OK - I am not a "camera-phile". I read all of the reviews by the more experienced camera users. All very informative, but very technical. From a "regular mom" consumer point of view, I wanted to add my comments. I LOVE this camera. The quality of pictures I am able to take is just fabulous. I was reluctant to switch to digital, but now I wonder why. The ability to manipulate photos of this quality has been great. Often friends can't believe they are digital prints! I've just been thrilled. Initially, I was unwilling to spend this amount (remember, just a mom wanting to take family pics), but it really has been worth it.

Thanks to Fujifilm for a great camera.

May be this sounds interesting, but I'd been upgraded to the FinePix S7000 from a Canon A95.
You can ask me the question: why did I ever upgrade when I was mad about my A95?

The reasons are simple:
- Because I cannot afford two digit cams at the same time at this price level (so my second one is a Fuji A200 for pocket use).
- Because I needed a hot-shoe for future plans,
- Because it has 6x optical, 2.8-3.1 fast zoom lens,
- Because it has unlimited movie mode,
- Because although the ISO starts at 200 (160 in auto mode) it is quite clear even at ISO 400 (and 800 at the 3MP mode),
- Because of the professional feeling, excellent ergonomics,
- Because of the high resolution viewfinder,
- Because of the many extra settings and external buttons for quick menu accessing,
- Because of the 1/10,000 min. shutter speed,
- Because of the "last 5" continious shooting mode,
- Because of the 1cm super macro mode,
- Because of the faster performance in record mode, faster AF,
- Because of the USB 2.0 high-speed transfer from camera to PC,
- And because of the dual media slot that is very useful.

So what are the things I miss from my S7000 at this price range?
- Flip-out and rotating LCD
- Custom modes on mode dial (or anywhere)
- ISO 800 at full CCD resolution (6 MP) - Yes, I DO NOT miss ISO 100!
- Continious shooting mode with flash on
- A bit better auto white balance
- An AF-assist lamp would be nice (passive sensor helps mainly in good light)

Many people compare the S7000 to DSLRs. This is NOT fair IMO. Compare DSLRs to each other, this camera may look like a DSLR (that is very nice) but that is not a DSLR and it doesn't want to be one. It's an all around, full-featured prosumer camera with high quality lens and longer than average zoom.

I use only the 6MP mode, the 12MP interpolated is not my cup of tea. The images are soft and noisy for my liking in the 12MP modes, but in the 6MP mode everything is clear - so if noise is the issue you hesitate buying this camera, then go and get it, it's not an issue - at least for me.

I like the aperture of 3.1 of the 6x zoom lens at tele position very much. With this, I can make crystal clear and sharp images at full zoom, without having to struggle with light and AF. Of course, it needs external light that can be a flash unit, but this property of the S7000 is really outstanding, comparing it to any of my previous Canons.

The last 5 continious shooting mode is very useful - it even works for moving objects, I shot several sharp images of my 2-year-old daughter without any problems. Just make sure you have a big memory card, make as many photos as possible and keep the best of them at the end of the day.

Strong jpeg compression is another thing I was afraid of. Having 5 Canon compacts before, my first thing was to test the image quality straight out of the S7000 without any post-processing. Some of the photos I saw on the net (on pbase) were great, but some of them looked grainy and soft. Here's my opinion: again, at the 6MP mode the images are GREAT. At the 12MP modes, although it allows for larger print sizes, images look grainy and soft to me. So I stick with the 6MP mode, it's enough for me and gives at least as detailed pictures as my A95 gave before.

What can I say about the macro mode? It's outstanding with great DOF, very high resolution and image detail. No complaining about the S7000's macro performance.

VGA movie mode - it's nice. Fills up the memory card quickly so be sure to get a few ones (or a big one). Try to avoid microdrives, nowdays high capacity CF cards can be bought, no need to a microdrive, I always preferred flash cards to microdrives.

One of the big big advantage of the S7000 to other cameras is user friendliness, ergonomics, menu and button layout. It's unbeatable I think. Everything is in the right place, you can manage the camera even with one hand.

