I am photographer with more than 40 years of experience in the field and a proud owner of Fuji FinePix S9000 from 2005 (4 years).

Never had any problem with it until recently (manual exposure adjustment stopped working). However, given the price I paid and number of excellent shots this camera gave it to me, I don't complain at all.

Moreover, I doubt that any more expensive semi-pro camera would do similar job for so long time and so perfectly as it did my "Fuji FinePix 9000" (not to mention that I have made a lot of videos in the meantime, as well!).

When first time introduced in 2005, I couldn't believe my eyes how much features "Fuji FinePix 9000-9500" has had. And for what afordable price!

Image quality was very, very good, photos had a natural, smooth color, 9.24 Megapixels was at this time reserved only for pro-level cameras, there were astonishing zoom 28-300 mm, Live View with vari-angle display and even good quality video...Unbelievable!

I had enjoyed "Live View" with multi-angle perspective, HQ photos and video in one package long, long time before gentlemens from Canon and Nikon introduced similar features, recently.

The fact that both leading camera-factories are now offering the same features is telling enough in favor of Fuji, who was obviously way ahead in so-called "consumer grade" cameras.

I see now hard market battle between Canon an Nikon for more megapixels and it goes to absurd (unless you want a print big as a soccer field!). For good quality photo it is not most important since it's been said that 11 Megapixels is top which is more than enough for good quality photography. Other things are also important for consumers , however both Canon and Nikon understood that just lately. Sorry guys...

Having little improved features, new "Fuji FinePix S 100FS" with 11.1 Megapixels is the only camera that I would like to have now and I hope I will soon exchange it for my good, old F9000... I don't need or want any better camera than is Fuji FinePix!

Thank you FUJI for all those great shots in past 4 years and I wish you guys all the best in the future!

Happy customer.

I'm a semi retired professional photographer and I've been shooting digital since 2000. The Fugi s9000 is simply the best camera I've ever owned. In my opinion, it'll stand up to any digital SLR in the same MP class. It's 28-300mm lens combined with manual zoom and focus make taking great photos so easy.
However, this is not a camera for beginners. It's design is for those with years of experience. If you are a serious hobbyist or perhaps semi-pro like me, this could be a wonderful addition to your equipment bag.

This takes wonderful pics, Someone said in a review "Where are the Pixels" All professionals know that the Pixel importance is way overblown. If you have from 7 to 10 Megapixels you you will never know trhe difference. I many cases a camera with lower megapixels will out perform one with higher MP. Great camera for the money. Perhaps the best value on the market.

Where are the pixels? This camera obviously has plenty of great functions and features as mentioned above but I cannot understand how it is that the resolution is so terrible?

I have read dozens of posts and reviews stating similar problems however i refuse to believe that this is all that this $900NZ is going to deliver.

I've just done a fashion photoshoot for my final year visual communication degree and at all the high resolution settings. I.e. 9MP, 9MP Finepix, and RAW(RAF) (converted to TIFF and JPEG using photoshop plugin) the quality does not even match my old sony cybershot 3MP.

Help. Can anybody point me in the right direction?

Mine broke a total of three times... It spent half of its warranty life in repair, and I just got it back today... My warranty is up in less than a month, and I KNOW that its going to flop again... I just wish It happens before the warranty expires.

Note, fujifilm did not opt to replace the camera, and all the parts that broke were seperate from each other.

easy to use/best and most easy zoom .most fineadjustment on any setting.

I upgraded to this after owning a Fuji 3800 (which still works and I still use). Wanted something with more zoom because I was taking pics for our local Fire Department and wanted to get good shots without getting very close! Great camera, no problems with it at all. Still finding new things I can do with this camera :~) I would never buy a camera from any company other than Fuji.

I have used this camera for over 6 months now, everything from the Vegas Strip, family reunions, stunning sunsets and portraits. It does take some learning, you do have to read the manual, but once you do, you will be hooked by the great quality images you can take. I thought my HP Photo printer was horrible, until I fed it pics from the S9000, now I see just how good it really is.

We like this camera very much, it takes grate photos
My wife and I decided to get another one just as the S9100 came out, we now have the S9000 and the S9100 and are very pleased with both

ok, lets start of by saying i love this camera, I'm a photo student, so im constantly comparing my camera to the cameras the other kids in the class have nikon D50s and canon rebel xts. Seriously, i dont give up much to those entry level SLRs, and usually i find i have the better camera, or atleast the camera i most want to have. picture quality is good if you keep the ISO low, otherwise you get alot of noise at 800 and above. Lens for a 400 dollar camera is fantastic, amazing range and decent optics, slight purple fringing, but nothing drastic: and it's fast too even all the way zoomed. plus the macro mode is fantastic, lets see a slr kit lens do that. sure, the RAW speeds are just awful (but picture quality improves immesurably if can wait it out: the files are like 20megs too (why? no idea), and the auto focus isnt the quickest, but you can shoot through the screen, which in my opinion allows for way more options if you want that shot thats not from your eye. (me, i like to shoot candid street shots from my hip with the screen 90 degrees up at me). ::::BUT::: my camera broke. and not from neglect, dropping, etc. it was in my camera bag, i took it out, was carrying it around and, CLINK, the control wheel falls off. yes, it FELL OFF. not good. so now i have a camera that only shoots in Auto mode. LAME.
So, if you get this camera, please be careful, its a great camera for the price if you cant afford a SLR, but its build quality aint up to snuff. next camera, Sony a100, or the new samsung thats supposed to come out that has the image stabilisation also. IS would sure be nice.

Great top level point and shoot. Very comparable to an entry level DSLR without the hassles of having to change lenses and dealing with dust getting into the barrel.

I love the functions it provides.

The only drawbacks I have found with this camera are:
1. The picture gets a little grainy at ISO 1600.

