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FujiFilm S1600 Bridge camera
Note: This is the first of two articles on the S1600. It was written shortly after the purchase of the camera while the second article is a long term review of the S1600 written 17 months later.

This camera became the third digital camera owned by my wife. Her second was about 6 months old when it got dropped and the camera lens became stuck. Both cameras up to this point where digital equivalents to the point&shoot film cameras that were so popular due to standardized auto-exposure, auto-focus and the 3x zoom. The film based Pentax P&S that my sister used was consistently better in taking pictures with better colour and sharpness than my SLR...this outcome of newer/cheaper technology upsurping the status quo was repeated with the Fujifilm S1600.

Fuji Film is one of the few companies that came from an era of companies that had a depth of skills from film manufacturing, mechanical design and lens manufacturing. In the 2006 timeframe, 6MP sensors were just being introduced. Nikon's dSLR sensors in the APSC format (1.7") had each pixel spaced about 8.4um microns. The smaller cameras (1/2.3") were at a factor of 4 times (1.7/[1/2.3]) smaller pitch or a pitch of 2.1um.

For an equivalent number of pixels on a sensor with one fourth the linear dimension, the lens resolution must be 4x greater (per unit length) and puts the ball back in the lens designers court.

These much larger "buckets" (four times as tall and four times as wide make for 16x the area) have less statistical charge variance that becomes crucial when low light signals are amplified: This typically happens when higher ISO settings are used and the signal is amplified (along with the electronic noise).

The FujiFilm F30 and S6000fd were, respectively, highly regarded compact and bridge cameras employing 6.3MP with a 1/1.7" sensor. In that time, there began a love affair with the digital camera...but the main thing is the things that matter to photographers never change and this review of the F30 they got things right. Any F30 cameras on eBay ? The volume and yield of sensor production is a great dictator of the price of cameras. Unfortunately, these excellent sensors were compromised by the resolution race of the next generation and the low light noise issues were masked by the light of built-in flash capabilities. The emphasis of natural available light photography and low noise capabilities of professional cameras (Nikon D3 and Canon 5D) showed what could be achieved and it would be a matter of time before the focus would to improve the basic capability of the sensor. The S8000 introduced a year later had a smaller but higher resolution 8MP 1/2.35 sensor. The advatange was that the lenses could be about half as small ( "1.7/2.35 cubed since volume varies as the ratio cubed" ): A distinct advantage if you are into high ratio zoom lenses somewhat remiscent of 8mm film days...the sensor almost being the same size (6mm). Manufacturers could almost fall back on the lens designs fromt he 8mm days with minor retrofitting.

The S1600 camera is very remiscent in someways to a costed-down version of the S8000fd. . So what do you lose ?

1. Pre-focussed shutter lag increases to 0.122 sec from around 0.018 sec
2. Non "Super CCD" CCD
3. real apertures stops replaced by 2 level ND filter
This camera has been interated upon a successful formula of providing many features at a good price point coupled with worthy ergonomic design. The pioneering S700 was introduced in 2007 followed by the S1000fd and then the S1500 model that added image stabilization. The S1600 can be thought of as the model that added a 28mm equivalent wide angle to the S1500...a really useful addition at that. In the numbers game, you might expect a slight trade-off in sensor noise going from the 10 mega-pixel S1500 model to the newer 12.2 mega-pixel design.

	1st Generation	2nd Generation	3rd Generation	4th Generation
Model	S700 -7.1 MP -38 to 300mm (10x) -1/2.5 sensor -ISO max=1600	S1000fd	S1500fd	S1600
added Features to next generation	-Cost reduced bridge	-33 to 390 (12x)	- 10 MP -stabilization	-28mm

S100FS 14x, 11MP, titable LCD, zoom ring, 2/3” sensor, Super CCD HR VIII

S6000fd 10.7x zoom, short, pre-focus lag, 1/1.7" sensor, Super CCD HR, 6 MP (same as F30), no VR
S8000fd 18x, 8MP, 1/(2.35)” sensor,

The Fujifilm S1600 is a bit of a departure from my first two camera in that optical viewfinders have become extinct (almost) in the year 2011. Cameras have become increasingly smaller (definitely too small) and practical rechargeable AA batteries are fast being replaced by proprietary Lithium-Ion batteries that are priced as part of after purchase revenue stream for the manufacturers. Cameras today (year 2010) also have large memory footprints (12 Mega-pixel is not uncommon) and low cost compares to those at the start of the 2000. Part of this is driven by annual refresh of cameras in order to compete for your purchase.

