Wow another 18x zoom! It’s seems to be the in thing now.

Shortly after the announcement of the Panasonic Lumix FZ-18 with 18x Zoom and 8.1 Megapixels comes this Fujifilm FinePix S8000fd.

Of course the first runner was the Olympus SP-550 UZ, which didn’t get great reviews.

The S8000fd comes equipped with Fujinon’s 18x Wide Angle Optical Zoom lens, offering unprecedented flexibility in a compact SLR body style camera. With a 27mm-486mm equivalent, it’s all the lens you need in one device. The fixed lens eliminates the need for additional zoom or wide angle lenses, and it’s a sealed system, which prevents dust contamination – the #1 D-SLR repair complaint.

Other helpful features found on the FinePix S8000fd for top-quality picture-taking include:

• i-Flash Intelligent Flash: i-Flash (Intelligent Flash) detects subtle lighting differences within a scene and then varies the flash intensity accordingly. It also leverages the high sensitivity of the FinePix S8000fd to enable the camera to use less flash, resulting in an image that displays pleasing, natural tones without a “washed-out” effect. And with an automatic pop-up flash, it’s always ready when you need it.
• Full Manual Photographic Control: Gives the user total control with manual adjustment options for settings on the camera (resolution, ISO, aperture, shutter speed, etc), and is desirable by the photo enthusiasts/advanced photographers.
• Scene modes: A wide range of more than a dozen pre-programmed scene modes provides top-quality photos in a range of shooting conditions.
• High-Speed Continuous Shooting Modes: Action comes at you fast. With four speed options, the S8000fd has the ability to capture up to 15 frames per second (at 2 MP resolution) and never misses the shot.
• High Resolution LCD: The 2.5″ LCD display offers 230k pixels of resolution with an astonishing 60 fps refresh rate for smooth viewing.
• Electronic Viewfinder (EVF): Rather than framing your shots with the 2.5″ high resolution LCD, the S8000fd offers an electronic viewfinder to eye up the best shot with an astonishing 60 fps refresh rate for smooth viewing.
• xD / SD / SD-HC Compatible slot: A new single media slot accepts not only Fujifilm’s traditional xD-Picture Cards but also Secure Digital (SD) and SD-High Capacity (SD-HC) cards too.
• Operates on 4xAA Batteries: The ultimate in convenience and accessibility, using AA batteries means in a pinch, more batteries are just moments away.

The fact that it uses AA batteries is always useful when traveling, especially as a backup for SLR users who inevitably have tonnes of AA batteries for their speedlights/flashes.

The S8000fd also features a full-resolution ISO equivalency of ISO 1600, a rarity in consumer-level digicams. The S8000fd can achieve ISO 3200 and ISO 6400 at 50% resolution, settings that are rare at the consumer level. Such high light sensitivities allow for faster shutter speeds, which reduce blurring caused by both camera shake and subject movement.

I’ll be interested to see how it performs, I hope it’s something like my newfound friend the Fuji f31d.

I’ll be looking forwards to this one as I do love Fuji picture quality, and finallty they are starting to put image stabilizers in their cameras!

Clearly a rival of the recently released Olympus SP-550 UZ “Ultra Zoom” camera, which also features an 18x optical zoom.

Introducing the Panasonic Lumix FZ-18.

The Olympus got reasonable reviews, it’s not very fast, not very sharp and the pictures are ok - but it has 18x zoom! The ultimate travelling partner perhaps.

Now Panasonic counters with this, a massive 18x zoom to match and wider at the wide angle end with 28mm rather than the normal 35/36mm and of course the quality of the Leica lens helps. Plus the great Panasonic stabiliser. They just really need to sort out the image quality and noise problems with the Venus processor.

Looks to be a well specced camera.

