Fujifilm Finepix S8100fd Review

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!