2. The anti-blur does little at low light area such as night indoor shots.

3. Shutter lag for shutter is still quite large compared with a DSLR. I don't know how many "spur-of-the-moment" shots I have already missed due to the shutter lag.

4. The lens does not have a good bokeh property. If you love doing narrow DOF / bokeh kind of shot, you will need to invest in a DSLR and good lenses.

5. Small LCD screen.

6. As in most if not all Fuji cameras, the image is a touch too soft. This is probably related to the image processing algorithm used by Fuji.

7. Flimsy command dial. Too many S9000/S9500 users found out that the command dial break too easily. See the discussion forum here:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/s9000/discuss/72057594083256772/

The features that I love most in this camera are:
1. Great ISO range - ISO 80 to 1600
2. Tilt LCD screen. Great for street photography especially when one wants to take photo from the waist or hip area.
3. Great zoom lens. This Fujinon lens is actually half decent. It produces quite sharp image.
4. DSLR like body with solid grip.

Finally, here is a testimony of the great pictures this camera will give you:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/s9000/pool/

It has a great telephoto, two macro modes, it looks like a real camera (important to casual observers)I get lots of action on a set of batteries. (I know of a defect present in a few S 7000 models where the batteries would wear down overnite without usage, but not my baby)I'd almost like to stockpile a few of them just in case something happens to this one ( like me leaving my s7000 in a crumby restaurant in San Francisco two months ago.

At first, my Fuji S9000 photos were poor, and I was thinking that I made the wrong camera choice. But then, I stumbled upon changing the ISO setting to 80 (using F button), and bang, the photos in AUTO mode came out fantastic. I now just adjust the ISO from 80 - 400 depending on the light and shoot in AUTO mode, and I am now very happy with the photos. Do not use this camera in ISO mode over 400, the pictures will not be any good.

It is the best because has:
1-9.2 MP
2- Movie mode with great sound and resoulosion
3-fast start-up
4- great and beatiful dising
5-supported external flashes
6-have multi-exposure to take more than 30 sec shutter speed pictures
7-high lcd and evf resoulosin
8-low price

I bought myself the S9500 series. I was so disappointed in the quality of the photo, and exchanged it for the S5500. Maybe the camera are too sensitive. First it gave an error on the 512Mb card and then the quality was just not good enough.

I first owned the Fuji S 7000 Loved it !! It was replaced by the Fuji Pro S20, loved it but left it in a restaurant in Oakland,Ca. after too many martinis. Just got the S 9000. WOW I love everything about this baby. I considered going Nikon, but to achieve what this thing does, I'd have to purchase an array of telephoto and macro lenses.The controls are far more intuitive than the preceeding cameras (I'm even learning how to do more than point and shoot with this great instument. If I had some extra bucks lying around, I'd buy another one just to keep in case I break or lose this one.Fujifilm Inc. has spoiled me so much with this product that I can't imagine having to use any other camera. And I hope I never have to.

I have used my S9000 every weekend for the last 2 1/2 months. I personally feel that it is very easy to use and give very good results....assuming you know what you are doing. I have taken numerous photos that just were not up to snuff. While it is easy to blame the camera, after looking back at my notes and looking at my photos, I realized what I did wrong. When the same scenario presented itself a week or so later, I made the appropriate adjustments to the camera and the photos came out absolutely perfect. The only true weakness that I see in the camera, that I have not been able to overcome is the built-in flash. It just does not have the range that I would like but adding an external flash has solved that problem. My recommendation is that it is well worth the money. Just remember, practice, practice, practice....they are digital photos, it is easy to delete the bad ones.

I have to admit that I was almost ready to choose another brand due to some negative reviews. Most of the theme on the negative reviews was that is a good camera as long as you "know what you are doing". This means for an amateur like me without a lot of experience on manual controls, I will have hard time to get nice pictures. I was pleasantly surprised when I took several hundreds of pictures my first two weeks like point and shoot and results were excellent. Pictures were very good and clean on my 21 inches monitor display. I will not claim that I know a lot about cameras but here is what I realized as "beginner" amateur photographer.
1. Some external controls are very smart located and easy accessible. You do not have to go always scrolling the menu. Particularly I like a) The button that allows you to take picture right away from a distance of 60 cm or 1 cm. b) The mode button that has (N) for natural light mode. c) The button that allows you to take 4 pictures with one click. Another setting allows you to take same picture "normal" , "overexposed" and "underexposed" .
Of course there are several other setting thorugh the menu. I just try ot make a point that some popular features like a, b, c are in reach of click. I start to experiment now with manual controls but I will update my review next time. As a final note , I can say that last week there was a price drop on this camera in Toronto. So I consider that an excellent value for this price.

Seeing is believing. This camera is heavenly. I have been using it for a wedding photography camera. Try it..you wont be disappointed!

I guess all the bad comments are made by people, who own canon or nikon, and are a little upset that fuji is simply better in many ways. The only thing that I think is a problem is lack of automatic sync for external flash :( <— disappointing
Other than that - GREAT CAMERA FOR GREAT PRICE!

Sorry for my english mistake but my fuji S9000
don`t make mistake when in use as some people say. Fuji compani s very serious company to make bad roduct. Great thanks Fuji enginer for so good camera.

I've owned this camera for 6 months after upgrading from the Fumi S602Z. Its a great camera. It has all the manual options with a terrific 28-300 manual zoom,zero shutter delay, tlting screen, and 9MP images. I use this camera mostly for family photos and for high speed droplet photo-art ( www.doctormelgar.com/gallery ) which is my specialty. There's a bit of a learnign curve, but no more than there would be if you upgrade to a DSLR.

This camera won't replace a DSLR in the most demanding situations like low light and indoor sports photography, But for most shots its a very capapble stand in without the added baggage and cost of multiple lenses.

