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Fujifilm FinePix S6500FD Digital Camera Review

Others/Miscelleneous by wutske @ 2007-09-09

The Fujifilm FinePix S6500FD was introduced at the end of 2006 for a MSRP of €370 ($500). Nowadays you can get this dSLR-like camera for €270 ($365), which is incredibly low if you see what it´s capable of.

Camera Features & LCD/EVF

Camera Features Continued

Fujifilm follows the trend and has added Face Detection (this explains the FD in its name) to this camera. A small microprocessor should be able to detect up to 10 faces and makes sure that focus and exposure are set correctly on these faces. The Face Detection technology can also be used in playback mode where it gives you a close-up of ever face so you can see if someone is smiling or not. I must add that face detection might not work when someone is wearing glasses or a hat or when the face of that person is turned or tilted.

Madshrimps (c)

(All 3 faces detected in playback mode)

Fujifilm had added a lot more features to this camera which I'll briefly describe:

Picture Stabilization: this boosts the ISO value until the shutter speed is fast enough to prevent motion blur. This technique does work, but also results in more noise, a problem you don't have when you have an optical image stabilization.

Dual Shot Mode: if you use this mode, the camera will take two pictures, one with picture stabilization enabled and another with the flash enabled.

High Speed Shooting: when you enable this feature, the camera will limit the minimal focus distance to 1 meter resulting in a shorter focus time.

Continuous Shooting: 3 different modes are available, Top 3, Final 3, Long Period. The Top 3 modes takes 3 photos in a row at about 2,4fps, the Final 3 mode takes up to 40 photos at the same rate, but only saves the last 3. The Long Period mode is a bit disappointing, the camera can only shoot at about 0,5 frame per second, mainly because the camera does all the metering again for every new picture it's about to take.

RAW support: a bit hidden in the setup menu is the option to save your images in RAW format. This is a great way to avoid the over the top noise reduction the camera performs on every image. If you plan to shoot a lot of RAW images I suggest to get a big and fast memory card because every RAW image is 13MB in size.

Using the camera

Madshrimps (c)

As said before, the camera looks and feels a lot like a dSLR camera. The grip is large enough and is covered with a rubberish coating, making it possible to even use this camera with only one hand. The buttons are layed out well and are easy to operate, even when one's holding the camera with only one hand.

The 2,5” LCD screen at the back of the camera has about 235.000 pixels, the images show up nice and sharp on it. Above the LCD is an EVF (electronic viewfinder), it has the same purpose as an optical viewfinder but instead of looking through the camera, you'll be looking at a small LCD screen. The one in the S6500FD has only 130.000 pixels and you can clearly see this because the images are much less detailed when seen through the EVF. For people with a lesser sight, there's a diopter correction knob which helps you focusing on the small LCD.

Madshrimps (c)

(The LCD Screen)

Madshrimps (c)

(The EVF Viewfinder)

Comment from Sidney @ 2007/09/09

Price in the U.S. is down to around $270

Nicely done review. I never like high ISO result, always try to avoid.

Comment from Sidney @ 2007/09/09

wutske is an unknown reviewer from [M], time to get to know you.

Comment from geoffrey @ 2007/09/09

Nice article, I might get one of those

Comment from wutske @ 2007/09/09

My first review

.

For the interested ones, I'm Phillip, 19 years young, still studying (electronics-ict) and if you want to know more about me, just send me a PM

Comment from Sidney @ 2007/09/10

You're the one.

Nice camera for the price; good buy here in the U.S.

Comment from jmke @ 2007/09/10

Hardfreak, can I change your username on the forum to "wutske"? easier to track

Comment from wutske @ 2007/09/10

absolutely, no problem

Comment from jmke @ 2007/09/10

Done

Comment from EsaT @ 2007/09/26

Nice watercolour effect at high iso.
(BTW, PCB traces are best for seeing lessening of details when ISO increases)

Quote:

S6500FD is best described as a fixed lens camera in the body of a dSLR.

dSLR? Except for shape it doesn't differ much from all those Point&Pray aka P&S cameras with that button tapping driven menu based UI.
This is SLR-like user interface.

I think this would be better to leave to their BS... err marketing material:

Quote:

Inside the camera you'll find a 6,3MP SuperCCD, what makes this CCD super is the fact that it has a very good SNR (signal-to-noise-ratio) resulting in less noise when you use a higher ISO value.

After all it's clear that sensor itself isn't so much better than others and that most of low noise level is achieved with strong noise reduction.

Quote:

Picture Stabilization: this boosts the ISO value

More PR BS, image stabilization is system which allows using longer exposure time without camera movement blurring picture.
(this isn't even so called digital image stabilization)

But you forgot plus for wide angle, those 38mm unwide angles are horrible... but it's fun to look their users to step backwards for fitting every people into frame. 28mm is much better and "minimum" for landscapes.

Comment from wutske @ 2007/09/26

Quote:

Originally Posted by EsaT

Nice watercolour effect at high iso.
(BTW, PCB traces are best for seeing lessening of details when ISO increases)

1)dSLR? Except for shape it doesn't differ much from all those Point&Pray aka P&S cameras with that button tapping driven menu based UI.
This is SLR-like user interface.

2)I think this would be better to leave to their BS... err marketing material:
After all it's clear that sensor itself isn't so much better than others and that most of low noise level is achieved with strong noise reduction.

3)More PR BS, image stabilization is system which allows using longer exposure time without camera movement blurring picture.
(this isn't even so called digital image stabilization)

4)But you forgot plus for wide angle, those 38mm unwide angles are horrible... but it's fun to look their users to step backwards for fitting every people into frame. 28mm is much better and "minimum" for landscapes.

1) okay, your completely right about that, but this camera isn't a dSLR-camera so you can't expect it to have everything a dSLR has (+ the lack of dred buttons make this camera a lot better for beginners)

2) The sensor is better than the average sensor, mainly because it's a lot larger (1/1.7" compare to 1/2,5" you'll find in most camera's)

3) I know it's PR BS and I've said that in the review too:

Quote:

this boosts the ISO value until the shutter speed is fast enough to prevent motion blur.This technique does work, but also results in more noise, a problem you don't have when you have an optical image stabilization.

4) I've mentioned that in the conclusive toughts

, but maybe I should have put it in the pro list too.

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