1. Pros or Great things about this camera
2. Cons...or not so good Stuff

3. Suggested Improvements...the last word
4 Web Reviews

5 Firmware Update




1 Pros or Great things about this camera
So what's so great about this camera:

• Solid build and classic ergonomic shape that is large enough to hold comfortably. It has the "SLR look" if that appeals to you. The back LCD seems to be covered by the same "Gorilla Glass" used on the iPhone.

• Good Prints: Sharp and good color below ISO 200. Every once in a while the pixel-peeper in me questions the amount of compression used in a shot with a lot of edges and sets the ISO to 100.

• Use of AA batteries in the era of the high performance Eneloop (or Eneloop-like precharged) batteries. Lithium Ion batteries have a shelf life of 3 years whether or not you use them.

• Wider Range Zoom of 15x where the wide is wider (28 mm equivalent) and the tele is longer ( 420mm equivalent) with the ability to digitally zoom by an additional 6x to 90x (i.e. 15x * 6x =90) or 2400 mm without much quality trade-off. I would rather have a shorter zoom with a faster lens around f/2.0

  Most dSLR users need at least three lenses (18 to 55, 55 to 200, and a 400 mm) to cover the same range with much more bulk.

• Rugged and simpler lens mechanics due to larger size. This results is less of complicated cams needed in multi-section lens found on compact cameras to fold into their bodies when powered off.

• "Image Stabilization" really increases the number of unblurred shots due to hand shake...but as always beware

• A feature rich camera "can" be customized to the way you want it can be a two edge sword with settings inadvertently being set or unset. Enter the concept of a user-defined bank of settings called the CUSTOM MODE: This recalls all these settings with a flick of the fingers..

• Instant Zoom This little explained feature paints a frame to show the digital cropping of the photo. This allows the surrounding area, outside the crop, and can help when timing action entering the frame. It can be activated at by focal length and gives 1.5x and 2.0x equivalent digital zoom. Unlike many cameras, there seems to be no cropping of the pixel count and the number of pixels stays the same...can it be that this is via up-sampling?

• What you see is what you get EVF or electronic viewfinder is really needed at the longer telephoto lengths and I found this one to be clear enough even for my 50 year old eyes for framing despite the lack of diopter adjustment. I use it to define indoor low light setting with higher ISO and a 3:2 aspect ratio. Great for weddings.

2 Cons...or not so good stuff
The camera is swell but here's what I found that I didn't like about it:

• Slow low light focusing and shutter lag of about 0.5s to get initial focus. Some contrast based systems have got this down to 0.2 second range. The focussing area seems to be beneath that indicated on the screen.

• Needs "fresh" re-chargeables of the Eneloop variety and a battery charger with independent battery charging. The battery indicator only comes on just before the batteries die but this is as much a problem with the flattish discharge curves of Ni-Mh batteries.

• EVF consumes just about as much power as the LCD. Need to carry extra batteries if you are away from civilization.

• Noisy chroma noise above ISO 200 in room lighting conditions.

• USB does not behave like a Mass-Storage device (i.e. looks like just another disk systems).

• Inability to take lens filters.


3 Suggested Improvements

By way of disclosure, I have a very long history with Fuji when I bought one of their first pioneering film SLR cameras called the ST-701. The camera had significant new features emblematic of the cleverness of the design group:

• Multi-coated optics based upon their Electron Beam Coating on a superb 55mm F1.8 lens.

• Black felt pile lining the mirror box

• Fast reacting Silicon photo diodes

• Compact design at 27 ounces (light for their time).

• Bright viewfinder with split- image focusing

With the above being said, the S1600 could stand some minor tweaks to improve it even further.

• Display modes should be changed to from info, info+grid, and none to info, none and just grid.

• microphone gain should be muted during zoom. with

• Provide a menu item to preset the power-up focal length for speedier shot composition. The default 28mm equivalent setting is what you get.

• constant whine in video mode should removed with noise cancellation.

• Move the zoom control to a mechanical ring on the lens like the HS10.