I have only one problem at the moment, but it's not that big really. The camera seems to misfire the white balance sometimes when using flash indoors. It has a blueish tint to the images taken, that happens occassionally. In the same environment, without changing anything, I was obtain to take 9 pictures with great wb and 1 with bad (blueish) all the time out of 10. This is quite strange, may be I have a faulty camera I don't know, but it can be easily corrected in post-processing afterwards.
It did the same when using one of the pre-programmed wbs, like the incandescent setting.

Still, despite of the white balance issue, I HIGHLY recommend this camera to every serious amateur photographer out there. It's certanly NOT a DSLR but can you get a DSLR for this price? I don't think so. The S7000's outstanding ergonomics and appereance, feature set and high quality optics raise above most of today's compact (and even prosumer) cams, just go and buy it you'll love it I promise. That's what I've been told and they were right!

...

Back again. Did I ever mention the RAW format and the zoom ring for manual focus?
I would like to talk about the noise issue. The S7000's lowest noise setting is ISO200 in P, A, T and M modes, and the camera can select ISO 160 if it can. Are the images of the S7000 noisy at ISO200? I would say definitely NO. In fact, image noise of the S7000 at ISO200 match the image noise of my A95 at ISO100. One of my favourite digitcam reviewers on the net was complaining about ISO200 as the lowest selectable ISO and higher than average noise. OK, a Rebel has less noise. But hey, again, this is not the same price point. For the price, the S7000's noise is lower than average. I can shoot hand-held images without flash at ISO400 (or 800) and I don't need a tripod. Just try it yourself and you'll see that noise is not an issue, indeed it's better(lower) than average. Show me another camera at this price that has lower noise at ISO200 and ISO400 than the S7000. I wonder if you could.
So come on people, hurry up, before this excellent camera gets discontinued!
...
Another update: the more I use the camera the more I like it. There is another issue unfortunately: blown highlights. The S7000 tends to overexpose images occasionally that many times leads to blown highlights and therefore loss of detail. Be careful with the right exposure setting. I know that in winter it's really tough for the camera to set the correct metering, but the number of overexposed images seem a bit more than average to me. Still, I love this camera you just have to check and set the exposure manually a few times and then you're ready.
DOF of this camera is SOOO great!

This is my 2nd digital comera. I have been using
it for over 8 months. I am very happy with this camera.
I agree with other reviews about the good photo quality
from this camera. Just to address something not heavily
covered by other reviews.

1. I am using Hitachi's 2GB microdrive and MAGICSTOR's
2.2G microdrive. No problem for continuous 5-shooting
with the highest resoultion setting (5-meg, fine),
where each picture is about 4.8Meg byte in size.
Microdrive is fast enough.

2. With microdrive, this camera can capture >30 min of
video at its highest setting (640x320, 30-frame/sec).
The video lenght is limited by my microdrive disk
space.

3. With microdrive, the captured video does not show
any slack, and dragging effects. You don't need to
use xD-card for video capturing. The microdrive is
already fast enough for non-stop video capturing.

4. This camera has very very good video capturing power.
The captured video is better than my JVC camcorder.
The color is more vivid. The focus is far more sharper.
The audio capturing is more clear than my JVC camcorder.

5. Excellent low-light video capturing power.
Here is the best part, virtually all camcorders don't
capture good videos under low-light condition. This
camera is very good in video capturing under low light
condition. In a kid's birthday party, when all the light
is off, with only the few candle lights on the cake,
it still can capture good video. Pretty amazing....

I do a lot of video shootings for my 4 and 3 years old
daughters. Instead of using my camcorder, I use this
Fuji S7000 most of the time for video capturings.

I highly recommend this camera for both photo shooting and
video shooting.

I haven't seen any battery drain with the FinePix S7000 and use a CompactFlash card to store the images.

Also when it arrived it was factory set at 1 Megapixel so you need to push the f button and change the quality setting to a higher level [I keep mine set at 6 Megapixel].

At that setting it is very high resolution, I use images I take and use them as a background for my desktop PC and the colors are excellent.

Overall a great camera, also the video setting works great, it has two settings, at 640 it lasts 1m48s and at 320 it lasts 3m34s with a 128 MB CompactFlash card.

