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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 Menus

Camera Menus

The menus are very easy to use and every option is where one would expect it, except the option for enabling the CCD-RAW mode, this setting is hidden in the setup menu. I would have expected to see this option in the F-Mode menu. The available menus are:

Shooting Menu:
Madshrimps (c)

Self Timer: Off, 2 seconds, 10 seconds

Photometry: Multi, Spot, Average

White Balance: auto, custom [for use with a white card], fine [sunlight], shade, fluorescent 1/2/3, incandescent

High-Speed shooting: On, Off [limits minimum focus distance to 1 meter]

AF Mode: Center, Multi, Area

Sharpness: Hard, Standard, Soft

Flash: +2/3, +1/3, 0, -1/3, -2/3

Bracketing: +-1/2 EV, +-2/3 EV, +-1 EV

F-Mode Menu:
Madshrimps (c)

ISO: 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, auto

Quality [photo]: 6MP Fine, 6MP Normal, 6MP 3:2, 3MP, 2MP, 0,3MP

Quality [movie]: 640, 320

FinePix Color: Standard, F-Chrome [vivid], F-B&W

Playback Mode:

Erase: Frame, All Frames

Image Rotate

Protect: Frame, Set All, Reset All

Copy: Internal Memory -> Card, Card -> Internal Memory

Voice Memo [record up to 30 seconds of sound]

Trimming

Setup Mode
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Image Display: Continuous, 3 seconds, 1,5 second, Zoom (continuous)

Frame No. : Renew, Continuous

AF Illuminator: On, Off

CCD-RAW: On, Off

EVF/LCD mode: 30fps, 60fps

Focus Check: On, Off [enlarges the center of the screen when focusing in manual focus mode]
Date/Time

Beep Volume: Off, 1, 2, 3

Shutter Volume, Off, 1, 2, 3

Playback Volume: 0 -> 10

LCD Brightness: -5 -> +5

Format

Language

Auto Power Off: Off, 2 min., 5 min.

Time Difference: Home, Local [for shooting in a different time zone]

Background Color: Blue, Purple, Pink, Orange, Green, Grey

Discharge

Video System: PAL, NTSC

Reset

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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