Physical Tour

The front of the Fujifilm S6000fd has a mountainous landscape with the hand grip on the left and the zoom lens protruding from the right. The hand grip has a rubber textured material and bumps on it to enhance comfort for the fingers.

The zoom lens looks like one that can be taken off and interchanged with others, but it can't be interchanged; it has the zoom and focus rings, wide barrel, and circular lens window. Around the lens’ outer rim are these specs: "Fujinon Zoom Lens, 10.7x Optical f=6.2-66.7 mm, 1: 2.8-4.9, 58 mm." The last number indicates the lens’ diameter, which is reasonably wide.

Directly above the long zoom lens is the pop-up flash unit with the Fujifilm logo at its forefront. It pops up automatically when a flash mode is selected in the menu. Below the "F" in "Fujifilm" are three holes that make up the built-in microphone. To its left is a thumbnail-sized circular window that doubles as the auto focus assist and self-timer lamp. Overall, the front of the camera looks very much like an SLR with its many protrusions and lengthy lens.

**

Back**

The back of the camera looks more like an ultra-zoom digital camera because it is compact and doesn’t have as many controls as a DSLR. The most SLR-like feature is the electronic viewfinder surrounded by the comfortable rubber eyecup. Directly left of the viewfinder is a tight diopter adjustment control. To the bottom left of this feature is an LED indicator lamp that blinks when recording movies and writing to the memory card and such. The landscape on the back isn’t mountainous, but there are hills and valleys.

The LCD screen is more of a plateau; it is framed upon a platform that has a Fujifilm logo at the bottom. There are several control buttons to the right of the LCD screen. They are sandwiched between the screen and the rubber material from the hand grip, which wraps around the back and extends inward even more where the right thumb grips the camera. The part of the rubber that extends farther has nine bumps on it to make sure thumbs don’t slip. 

At the top right corner of the LCD screen is a silver circular button with a face icon on it; this is the one-touch face detection button. Below this, and between the screen and the hand grip material, are two buttons: the top one switches the view between the LCD and viewfinder, while the bottom one activates the digital zoom to magnify images.

The multiselector is below this and is made of a central Menu/OK button and a surrounding ring that can be tapped in four directions to navigate around the menus. The right side of this ring has a flash icon on it to switch flash modes, while the left side activates the macro mode. Below the multiselector are two buttons: the left changes the display and the right one accesses the "F" menu options.

Left Side

From the left side, you can see the upper portion of the flash and the shoulder sloping onto the main portion of the camera. Just under the bend of the shoulder is where the wide silver neck strap eyelet is located. Below it is a plastic door with a very wide and somewhat bubbly finger grip; this opens to the memory card slot for an xD-Picture card. In the divot by the bubbly finger grip are a bunch of holes that make up the built-in speaker. At the very bottom of the left side is an L-shaped flimsy plastic cover that opens to reveal the three jacks: DC-in, AV-out, and USB.

To the left of all these features, the camera body slopes toward the lens. It is on this slope that a "10.7x Optical Zoom" label graces the center. Just above it is a switch that moves to the following positions that are labeled on the body: Continuous, Single, and Manual Focus. In the center of the switch is a tiny button that has what looks like a bow-tie icon; this is the one-touch auto focus button. From this side, the zoom and focus rings can be seen on the S6000fd.

Right Side

Compared to the left side, the right side is nearly featureless. It has only a matching wide neck strap eyelet that is partially set back into the camera body. The rest of the thick hand grip is covered by a rubber material that makes for more gripping and less slipping.****

**
**

**Top
**The top of the camera shows the S6000fd’s wide set shoulders and the hill just left of center that houses the pop-up flash. Atop the hand grip is where all the features are packed on the top – where the right hand can easily get at them. On the rear right corner is a quarter-sized mode dial with lines embossed in the sides for better grip. At the top right corner is the shutter release button, surrounded by the power switch that also activates recording and playback modes. There are two small buttons behind this feature. The one on the left activates the burst mode and the one on the right changes the exposure compensation.

**Bottom
**On the bottom of the hand grip is a strangely shaped battery compartment that houses four AA batteries. The door has a tiny plastic lock that slides into place. When it isn’t locked, the cover springs open and the batteries fall out if you’re not good and ready. Directly right of this door, and left of where the lens sits, is the quarter-inch tripod mount. The right side of the bottom is filled with serial numbers and boring information.

Components

**Viewfinder
**

The SLR-shaped Fujifilm S6000fd has an electronic viewfinder that is set within a nicely-cushioned eyecup. The rubber cup protrudes about an inch so that users won’t have to squish their noses onto the LCD screen – as much. The view jumps from the LCD screen to the viewfinder with a touch of the EVF/LCD button. The view is better on the LCD though because the viewfinder’s resolution isn’t very good. There aren’t any published specs on it, but the image looks awful in the viewfinder because of the poor resolution.