• 8.1 effective Megapixel CCD
• F2.8-4.2, 18X optical zoom lens, equivalent to 28 - 504 mm
• Optical image stabilization
• 2.5″ LCD display with 207,000 pixels + electronic viewfinder with 188,000 pixels
• Full manual controls
• Intelligent Auto mode features auto scene selection, face detection (for up to 15 faces), and continuous AF
• High sensitivity mode can boost ISO to 6400 (oh, good)
• RAW image format support
• Records widescreen movies at 848 x 480, with sound
• 27MB onboard memory + SD/SDHC/MMC card slot
• Support for conversion lenses and filters
• Uses proprietary li-ion battery; 400 shots per charge
• Comes in silver and black
• Ships this September for $400

But please - ISO6400? On a Panasonic, they must be kidding!

And why can’t people make f/2.0 lenses like the old Canon G2!

You can read more here:

First look: Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 preview

I was waiting for this camera for a while, could it be the ultimate super zoom with it’s incredible 18x optical zoom?

The SP-550 UZ main features:

• 18x wide optical zoom (equivalent to 28-504mm on a 35mm camera) 1:2.8-4.5
• Dual Image Stabilization
• 7.1 Megapixels
• 6.4cm/2.5″ LCD with 230,000 pixels
• High burst rate (up to 15fps*)
• Super Macro mode (from as close as 1cm)
• P/A/S/M exposure modes
• BrightCapture Technology for better low light photography - also available in movie mode
• 23 scene modes (including Portrait, Sports, Night Scene)
• 25 languages on board
• Internal memory plus xD-Picture Card slot
• Supplied with Olympus Master software and four AA batteries

I mean realistically I wasn’t expecting too much, and I am looking for a backup compact camera for the times when I don’t carry my dSLR around and also something to use for underwater shooting.

I’m glad they chose to go with the wider end at 28mm rather than the standard 35mm for those sweeping landscapes.

The camera seems to perform reasonably well.

Olympus SP-550 Ultra Zoom - Digital Camera Review

The Olympus SP-550 Ultra Zoom, with it’s impressive wide-angle 18x optical zoom lens and CCD-Shift image stabilisation, is an appealing digital camera providing a zoom range of 28mm - 504mm. It feels very comfortable in hand, and produces very good images with very pleasing colours and generally low noise. The screen and electronic viewfinder are good. The camera is easy to use, especially with the built in help and shooting guide, and camera speed is fairly good. The camera offers good battery life, with very good controls and very good build quality.

Olympus SP-550 UZ Review - Photography Blog

With an asking price of £375 in the UK, which is similar to what some retailers are now asking for body-only DSLR deals, potential purchasers of the Olympus SP-550 UZ face a hard choice – particularly those who are upgrading from a simple point-and-shoot, and don’t already have the increased flexibility of a prosumer camera. Build quality is however good given its mainly plastic frame – the camera is solidly fashioned, attractively finished, and with batteries inserted feels capable of withstanding a few knocks in the heat of the action. The necessary unfurling of that zoom lens however does slow down responsiveness.

DCRP Review: Olympus SP-550 Ultra Zoom

The Olympus SP-550 Ultra Zoom is a great example of a marketing-driven cameras. I’m just guessing here, but the marketing folks at Olympus probably got together and said “let’s make an ultra zoom camera with the biggest and baddest specs on the market”, and then the engineers had to make it work. And it works, for the most part — though plenty of compromises were made. While it’s not the best ultra zoom on the market, the SP-550 is still a very good one, and certainly worth a look.

Olympus SP-550 UZ Review - DPReview

The SP-550UZ is, then, a camera that tries a little to hard to be a true jack of all trades, and ends up being master of none; a perfect example of the whole being lesser than the sum of its parts. And yet the funny thing is, that after all that, I actually quite liked it. I guess - in a perverse way - it’s sometimes nice to use a camera that forces you out of the lazy ‘point and shoot’ mentality and reminds you that photographers, not cameras, take pictures.

All in all, it might be better to stick with the upcoming Canon Powershot S5 IS.