Also at 6MP it holds 83 frames with regular snapshots, and at 3MP it holds 164 frames on a 128 MB CompactFlash card.

I owned the Finepix S3000 for a couple years before I purchased this model about 6 months ago in late June of '04. I was EXTREMELY fond of my old camera so Fujifilm is where I looked first. I briefly consider a Sony and a Canon Digital Rebel but settle on the S7000 in leiu of the great reviews and amazing price.

"Dissappointed" isn't even in my vocabulary!

Excellent camera - it is my S3000 plus a whole slew of additional features: much faster shutter delay and focus, better lowlight shooting, fully manual settings, greater megapixel rating.

The things rules. I rarely leave the house without the S7000.

Hats off to Fuju, AGAIN!

Quality, much better than I imagined. I was unsure about switching from 35m SLR film to digital but this little beauty has changed my way of thinking. The controls are very similar to an SLR. The results speak for themselves. I have used the camera now for about 6 months, taken over 500 shots. Taken it on holidays to Canada (3 weeks mostly cold 1 degree Cel and lots of snow. Shot mostly in Ap priority (as I used to with 35m) and it worked extremely well. I especially like the way Fuji have incoporated their film colour technology into the digital camera. The colours are brilliant. It's an easy camera to use if you are used to 35m SLR, but this camera is definitly not for beginners. Well done Fuji.


Problems
No Problems as such but would love a DOF smaller than F8. I am used to F22 at least. A DOF preview button would be good also. I really miss that. Plus an ISO of less than 200 would be even better still. Low light is a little difficult to focus, but can easly set to manual focus.

I can not understand why some reviewers say poor quality? All I can say to this is, you must be using it wrong.

Great camera, go buy it.

I have had GREAT LUCK with the Energizer e2 LITHIUM AA's. They cost around 12$ for 8, but I went through 600 pictures w/flash and they are still going. I have heard many people complain that the Fuji S7000 draws batteries, and these are great!!!.. Rechargables dont even come close!!!

I have owned Fuji Finepix 3800, some junkie Sony, Fuji Finepix E550, Canon Digital Rebel XT and this one. Guess which one is left standing. I have bought, sold and returned all of these cameras including the S7000. I then came back to my baby. It will take a heck of a camera to replace this one. I think I'll keep this one for ever and maybe get a second one as technology advances. You won't be sorry.

I think this is one on the best camera`a that I`ve used for simplicity, not being a pro I have found that the pictures that I have taken for my website ( http://homepage.ntlworld.com/nigel.ritchie ) prove what quality photo`s can be taken on this camera. I think you`ll be amazing at the quality, especially the night shots taken from the top of the Empire State Building and Time Square in New York.. Its a brilliant camera for a learner and will give you confidence to follow it up with a more interesting look at photography..

Well worth a loook..

My previous camera was a canon g2 which was an excellent camera so I was hesitant to try a fuji but after reading the great reviews I decided to try it. Got the S7000 on ebay for 275.00 with 512 memory card. I have to say this camera is amazing using the 6mp mode, I mean its no professional camera but the average user like myself will be blown away at the results. I beleive the picture quality is due to the focusing of the camera which is excellent and fast. If you are considering the s9000 or the s5200, save some money and get a s7000, you wont be sorry!