I recently purchased the s9000 for a back-up camera. I am an advanced amature portrait and wedding photographer. Instead of using my minolta dimage..(which is an excellent portrait camera)..I decided to break in my new Fuji at a very large and elaborate wedding last week. I slapped a vivitar flash right on the hot shoe and started shooting. I used every mode, with and without flash...this camera did an excellent job. My pictures are clear, noise free, colorful, and the flash shots are perfect. The size of this camera is awsome...easy to hold and the buttons are perfectly placed. The white balance is good but not perfect, use the custom settings if possible. I had no trouble with the auto focus in the church...but with the reception I had to use the manual settings...with great results! My customer is very happy with her wedding pictures and I will be using this camera for a very long time.

After months of comparing Digital SLR cameras it
came down to the Minolta and the Fuji. I bought
the Fuji S9000 for it's advanced night shot feature along with still being able to line up a shot using the LCD. In fact the LCD screen articulates so you can shoot holding the camera over your head and still able to frame up the shot. Great for news hounds. The dual memory card feature keeps you shooting. I added a 4 GB CF Microdrive and a 1 GB XD card. Shoot in RAW format eats memory. I added two sets of rechargeable batteries and that gives me 600 shots with no problems. Able to charge on the fly keeps me shooting all day, while eveyone else is downloading and looking for batteries.
I find the zoom is smooth but the Auto Focus is sometimes slugish. Using the one focus option and focusing off axis takes care of the problem. Once you get used to point on near feild for focus and then realigning the shot it comes second nature. The flash is weak for long distance over 10 meters. I added a remote bounce flash for nice flash fill.
Overall I am totally in love with this camera. I never touch my 35mm SLR cameras anymore.

Does a great job right out of the box with default settings. So easy my wife can use it. As with all digitals there is a learning curve to understanding the icons and pop-up menus for all the extras, but that is expected. Can't believe some of the negative reviews!

I've been using the packaged xD card for familiarization, so I've been sticking with 5MP. I'll probably use that for 95% of my shots anyway. I'm not a pro, but I love photography having learned 50 years ago with an old Kodak box and progressing to an Agfa Sillette, Minolta SR1, a Rolleiflex and Nikons F & FM.

I borrowed a Canon Digital Rebel 6 months ago and I like the Fuji better.

So far, the biggest negative I can come up with is the difficulty of manual focusing. But it's only been one day. I'm sure that after 6 months or so I'll be able to find some other negatives...

I am a professional photographer of more than 27 years, and this camera is one of the best point-and-shoots I have ever seen or owned. It does not rate an excellent, as I do have some issues I will discuss later.

This camera is loaded with professional features not found on point-and-shoots. For example, I have used my White Lightning studio lights with this camera. It plugs directly into the PC socket.

Custom white balance setting is not found in most point-and-shoot cameras.

And I can go completely manual with all the settings.

Since I have extensive experience shooting in all manual mode, I did not find the following problems for me, but I can see where it may be an issue for newer photographers:

1) External flash must be worked manually. I still have my light meter and since I spent many years shooting manual, I can get my exposures close the first time.

2) Not good at high ISO ratings. This has always been an issue, even with film. I am checking products like Noise Ninja to see if it helps.

3) Limited aperture setting. It only goes to f/8. One day someone will catch on and we'll get a camera that goes to f22 or f32.

4) Slow auto-focus/shutter lag. You need to anticipate your shots better. When working in manual focus, shutter lag is almost eliminated.

What I like about the camera.
1) 24-300mm zoom. Great range for a small camera.

2) Nine megapixels with RAW files.

3) Takes Compact cards and xD cards. I do not have to buy new card types to use camera.

4) Custom white balance. Allows the use of filters without the camera trying to compensate for it.

5) Operates studio lights. Must use spot meter, but you need to do that anyway.

6) Can fire with standard cable release.

All photos I have taken which my paper publishes all look great. Color is better than I get on my Canon 1D, but if I need to shoot at an aperture of f/11 or more, I get color problems.

Once you learn what the limitations of the camera are, you can produce great images with it.

i found this camera a good thing once you read the manual and play around with it abit ihad a s5000 i thouth that was good but ifind the 9000 much better why would you go to an slr to change lenses when the fixed lens on this camera is so good itll do me its a ripper with out the big price tag

This Fuji 9000 Blows away any NIKON for half the Price.Excellent access to all features,Video is excellent,It has a Holder for the lense Cap,Has taken over 6500 SHots without a Flaw,Bought a D70 been back in the Shop for a month Paid double compared to the Fuji,I ll take Fuji anyday over a NIKON JUNK.........HAPPY SNAPSHOTS

This camera was purchased as a replacement for an Olympus C4000. It's a bigger camera and easier for me to hold. I love the buttons which let me access features without having to go through a menu. Often-accessed features are easy to get to; macro, exposure, flash, etc. So far I've tested the Super-macro mode which produces a sharp photo with details I didn't notice with the naked eye. Easy to use and rich in features, much easier to use than the Olympus.

If you are going to take RAW photos, this is not the camera to use. However, if you want to capture your kids playing on video and high resolution digital pictures, I haven't found anything that compares. This is the best tweener camera out there- between a still camera and a video camera- and if you are going on vacation and just want to lug one camera around, get a 4 - megapixel card and download the video and stills every night on to your laptop.

