Fujifilm Finepix S6500fd Review
(also called the Fujifilm Finepix S6000fd)
Review Date: January 6th 2007
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 6M Fine mode, which gives an average image size of around 3Mb.
Noise
There are 6 ISO settings available on the Fujifilm Finepix S6500fd which you can select at any time if the camera is in the normal shooting mode. There is virtually no discernible noise at the slowest settings of ISO 100 and 200, and ISO 400 also looks very clean. Noise is starting to appear at ISO 800, bit it is still well controlled at ISO 1600. As you might expect, quite a lot of detail is lost at the fastest speed of ISO 3200, with the images having a "painted" feel, but they are still perfectly useable for small print sizes. A truly amazing performance by the Fujifilm Finepix S6500fd. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting.
ISO 100 (100% Crop) |
ISO 200 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 400 (100% Crop) |
ISO 800 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 1600 (100% Crop) |
ISO 3200 (100% Crop) |
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Sharpening
Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images at the Standard setting are just a little soft and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. Alternatively you can change the in-camera sharpening levels to Hard or Soft if you don't like the default results.
Original
(100% Crop) |
Sharpened (100% Crop) |
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File Quality
The Fujifilm Finepix S6500fd has 2 different file quality settings available, with Fine being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.
| 6M
Fine (3.02Mb) (100% Crop) |
6M
Normal (1.44Mb) (100% Crop) |
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Chromatic Aberrations
The Fujifilm Finepix S6500fd handled chromatic aberrations quite well, with some limited purple fringing evident in areas of high contrast, as shown in the examples below.
| Chromatic
Aberrations (100% Crop) |
Chromatic
Aberrations (100% Crop) |
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Macro
The Fujifilm Finepix S6500fd offers a Super Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is 1cm away from the camera when the lens is set to 28mm wide-angle. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject in Macro mode (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.
| Macro Shot |
Macro Shot (100% Crop) |
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Flash
The flash settings on the Fujifilm Finepix S6500fd are Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Slow Synchro. and Red-eye Reduction + Slow Synchro. These shots of a magnolia coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.
| Flash Off - Wide Angle (28mm) |
Auto Flash - Wide Angle (28mm) |
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| Flash Off - Telephoto (300mm) |
Auto Flash - Telephoto (300mm) |
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And here are some self-portraits. As you can see, neither the Flash On setting and the Red-Eye Reduction option caused any red-eye.
| Flash On |
Flash On (100% Crop) |
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| Flash - Red-Eye Reduction |
Flash - Red-Eye Reduction (100% Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Fujifilm Finepix S6500fd maximum shutter speed is 30 seconds, which is great news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 4 seconds, aperture of f/8 at ISO 100. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
| Night Shot |
Night Shot (100% Crop) |
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Overall Image Quality
The Fujifilm Finepix S6500fd produced images of excellent quality during the review period. The 6 megapixel images are a little soft straight out of the camera and ideally require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop. You can also change the in-camera sharpening to one of three different levels. The Fujifilm Finepix S6500fd handled chromatic aberrations quite well, with limited purple fringing effects appearing in very high contrast situations. Macro performance is fantastic, with the Super Macro setting allowing you to focus as close as 1cm away from the subject. The built-in flash worked well indoors with no red-eye and good overall exposure. The night photograph was very good too, with the maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds offering lots of scope for creative night photography. The Fujifilm Finepix S6500fd's most impressive feature in terms of image quality is the extensive and very usable ISO range of 100-3200. I have never reviewed a compact digital camera before that has been able to match the S6500fd's ISO performance (exlcuding two other Fujifilm cameras, the F30 and F31fd, which use the same sensor). ISO 100-800 is virtually noise-free, whilst ISO 1600 and even 3200 produce acceptable results. This makes the S6500fd a great camera for low-light photography without having to resort to using the flash, which in turn can produce more natural results.
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have been submitted to DIWA
for comparison with test results for different samples of
the same camera model supplied by other DIWA
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