I am a professional photographer who uses the Fuji S2 and S3 Pro SLR digital cameras where a multitude of lenses might be required. I have a fairly large Nikon lens system to draw from which is why I have chosen to use the Fuji's. (S2 and S3 are compatible with older Nikon AI/AIS lenses). I must say I have been totally pleased with the purchase of the S7000 camera. I owned a Fujifilm 6900Z prior to acquiring this camera and have found the S7000 to be a world apart in difference (much better). Utilizing the excellent digital media format (xD) or the older Microdrive/Compact Flash I or II media. Slots are provided for both. The range of shutter/flash settings capable is all that you'll ever need and even a threaded cable release shutter-release button for time exposures. All though the lens' zoom controls are now on the back right-side panel of the camera they are a little less intuitive in this location and a little more cumbersome. The learning curve is a little steeper with these zoom controls at least as to placement of the controls. One control any photographer should learn about right away is the exposure/focus lock button, although the auto-focus feature works extremely well, a slight movement of the camera will change the point of focus rather quickly. So, knowledge of the exposure lock control is fairly important. Also, you will need to keep the exposure lock button depressed until the shutter release button has been depressed and the image begins recording. This is a minor drawback and inconvenience and Fuji should have created a simple "on" lock for depressing the button and an "off" mode if pressed again. In addition, the manual focus setting appears to be pretty worthless as the focus mechanism struggles to update the focus point inside the viewfinder rapidly. This makes knowledge of the use of the exposure lock button with the auto-focus feature even more important. Understanding White Balance is also key with this camera. Relying on any cameras auto white balance feature means a lot more post processing correction. Custom White Balance with S7000 is a breeze using the back side of a 18% Gray card (it's white)! Read up on this feature before heading out into the field and relying solely on the camera's interpretation. A major plus with this camera is the capability to do all image processing outside of the camera with a PC or MAC. This camera offers the RAW CCD sensor format solely for post processing work (image processed outside the camera). Images range from about 12-13Mb per image. So definitely obtain a 1Gb xD or Compact Flash storage card if you want to work a lot in this particular format. Rechargeable NiMH batteries are a must for this camera unless you own stock in EverReady or Energizer. Although, power management is extremely good even if you view your images a lot and end up turning the camera on and off a lot. Also splurge for the exorbitantly priced AC Adapter or buy one used online. If you decide to let the camera process images, you will get some extremely good color results at the highest JPEG settings (6.3 Mega-pixel actual). This is probably the easiest and best setting for most people who don't want to process every image outside the camera on a computer. I never use the video capabilities on this camera although they are quite good, only limited by your memory card capacity (I'd say go for the Hitachi 2Gb Microdrive if you plan on using this for video) I believe if you want to shoot video, you should buy a video camera. This camera is too capable for still image creation to utilize as a video camera solely. I found this camera to be one of the finest semi-pro point-and-shoot cameras on the market for the dollar. This model incorporates top notch optics and superior low noise, in-camera processing (JPEG) when utilized.

I got this camera to take pictures of school events. The quality of outdoors posed pictures are great, but it takes pictures TOO slow. I have not seen this problem anywhere on the web, so I sent it back. Fuji told me the camera was fine. I have since had a professional take a look at it and they think I got a lemon. Other problems include: the camera turns itself off in the middle of shooting lots of pictures (power saver is turned off), and images appear blurry in the view finder (but appear ok when I take the picture). Good luck on finding one that works, because the company will not take care of you. I gave it a 2 star because of the customer support.

This is an awesome camera. One of my great investment ever! I had bought it from Sears as closeout model for under $[...].

I own this camera for more than 1.5 years now - just never got a chance to write review on it. I am not a professional cameraman but I love taking pictures. And any give time, pictures taken from this camera just come out great. All of my friends & co-workers always envy my camera. I ended up buying the same camera for my brother too. ;)

When I originally bought the camera, 6.3MP was a lot for most of the people. Now you can even find 7MP camera. Most of the time I actually take picture with 3MP but they still 100 times better than regular 3-4MP cameras. I have taken some great skyline pictures in the night with this camera too. My advice will be to get 1GB SD memory card along with this camera so you don't need to worry about any space issue.

The only pictures I don't like with this camera are fast activity picture and the one mainly in low light. I just find the speed slow that it's not able to take very good pictures. For that I use, small point & shoot digital camera. But with this small disadvantage this is still an awesome camera and so I am giving 5 stars!

I still love this camera. I actually have 3 other digital cameras (Canon, Panasonic, Disney) and this is the one I use the most. It has the best clarity and I'm in love with the video capture. It also has a "multiple shot" function to get those hard-to-get fast motion or low light pictures. I've had this camera for a little over 2 years now and not one problem whatsoever! (knock on wood) Great buy!