I shoot photos as a hobby...I'm FAR from an expert...After owning an Olympus C-5050 for just over 3 years...My wife wanted a new camera for graduation...She decided on the S9000 based on a great review of the S5200 from our friend who is a professional photographer...After we ordered it, I found a few bad reviews for the S9000 that had me nervous that we made the wrong choice...However, after receiving it and shooting for the past week, I can honestly say that I firmly believe that the ppl who are bashing this camera simply didn't take the time to learn the functions...The one bad thing I'll say is that the ISO 800 and 1600 settings have a lot of noise...but I've managed to adjust my settings and avoid those high film speeds...and take great photos in a wide range of conditions...The S9000 is certainly not perfect, but I don't think anyone is trying to claim it is...I think that anyone who sat down for 5 minutes and skimmed the book to learn who whole range of tools this camera has would be able to shoot high quality images in virtually any conditions...My wife was nervous that maybe we bought a camera that was over her head, but she sat down with the camera and book and in just a short time she felt comfortable and was taking stunning photos...She went from using our Olympus in full auto mode only to using the S9000 in all different shooting modes in like 20 minutes using the book as a guide...I'm far happier with this camera then I thought I'd be...The control are intuitive and logically placed on the body...and it's a really easy camera to use, so long as you TAKE THE TIME TO LEARN THE CONTROLS!!!...I love the mechanical zoom, rather then the electronic, slow zoom of other digital cameras...I used to get so frustrated when I'd miss a shot with my old camera due to the slow zoom...but with this, that is not ever a problem...

There are certainly low-end dSLRs that perform better then the S9000 for roughly $100-150 more, but when you add a 300mm lens to those, you're far over the price of the S9000...I think it's a good camera for anyone willing to take the time to learn to use it (which doesn't take long)...

I've owned this camera for 2 months now... I am a professional photographer with a canon 5d (2)system a couple flashes, 24-70 f2.8, 70-200 f2.8 and a fisheye....

Listen, this is the best starter (digital entry level) camera you can buy... the best features are this... its 9mp sensor (great 8x10's are made from the 4mp nikon d2h!), its Manual Exposure control (necessary for everything if in a studio or just outside in bright contrasty light!), and the PC Sync terminal that lets you use this camera with studio lighting or even with the old non ttl flashes that are dirt cheap (sunpak 383 only $79 from www.bhphotovideo.com)!!

There are only 4 weak points with this camera... only four!!!!

1.) Auto focusing system is just not serious for anything indoors (wedding are mostly indoors) or fast! It cant keep up. Thats funny, only the Minolta A200 can kinda keep up with fast moving objects in this category of camera!

2.) The Camera doesnt support TTL AutoFlash! This means you have to know a tiny bit about flash to create proper lighting with its manual flash only hot shoe.

3.) The lens is F2.8 at 28mm (which is good) but it drops all the way down to F4.9 at its 300mm setting (which is bad since the Sony F828 is F2.8 all the way through!). This results in some photographs being a tad too dark (when your indoors for example in the afternoon).

4.)The speed of the camera at saving images! Its horrible. This renders any photographer to have to take his/her time and get each shot right. JPG takes 1.5 seconds but RAW takes 11 seconds at worst!!

For all its short commings though this camera is still the top of the pack even trumping the Sony RD1. I only say this because of the ease of getting rechargeable NIMH batteries-that last 300 shots by the way, and the PC sync terminal that makes this camera out of the box able to take into a studio environmen.

P.S. If you take this into a studio environmen... I highly suggest that you only shoot RAW because the JPG format just plain doesnt keep enough information to make it suitable unless you are a lighting master that keeps all the lights no more than 1 f-stop apart from each other!

I have always wanted what I would categorize as a "good point & shoot " camera. I am not a professional photographer but am an avid amateur, so I took my sweet time with 2 stipulations (1) Affordable (2)Great pics......that's it!
To be honest I was leaning towards the Canon EOS Digital Rebel as I have always loved my old Canon A20 & a friend of mine had the Rebel, but my friend was always having to tote a huge camera bag with accessories ; lenses etc were just so pricey ( some of them more expensive than you could imagine ) Well,I decided to look at the FujiS9000.....9MP / looks of a SLR / Feel of an SLR /awesome 28-300mm lens & takes VIDEO too? ( and really good video at that!). and - AFFORDABLE!
OK, so I bought the S9000 and I will agree it took some getting used to as it is NOT just a point & shoot, it needs some time experimentation & TLC to get confident enough to turn out those "great" photographs that we all want, hey as I said I am no pro'but this camera takes pics like a pro.......I am totally awesome with it! Yes there will be some not so good pics out of a bunch but like I said - get down & experiment with it & you will find it totally worth it!
Oh yes I agree get yourself a 1GB card especially if you intend to take video.....I have taken some great video with this camera during photoshoots but didn't purchase it for the video, even so 1GB is a must as 9MP will suck the life out of your card.

I have NEVER owned a camera until I purchased the s9000. I have never taken a photography class, and I do not have photographer friends that told me how to shoot great shots. Even with all this against me, I have taken shots with this camera in three different outings that belong in magazines.
I did my homework before buying this camera (I spent three months learning about features and digital quality before choosing). As a matter of fact, I almost did not purchase the S9000 due to a good number of reviews stating that the camera took awful pictures.
Then I saw a trend. Some of those leaving bad reviews came back a few weeks later and recanted the review stating they simply were not use to the settings of the camera.
It took me two times to use the camera before I got an awesome picture, but now the excellent pictures are more common than average pictures after taking out those shots that simply did not work due to user error.
My question is if I, a complete amateur can figure this camera out and come up with spectacular pictures nearly right out of the box, then what is wrong with these so-called "professionals" that bash this camera?
Seriously, this camera does it all. I have not found photo editor software package (even the Fujifilm software package that comes with the camera, Adobe, or Microsoft Photoshop)that can make the picture look any better than the actual quality taken from the camera (with very few exceptions).
I have done very little playing with the settings on this camera. As a matter of fact, the only changes I have done are with the main dial. I have switched between Auto, landscape, portrait, Natural light, and anti-blur settings and that is about it. I have not even gotten into shutter speeds or different ISO settings yet, much less bought any image-helping filters the "professionals" use. And, for the record, I am not just taking "point and shoot" pictures. I go camping all over the US, and since I have purchased this camera I have a multitude of wildlife and scenic landscape shots.
I will put my photos using the s9000 up against any proffesional's pictures with a professional digital camera, and as I stated before, the quality of my pictures certainly is not because I am a genius with a camera. It's because this camera is an excellent camera that, if you simply read the directions and utilize their contents while taking pictures, it will allow you to take some of the most awesome pictures you have ever seen much less taken yourself.

