Since I bought a Fujifilm F80EXR I’ve been on the lookout for another Fujifilm camera with the very useful f button that gives access to the “photo mode” menu (taken from Photography Blog review):
There is also a small silver button with an F on it, which opens what Fujifilm call the Photo Mode menu. This allows you to control the file quality setting, ISO speed and colour settings (B&W, Chrome or Standard). I’m not really sure why these 3 settings alone should fall under the heading of Photo Mode, and things like white balance and sharpening are just part of the standard menu. And I’m undecided about whether it is a good idea or not.
Personally, I think it’s a great feature. Sadly, the Fujifilm S4800 camera from 2013, that I also have, did away with this menu. But, I digress…
I picked this one up from Facebook Marketplace (again) for £30. A fair price for an 8MP, 2007 camera, I think. I was planning on taking it out on a sunny day to test it as I did with the F80EXR and will also do with my S4800.
However, here in England, we haven’t seen the sun in over a week so that idea was dead in the water! Instead, I’ve selected a few random photos which I think give a bit of an idea about the sort of quality you can expect if you too decide to pick one up:
All photos linked to full resolution album on Flickr.
Part 1 Conclusion
You should know two things about me (when it comes to cameras). One, I love a bargain. Two, I love “older” cameras. I’m generally happy with 4MP plus cameras. My Olympus C4040Z, which I’ve owned for about twenty three years now, is the baseline that I judge any camera against. Weird, maybe, but that camera makes photos that I adore (if I manage to achieve focus that is).
So, I always ask myself, “is this one better than the C4040Z?”
In the case of the S8000fd, I have to say no, it’s not. It does have things that I like more though. An 18x optical zoom. A storage format that’s not defunct (SD vs Smartmedia). It has more “modern” features, and modes. By 2007, I think cameras were starting to lose their way a bit. Instead of competing against film cameras, the market for digital was already established and so manufacturers were moving toward making everything “easy”. Adding face detection, that’s what the fd in S8000fd stands for, by the way. It was new and exciting back then! What about the quality of the photos, you may ask….
Generally, the quality is perfectly acceptable to my eyes. I quite like the “graininess” this camera displays when the ISO is a bit on the high side. Push it too much and that like quickly turns to dislike though.
Should you get one? Yep, if it’s in good condition (mine is immaculate) and the price is £30 or less. If it’s any more than that, maybe not. Anyway, when (or if) the sun comes out I’ll post part 2 in better light.
