I purchased this Fuji 18 months ago as a result of curiosity about digital photography. I use many different formats and brands of film equipment, but am very familiar with the superior sharpness and contrast of Fuji EBC lenses. I have a couple of Fuji medium format units with EBC lenses that I believe to be as sharp and nearly as contrasty as Zeiss. So, despite the true 3MP/interpolated 6MP of the s602, I bit. I have not been sorry. This camera is a real shooter's dream. Light, durable, well laid out, with the best video I have ever seen in a digital camera, it has become my travel camera of choice (accompanied by a 35mm rangefinder, of course.) The day I realized it was truly a winner was the day upon return fom a trip to Mexico that I printed my first series of 8x10's. As they appeared from the printer, I was stunned with the color and sharpness. The S602 revealed itself to be a real performer. Noise is not really apparent, even through ASA 400, which is a significant advantage compared to the Fuji S7000 and many of the newer models cramming 6-8MP onto the same size CCD. While I am considering a DSLR, the S602 is really all most people would ever need in a digital camera, especially if 8x10 is the largest print they'll ever need. It's sharper than its rated 3MP- probably the equivalent of about 4 MP, and a joy to use.
Strengths:
Image quality
Construction
Control layout (with some reservations)
Slight shutter lag
Dual storage format including Microdrive and SM not XD
AA batteries
Weaknesses:
Awkward in-camera image review and edit
Potential for inadvertently formatting card while editing
Image numbering scheme
ASA 800/1600 at 1MP only- but useable
Low-light focus
The camera took great pictures for a while. Then it developed white spots in the same place in each picture. Apparently the ccd was defective. Fuji wanted $380 to replace the ccd since I didn't have the warranty card. I figured a defective ccd should be their responsibility.
I didn't know digital photography can be that fun, even though I have had experience with digital cameras in the past of several types (mainly Olympus, which I felt good with them until I met the Fuji 602Z). It is very easy to use, lightweight camera, providing very good output, and its video is really good (the only one I've seen getting so close to a real VHS recorder)
Strengths:
- Easy to use
- Good quality picture and video
- The use of a microdrive is good to put lost of images and video
Weaknesses:
- Video quality can still improve, even though it is quite good now
Brilliant value for money, and better and better value as it gets cheaper. Very nice to handle. I bought this while waiting for digital SLRs to get to a realistic price - it's great. Had a Maxxum 7 before and this replaces it almost completely.
Love it!
Strengths:
- Very universal formats (AA batteries, CF and SmartMedia cards!) so excellent for travel
- hot shoe
- Multi-exposure
- Fast AF (for a digital)
- good quality lens and CCD so very good quality pics.. so sharp.
- good battery life
- good movie mode if you use it
- very wide dioptre correction (+-5), so good if like me you need eyeglasses
- sturdy, and good build quality
- SLR like, with lots of buttons (instead of menus) to change settings. This makes it very fast to switch settings.
- Fully manual right through to fully automatic
- tripod thread well-placed
- very useful overlay screens, especially the grid
- 45 AF points!
- 1/10000 of a second shutter speed!! Very few consumer / prosumer cameras even come close to this.
- and many other things.
There are a few quibbles but they are not enough to put me off the camera.
Weaknesses:
- Barrel distortion at wide end
- Wide angle not that wide without accesories
- Possible to delete all photos when trying to delete jsut one (I've not done this yet, but got very worried when working with 400 shots on one card, and with just one wrong key press to delte everything)
- A bit light
- No AF assist, and using manual focus at night or in low light is tricky.
- 6MP is really 4MP
- no rear-curtain sync (OK maybe I'm asking a bit much here!)
- b/w mode very limited - a real pity as it has excellent control in colour
- You need to buy an accessory to attach filters. It is just a metal tube with a thread, but is about £25! Why didn't Fuji put the thread on the inner barrel and eliminate the need for this? The lens is good and it's a shame it is not easier to protect it with a skylight filter.
Similar Products Used:
Tried Dimage 5, Dimage 7, Nikon Coolpix something or other, and a few others, plus assorted film SLRs.
When purchasing my digital camera it came down to an issue of professional qualities. I knew that I wanted a camera with superior performance, especially in imaging, of course, but I was also looking for a camera that was SLR-like. You know, something that would provide me with a more professional look. So, after a couple months of research at imaging-resource.com, dpreview.com, steve's digicam review, DCRP review, this site, and even a few foreign language review sites, my decision came down to the Nikon 5700, Minolta 7HI, and, yes, this camera.
The decision wasn't easy. I was looking at two 5 megapixel cameras against this 3, but there were advantages to this camera that I could see myself using. First of all, the image quality, even though interpolated, didn't bother me much (unless I was looking at images from the Sigma SD9 or something... that's a peice of equipment there :D). I also thought that the movie mode could be a very important feature. I actually make my school's website (www.stratfordhigh.com - please check back around 8/11 to see the new design) and I could see myself using it (I haven't been able to use it at school as I've just bought it), especially during competitions. I'll be able to compress the movies into streaming files so they can enjoy the same moment in superior quality. You really can't beat 640x480 30fps movies.
Also, you have you love the styling. While online, I was a bit turned off by the two-toned look, but I'm very happy with it now. It does have a very professional feel, which I know a few people were disliking about the Minolta. Also, when it came down to it, I couldn't see myself needing a 5 megapixel over the interpolated 6. I haven't tried to print any 8x10s yet, but I'm sure they will turn out alright.
http://www.stratfordhigh.com/test/original.JPG
Really the only test image I have right now. Note: this was taken with the wide lens that came with the camera (made by fugi), which seems to have a red tint; hint the red lens flare.
Strengths:
Image Quality, Camera Build, Great Grip, Nice Styling, Excellent Movie Mode, Various Manual Options (4 different modes), East Operation (auto and SP -special scene modes), PROFESSIONAL_at least I think so...
Weaknesses:
No AF assist lamp, it really needs one. Manual focus does relieve some of the pain though.
Sample Images
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