I am a writer/photographer for a local newspaper and use the s9000 in almost every condition imagineable. Dark, light, rain, shine, still subject, or fast moving subject - the s9000 performs very well.

I did research for months before buying this camera. I shoot at a lot of parties and events where I have the challenge of low-light and movement. Though I am now positive that I simply got a bad model, I was amazed at the amount of problems I have had and the lack of options that I would expect a camera this level to have. The camera didn't focus very well, and never had a large depth of field no matter what my aperature was set to, the options were frequently buried in the menus, the white balance didn't work at all, and isn't an option if flash is used, and the auto focus and grain are lousy. I specifically bought it for the claims they make on how crisp and non-grainy the photos are! When I called Fuji I was given poor customer service, and since I have sent my camera in to be repaired, they never contacted me. I had to contact them to make sure I got it, and know when I might recieve it!

I am very dissapointed not only by the high hopes I had for what this camera could do, and by the way I have been treated as a customer.

I only hope no one who has a good model never has a problem.

This camera has terible resolution as compared to my Fuji 2800. Do not waste your mone on thid dog. Find a Fuji 2800 fine pix and you will get perfect high end resolution with the same 35mm to 30mm zoom. My new S9000 is on Ebay if you want it.

I like its ease of use, its natural light setting and its ability to let me see and adjust the image before I press the shutter. Its a brush in a painters hands

After being hired by a couple people to photograph their weddings, I was faced with having to purchase a better camera that I had previously owned. I have worked for a professional photography studio for the past 5 years as a film printer/digital photo editor, and have been a photography nut for 10 years. After doing some extensive research for weeks, I made the decision to purchase this camera, and put an order in a week ago. I chose the Fuji S9000 because it seemed to give the most bang for the buck, and Fuji seems to have a good reputation with the professional photographers I have worked with. While I was waiting for it to be shipped, I started looking online at other reviews for this camera on other sites. I came to this site to check some reviews, and to my disappointment this camera has not fared too well with some people. Well, I received my camera two days ago and on the first night, I took it out of the box, and without reading the instructions, managed to take some beautiful pictures of things around my house. My only gripe was that the flash was not very powerful....however this can be easily fixed. You can either get a digital flash that plugs into the sync port on the front of the camera, or get a plain old flash that fits on the hotshoe. I just so happened to have had one around the house, an old sunpack brand, and put it on. I had to go through the correct menus to get the camera to recognize it, but WOW!!!! was i suprised at the difference. The camera went from good to excellent. I experimented and took a portrait shot of my husband, and when I viewed that shot on the computer, I could zoom in on his face so far, that I could clearly see each individual pore on his skin. This snapshot had better image resolution and quality than images of professional grade cameras that i have worked with. Every picture I took was as sharp and crisp as I could have hoped for.

I still have yet to see how the camera does outdoors on some landscape shots, but it should do even better...as I seem to think that indoor lighting is trickier.

I highly reccommend this camera for people who want to do more than just take snapshots of their babies. I do not agree at all with some of the user reviews, that they being true "professionals" would have this much difficulty getting a good, crisp shot. For one thing, professionals would know more about lighting, and how to remedy a weak flash, just get a supplemental one, which in turn will remedy blurryness and camera shake.

I found the image quality of this camera to rival that of the Fuji S3 pro that my studio's photographer uses. The S9000 would not be a good choice for professional use, as a true "professional" would know that it has a fixed lens, and is not as interchangeable with professional equipment that a pro camera such as the S3pro would be. Hence the difference in price of $500 for the S9000 and $2500 for the S3pro.

I wouldnt suggest buying this camera only and then opening up a pro photography studio. However if your an experienced amateur who enjoys the art of taking photographs, and is hired occasionally by friends and family to photograph special occasions, this is the camera for the job.

The image quality exceeded my expectations, and although the flash is a little big of a problem, it can easily and affordably be remedied. Also on the photo-editing side, the images came out needing little or no work. Brightness and contrast was right on, and colors were extremely close to natural.

Good job with this one Fuji!!

Very dispointed in the quality of pictures. My 3mp point and shoot takes better photos. Very sensitive to movement and lower light. The camera looks good, but that's about it.

I had to laugh. I just bought mine the other day and the salesperson gave me a 100$ discount because someone had returned it because they didn't like it. I had it running without manual right away but there is still lots to learn. When I put card into my computer to check out what I had taken the previous owner had left two pictures on it. Both blurry and if the taker looks anything like the subject I get why they brought it back. They are definite point and shoot people. I love it and especially the video quality! It is essential to have a 1G card and spare rechargeable batteries to make sure you don't lose any of the great shots you will take!!

