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Fuki Finepix S3100 Review

Reviewed June 2005

Mission:  We needed a camera to shoot pictures for our websites and our client's site. We wanted a camera powered by AA batteries so we didn't have to worry about running out of battery power in the field. We also wanted a decent zoom range, macro focus and overall usability.

The Finepix S3100 is a 4.0 Megapixel, 6X zoom camera. The 6x zoom gives you an effective focal length of about 39-234 mm. It has a through the lens electronic viewfinder (in our opinion, the electronic viewfinder is superior to an optical viewfinder).

Even though the camera is capable of 4 megapixels, we usually shoot at 1 megapixel. Most of the pictures are run through an optimizer anyway to reduce their size for the web.

You can also take AVI movies although there is no sound. The resolution isn't as good as a dedicated movie camera but it is adequate in a lot of cases. The movies are at 10 FPS which is about a third of the normal rate.

Fuji offers two useful accessories we haven't purchased yet. They are a .79 wide angle adaptor and a 1.5x telephoto adaptor.

Things we liked

•  The lens cap works great on the adaptor. It even has a little clip to attach it to your strap when shooting.

• The camera setup is straightforward and easier to use.

• The ergonomics of the camera work very well. I've been known to have a cup of coffee in one hand and work the camera with the other and get decent results.

• The camera is fairly light. 

Things we didn't like

•  One of the few nitpicks was that when it goes into a power save mode, you have to shut the camera off and turn it back on.

• There is a slight delay when pushing the shutter. That can make it harder to shoot moving subjects. (see the tips below)

Tricks and tips

• We found that when we are on the road, the camera can easily be connected to our laptop running XP home with the supplied cable without using their finepix software. This allows for quick downloads of photos.

• The manual warns you that the lens shade should be removed when shooting with a flash because it might cause a shadow at the bottom of the picture. We simply zoom out a bit and crop the pic when editing.

• The 6x zoom is great. However, there are times when you need to get a little closer. In those cases, we raise the quality to 4 megapixels for those shots. That allows more flexibility when editing.

• The delay when pushing the shutter is a little irritating. We found that you can set the resolution a little higher and then zoom out. You can then crop when you are editing and you should have captured your subject.

• Watch your disk space if you are using the 4.0 Megapixel resolution.

Summary – A great camera that really meets our needs.

Last modified:  11/10/06