After using the Fuji FinePix E550 with a 6.3-Megapixel Super CCD HR, I got the newest 9-Megapixel Fuji FinePix E900. The E900 features a new 1/1.6-inch 9-Megapixel Super CCD HR imager with sensitivity up to ISO 800 at full resolution.

It also has a 2-inch LCD screen, optical zooming viewfinder, wide-angle optics, pop-up flash and manual controls. The list is impressive and goes on: ISO 80-800, 4x wide-angle optical zoom, live histogram, usage of 2 included rechargeable AA batteries.

Pictures

The pictures of the Fuji FinePix E900 as well as sample photos I took using it are available at the address below:

Click here to see the sample photos I took with this Fuji E900 camera and photos of the camera

What Is Fuji FinePix E900?

The Fuji FinePix E900 is a 9-Megapixel Super CCD HR stylish digital camera with a 4x optical zoom (32-128 mm equivalent with maximum f/2.8 aperture at wide angle), a 2-inch LCD screen, powered by two included AA NiMH rechargeable batteries.

The camera has the shutter speed range of 15-1/2,000 sec and support JPEG and RAW image formats. It features ISO range of ISO 80-800, automatic and manual white balance, automatic and manual focusing and an adjustable focus area. It also has Aperture and Shutter Priority modes as well as a full Manual mode.

The camera stores pictures on xD-Picture memory cards (32 MB xD card is included) and features USB connection to PC and Mac computers.

Getting Started

The camera arrives with a compact charger that plugs directly into the wall outlet that can charge the two supplied 2500 mAh NiMH AA batteries. The charger has foldable prongs and can be used in any country (up to 240 V 50/60 Hz).

After charging the batteries, I inserted them into the camera, inserted the supplied memory card and was ready to shoot.

The camera

The camera itself is black in color and is very well made. It is very similar in appearance and control layout to the 6.3-Megapixel E550. The E900 is nicely styled and is made from plastic and metal. It has a lens that is flush with the camera body when retracted and a lens lid covers it. The bezel around the lens can be removed to accept optional accessories (0.76x wide angle and 1.94x telephoto lenses are available from Fuji).

The top deck has a power on/off button, a mode wheel (Auto/A/S/M/Video, scene modes) and a shutter release button.

The bottom of the camera has a plastic tripod mount and the battery/memory card compartment lid. The side has a small rubberrized lid that covers a USB, A/V and DC power ports. The lid is hinged so there is less chance of loosing it than in case of previous Fuji E-line cameras, where you had to remove the lid altogether.

The back of the camera has a 2-inch LCD screen, zoom control, a disc for menu control and other functions with a MENU/OK button in the middle as well as other buttons and a playback/shoot button. It also has a mechanical flash release button and an exposure compensation button, which doubles as a manual focus switch.

Usage

The E900 is sturdy and well-built. The black case looks nice. The camera controls are within easy reach and the menu system is generally easy to use, definitely better than the one on the Fuji FinePix F10, but worse than the menus of Panasonic or Canon cameras.

I could use the camera and all of its features without reading the manual. One thing you have to know immediately (unless you just want to use the camera in its automatic mode) is that the prominent F button on the back camera panel is used to adjust ISO (Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800), resolution and color modes (Standard, Chrome (higher contrast and saturation) and B&W).

Unlike the 6.3-Megapixel E550, the ISO 800 is available in full-resolution mode. The RAW file format has to be enabled separately in the setup menu.

The camera has a retractable lens that extends and has a lens cover (two halves) that opens when the camera is powered on. When the camera is powered off, the lens retracts and the lens cover closes.

The camera is very flexible, but with an oversight. It has real adjustable aperture and has aperture priority, shutter priority and manual mode. It also lets you focus manually if you wish. But the manual focusing is still not as well implemented as what I saw on its competitors.

To focus manually, you have to hold the exposure compensation button while pushing on the zoom control, which is not very convenient. And the camera does not magnify the center of the screen or show you the distance scale. Thus, it is rather difficult to confirm focus. It is not a terrible oversight, but it could have been better.

The camera uses a real adjustable aperture, unlike many compact cameras that use a two-step aperture control (Sony W5, Canon SD300, SD400 and SD500 come to mind). The E900 has an aperture range of f/2.8-8.0 (10 steps in 1/3 EV increments) at wide angle and f/5.6-8.0 at full telephoto.

The camera can be used in full auto mode, scene modes or manual modes (A, S, M). The camera comes pre-set to Auto mode. You do not have to do anything other than point and shoot - the camera takes care of the rest. You press the shutter release button halfway to make camera focus and the camera shows you (on the LCD screen) where it focused. Then you take the picture by pressing the shutter release button all the way. In auto mode, the camera can be used by anyone who can point and shoot.

The camera has preprogrammed scene modes that give you more control. In addition, you can select Macro mode at a push of a button (left side of the menu control disk). The camera has no dedicated review mode on the mode selector, but you activate it using a button on the back panel.

