About Ben
Fujifilm Finepix S1800 Digital Camera Review
Value Rating: 
Performance Rating: 
Overall Rating:
Available on Amazon with free shipping!
One day, my son asked me to take a photo of his science fair project, and so I took out my Fujifilm point-and-shoot, and snapped a couple. They looked okay to me, and I thought they even looked very professional. Until I met the Joneses, who were at the fair the next day, and had gorgeous 16×20 prints with incredible detail.
Call it envy, but that night, I was at my computer shopping for a better camera, and because I liked Fujifilm and have been using their products for the past 11 years, I decided to go back to the cameras that they had. Turns out that they had a very affordable range of Fujifilm dSLRs, and I found one highly acclaimed model, the Fujifilm Finepix S1800 digital camera.
What to Look for When Buying a Good Digital Camera
The itsybitsy, dainty point-and-shoots are great for carrying around, and taking fun photos, but for something that you need detail and want to make look pretty, you’re better off with a dSLR (digital single lens reflex). The problem is, most dSLRs are very expensive. You can get a Nikon or Canon starting from about $400, and it goes all the way up from there. The Fujifilm Finepix S1800 digital camera is an entry-level dSLR that’s a very good choice given its price.
18x Fujinon Optical Zoom Lens
The FinePix S1800 uses a Fujinon 18x wide-angle optical zoom lens. This is great because it gives you the ability to zoom from 28mm wide-angle to an astounding 504mm telephoto. Normally, lenses on point-and-shoots only offer 3x zoom, so this is phenomenal. It also features a technology called “Instant Zoom”. This is a neat technology, but is a feature that I don’t think I’ll use much. Basically, when you use it, it immediately crops to the subject once you take a photo.
HD Movie Capture
Capture movies in HD quality 720p HD! The video on this isn’t as good as a dedicated video camera, but if you are only going to take the occasional video, then this is definitely good enough.
Face Detection, Smile and Blink Detection, and Automatic Red-eye Removal
This is a consumer-friendly camera, and these features attest to that. To provide perfectly exposed and focused shots when you photograph people, the FinePix S1800 can track up to 10 faces simultaneously. The camera also instantly corrects red-eye, and then saves both the original and the corrected images automatically. Smile Detection is a technology that you can choose to enable or disable, and what it does is to detect the when your subject smiles, and takes the photo at that precise moment only. Blink Detection is useful though, because it actually lets you know if anyone in your photo have blinked, so that you can re-take the photo.
Tracking Auto Focus
If you’ve ever tried taking photos of your children, you’ll know that moving children aren’t the easiest thing to capture on camera. The FinePix S1800 solves this with its Tracking Auto Focus feature, which will track a moving subject automatically for the best focus when you take the photograph!
Auto Picture Rotation
With the iPhones and all that, rotation is something fun to have, and the FinePix S1800 comes with this feature as well, and will rotate to the way that you want for easy viewing.
Picture Search
When you have tons of photographs, the new Picture Search tool allows you to find photos quickly and easily. With this feature, you can search by whichever Scene Mode the photo was taken in. For instance, if you select ‘Macro’ mode, you can see all the close-up shots taken. If you choose ‘Portrait’ mode, you’ll find all your photos shot in Portrait mode, and so on. It’s a useful, time-saving feature that saves you the trouble of searching through all your photos to find the ones you are looking for.
3-inch high-contrast LCD and Electronic View Finder
Viewing photos with your camera isn’t the easiest thing to do under sunlight, and this is where the LCD of the FinePix S1800 camera shines. It is a high-contrast 230K-pixel LCD, which means clearer viewing under bright light. With its large size, you can now also pitch the camera at various shooting awkward angles to enable take shots overhead that you can’t use the viewfinder for. Speaking of which, the Electronic View Finder (EVF) of the S1800 dSLR is an advanced feature that gives you the actual, digital image in the eyepiece, as opposed to a typical optical viewfinder, which only approximates your picture. With this, the picture is rendered in real time, allowing you to see what your image will look like, and make any adjustments prior to shooting your photograph.
SD Card and 4 AA Batteries
The ability to use SD cards and 4 AA battery are a huge plus in my books because there are times that my proprietary batteries have run out on my camera and I wished my camera took AA’s. SD cards are also very ubiquitous, and very compatible with most computers with card readers or other devices.
Dual Image Stabilization
With its long-zoom capabilities, you need stabilization more than any other compact camera. Handshake and subject movement are particular problems, especially in low light conditions when you are at telephoto range. The FinePix S1800 is able to reduce blur to a minimum with its mechanically-stabilized CCD sensor, and high ISO sensitivity (to ISO 6400).
Fujifilm S1800 Sample Photos
How Much Should You Expect to Pay?
The Fujifilm Finepix S1800 is available on many websites for $200, but you really shouldn’t be paying any more than $200 for this digital camera. The cheapest we have seen it is on Amazon, who consistently sell this digital camera for under $200.
What Current Owners Are Saying About This Fujifilm Camera
This fujifilm digital camera has received rave reviews from most consumers on the net with an average of 4 out of 5 stars.
The Fujifilm S1800 is a very nice camera. It’s larger than typical point and shoot cameras because of the 18X zoom lens, but it’s smaller than a DSLR. Nevertheless, the S1800 is light and compact enough to carry around for extended periods. The integrated flash performs well and even has a slow sync feature, but there is no input for an external flash (or any other accessories other than a tripod). This is not a problem though, as the camera wasn’t designed for that. The S1800 is so user-friendly, and the auto-mode gives very good image quality. I’d say that the S1800 definitely holds its own against several of my more expensive cameras. The Fujifilm S1800 offers DSLR image quality and features for the price of a point and shoot. Of course it’s not perfect, but considering what features you’re getting for the price, you can’t go wrong. It’s the perfect camera if you’re looking to go beyond basic point-and-shoots, but not quite ready to plonk $1000 for a DSLR.
- J. Harley (Review paraphrased for size. Read the original review here)
Here are some of the other comments to date:
- “Powerhouse in a small package”
- “Really Good Camera For the Money”
- “Simple Camera, Great Pictures”
- “This Camera Has it All”
- “I absolutely LOVE my new Fujifilm FinePix camera”
Where Can You Read More Reviews for the Fujifilm FinePix S1800 camera?
You want to read reviews on this camera from people who actually use the product, and the best place to do this is Amazon. Click here to read more reviews.
Any complaints?
I found very few complaints for this digital camera on consumer sites around the Internet. One consumer did express concern that video can be shaky, but it’s good enough for me, considering that I only take home videos once in a blue moon.
Where Can You Buy the Fujifilm FinePix S1800 Digital Camera?
You can buy this Fujifilm camera from Amazon. At the moment they include free shipping and from what I can tell when comparing prices with other online merchants, Amazon does currently have the best deal, especially with the free shipping option. Click here to view on Amazon.
