Fujifilm FinePix S2000HD Review

Wednesday, November 26, 2008, 7:04
Digital Camera
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Fujifilm finePIx S2000HD is a sub-$300 camera that offers a lot to an amateur photographer. This point-and-shoot camera is packed with ample amount of settings, modes to make the operation simple. But its performance and image quality don’t to justice to the provided features.

The 4.4×3.1×3 inches camera is slightly bigger in size, weighs 17.1 and comes with four AA batteries and SDHC card. The back side of camera features a 2.7-inch LCD and 0.2 electronic viewfinder. Both, screen ad EVF is noisy and coarse. An array of buttons includes dedicated buttons for face detection, red eye removal and multiple continuous shooting options. The controls and menus are simple and straightforward.

The camera captures 15 minute long HD videos at 1280×720 with full optical zoom. The Scene position allows you to access 13 modes or you can use Custom to create your own group of settings. But it is better to use Program Auto as you can control white balance, focus, exposure, flash strength, sharpness and bracketing.

But like most of the megazoom digital cameras, the S2000HD is slow. It takes 1.9 seconds to take first shot. The time between two consecutive shots is 2.4 seconds and if you use the flash it takes 2.8 seconds to take consecutive shots. The shutter lag in bright light is 0.5 second and 0.8 second in dim light.

The image quality is as disappointing as its slow performance. All the images, regardless of ISO, show some amount of noise and colors are a bit off. The use of noise suppression makes the images look like oil paintings, both on screen and in prints. The noise suppression gives you better than average images in low light but they look a little soft and artificial. The lens’ widest settings give noticeable barrel distortion. If you can learn to manipulate the settings, you will definitely get some good quality photos.

If you are looking for shooting videos, then S2000HD is not meant for you. The quality of MPEG-4 videos is good if you keep the camera focused on the subject without moving around too much.

The Fujifilm FinePix S2000HD is inexpensive and good looking camera. The image quality and performance are just average can’t be called outstanding.