Fuji Finepix S602 Review

Overall Rating

The 602 is a camera for the serious amateur photographer. Chock full of advanced features, there's enough features that months of exploring would be needed to do its justice.

The lens shows some slight distortion at wide angle and telephoto. Also the lens is not incredibly fast at f2.8. However the lends, being 6x, and a fujinon (japanese lens), its better than average as digital cameras go.

I bought the Fuji FinePix S602 primarily for sports photography. It's fairly quick in terms of shutter lag and shot to shot time, which is important for quick action. The 602 also has a 6x zoom for getting close to the action.

The 602 is chock full of features for the serious amateur. Without going into all of the features, it has an ISO setting from 160 to 1600, which is great for low light shots. Also, it has aperture, speed, or completely manual modes, as well as automatic setting and scene modes. The 602 also takes some pretty decent video, although not as good as a minidv video camera.

I have a 1 gig IBM microdrive that provides enough storage for 868 jpeg fine resolution images (at 3 meg). Thats enough for a two week vacation. I also use NimH batteries and a recharger that can plug into my car's cigarette lighter.

The flash is pretty decent on this camera, good for up to 20 feet.

I probably took the equivalent of 120 rolls of film using it in the last year (I take sports photography pictures for a small newspaper, primarily running and track and field events).
I really use the camera as a "workhouse" and a tool that I hardly think about any more, other than working it to its limits to get the best shots I can get. Any camera that can be used as a "workhorse" is an excellent camera in my opinion. The 602 fits my hand well and has excellent ergonomics.

The only thing that stops this camera from being a true classic is the lense. By digital camera standards, the Fujinon 6x, f2.8 lens, with a 35mm equivalent of 35mm to 200mm zoom, is a very good lens. However, I'd have prefered something like an F2.0 lens (another stop brighter). The lens also shows some some pincushioning and barrel distortion at extreme zoom and wide angle. A better lense would have significantly increased the cost of the camera, but I sure would have paid the difference.

I have had my images printed in the local newspaper almost every week, and many people have taken my shots and printed them 8 x 10 using online printing services like snapfish.com

Most people say that can't tell the difference between my images and a 35mm film shot. I can tell the difference a little, but basically the camera does an excellent job.

The only way you can beat this camera is to buy one with a detachable lens. However, once you buy the camera, it will cost you well over $600 US to get a decent lense. The digital rebel, for instance, doesn't feel that good ergonomically. It has a decent 6 meg sensor, however most people will probably throw away the standard lens that comes with the camera. So, go out and spend $800 US dollars on a digital rebel, then pay at least $600 to get a decent zoom lens. No thanks, I'll stick with my $500 US finepix 602, and wait a few years for the price of a 6 meg detacheable lens camera to drop significantly in price.

By the way, the new finepix S5000 has a real cheap and nasty feel to it. It has a 10x lense, mind you, but its no match for the 602 in my mind. And the F7000 isnt worth the money.

See if you can still get a 602 new, or if your very lucky, a 602 used at a decent price (is anyone really going to sell a 602 used, I doubt it??).