Fujifilm Finepix S8100fd Comments

I find this review perplexing, to say the least. TR gave an excellent review to the S8000fd and awarded it a 9 out of 10, something that does not happen very often. Yet the S8100fd gets a horrible score of 6 out of 10. Such a disparity must mean that the newer S8100fd is much worse than the S8000fd in many ways. However, your reviewer did not give one example of this. In fact the only reference he makes to the S8000fd is in his introduction. I realize that Cliff did the review of the S8000fd but I'd have hoped that Mr. Harrison would have made an effort to conform his review to Cliff's. As someone who is considering the purchase of a superzoom, I can't give any consideration to this review. Too bad, as I usually give great weight to TR's reviews. Honestly, I think you owe your readers, and Fujifilm, another review of the S8100fd, hopefully by Cliff.

i agree with the review on the s8000 i have had one for 3 months and it is great
build quality,features and pictures.

I currently own a Fuji S7000 and recently thought of upgrading as I have been very pleased with it but want more features. When I read the specification and casual reviews of the S8100FD I was quite excited, however on reading this review it completely changed my mind... until I read all three comments above. Thanks for the advice everybody, I think there is an S8000 somewhere with my name on it :)

I have just recently bought this camera and whilst some of the features were good the colour imaging was very poor.Deep crimson reds came out pink and compared to my other cameras and even phone they did not replicate the true colours. My other cameas are Samsung GS 1X, Nikon S1 and Kodak Z740.I have looked at other cameras of this kind and can say the Nikon P80 and the Lumix DMC FZ28 are more accurate in there colour definition. Needless to say I have returned the Fuji and i am now looking for an alternative.

Eek. I am looking for a camera to use for gig photography as a step up from my compact, but am not ready for a full SLR, so was hoping to find a good superzoom digital. I'm really struggling to decipher which of these is likely to perform well in low light. I too had been drawn in by the features of this model, but now put off by the review. Does anyone know how the S8000 stands up in such conditions?

@clare - for gigs, you probably want a fold-out LCD on the back which allows you to "periscope" over the audience and get up close to the stage with zoom. S8100FD doesn't have this.

is this review recycled from S8000FD? it refers to the older model in the text.

I have a FujiFilm S7000 with which I've taken more than 10,000 images. I was very happy with it apart from the relatively short zoom. So I upgraded to an S8100fd and I hate it.
The image quality is horrible in ALL ISO and quality settings. To anyone who is considering the purchase of one of these, I say FORGET IT. You'll be very disappointed with the results.

The Fuji S7000 is a great camera!
I have recently sold mine,and bought a Fuji s9500 off Ebay,and have been disappointed with the work required to(a)sharpen up the images,and (b) improve the colour in the pictures,whereas the S7000 images were generally sharp and colouful straight from the camera.
Also the long end of the zoom lens wouldn't focus sometimes,which could be annoying,and I thought the flash output was poor.
I am seriously considering selling the S9500,and getting another S7000,and putting up with it's short zoom,as it seems to produce better pictures than any of the more recent Fuji offerings.
I also have a Nikon D40,which is a superb little DSLR,but if I take the body,plus the 18-55mm and 55mm-200mm out on a country ramble,it's becomes quite heavy after a while,with the result that the S7000 tended to be the camera I took with me.
The S9500 seemed to be the perfect solution,9MP,plus a versatile 28-300mm lens,at a weight only a little more than the Nikon with its standard zoom lens.
The picture quality,once you spend a little time on them,is very good,but the occasional hit or miss focussing(only at the telephoto end)I don't think I can live with.
It is a shame because the Fuji S9500 is a such a well made,fully featured "proper camera",and is nice to hold,and I find it better to use than a previous Panasonic FZ18 I had,which never felt like a "proper" camera,although otherwise an excellent little camera in many ways.
The ideal camera must be out there somewhere,and the S9500 does come close!!

I purchased this camera last Sept as I was going back to Nepal and wanted to get some better close up shots and didn't want an SLR. I am pleased with the main shots although night shots are not good. I do enjoy having the eye view as well as the screen because there occasions when the screen shots don't show properly or you can't see what you are taking with the bright light. I miss having panorama which I had on my previous olympus digital camera.I do like the handling and the macro and super macro shots and the hold of the camera, even though it is a little bit more weightier than my previous camera as I wanted a zoom. I do find that the battery replacement area is difficult to handle, not opening or changing but the closing of the compartment. I am quite happy with it and certainly can't afford to change but now wish I had gone for the more expensive Olympus.

Re my previous comment,the Fuji S9600 seems to have rectified the problems I encountered with my S9500,so should be a good buy,(look on Ebay),Trusted Reviews gave it an excellent review,better than the later Fuji's,the S8100 included!)
It is heavier though!

Further to my other comments,I recently bought a Panasonic FZ28,which seemed an improvement on my previous FZ18,but although great in many ways,the viewfinder is half the size of the FZ18,the Fuji S9500,(and my old S7000),and in bright sunshine,when the rear screen was difficult to see,I ended up squinting through the tiny EVF,which I just couldn't live with!
So be warned!

I recently upgraded from my Fuji S5700 to the S8100fd. What a bad mistake, the image quality is poor and after many test shots comparing the two the S5700 wins by a mile.
I shall be putting this camera on Ebay as soon as I can.
Basically the quality of the images are not sharp and those taken indoors with Flash are still too dark. I use images from this camera to put on my web site but not before putting them through some imaging software - what a tedious task.
Dont bother to buy this camera !