Fuji Finepix S602 Review

Overall Rating

Total Control, Fast Operating Speed, Long, quick Zoom, Dual Media

None worth mentioning.

I wanted to wait until I'd learned enough to write a comprehensive review but I can't contain myself. To say I really love this camera is an understatement! This is the one I've been searching for so I can finally retire my old 35mm rig. To understand why let me digress a little. About 4 years ago a new job started taking me to China and Asia 2 to 3 times a year every year. The first time I went I schlepped along my trusty old 35 mm, motor drive, data back and assortment of lenses and all. I shot 50 rolls of film, got some great shots, but decided that there had to be a better way. I purchased a 1.2 megapixel Fuji fixed focal length camera and stuck it in with my 35mm and video camcorder. I used the 35mm only occasionally but got some great video and digital images. Although I got digital photos I liked, I felt really limited by the lack of a zoom and the slow response times.

For my next trip, I left the 35mm at home, upgraded the digital to an Olympus D460Z, and brought along my camcorder. I was much happier with the Olympus but still felt limited. It was too automatic, very slow and I didn't like the total absence of manual control. Most of all, I couldn't get used to the shutter lag and slow write times. For every great shot I got I missed five because I couldn't get the timing down. I wanted something that behaved more like my 35mm but was irritated that to replicate the feel, capability and picture quality of my 20 year old $300 35mm manual would cost several thousand dollars. In the interim I played around with my partner's Olympus C4040, liked it, but it still didn't have the feel, handling and speed I was looking for.

Finally, I walked into an electronics store and found the S602 on sale at a "no brainer" price of $450, and decided to take the plunge. From traveling overseas I got used to traveling with lots of digital film and rechargeable batteries. The fact that the camera was only packaged with a 16mb smart media card and 4 alkaline batteries was irrelevant to me. I immediately purchased 2 256mb Compact Flash and 2 128mb smart media cards, 3 sets of rechargeables, and a charger. I then set myself to the task of putting the camera through it's paces. I am now a thoroughly happy camper.

A quick word about picture quality: At first I was a little leery of the camera because I'd read a lot of reviews damning the camera with faint praise because of the presumed actual and comparative shortcomings of the 3.1 megapixel SuperCCD and the software enhanced 6 megapixel resolution. I immediately shot a series of pictures at the four main resolutions of 6mp, both fine and standard and 3mp fine and standard. Next I printed them all on my Canon S820 with Canon Photopaper Pro at 8.5 x 11 borderless. In a word, the pictures are spectacular and I am hard pressed to tell the difference between them. I wouldn't worry to much about the tsk, tsk's of the resolution geeks. I've made terrific photos with my 1.3 megapixel Fuji and Olympus that drew ooh's and aah's when printed at 8 x 10. Adequate resolution is important and the S602 supplies that. I've never shown my photographs with a jewelers loupe so for myself I will just concentrate on making great photographs. I'm going to shoot and print a few more resolution test shots but I will probably settle on 3mp fine as my standard shooting resolution. The decision is going to be somewhat arbitrary because the pictures are so close. I can't wait to go back to China.

Members' Comments onStewartboyz.'s Review

• WmAx. on 6th Jul 2003

  The 3mp vs 6mp modes are different, in terms of resolution. It is beyond the scope of the comment to be specific, but it is due to a process of reorienting the diagnol sensor layout data to a standard v/h layout to export for using the images. The actual measured difference, per resoluton objective test charts demonstrates 14-15% difference in the exitnction points of resolution in single vertical and horiztonal plane(s), for a total gross difference of 28-30% in resolvable data. However, these percentages are perhaps a bit misleading, since the subjective qualithy difference when actually viewing would not be equated with these quoated numbers. You can examine this, along with my references, concernignthe 3mp vs 6mp and also the signficant differnces that uisng the camera in various sharpen modes can have on your images:
  
  http://www.linaeum.com/productinfo/digitalcams/fuji_s602/index.html
  
  -Chris
  
  http://www.reviewcentre.com/review17349.html

• Bazza. on 29th Jul 2003

  I have done a lot of research on digital camera's and being a pensioner, am working to a reasonable cost. I found your coments very good reading, and have just purchased this camera. have not received it yet, but looking forward to using it. Thank's for your coments. Barry

• KatieFarr on 4th Jan 2004

  Hi there,
  I am a student currently studying photography A-level and i am really enjoying the digital side of the course. I am looking into buying one and this model caught my eye. I was wondering if you could tell me though what is the difference between how many mega pixels it states and the number for the pixel output. for example this model says somthing like 3.1m pixels but says it has a 6.0 million pixel output. What does this mean???
  i would be grateful for your reply.
  Katie

• gordslaphead on 16th Apr 2004

  Hi Katie, only just seen your question so probably too late to be useful, but in a nutshell:
  
  The actual sensor is 3.1mp, so this is the *true* resolution. But instead of being a grid of rows and columns (like most other sensors) it's in an octagonal arrangement. This way it can (fairly) accurately guess what colour the gaps should be in order to generate a grid output for a PC to understand. This means adding extra information to fill the gaps, and this final output is 6mp. Hope this helps.
  
  Regards, Gord