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Fuji FinePix S7000 Fuji's latest electronic SLR offers a larger, 6.3-megapixel CCD that interpolates to 12.3 megapixels - one of the highest resolution consumer models we've tested to date! Select a topic Reference: Datasheet S7000 Photo Gallery! S7000 Sample Images --------------------------------- 1. Intro and Highlights 2. Executive Overview 3. Design 4. Viewfinder 5. Optics 6. Exposure & Flash 7. Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests 8. Operation & User Interface 9. Camera Modes & Menus 10. Image Storage & Interface 11. Video, Power, Software 12. Test Results & Conclusion --------------------------------- Print-Friendly Review Version Additional Resources and Other Links Reader Comments on S7000 Review --------------------------------- Digital Camera Comparometer (TM) --------------------------------- <-- Digital Cameras (Home) <-- Digital Camera Reviews Index <<Video, Power, Software :(Previous) | (Next): Reference: Datasheet>> Page 12:Test Results & Conclusion Review First Posted: 01/16/2004

Test Results
In keeping with our standard policy, my comments here are rather condensed, summarizing our key findings. For a full commentary on each of the test images, see the S7000's "pictures" page.

As with all Imaging Resource camera tests, we encourage you to let your own eyes be the judge of how well the devices performed. Explore the images on the pictures page, to see how well the S7000 performed, and how its images compare to other cameras you may be considering buying.

Not sure which camera to buy? Let your eyes be the ultimate judge! Visit our Comparometer(tm) to compare images from the S7000 with those from other cameras you may be considering. The proof is in the pictures, so let your own eyes decide which you like best!

• Color: Generally good color, and good white balance, but splotchy-looking skin tones under harsh lighting. The S7000 produced generally pleasing color in most of my testing, with good hue and saturation in most cases. The camera's White Balance system handled most of the test lighting well, and I typically chose the Manual and Auto settings as the most accurate (though I often noticed that the Auto and Daylight settings produced nearly identical images in most instances). In the tough Indoor Portrait (without flash), the S7000's Manual white balance produced a slight greenish cast, while the Auto setting was just slightly warm, but the overall color with the Auto setting was very good. The S7000 performed well on the Davebox test target, accurately distinguishing between the subtle tonal variations of the Q60 target and reproducing the large color blocks just slightly dark. Skin tones were generally good, but I wasn't crazy about how they turned out in the harsh lighting of the Outdoor Portrait test, where they ended up looking rather splotchy. The difficult blue flowers came out dark, though without any strong purple tints.
  
  
• Exposure: Pretty good exposure accuracy, but high contrast contributes to reduced dynamic range. The S7000's exposure system did a pretty good job, and handled most of my test lighting fairly well. It slightly underexposed the Davebox target, but not badly. The camera's default tone curve is rather contrasty, which caused it to lose detail under harsh lighting, and to show a limited dynamic range on my Far-Field test. The camera required slightly more positive exposure compensation than normal on the indoor portrait (without flash), but its performance was pretty equivalent to that of other cameras in most other settings.
  
  
• Resolution/Sharpness: Very high resolution, 1,600 lines of "strong detail." A moderate amount of barrel distortion, with slightly higher pincushion. The S7000 performed exceptionally well on the "laboratory" resolution test chart. It started showing artifacts in the test patterns at resolutions as low as 1,000 lines per picture height, in both horizontal and vertical directions. I found "strong detail" out to at least 1,600 lines, although one could perhaps make an argument for 1650. "Extinction" of the target patterns didn't occur until about 2,000 lines, and even there, the lines were still partially visible.
  
  
• Image Noise: Considerably higher than average image noise. For all its other excellent attributes, image noise is the Achilles' heel of the S7000. Image noise may not be all that much higher than other cameras at ISO 200, but that's the lowest ISO that the S7000 offers, and when held up against results from competing cameras shot at their lowest ISO settings (typically ISO 100 or even 50), the S7000's images do poorly in comparison.
  
  
• Closeups: An exceptional job in the macro category, with great detail. The S7000 performed very well in the macro category, capturing a minimum area of only 2.30 x 1.73 inches (59 x 44 millimeters) at the normal macro setting. Super Macro mode did even better, capturing a very tiny minimum area of 1.30 x 0.97 inches (33 x 25 millimeters). Resolution was very high, showing a lot of fine detail in the dollar bill. However, the coins and brooch were soft due to the limited depth of field that comes with such a short shooting distance. There was a lot of softness in the left corners of the frame in both shots (fairly common in digicam ultra-closeups, due to curvature of field in the macro optics), and color balance was slightly warm. The S7000's flash throttled down well for the normal macro area, though the exposure was slightly dim. The flash was ineffective with the SuperMacro setting, due to the extremely short shooting range, so expect to use external illumination in your closest macro shots.
  