• Do not increase the optical zoom ratio anymore and instead as the combination of 6x digital zoom affords a 90x variation and a 2500mm equivalent telephoto lens with seemingly no trade-off in sharpness.

• Focus on image quality and a faster lens.

• Add a threading to the lens and recess it so that the inner protruding part of the lens is fully protected by the outer cylindrical shell that can take shock.

4 S1600 Web Reivews

• Fujifilm FinePix S1600 Review by Mark Goldstein, Photographyblog.com, May 17 2010
  Even handed review giving a good summary of the camera but the I would suggest you limit ISO to 200 and below and not 400 recommended here. The images used are not very useful to judge the antishake/quality trade-off. It mentions the custom mode where complete banks of settings (ISO, flash, quality level, focusing mode, film type) are stored. A high end feature just introduced in the D7000.

• s1600 review by Noktor-Matic, Flickr, January 2011
  It is all about trade-offs as this thread shows. The maximum shot count that I've found is around 300

• s1600 review (broken)by Kate Verral, kverrall.com , 2011
  I agree with Kate's recommendation on maximum ISO 200) and her comments about the noise in video mode.

• s1600 review (broken)by Alan Harley, Myfinepix.fr, April 26 2010 A review by a happy owner demonstrating Fuji's good handle on color and what most user's can achieve who are not pixel peepers. Most of the comments about chromatic aberration are made by those who view at 100% magnifications that would render a print that is 44"

The bigger brother S1800 differs only in the longer 18x zoom:

• Fujifilm FinePix S1800 review by Pasini et al, Imaging-Resource, December 21 2010
  Very representative set of noise/ISO shots illustrating the quality tradeoff with increasing exposure sensitivity (i.e. higher ISO setting).

  Fuji has some strong ideas about user interface such as how a second press of the PLAY button should behave and the use of BACK/EXIT key: I actually like the idea of using the shutter button to go to enter the SHOOTING MODE. One advantage is that you can turn on the camera to review pics by hitting the PLAY button and to shut it down using a second press of the PLAY button.

• Fujifilm FinePix S1800 review links by Retrevo.com

Last if you like taking pictures and using flickr, have a look at these discussion groups

Also take a look at the previous generation S1500 that it replaced:

• s1500 preview by imaging-resource.com
  Good description of the "instant zoom frame"

• s1500 review by Whizkid, Digitaldesires.com, January 7 2010

• s1500 review (broken) by Frank Mee of Digital Versus, August 20 2009
  A succinct pictoral summary of the noise tradeoff with increasing sensitivity/ISO settings.

• s1500 review by Joshua Goldman of reviews.cnet.com , August 19 2009
  A very good description of the ISO behaviour of the S1500 but it would also apply to what I see in the S1600.

• s1500 review by Cliff Smith, Trustedreviews.com, May 19 2009
  Another set of picutres looking at the ISO noise/sensitivity trafeoff. Recommendations could be stricter.

• s1500 review by Lori Grunin, CNET, August 31 2009

• s1000fd review by Howard Creech, Digitalcamerareview.com, June 17 2008
  An unexpected result with higher levels beyond P&S due to feature rich design...a mixed bag

• s1000fd review by Steves-digicam.com, August 26 2008
  Like the video mode but mixed bag feelings

• s1500 review by Steves-digicam.com, May 29 2009
  Hated the video mode this time and same mixed bag feelings

5 Firmware Update
There have been a total of two firmware updates to the camera. These updates can totally redefine the way the menus and buttons operate. My camera was already updated to version 1.02. Version 1.04 that came out around June 2010 so the camera, that I had, could benefit as it was manufactured in March 2010. I've noticed:

Version 1.02

• Faster scrolling of images

• Videos now show the total time remaining for the card. The previous version showed the time available for a clip corresponding to 2GB or about 10 minutes. While an empty 8GB card could hold about 40 minutes (4x10 minutes) of video, it would only indicate 10 minutes corresponding to the 2GB limit imposed upon per clip.

  Wish List

• Framing/Grid Lines only "shooting information" option with "indicators" hidden. The present implementation of where the indicators are shown with both indicators and grid/framing lines just makes the screen look too busy. See page 17 of owners manual for S1600. "

...as of May 15 2004