The viewfinder does have 100 percent coverage of the recorded image – but so does the LCD screen. The viewfinder has a diopter control that may also assist users wearing glasses; it turns to 8 different stops. There is a Disp/Back button that can be used to change the information shown on the viewfinder and LCD screen. The following views are available: blank screen, framing grids and file info, file info only, or three thumbnails of the last three shots taken on the left side of the screen with a larger live preview framed on the right. The diopter control is helpful and the eyecup is comfortable, but the resolution on the viewfinder makes it not as practical to use.

**LCD Screen
**

The LCD screen has much better resolution than the viewfinder. It measures 2.5 inches and has 235,000 pixels. The amorphous silicon TFT LCD covers the entire frame 100 percent, so in that sense it is just as good as the viewfinder. The screen can be viewed left to right very well, but isn’t so good viewing above and below the head. It solarizes quite easily when viewing from above or below.

The center of the LCD screen can be magnified by the magnifying glass button; this zooms digitally, so it doesn’t always look good. One of the best aspects of the LCD screen is the great refresh rate. It can be adjusted to 30 fps or 60 fps in the setup menu. The quick refresh rate along with the great resolution give the LCD screen a smooth view that isn’t found on many other digital cameras.
**

Flash**

The S6000fd has an i-Flash system that measures the lighting in the foreground and background and adjusts its output so as not to over-expose the subject and so that it can still keep natural details in the background. The flash component itself automatically pops up when needed; it cannot be manually pulled up. This is a problem when it comes to trying to snap a picture quickly; it takes just a little longer for the unit to pop out of the camera before the picture is recorded. The following flash modes are available from the right side of the multi-selector: Auto, Red-eye Reduction, On, Off, and Slow Synchro.

The Red-eye Reduction mode fires about three preflashes before the actual flash with the shutter; it seemed to work, since none of my test shot subjects came out with red eyes. The flash is quite powerful, extending fairly far. It is also raised so high above the lens that it can reach relatively close too. Here are the official specs: 1-18.4 ft in wide and 2-9.8 ft in telephoto with the auto ISO setting and 2-27.2 ft in wide and 6.6-15.1 ft in telephoto with the ISO 1600 setting.

If users aren’t sure whether to use the flash, there is a dual shot mode called Natural Light & With Flash. It is located with the scene modes in the menu with Natural Light. This mode snaps two pictures consecutively – one with flash and one without. The camera then displays both next to each other and saves them. Overall, the flash performed well and did what it said it would: the i-Flash system lit up subjects while still retaining most of the detail and lighting in the background.

**Zoom Lens
**

This digital camera earns its ultra-zoom classification with its Fujinon 10.7x optical zoom lens. The lens isn’t like that on most digital cameras. This one has zoom and focus rings and looks very much like it could be removed and interchanged. Don’t be fooled though. The lens remains on the camera body, but conversion lenses can be attached. Available on the market now is a 0.8x wide conversion lens equivalent to 22.4 mm. By itself, the lens measures 6.2-66.7 mm equivalent to 28-300 mm.

The lens is already considerably wide even without the conversion lens. It has an aperture of f/2.8 at its widest and f/4.9 at its most telephoto; this is decent for a lens with such a wide zoom range. The zoom is controlled by the large textured rubber ring that surrounds the lens barrel. The ring has a good grip and is very sensitive. Of note is the 58 mm filter diameter at the end of the lens and the 2x digital zoom available in the setup menu.

Design / Layout

**Model Design / Appearance
**Shaped like a DSLR and sized like one too is the Fuji S6000fd. This digital camera tries to emulate a DSLR in almost every way. It has a cushy eyecup with a viewfinder, it incorporates more buttons and controls on the body than compact cameras, and it even comes in a more professional looking black colored body. This FinePix is designed for consumers who want the look of a DSLR without having to cart around multiple lenses and a backpack of accessories. Fujifilm’s marketing material addresses this by flaunting the fact that dust cannot get into the sealed camera body.

**Size / Portability
**There are plenty of protrusions from the front of the camera, but at its largest the FinePix S6000fd measures 5.2 x 5 x 3.8 inches and weighs 23.3 oz with the card and batteries. The batteries add a few ounces of weight because there are four of them. The xD card doesn’t weigh much at all. This FinePix isn’t a camera to carry around with one hand or to dangle from a wrist. The S6000fd comes with a neck strap and will still require two hands or a bag to lug it around. There is a large hand grip that will make it slightly more comfortable to carry around, but the sheer weight of it is still a hindrance in its portability.

