they were around 700-900 quid and really
weren't worth it. 
If you're spending under £300 and don't want to enter into a 'system' but still want the feel of a DSLR, then some of these cameras could be ok but tbh i'd go for the one with a more sensible optical zoom like 4x, and keep the resolution between 6-8MP.


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## Deanoecosse

Is the S96000 any good for good quality Macro shots as that's the main reason I am looking to change my current compact camera (mine doesn't have a macro facility)


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## -ROM-

Deanoecosse said:


> Is the S96000 any good for good quality Macro shots as that's the main reason I am looking to change my current compact camera (mine doesn't have a macro facility)


Again, it is ok, as good as you will get for this type of camera.


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## Guest

If I can take pictures like this then I'll be happy!

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=42742


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## AJA

As promised matey, here's the other pics. I've included some close-ups and some concentrated focus shots -
































































These were all took in my back garden when I was experimenting with the camera.


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## AJA

These were took using the zoom (my two cats)-


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## Guest

Cheers mate, I think thats convinced me!


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## -ROM-

Before you go out all credit cards blazing, it might be an idea to have a look at some full res images so you have a balanced view as to the cameras capabilities, at that size at 72dpi the quality results can be misleading.


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## -ROM-

Gary_R said:


> If I can take pictures like this then I'll be happy!
> 
> http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=42742


Those photos were taken on a Nikon D80 DSLR which is nikons top of the range consumer camera. So that is a MASSIVE step up from a 9600!


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## djohn

Although an SLR will be a superior camera it also will cost a few bob more by the time you allow for lenses of different focal length. If the £250 mark is what you want to spend then the Fuji 9600 is an excellent choice of camera. I have the s9500 (Previous model) bought early this year.

My friend also has the 9500 and its a camera he tends to carry with him at all times even though he has a couple of expensive SLR's. Have a look at his website, especially the insects and hawks, most taken with the 9500 and all will print at A4 to superb standards even to A3 size at a quality that is good enough for selling.  Cycoze


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## Guest

Here are 2 pics a mate took with the 9600, the normal shot has a good resoultion but you cant really zoom into the image to reveal detail. The zoomed shot is quite good hoever.

Warning: 4.2MB per image!

www.robster-lobster.co.uk/cam/1.JPG

www.robster-lobster.co.uk/cam/2.JPG


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## -ROM-

Both of those images suck comapred to what a DSLR can produce and are a perfect illustration to my earlier posts, i would go for this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nikon-D40-18-...ryZ31388QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem and be happy! If you were looking for a slip in your shirt pocket type camera i wouldn't say so much but the 9600 is a big bit of kit so you might aswell go for a dslr!


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## Deanoecosse

That ebay link for the D40 is from Hong Kong and is for the camera body only. I've found this UK supplier for £319 complete with a 
AF-S DX 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II lens. Obviously this is about £90 than the 9600 but I would be willing to spend the extra if it was worth it. As I know nothing about lens specs (will buy a camera mag azine this weekend!) can anyone tell me if this is a decent general use lens and would it be able to take macro close ups ie close beading shots? http://www.warehouseexpress.com/?/p...RD=nikon d40&gclid=CLmKgvmHr44CFQMfEgoduHTrZA


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## oneowner2004

Very interesting points raised by rmorgon84 concerning the sensor size. 

When reviewing camera specs, we all tend to concentrate on getting as much mega pixels as possible, but I have not seen the sensor size quoted for many cameras, which seems as important. It appears that a camera with a small sensor will have to calculate and fill in pixels - hence the noise at larger resolutions..............

In simple terms, if as most DW's post their pictures up here at about 1,024 x 768 would it better using the Fuji S9600 to take a photo at the maximum file size of 9 million mega pixels and then use Photoshop to reduce the size for publishing on the web. 

Or would less "noise" be produced by taking a picture set at a size to more closely match then intended output - i.e. 0.786 mega pixels??? at 72dpi

Is the latter more efficient?


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## 190Evoluzione

> In simple terms, if as most DW's post their pictures up here at about 1,024 x 768 would it better using the Fuji S9600 to take a photo at the maximum file size of 9 million mega pixels and then use Photoshop to reduce the size for publishing on the web.
> Or would less "noise" be produced by taking a picture set at a size to more closely match then intended output - i.e. 0.786 mega pixels??? at 72dpi
> Is the latter more efficient?


No, in short it isn't.