The continuous/burst modes are slected using a dedicated button on the left from the LCD screen.

LCD and Viewfinder

The camera has a 2-inch LCD monitor that "gains-up" in the darker environments and has adjustable brightness. It also has an optical viewfinder. The LCD works well overall, even in darkness. The coverage is about 100% for the monitor, but the viewfinder (as is usual for optical viewfinders) is on the tight side and does not show you everything that will end up in the shot. The LCD is fluid and has good resolution.

Performance

The camera takes about 1-2 seconds to power up and extend its lens, which is very fast. The shutdown is even shorter at about 1 second.

The shutter lag, when pre-focused, is non-existent. The camera takes the picture as soon as you press the button. The focusing is fast in bright light, slower in darker environments, but is still rather fast. The camera focuses in under a second at either wide angle or telephoto, but can fail to focus at telephoto in dim light and the camera has no focus-assist light.

The camera can take pictures at intervals of about 1.5 seconds in single-frame mode. There are a couple of continuous/burst modes. The 4-frame continuous mode lets you take four pictures at about 1.5 frames per second.

The flash recycle time is about 5 seconds. It is difficult to estimate it exactly, since the camera does not lock-up after the first picture with flash is taken and lets you take a subsequent photo almost immediately, but without the flash even though the flash is set to forced on. This means that you have to be careful and make sure that the flash fully charged before taking another photo.

You can fully zoom in or out in about 2 seconds. Zooming has enough steps to compose your shot well. Overall, the camera is rather fast and responsive, especially in the areas of shutdown and shutter lag.

Battery

I took about 80 pictures, some with flash, and the batteries were still at the full mark. I believe that fully-charged supplied batteries will let you take more than 350 photos and you can always bring charged spares. They are very inexpensive.

Computer Connectivity

The camera uses USB connection to transfer pictures to a computer. You can also remove the xD memory card and use a memory card reader (if you have one). I used the camera USB port and the supplied cable. I do not use the software that was provided with the camera since I have Adobe Photoshop CS2. I have not tried the RAW format of this camera, but used JPEG file format.

Flash

The built-in pop-up flash works well, and has good brightness by default. You have to push a button to make the flash pop up. The flash intensity can be adjusted.

Image Quality

Fuji claims that this camera has sharp optics and that the Super CCD HR sensor has low noise and produces sharp photos at high ISO settings. I saw that in other cameras of the company, the usage of the Super CCD HR resulted in generally good, but inconsistent results.

The E900 did not disappoint. The camera has a good white balance system overall. The colors are pleasant and true-to-life. The optics is sharp and the photos I took are sharp corner to corner. I found very little chromatic aberration (purple fringing) in areas of high contrast.

The camera produces very good photos: well-exposed, sharp, contrasty and with pleasing colors. The use of Fuji Super CCD HR, which I really liked in the Fuji F10, where it produced very low noise at high ISO settings, and liked less in the E550, results in very low noise.

The Super CCD in the E900 has very high resolution at 9 Megapixels and its noise levels are very low. The noise at ISO 500 and 100 is non-existent. The ISO 200 (default setting for manual modes) has noise levels comparable to noise at ISO 100 on other compact cameras (very low). The noise at ISO 400 is similar to noise other compact cameras produce at ISO 200 and the noise at ISO 800 was higher, but the photos were still usable for sharp smaller prints (5x7 and 6x4) or a wall-mountable 8x10.

The 9-Megapixel resolution makes the noise pattern very fine and lets you print enlargements at higher ISO than what you could expect from a lower-resolution CCD or even Super CCD.

You may be able to print very good enlargements up to 13x19 at ISO up to 200 and possibly at ISO 400. This is an amazing result.

The 9-Megapixel resolution lets you use the digital zoom of the camera or crop the photos later in imaging software with no loss of sharpness. The 9-Megapixel resolution was reserved for professional digital SLR cameras not long ago and the same can be said for the low image noise. Not anymore. Although the E900 is not a replacement for a digital SLR with a good lens, it is much closer to it than many compact digital cameras.

In the words of Ali G's Borat from Kazakhstan character: "Is a good, I like!"

Pros

Low price for 9-Megapixel resolution and low noise, features, manual controls, image quality, wide angle capability (32mm equivalent), rechargeable AA batteries supplied, real aperture, resolution and ISO range, fast operation, build quality.

Cons

Not cheap overall, expensive xD cards, poorly-implemented manual focus.

Bottom Line

I am very impressed with the E900 and highly recommend it if you want a compact, cool yet capable camera with 9-megapixel resolution, moderate wide angle capability, fast operation, excellent battery life and good photo quality, even at high ISO settings.

Recommended
Yes

Product Rating
(Excellent)

This review is also available at Epinions.com: Fuji FinePix E900 9-Megapixel Digital Camera Review on Epinions.com

My Reviews of Other Digital Cameras