Of course if you can’t remove the lens you’ll want some decent glass up-front, and the S9500 certainly delivers the goods in terms of focal range at least. Where most compacts and all-in-ones start at a modest wide angle equivalent to around 35mm, the S9500 boasts a considerably more useful 28mm. It then optically zooms right into a powerful telephoto equivalent to 300mm and even offers a ridiculously close Super Macro mode of just 1cm. Try doing all of that with the bundled 3x zoom you get with a digital SLR. Photography functions: High-speed shooting, best framing, post shot assist window, frame no. memory Controlled by a twist barrel, the Fujinon lens offers a versatile focal length of 28-300mm (35mm equivalent.) Fujifilm promises a fast start-up time of 0.8-seconds and 0.01 second shutter lag, while the tilting 1.8in LCD screen enables shooting at unusual angles. A class-leading sensitivity range of ISO 80-1600 helps the S9500 to produce sharp images in low-lighting conditions.

Other than that, picture quality is superb. Another minor tweak to the camera’s system is improved image processing, providing better noise reduction at high ISO settings, although it’s still not in the same league as the FinePix F30. Colour rendition and exposure were never less than perfect. MyFinePix Studio contains a variety of features to help you manage and organize your photos. You use some of the tools to create albums to store and organize your photos, or use the tagging system to label and categorize your images. It also provides a range of filters and editing tools to help you fine-tune your photos and videos. Enhance, edit and print photos from your FUJIFILM camera Long period" (1 fps, up to 40 frames at 1 MP / 2 MP / 3 MP only , only available in Auto exposure mode)Exposure control: Program AE (Auto, P, Anti-Blur, Natural Light, Night, Portrait, Landscape), shutter priority AE, aperture priority AE, manual exposure

The camera comes with shoulder strap, USB and A/V cables, Lens cap and hood and, in addition to the new Hyper Utility Software, also comes with USB driver, FinePix Viewer ImageMixer VCD2 for FinePix and RAW File Converter LE. The 28mm-equivalent wide end of the zoom range does produce some slight barrel distortion, but not enough to be a real problem. Battery life is pretty good, although since it runs on 4x AA the actual duration will vary depending on type and quality. I was able to take over 150 shots using the cheap alkalines that came with the camera, and well over 200 on a set of 2100mAh NiMH rechargeables.Shooting in top-quality JPEG mode the S9600 produces very low compression files averaging around 4.5MB each, so a 1GB card will be enough for around 220 shots. Shooting in RAW mode the files are a chunky 18.25MB each, so the same 1GB card will only hold 53 of them. Unfortunately there is some camera shake in this shot which rather ruins the effect, but at ISO 80 there is no visible image noise and the picture should be sharp and clear. Shooting a white swan against the bright reflections on the water is an exposure nightmare, but the S9600 has taken it in its stride.

At the maximum 1600 ISO, there is now a good deal of image noise and colour distortion, and more detail has been lost. Contrast and exposure are still good though.

Fujifilm today announced the release of the FinePix S9600, replacement to the critically acclaimed FinePix S9500 and the new flagship in Fujifilm’s range of ‘prosumer’ digital cameras. The new model features carefully considered modifications designed to improve image quality as well as making it easier to use and better performing in low light. Refinements include increased image sharpness, a more generous LCD screen, faster autofocus in low light and improvements to the camera’s flash capability. These features combine with existing Fujifilm technologies to result in user-friendliness more usually associated with compact digital cameras, and a performance to challenge entry-level digital SLRs. With a modern and clean interface, it is designed to be simple and intuitive for novice users. Many necessary functions located in the main window; that includes a few basic functions, such as adding photos, sorting, and printing. The editing functions are located in the main window which allows you to perform basic editing options such as cropping, resizing, and adjusting the brightness and contrast of a photo. Fujifilm’s FinePix S9500 Zoom is a 9 Megapixel all-in-one ‘bridge’ camera with a long 10.7x optical zoom lens and SLR-like styling. With its design and features, Fujifilm is clearly targeting buyers of budget digital SLRs, quoting LCD-based composition, a tilting monitor, movie mode and no concerns over dust getting on the sensor as key advantages. It’s also comfortably cheaper than most budget digital SLRs. The monitor now matches the electronic viewfinder which also has a resolution of 235,000 pixels, although it seems to me that it is slightly sharper than the one on the S9500. Critics who don’t like electronic viewfinders really should see this one; it is far and away the best I’ve ever seen. No, it’s not the same as a real optical viewfinder; for starters it’s brighter in low light and has a better information display. It is the first electronic viewfinder I’ve used that has been sharp enough for accurate manual focusing. Enthusiast photographers will appreciate the Hyper Utility Software HS-V2 version 3 that is bundled as standard for the first time with the FinePix S9600. This software gives full functionality in RAW file conversion, which enables the photographer to explore the control and flexibility enjoyed when working with a ‘lossless’ file format.