There is indeed a 'happy medium' (after all, you wouldn't scan a print for magazine reproduction at 1200dpi just because the scanner is capable - you'd scan it at 400dpi and then downsize it slightly to 300dpi for print after making any necessary image adjustments, for optimum detail).
Tbh an image would have to have been shot in incredibly low light, or really underexposed to display siginficant noise when resized to 1024x768.
Shooting images at low resolution is ultimately foolish, as you never know when or why you'll need those images again.
In 10 years time, a photograph of an incredibly rare car that you took at a car show could be wanted by a magazine, or you yourself may want a physical print of it.
But then you open it up, and it's 800x600 pixels... d'oh!
Same goes for wedding snaps, holiday snaps, home-made porn, whatever.

I will always shoot at the camera's maximum file size, and keep either RAW or TIFF versions of every image i create. I do this partly because i'm a pro photographer and partly because i take the 'long view' when it comes to the
importance of personal photographs (non-work stuff).
Even with the massive increase in consumer screen-based media, physical prints (including the pages of books and magazines) will remain one of
the most widely-used methods of viewing photographs for a very long time.
I personally much prefer flicking through the pages of photo books to scrolling through online galleries, and i don't expect that to change anytime soon.


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## -ROM-

Deanoecosse said:


> That ebay link for the D40 is from Hong Kong and is for the camera body only. I've found this UK supplier for £319 complete with a
> AF-S DX 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II lens. Obviously this is about £90 than the 9600 but I would be willing to spend the extra if it was worth it. As I know nothing about lens specs (will buy a camera mag azine this weekend!) can anyone tell me if this is a decent general use lens and would it be able to take macro close ups ie close beading shots? http://www.warehouseexpress.com/?/p...RD=nikon d40&gclid=CLmKgvmHr44CFQMfEgoduHTrZA


The ebay link is a listing for the camera with the 18-55 lens.


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## Guest

rmorgan84 said:


> Both of those images suck comapred to what a DSLR can produce and are a perfect illustration to my earlier posts, i would go for this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nikon-D40-18-...ryZ31388QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem and be happy! If you were looking for a slip in your shirt pocket type camera i wouldn't say so much but the 9600 is a big bit of kit so you might aswell go for a dslr!


Apparently the D40 will take just as good a picture as the D80. That one on ebay is at a good price, just a bit wary that its coming from Hong Kong.


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## -ROM-

Gary_R said:


> Apparently the D40 will take just as good a picture as the D80. That one on ebay is at a good price, just a bit wary that its coming from Hong Kong.


Yeah the D40 under the right conditions will take as good photo as a D80, they do have different metering and autofocus systems but this is really just nit-picking, the D40 is a very good camera and will do you proud.

As for ordering from Hong Kong i have used that seller as well as others from hong kong and never had a problem! I ordered a lens and a flash off ebay a few months ago, on a monday, the flash from hong knog arrived on the thursday and the lens from the uk on the friday, so touch wood i haven't had any problems.


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## Perry

Well I have a Nikon D50 and the guildfriend has the S9600 and while her pictures are good she does say that mine come out a lot better. They look sharper etc.

Some examples of my D50 pictures can be seen here....

www.pgpictures.co.uk


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## Deanoecosse

Does anyone know if the D40 with the standard lens is capable of taking macro photographs? I can stretch to the cost of a D40 but I don't have the spare cash to shell out on an extra lens


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## -ROM-

Deanoecosse said:


> Does anyone know if the D40 with the standard lens is capable of taking macro photographs? I can stretch to the cost of a D40 but I don't have the spare cash to shell out on an extra lens


No the standars lens in not capable of macro, however you can get a real 1:1 macro lens off ebay for for about £100 and it will blow away anything a super zoom macro function can do.

Well worth the investment IMHO, even if you do have to wait until next month to get it!


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## Guest

The D40 can't take macro photos? Thats a shame, can't really afford to stretch the budget to buy another lens. Looks like I'm going for the S9600.


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## -ROM-

Gary_R said:


> The D40 can't take macro photos? Thats a shame, can't really afford to stretch the budget to buy another lens. Looks like I'm going for the S9600.


Not so much the D40 can't, just the standard lens supplied with it can't


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## Deanoecosse

Not being a camera techie, maybe I'm using the wrong term "macro". My understanding of macro is maybe different from the "true technical" meaning. I want the camera to be able to take close up beading shots etc and I assumed this would require a macro function. However on one of the camera websites I saw a video of the D40 and it showed it "zooming in " for a closeup of a flower. I would have called this a macro shot but I may well be wrong and if the standard lens can do this then It's fine for me.