after owning the olympus c8080 (8 megapixels) I couldn't believe the low image quality of the fuji 9000,looks like 4 megapixels compared to the c8080,but I kept it anyway because everything else in the camera is very good,I will just not use it in applications that needs high image quality,for that I will use my olympus evolt 300 and the c8080
the fuji s9000 will be my parties camera ,snapshots ,traveling ,videos or unimportant photos
I read the manual a lot and I hope I'm missing something about how to get high quality
I'm a professional ,work almost exclusively in manual settings and I wouldn't understand why a camera should be difficult to achieve high quality from the start,
what I liked about it is that I can shoot a full 4 gigabytes of video at once that I couldn't with the c8080...(new generation of digitals)
a pleasant surprise I found on the s9000 is the autofocus on request button when is set on manual focus,so useful !!!!! because I shoot many events and parties indoor,autofocus is out of the question,I need immediate pictures,,I set it on manual around 2 1/2 meters all evening and I occasionally reset it with that button.99 % of the pics are in focus and never had to think about focusing,and nobody had to wait,
as soon as I installed the fuji software I uninstalled it because it completely takes over any and all photo downloadind duties of the computer,it shuts off all windows downloading features,the fuji software is more complicated (rubbery somebody says)difficult to use and understand,and also limited compared to windows
the fuji photos cannot be rotated in the downloading process,,that's terrible and time consuming later on,,and when you rotate them later they have a small reduction in quality,that's like third world digital..
when I'm downloading my olympus photos I can rotate them all at once with one button,and if I rotate them later they stay full quality
it was a smart marketing gimmick for them to make it 9 megapixels,they knew that a lot people were going to buy it for the high megs,too bad they couldn't create the corresponding image quality for 9 megs. theirs is fuzzy details,rough grains,low sharpness etc...
I would not raccomend it to anybody regarding image quality,,any olympus 5 megapixels and up ,even the cheap point and shoot ,is better image quality than the fuji s9000
Lucio from new york

I do not understand the number of very negative reviews. Someone even said that it felt like a toy!!! I have been a keen amateur for over 40 years having had my own dark room and doing all my own developing and printing. I have upgraded to the S9500 from the 602z (having had two Olympus digicams previously) being attracted by the manual zoom and increased focal length. All my dark room equipment was sold once I got hooked on digital, so was my Mamiya 2 1/4 square twin lens reflex. My Nikon was given to a friend, but an old Pentax lurks somewhere in a cupboard.

I find the new s9500 well made and perfect for my needs and do not understand the photographic issues raised by some. Yes, the images do appear on the soft side in standard mode but this is preferable to the overprocessed look. You can get the results you want in photoshop as long as the information has been captured, which it has. If you want ready made sharp photos for viewing on the screen the controls are there in the camera to produce them.

I think the issue for some must be that they are expecting DSLR performance when it isn't a DSLR (but in some conditions the results are pretty well as good)

My main interest is architecture so I cannot comment on its ability as a sports camera. My subjects always stay still. Speed isn't an issue for me but getting a beautiful shot of inside a church or cathedral is. Being able to use a cable release is a bonus.

31 January 2006: - An update.

I have been using this camera intensively over the past 10 days. I am even happier with the results. A lot of interiors of churches and exterior shots too. There have been a few bright days when the low winter sun has brought out the detail beautifully. I use a tripod for inside shots and stick to ISO 80 as far as possible. I find the quality of the results perfect for my requirements and am happy not to have to change lenses and get dust on the sensor. I have generally kept to JPEG 9M Fine and kept the aperture between about 4.5 and 6.4. On a tripod I can use as long an exposure as is necessary. Hand held I have sometimes had to boost ISO to 200 with perfectly acceptable results. I have used 5M Normal and the results were perfectly adequate for screen viewing. The slight barrel distortion at wide angle can be disguised by carefully selecting viewpoints but if it becomes obtrusive a slight tweek with the spherize filter in Photoshop will correct this. (A tip is to increase the canvas size so that the image has a blank surround before using the spherize filter, correct the image then crop.) I suggest that anyone wavering about buying this camera having read some of the negative reviews should try it out. Be prepared to really study the manual and think about how to achieve the results you want and the effort is rewarded. I do agree however with other reviewers, this is not a point and shoot camera.

Very good value - under �400 with a 2 year warranty from Digital First

PS A friend, who agrees that it is a good camera, has (jokingly?) suggested that the negative reviews are posted by employees of Nikon and Canon!!! Or perhaps there really are one or two faulty ones around - mine is certainly not one of them.

Problems
No problems as yet. I did not give construction 5 points because I do not greatly like the rubber cover to the usb port. It feels as though it might break off.

This is the worst camera on the market. I purchased this camera with very high expectations. If you read the discussion boards regarding this camera you will see several complaints regarding the quality of pictures. Very "soft" and grainy photo's. Slow auto focus and the worst camera I have ever owned. Go with a entry level SLR like Pentax ist dl for the price of this piece of junk. If you do get this camera good luck, hope your experience is better.

Maybe I received a lemon but this is the worst digital camera I�ve even owned. I�ve owned 4 Fuji Digital Cameras to date and this WAS the 5th. From the moment I took the first picture I noticed the image quality was way off.

I have a Fuji E550 and it took better picture that the S9000. I called Fuji Support line thinking I was doing something wrong and they could not figure it out. I had to return the camera. All this after selling my Fuji S7000. What a stupid move that was. I thought I was upgrading but in fact I did a super down grade.

Like I said maybe I received a lemon. The image quality was not sharp at all. The edges were dull, the color was not vivid like the S7000. Focusing indoors was extremely slow. I love taking picture of my 21month old son and I couldn�t enjoy the grainy images. The flash was useless. I tried everything. I read the manual cover to cover trying to figure it out, but I couldn�t. I did love the way the camera was setup but that�s it. Fuji�s Support line asked me to do a number of things but none of them worked. Closeup / Long range / full Zoom nothing looked good.

Man what a disappointment, a $548.95 disappointment. Even my wife said the pictures were awful. She said �wasn�t this suppose to be an upgrade?� I told her �I thought the same thing�.

My camera history is:

Fuji 2800Zoom (2MP) very good camera great picture quality.
Fuji 3800Zoom (3MP) OK camera great picture quality.
Fuji A205 (2MP) not worth the time to rate it.
Fuji S5000 (3MP) very good camera wonderful picture quality.
Fuji S7000 (6 / 12MP) great camera, great picture quality.
Fuji S9000 (9MP) great camera setup, awful picture quality.

