Fujifilm FinePix S4000 14 MP Digital Camera with Fujinon 30x Super Wide Angle Optical Zoom Lens and 3-Inch LCD

The features of this model are improved over my older model, and a few online videos showing the ways to select the various choices were excellent and easy to master. It was a great price, had a good camera, and offered fast service.

Excelente

I have been around Photography about 45yrs. and have had allot of excelent equipment(Nikon)so I feel qualifyed to make these comments. I say that honestly not arrogantly. I was looking for a camera that had the capability to do what I require of it without allot of weight to carry around. I resarched this camera for two months bofore I ordered it in Dec. of last year. Whan it came I had already read the online manual from Fujifilm Global (and I highly suggest you do the same)so I knew about what to expect. So I thought! I have long been impressed with Fuji Lenses, but this camera absolutly floored me. First of all I was impressed with all the controls. This camera is loaded with all the great features I was looking for and a bunch more. This camera is as simple as you want it to be, or it can be as sophisicated as your mind can think. If you are a biginner or a pro, you will love this camera. I really like the light weight and size. It will fit in a coat pocket easily and when it is around your neck it's not a problem. I have put this camera to many tests that most people would never care about, but that's me. It passed all I put it through with streight A's. The lens on this camera will take your breath away. I tested it from the super macro through it's max telephoto and when I viewed the results I really could not believe my eyes. It was really that good. And yes, I am critical!!! When I got used to the camera (which is user friendly) and became fimilure with the controls, I was amazed at all that this race horse can do. I was really impressed with the three focus modes. They are HARD, SOFT, and STANDAD. They are refered to in the menue on the camera as "Sharpness". The "HARD", is mostly for taking shots of buildings and archecture. The "STANDARD" is for general shots that you take every day (excelent by the way) and "SOFT", which is mostly for taking portraits or shots where you might like to add a little "MOOD" to your shot. The "INSTANT FOCUS" features in this camera are really easy to use and will add to your many pleasures I assure you this camera will give you. I really, really, urge you to learn this as one of the first things you master, you will see why on your own! I have done some macro work with this camera as close as one inch from the lens while hand held, and the shots were super. (normally if you don't use a tripod these are hard to do)I would say the same for the telephoto end of this lens. Fuji outdid themselves with their "Dual Image Stabilization" system!! This camera has two fully atomatic modes where the camera dose all the thinking for you. The "Fully Automatic Mode" speaks for its self, and the results do also. The "Scene Recognition" (SR) mode will produce outstanding shots in all kinds of tough lighting shots. I use this allot if I am not sure of a scene. The "MANUAL MODE" is as good as any I have used. There are many many more features that I will not go into for times sake, but let me tell you this: "This is all the camera you need." So why not 5 STARS? I only have a few remarks, not complaints! First, I wish it had a "B" Mode, but I can do without. Also, I don't know why there is no cable release, but the self timer will work just fine. The threaded hole for the tripod is plastic. I am used to metal so I get the feeling this is a weak link. But I could be wrong, since the body is plastic, and if you research this they (Fuji) claim to have used a "High Impact" plastic. I did not test this, nor do I plan to. I'll take their word and try not to drop it. In conclusion: For the money this is much more camera than I expected. Great optics, great features, great feel, great looks, and "FABULOUS PICTURES". One last thing: Go online and search "Fujifilm Global", look for the X4000 and then download the instruction manual. The book they send you is a typical hand book. The online manual is good and is worth your time to download specially if you are new to cameras. I have shot many frames through the years, but this little camera excites me to no end!!! Happy Shooting.

I purchased this camera for my wife as a Christmas gift. She always wants to take nature shots while we are camping but could never get close enough to really get a good picture.Although we have not had the camera but for a few days and too cold to go camping, we did take a trip through the woods and got some great shots of some geese on a pond several hundred feet away.The 30X zoom is great. I always shake too much to get good shots but the image stabilization seems to work very well at full zoom.We also used this camera for the family pictures during Christmas and the timer function is pretty cool. It actually shows the 10 second count down in the view finder. This leads me to another plus. The view finder is great when you're outside. It is often so hard to see the image on the screen because it is too bright outside and this view finder takes that problem away!One other option I found to be of interest is the option of changing the image size. You can take the normal picture at 4:3 aspect ratio or switch it to a 16:9 aspect ratio as I did when we took the family pictures at Christmas. I was able to get over 20 people in the picture and the image quality looks great!There are still a lot of different settings on the camera that we have not even touched yet.I have read other post's about the lens cap. Well it's true, if you don't remove it before you turn on the camera, it will tell you about it. It happened to me, but not much of a problem. Just turn the camera off and remove the cap.This camera is everything I (My Wife) was looking for and I would recommend it to anyone!

My critique is based on comparing the Fujifilm S400A to the Fujifilm HS10. All comparisons are also based on setting both cameras to Automatic mode. First let me say that both cameras take great outdoor pictures. Indoors is another matter. The S4000 is a lot slower then the HS10 in focusing and exposure settings. I also do not like the indoor auto white balance on the S4000, even with forced flash. The S4000 indoor pictures look yellowish. With the HS10, the flash is dominant and the pictures are more vibrant in my opinion. The resolution on both cameras is good (when the pictures are in focus). The HS10 has much better and faster focusing. The S4000 is not nearly as good. With the S4000 you have to take it slow when taking indoor pictures in order to get a focused picture. The motorized zoom on the S4000 is better then the HS10's lens for shooting video. The manual zoom on the HS10 will shake the camera when zooming so your video will look jerky. The S4000 zoom motor noise will be heard in the video unfortunately, but only slightly. The amazing plus for both cameras is when zooming in to the max and being able to hand hold the camera and get a perfect shake free picture. I took the HS10 to Hawaii and shot a light house at full zoom while sanding on a small boat. I got a great detailed picture. I have also shot full zoomed in pictures with the S4000 and got great results. I am disappointed that the S4000 does not have a hot shoe or threads on the lens for a filter, whereas the HS10 has both. Physically the S4000 smaller and much lighter then the HS10. For Video, the S4000 has a better video format, Motion Jpeg which is more compatible with editing software. The the HS10 has the terrible MOV format that I hate. I am sure I have not covered everything, I am a Nikon camera fan. I bought these cameras for situations where I couldn't carry around my case of Nikon equipment. I find myself wanting to carry both the HS10 and the S4000, perhaps I'll need another case for Fujifilm equipment. My Nikon camera, (D80) doesn't have a 30x zoom lens or does video, so that is another reason for using the Fujifilm cameras.