  
• Night Shots: Excellent low-light performance, good color and fairly low noise (surprisingly), but limited autofocus capability. The S7000 offers full manual exposure control, a maximum exposure time of 15 seconds, and an adjustable ISO setting. As a result, the camera performed very well when shooting in dimly-lit conditions. The camera produced clear, bright, usable images down to the 1/16 foot-candle (0.67 lux) limit of my test, with good color at each ISO setting. (Actually color balance at the lowest light level was slightly warm at the ISO 400 and 800 settings, but pretty accurate at ISO 200.) The S7000's noise reduction system automatically kicks in at longer exposures, and did a pretty good job of controlling image noise, with the surprising result that there was actually less noise visible in the flat tints of the MacBeth chart in my low-light tests than in shorter exposures at higher light levels. (Note though, that the more noise suppression that's applied, the more fine image detail will suffer.) Even at ISO 800, noise was surprisingly low, particularly given the S7000's poor noise figures at higher light levels.

The S7000's biggest limitation for low light shooting was its autofocus system, which only functioned down to a bit less than 1 foot-candle of illumination. The electronic viewfinder is also somewhat limited, in that it can produce a usable display down to only about 1/8 foot-candle. (And it only brightens enough to be usable at that light level when the shutter button is half-pressed.)

• Optical Distortion: Very little barrel distortion, but higher than average pincushion. Overall, somewhat better than average among long-zoom digicams. Optical distortion on the S7000 was a good bit less than average at the wide-angle end, where I measured approximately 0.4 percent barrel distortion. The telephoto end fared a fair bit worse, as I measured 0.7 percent pincushion distortion there. Comparing this to a typical 3x zoom digicam lens, most of them have barrel distortion in the range of 0.7-0.8 percent at wide angle, and anywhere from zero to 0.3 percent pincushion at telephoto. Most long-zoom lenses fare worse though, so the S7000's lens plays well against its most direct competitors. Chromatic aberration was a bit of a mixed bag. While the coloration from the chromatic aberration was fairly faint, the color extended eight or more pixels on either side of the target lines. (This distortion is visible as a very slight colored fringe around the objects at the edges of the field of view on the resolution target.)
  
  
• Viewfinder Accuracy: A very accurate electronic viewfinder. The S7000's electronic "optical" viewfinder (EVF) proved to be very accurate, showing 99+ percent of the final frame area at both wide angle and telephoto zoom settings. (The lower measurement line was just barely cut off at the telephoto setting, but accuracy was still very good.) The LCD monitor was also very accurate, since it shows the same view, just on a larger screen. Given that I like LCD monitors to be as close to 100 percent accuracy as possible, the S7000's LCD monitor is essentially perfect in this regard
  
  
• Shutter lag and cycle time. A fairly fast camera overall, but shutter lag isn't quite as good as that of the earlier S602. Faster cycle times/buffer clearing with xD cards than even fast CF ones. The S7000 is a fairly fast camera overall, although it fell a little short of the earlier S602 in terms of shutter lag. While the S7000's shutter lag is just about average though (with full-autofocus lag times ranging from 0.71-0.91 seconds), it does still show very good cycle time performance, and its high-speed continuous modes are quite fast indeed. I was surprised to find a significant difference in performance between xD and CF cards: The S7000 cycled much faster for raw-format files with xD cards, and showed both greater buffer depth and greatly reduced buffer clearing times as well when running with an xD memory card.
  
  
• Battery Life: Excellent battery life. With a worst-case run time of just over 3 hours with 1600 mAh NiMH batteries, the S7000 offers very good run time, particularly if you use the latest high-capacity NiMH cells to power it. (Worst-case run time with true 2000 mAh cells would be a bit over 3.3 hours, very good indeed.) I still recommend purchasing a second set of rechargeable batteries, and always keeping one set topped-off via a trickle charger, to avoid the Murphy's Law problem of batteries failing exactly when you most need them.

Conclusion

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I previously thought that Fuji had hit a home run in the enthusiast category with the S602 Zoom, and so was eagerly awaiting the S7000. While the S7000 does indeed offer exceptional resolution and detail, and some very nice continuous modes, its shutter lag is a bit longer than that of the S602, and its photos are plagued by higher than average levels of image noise. In many cases, the image noise is severe enough that subtle subject detail is lost, eliminating much of the advantage of the higher-resolution sensor. A lot of this is likely due to the S7000's rather high minimum ISO setting of 200 - Most competing models offer minimum ISOs of 100 or even 50, which results in much lower noise levels. I felt that the S7000's color wasn't quite up to the level of the earlier S602 as well, although it was pleasing enough in most circumstances. Overall, I think Fuji just missed a home run with this camera, as there's a lot to like, including a high-resolution and very accurate EVF, a very powerful flash unit, a good lens, and some nice shooting options for action photographers. If Fuji could have kept the color and shutter response of the S602, and just boosted the resolution, the S7000 would have been a standout success. As it is, I suspect that many potential users will be put off by the its image noise levels, limiting its acceptance in the market.
appears to be yet another excellent contender in the digicam marketplace. Putting together a range of key features in a very appealing package, Fuji increased the resolution to 12.3 megapixels (6.3 megapixels uninterpolated), improved the EVF display, included a more powerful flash unit, and made a few other useful adjustments. The S7000 will meet the needs of many enthusiast photographers with its healthy exposure options, while offering enough automatic controls for novices to take advantage of and feel comfortable with.