I�m going to but the Nikon CoolPix 8800, it cost a little more but I need quality images.

I tried to buy another Fuji S7000 but had no luck. I want a new one not used.

Tim x fujiman

I'm not a serious photographer, the pros and cons are discussed before. Just want to say that its worth to buy, and actually can take whatever shot I like in everday use, the quality is good, and almost perfect. Use 2A batteries is a bonus that is so convenience. Some draw back is that, if more wider like R1 24mm, continue to improve very high ISO noise and add anti-shake assistant, I'll absolutely go on to buy the next one "S10000".

Lot of comparision of S9000 with z30, R1 and most DSLR. I just want to say that if you were a professional photographer / worldclass team, the image quality of s9000 will not be qualified. To an amateur photographer, this S9000 should be so "sweet" that it can offer every functions you needed (wide shot, long range, 900M pixels, wide ISO ranges, improved ISO control, beautiful appearance, good movie, ultra macro... and many new modes offer, I love natural light mode). The most important is that its price is just below $600. If the price difference of S9000 and R1 is only $100, I'll consider R1. But in fact the price of R1 to S9000 is almost 2 to 1, I'd absolutely choose S9000, sure R1 can take a better image, but the difference to S9000 is not the expected high (or double up), don't forget that some functions S9000 can offer but not in R1. Back to the basic of image quality, S9000 can offer the best photo to me (comparied to my previous owned Nikon & Fuji DC), the greatest point of this camera is that I can take a very very good portrait photo, the color is very natural and similar to film's color, I can use this to take photo just shown in magazine, its excellent and enjoyable. After the good points, some weak points are (1)ISO after 400 have many and many hot pixels, (2)No optical stablizer. As a round-up, it should be the top of the rank in this price range.

Coming from a wedding photography background (now retired), I will not try to compare it in anyway to the film slr's or medium format cameras I was used to using. Comparing it to any DSLR's is also unfair. This camera fall just behind, in my opinion, to the entry level DSLR's. In fact, one great advantage over most all the DSLR's is the build-in long zoom lens; eliminating any and all dust-on-the-sensor problems that most interchangable lens DSLR's will have to contend with sooner or later, the only exception is the Olympus (with the vibrating sensor). So the only comparison I will make is to the Fuji S7000, which I just sold to a friend a few weeks after I bought the Fuji S9000.
I just came back from a cruse around the southern tip of South America and over Antarctica, and it performed very well, even after I accidently dropped it into running water as the strap slipped from my shoulder while washing my hands; I thought it was a gonner! It would not powerup after that. I had to remove the cards, open all the doors, use a hair dryer carefully and let it sit for a couple of days before I powered up and used it again. It performed like new after that. However, getting back to comparing the Fuji S9000 to the Fuji S7000:
The S7000 was an excellent camera, however, it had a few issues and lacked important features that the S9000 addressed.
Most important to me was shutter-lag time, power-up time, re-eye problem (from low angle flash), slow and low light autofocus. These and a few other issued have been addressed nicely in the S9000. Besides these improvements, the 28-300 zoom lens (35mm equivalent)is excellent, with very good saturation and excellent skin color. (Fuji lenses are also known for rendering vibrant colors). There is some pin-cushin and barrel distortion at the extreme ranges; this can be expected with most lenses of this focal range. For most pictures this may not be an issue or just zoom a little away from either the 28mm or the 300mm positions. I don't mind going back from power-zoom (S7000) to manual-zooom (S9000). For one thing it is faster and easier to quickly frame your subject and it uses less battery power. The one review (above) that experienced bad images from his S9000 should only conclude that he received a 'lemon';likely needing columnmating (alignment), or 'calibrating' as others called it. A couple of additional commendations for Fuji is that they continued with the four AA battery compartment (highly recommend using NiMH AA batteries in the camera) I hate proprietary batteries (like Canon or Nikon). AA batteries are found anywhere in the world and are much cheaper. The second good thing Fuji did is to add a focus assist light for better low light auto focus.
And now a few negative observation I found with the camera: First is the LCD monitor; it now tilts, which is great, but it could have been made a 2" or 2.5" display instead of the l.8" that it is. Another negative is the 'feel'; the material feels more 'plastic-ey', whereas the S7000, of somewhat similar material, felt more 'metallic'. A third issue is that the camera cannot download to the computer and their Fuji software using USB II, but instead to the earlier version of USB (slooow). It is best to get a good card reader to connect directly to computer, which I think most people do.
Overall, I would definately recommend the Fuji S9000 to most people with a budget that want something much better than a point-and-shoot camera but are not interested in a full DSLR.

Have taken great pictures so far.

My rating is based on what you get for the price. A DSLR may be a little better but equipped with a comparable lens even the cheapest would cost hundreds more. For all but the most demanding applications the S9000 will do just as well. I have 40+ years as a serious amateur photographer. I have owned 4 SLR Film cameras and an Olympus C4000 Digital. The C4000 takes fine photos but I became frustrated with it's limitations (shutter lag, difficult to get at manual settings, slow shot to shot times, limited Zoom) The s9000 solves all those problems.
I have to say this camera is not for everybody. Out of the box the pictures have little in-camera processing and may look a little flat if you're used to a point and shoot. That's because most serious photographers want to do their tweaking out of camera. There are in camera settings that allow you to liven up your pictures but if you are looking for that in your face high contrast saturated color look many point and shoot cameras give out of box you won't get it. If however your looking for natural accurate color rendition look no further. For a camera of this price I found noise levels almost non-existent at 80 and 100 iso, very low at iso 200, low at 400 useable at 800 and high at 1600. The controls were easy to use and most of the common settings could be accessed with one button push. There is some softness in the lens at the corners (typical of long zooms) but it was visible only when blown up to huge size on screen (about 2 feet by 3 feet) Do not judge this camera on initial reactions. At first I was disappointed but after learning the controls and tweaking the settings I can say I am very happy with my purchase and would recommend it highly to any serious photographer.