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## -ROM-

Deanoecosse said:


> Not being a camera techie, maybe I'm using the wrong term "macro". My understanding of macro is maybe different from the "true technical" meaning. I want the camera to be able to take close up beading shots etc and I assumed this would require a macro function. However on one of the camera websites I saw a video of the D40 and it showed it "zooming in " for a closeup of a flower. I would have called this a macro shot but I may well be wrong and if the standard lens can do this then It's fine for me.


The lens can focus as close a 38cm from the subject.


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## Deanoecosse

38cm is close enough for me, I think I'm sold on the merits of the D40.
One other question, I notice on Fleabay someone is selling a "lens reversing ring" which as the name suggests, allows you to reverse fit your lens onto the camera http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MACRO-Nikon-D...ryZ31388QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
has anyone tried one of these?


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## -ROM-

Never used one TBH, but for that sort of money it is probably worth a bash!


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## Deanoecosse

I'm just about to order the D40 and notice that it comes with a battery pack, will it take standard batteries aswell?


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## -ROM-

No i dont think there is an option for AA batteries.


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## Brocks

I had the S9600 and was very impressed. I ended up selling it to AJA and you've seen his results. Nice to see you've got the hang of it mate. I sold it cause I caught the bug and went out and got a Canon EOS400D.

The S9600 has some really nice features.

1. The zoom is 28-300mm optical which can be doubled digitally. That gives an increadible zoom although the digital zoom is noisy.

2. It take Compact Fash AND XD cards. So if youre caught short and need to buy a card, you have a little more flexibility

3. AA Batteries. Again if you get caught short, pop into the newsagents and buy some Duracells

4. Tiltable screen. You can use the view finder or screen to take you shots. If your in a crowd, you can hold the camera above your head and tilt the screen so you can still see what you're doing. (I really miss this feature now)

5. It offers just bout all the features of an D-SLR at a agood price.

Downsides

1. The continuous shot mode shoots 1 frame per second. This was a little slow for me at Outlon Park. (My canon does 3 frames a second).

2. As the view finder is an LCD screen, You don't necesarily see exactly what your shooting. This is true of all none D-DLR cameras

3. When you do press the button the is a delay in the shot so I found it easy to miss the moment.

I must admit in some situations I've missed it, but as I get to grips with the D-SLR thats becoming less of an issue. Especially now I've found a decent 50-500 lense for less that an grand.

WRT to the D-SLRs I bought a battery pack that allows me to use the lithium batteries and AA. I hated not having a fallback. This is also possible on Nikons.

Heres some more pics shot withe the S9600:










Full zoom at night:










Local to me:










Oulton Park in the rain and shine:





































And some time lapse:


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## Guest

Wow they are fantastic imo, thanks for sharing them.


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## oneowner2004

I have just bought a Fujifilm S9600 and like Brocks above, have been very pleased with it.

I already own a D-SLR - the Canon EOS-20D with an army of lenses and accessories and whilst yes, the Canon is superior overall (but my collection has cost me over £3,000 to date) the S9600 I find is more than suitable for taking quick photos of the car and publishing on the internet / printing at A4, its only when you are blowing up the photos further that you can spot discernible differences in quality.

I find the Fuji focuses a bit easier on highly polished surfaces whilst the Canon can struggle, especially in poor light (the Canon is practically unusable in the Dark!)

The tilting LCD live viewfinder on the Fuji for me is an absolute must - I find that using a "normal" viewfinder aggravates my back/knees as I tend to take most car photos at Headlight level and therefore I am always bending or kneeling to take a photo.

The LCD live viewfinder is also quite accurate and I can stand up holding the camera at Hip level to get a nicely composed and steady shot much more easily - it's then easier to walk around the car to get the next shot, rather than having to move the Canon around on a tripod.

As Brocks says, it's got a great Zoom range, a good Macro facility and you do not have to change lenses and run the risk of getting dust into the camera.

Yes, I agree it's not compact enough to put in a pocket, but it's a lot lighter than a D-SLR package.

- If your main need is to use the camera to take photos of the cars, then I believe especially with the tilting LCD viewfinder, the Fuji S9600 is a good compromise and almost the ideal detailer's camera at a very realistic price.

I know a few other detailers already use the S9600 or its predecessor the S9500, and I have seen some very good results published here on DW - i.e. I always enjoy the posts and photos made by Nathan aka jedi-knight83


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