The fact that this Fuji Finepix S7000 came out nearly four years ago and is still so highly regarded give one an idea of its good qualities. It is ergonomic - the fingers and thumb find the zoom, AE lock, flash, exposure compensation, viewfinder/LCD toggle without much struggle. The viewfinder is excellent - detailed and has as much info as you could want.

It eats up standard AA batteries, so get some NiCads, NiMetalhydride, or some other type of rechargeable.But they are a good point - available everywhere.

I have been astounded at the quality of the images shot at the highest resolution, written to the CF or xD card as 12 megapixel images. The lens, even racked out to maximum telephoto is tack sharp and contrasty. I've used many cameras in my life and this is a favorite. For the amount of money you can get one of these new or used, you can't go wrong. It is a winner.

It also does 30 fps VGA video with the highest quality I've seen so far. Also, although it doesn't seem to have an image stabilization system, I have been amazed how little the images deteriorate due to low shutter speeds or normal camera shake. Maybe it uses a 'stealth' stabilization! Anyhow, I love it and have rediscovered the joy of photography through finding how much I could do with this beauty.

Recommended.

I've now taken this camera through four years of hard use and it has been terrific. It's been dragged through dusty back roads of Mexico and to snow covered New England mountain tops. Take the time to learn how to take advantage of the control it offers. It provides the power and flexibility of an SLR digital and the convienence of a point and shoot. The zoom and lens optics are impressive. I can highly recommend the S7000 for someone wanting a more serious digital at a great value.

The Fuji S7000 doesn't disappoint! I have used this camera for about 3-4 years and am still using it. If there is one camera you need to take with you in a hurry for any photography situation, this could be the one. The 6x optical zoom is more than competent for about 95 percent of most pictures, and if you need more then you can bump up the added 3.2x digital zoom (total 19x zoom). With this camera you can put in two memory cards at the same time (CF and xd), but of course it will read/write to only one at a time that you choose. But this gives you automatic backup, just switch to the other card if your primary card is full! Also, it shoots 30 fps video, so it's a good idea to get as big and as fast a memory card that you can. In the macro mode it can get as close as ½-inch, and I have taken many awesome close-ups! The built-in flash also has a rated range of nearly 28 feet at wide angle and 26 feet at telephoto! And it has a hot shoe so you can add a more powerful flash if you wish, if you needed it. I did have a disappointment with it in that because the lens is an external zoom (the lens zooms outward), it is not possible to attach a lens filter to the front of the lens. (When the lens is retracted, it is possible to attach a 55 mm filter, but then the camera won't operate because the lens can't pop out when the camera is turned on.) I believe Fuji sells an accessory tube that can be attached which is longer than the extended lens to allow the use of filters. (I was brought up on film SLRs, where every lens had a UV or haze filter to protect the lens.) Another quirk, which is a "good thing," is that this camera will shut itself down when battery power is low. It happened to me, but all I had to do was restart the camera, and it will continue to take pictures (and then shut down again). I know I am writing this review late, since the camera is already officially discontinued, but I happened to browse this site, and was impressed that the camera has such high rankings and such a loyal user base.

Iowned my s7000 for about 3 1/2 yrs. Usage was lite 3-400 pics a yr. Camera was well taken care of never dropped or abused. All of a sudden for no reason it would not download to the 'puter. Sent it to Fuji, they said a board burned out, WANTED $170 to replace it, WOULD ONLY GUARANTEE FIX FOR 3 MONTHS......I amm buyin a Canon Rebel, and Fuji can eat their LACK OF CUSTOMER CARE>>>>>>>

I've been using my FinePix S7000 for about three years now. Overall, I've been extremely please with all aspects of the camera *except* for the following:

1. The electronic zoom control is inoperative in the movie mode.

2. *My* camera requires a re-boot when I switch from a CF card to an XD card. No rebooting is required when I go the other way (XD to CF). Fuji claims this is a problem that could be corrected with a new mother board, however, my camera is out of warantee and I'm not going to pay $175 to fix such a minor problem.

I have taken literally thousands of pictures and I have to say that this camera has consistantly produced outstanding results.

All considered, looking back to when I bought the camera, I made a good decision and would probably do it again.