I'd like to recant what I said about the Fujifilm S9000 Digital Camera. I was wrong for blasting them like that. I had to get used to this camera. With the help of other S9000 users in the FujiTalk forum I over came the frustration I had for this camera. And now it's producing some awesome images. There are still a few issues but I can work around them. No camera is perfect, but fuji came close with this one.

I was disappointed that the quality of the pictures did not match the increase in price. I started the digital experience with the Fuji s5000 and was hooked. Our family took hundreds of pictures (of which most reside in the computer) and were really impressed with the quality and ease of use. Of course the biggest selling point for us was the 10x optical zoom.

We chose to sell the s5000 and upgrade to the s5100 to experience 4Meg pixels assuming the quality would increase, but it didn't. After 1/2 year, I decided to sell the s5100. Rather than slowly step up (to the s5200) I chose to leap to the s9000. I had to basically start over with the accessories which drove the price even higher, but if the quality was there I felt that it would be worth it.

I was immediately impressed with the brightness in the viewfinder when shooting in low light. There were times I was almost shooting blindly with the s5100. The pictures were great (compared to the s5100) but the indoor night shots still were not as good as I was hoping, especially for the extra money that was spent. The main reason for the upgrade was to improve on the low-lighting pictures and I did not feel I was getting my money's worth. I am sure there are many other features that are great on this camera, but I chose to return it intending to try the s5200.

I have had very good experiences with the Fuji as was going to stay with them, but when I was offered the Nikon D50 with the Tamarack 15 - 200 lens and accessories for the same price as the Fuji s9000 plus accessories I switched.

Maybe I received a lemon but this is the worst digital camera I’ve even owned. I’ve owned 4 Fuji Digital Cameras to date and this WAS the 5th. From the moment I took the first picture I noticed the image quality was way off.

I have a Fuji E550 and it took better picture that the S9000. I called Fuji Support line thinking I was doing something wrong and they could not figure it out. I had to return the camera. All this after selling my Fuji S7000. What a stupid move that was. I thought I was upgrading but in fact I did a super down grade.

Like I said maybe I received a lemon. The image quality was not sharp at all. The edges were dull, the color was not vivid like the S7000. Focusing indoors was extremely slow. I love taking picture of my 21month old son and I couldn’t enjoy the grainy images. The flash was useless. I tried everything. I read the manual cover to cover trying to figure it out, but I couldn’t. I did love the way the camera was setup but that’s it. Fuji’s Support line asked me to do a number of things but none of them worked. Closeup / Long range / full Zoom nothing looked good.

Man what a disappointment, a $548.95 disappointment. Even my wife said the pictures were awful. She said “wasn’t this suppose to be an upgrade?” I told her “I thought the same thing”.

My camera history is:

Fuji 2800Zoom (2MP) very good camera great picture quality.
Fuji 3800Zoom (3MP) OK camera great picture quality.
Fuji A205 (2MP) not worth the time to rate it.
Fuji S5000 (3MP) very good camera wonderful picture quality.
Fuji S7000 (6 / 12MP) great camera, great picture quality.
Fuji S9000 (9MP) great camera setup, awful picture quality.

I’m going to but the Nikon CoolPix 8800, it cost a little more but I need quality images.

I tried to buy another Fuji S7000 but had no luck. I want a new one not used.

Tim x fujiman

This camera takes fantastic pictures. It has every manual feature you could want yet works great in full auto mode. It's fast picture to picture. Starts up almost instantly. for less than $600 this has to be the best deal out there. I have 37 years experience using film SLR's. I will never go back.

The camera performs above expecation so far. It produces sharp photos with very good colours. During my first test during a trekking trip into the moutains, I found out that the build quality is excellent as well. Eventhough it's not advertised that the camera is water proof, I used it in the pouring rain, and it survived remarkably! Also, at one instance, the camera fell from about 1.5 meter+ on a rock as I slipped, but remakably no noticeable damages (in the image quality, lens and features) have been noted so far!

I've been at photography for 30 years. I own a considerable amount of MF equipment and 35mm stuff. This is my fifth digital camera. My current good one is an Olympus E1, but this produces better images. The resolution is excellent, as is colour and exposure. Being able to see the exposure and adjust it BEFORE you shoot is terrific. The lens is very good and EXTREMELY impressive for its range. It's light and easy to handle and comes on quickly. The zoom ring turns in the wrong direction in my opinion, but that's a small niggle.
I cannot comment on reliability as I've not had it long enough but it's of similar build to S602. It does not have that stupid motorised extension of lens on boot-up.

The 28-300mm range covers most of photographic needs—that comes with the expense of softer image (obvious when compared to my Olympus 8080). Powered by AA battery is another good thing because you don't have to worry about your dedicated battery running out of juice in the middle of the day. Buttons layout & features are OK. Mecanical zoom is great but psudo-manual zoom ring feels unnatual. Camera dilivers good photo up to A4 and decent print at A3 with some digital sharpening
in PC.

it's very fantastic and excellent

I have only had two days to get use to it, and the more I use it, the more I get impressed. I thought the flash wasn't strong enough until I now realize the pictures are some of the most true to life I've taken. Pictures aren't getting washed out with an overpowered flash. The natural light setting is very impressive. I could go on and on but I think you get the point.

2 only negative point: external flash without for TTL and LCD size only 1.8-inch (2.5" is the ideal). Excuse my poor English.

Either in UK or in USA, in Kazan or Moscow I took pictures, they were of the highest quality. Having this camera gives me such a pleasure. I'm just shocked by happiness!