FinePix S100FS, Fujifilm's Truly Advanced Bridge Camera

Unlike Canon, Pentax and Samsung, whose most important PMA08 products included DSLRs and lenses, Fujifilm chose to focus on bridge and compact digital cameras and it was a wise choice as the well-known manufacturer came out with some impressive units.

The most interesting of them is what Fujifilm calls the "most advanced consumer model to date", the FinePix S100FS. Fitted with a 14.3x Fujinon manual zoom lens, Fujifilm's 8th generation 2/3-inch Super CCD sensor with 11 MegaPixels , RP III processor, 2.5" tiltable LCD and ISO capabilities of up to ISO 6400 at 6 MegaPixels and an "incredible" ISO 10,000 at 3 MegaPixels, the FinePix S100FS stands out from the bridge crowd and cements its position as one of the leaders in this field.

The 14.3x optical zoom Fujinon zoom lens offers a focal length ranging from 28mm at the wide end to 400mm at the tele end coupled with a maximum f/2.8 aperture at the wide angle that gradually closes to f/5.3 at the longest end.

One feature Fujifilm has been banking on for a long time is the extended dynamic range and the new FinePix S100FS is also a bit of a dynamic range wizard that can go from 100% to 200% and even 400%. According to Fujifilm, this is achieved thanks to the SuperCCD VIII "HR" and the new RP Processor III. You also get the film modes that optimize for portraiture, low-contrast (soft), vibrant colors (Velvia), or general use (Provia).

Such a focal range needed some form of image stabilization and Fujifilm provided it in the Dual Image Stabilization, which is part gold part not so gold. There's the real, mechanical part consisting of a "floating" lens element and then, there's the ISO boost part that's just pure marketing.

Other notable features include the ability to capture images in both JPEG and RAW format, Fujifilm's proprietary Face Detection 2.0, the movie mode with sound at 30 frames per second in VGA quality, and zoom capable with manual zoom ring while in movie mode and last but not least, the 2.5" tiltable LCD.

All in all, the FinePix S100FS offers a plethora of features and the larger Super CCD sensor is likely to produce superior results compared to the competition. All these impact the $799.95 price tag, but the retail price will certainly be lower than what Fujifilm mentions in the press release. The FinePix S100FS will debut in February 2008.

Second on the list is the "world's smallest 12x optical zoom digital camera", the FinePix S1000fd. Well, apart from being the smallest of the bunch there are no mind-boggling features. You get one DSLR-like bridge camera with 12x optical zoom lens and a regular 1/2.3" CCD (not the special type from Fujifilm), coupled with the Face Detection Technology and the full manual control. There's no image stabilization, which is quite a bummer. The FinePix S1000fd will debut in April 2008 at a retail price of $249.95.

Another interesting, albeit not jaw-dropping, model is the FinePix S8100fd. This one boasts an 18x optical zoom lens, but uses a 1/2.3-inch Super CCD HR sensor, adding extra points to image quality. It also sports Fujifilm's Dual Image Stabilization, which combines mechanical sensor shift stabilization with ISO boosting a.k.a. "the poor man's stabilization".

Similarly to the FinePix S100FS, the new model also achieves a continuous shooting speed of up to 33 frames at 13.5 frames per second in 3MP mode and 6.8 frames per second at 5 MegaPixels.

Other features include Face Detection, i-Flash technology and the 2.5" Wide View LCD with 60 frames per second refresh rate. The FinePix S8100fd will debut in March 2008 at a retail price of $399.

And now, for some truly compact models as the "compactofilia" disease has spread from Olympus to Fujifilm. There is one point and shoot model that stands out from the crowd, the FinePix F100fd. This model uses a 12-MegaPixel, 8th Generation Super CCD, the Super CCD HR VIII, and the RP (Real Photo) Processor III to achieve a boosted dynamic range. The press release informs that dynamic range boost is based on same process as that found in the professional FinePix S5 Pro DSLR.

Moreover, there's also a 5x optical zoom lens, new proprietary Face Detection 3.0 technology, dual image stabilization and the ability to go up to ISO 3200. The FinePix F100fd will debut in March 2008 at a retail price of $379.95.

There are three other compacts, the FinePix Z10fd, FinePix J10 and J50, but their features are absolutely nothing to brag about.

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