**Handling Ability
**The Fujifilm S6000fd has a chunky right hand grip covered in textured rubber that makes handling comfortable. The weight of the camera will require more than just a right hand to grip the camera though; it will need to be supported beneath the long zoom lens as well – and there’s plenty of room for that. The front of the hand grip has two divots in it that wrap around the front for the fingers to rest in – similar to bucket seats for fingers.

The hand grip wraps around the back of the camera too and extends to a spot with nine bumps where the thumb rests and certainly won’t slip. The textured rubber material is also on the zoom and focus grips on the lens. There is also thick soft rubber cushioning the electronic viewfinder. Overall, handling the S6000fd is comfortable if you have strong wrists for its 23.3 oz of weight.

**Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size
**

The number of buttons on the camera is more than a compact camera but less than a true DSLR. There are all sorts of dials and buttons, several of which are located at the top of the hand grip. The shutter release button is placed just where it should be at the front edge of the grip; it is surrounded by a power switch that rotates to recording and playback modes. Behind this feature are burst and exposure compensation buttons. These buttons aren’t very convenient because they have to be pushed in while also scrolling with the multiselector.

The large mode dial is on the back of the hand grip. On the side of the lens is a dial that switches between focus modes: single, continuous, and manual. The center of the button is the camera’s "one-touch" auto focus that works even in the manual mode. One of the easier buttons to use is the one-touch face detection button located to the top right of the LCD. In general, the buttons are properly sized and spaced and labeled. The only problems are the burst and exposure compensation buttons that have to be held while simultaneously scrolling with the multiselector.

**Menu
**The Fujifilm FinePix S6000fd has a menu system that splits the options up with the more frequently used settings located in a "F-Photo Mode" menu accessed by the "F" button on the camera. These are the options located in that menu.

This may be confusing to some users who like to have all their options on the screen at once, nicely organized of course. The rest of the menu items are found by pushing the Menu button. The following is the shooting menu that comes with several live previews beneath the overlay of text.

The setup menu is organized into four tabs; none of the tabs display more than can fit on one screen though, so there is no scrolling down and down and down involved. Here is the menu.

The menus in the Fujifilm FinePix S6000fd drive me a little crazy with ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, which I don't think are the easiest to read, but the organization is there. The split structure may also drive some users crazy. Another problem is that it is easy to cancel out of a menu feature and accidentally exit the menu system altogether. Overall, the menu system is just average.

**Ease of Use
**Ease of use is not this camera’s strong point. After hogging the S6000fd at the Fujifilm booth for a good long while, I wandered and watched other people pick up the camera. Many would pick it up, look through the viewfinder, watch the face detection technology work and maybe snap a picture or two, then look at it from arm’s length and put it down. Most people’s experience with the camera was brief and as a point-and-shoot. In my experience, the Fujifilm FinePix S6000fd wasn’t tough to figure out (I’ve worked with FinePix S-series digital cameras before, which may have helped) but some of the functions aren’t very intuitive. The menu system is split into a normal menu and a "F-Photo Mode" menu, which could be confusing. And some users may just think that there are too many buttons altogether to really get into this camera. The Fuji S6000fd does have an auto mode that really does turn this camera into a point-and-shoot with a very long lens. In general, however, this isn’t the easiest camera to use.

Modes

**Auto Mode
**The large mode dial has many positions on it, but the only position marked in text other than white is the Auto mode. The red-letter "AUTO" fully automates almost everything. The only options available are self-timer, burst, image size, color mode, macro and flash. The face detection button is also functional. The camera took decent pictures using the Auto mode in the convention center, which is really quite a feat in the odd lighting that is in there.

**Movie Mode
**The Movie mode has some really great features and some very undesirable quirks too. Let’s start with the specs. The camera records 640 x 480 and 320 x 240 pixels at the same 30 fps rate. Monaural audio is recorded too, and the playback volume can be adjusted. I turned up the volume but couldn’t hear it. This probably isn’t the camera’s problem though; there was a circus act going on behind me and a loud presentation about the Super CCD going on in front of me. However, the loud environment did make it challenging to hear anything at all. When videos are recorded, the 10.7x optical zoom lens is fully functional. This sounds great, right? There are a few problems with this though. Having a zoom ring is great for still pictures, but you have to learn to zoom slowly and smoothly (which is hard with such a sensitive ring) to keep those watching your movies from getting ill. There is also a slight delay in the auto focus system when the zoom lens is moved. The other undesirable feature is that there is no image stabilization system. Sure, you can use that long zoom lens but then the video could be horribly shaky.

**Drive / Burst Mode
**The burst mode is one of the more difficult functions to access. It has its own button behind the shutter release button, but it must be held down with the index finger while scrolling down with the multiselector. The following items appear on the menu: Off, Top 3, Auto Bracketing, Final 3, and Long Period. The Top 3 and Final 3 burst modes are the fastest available on the camera with a shooting rate of 2.2 fps. The speed doesn’t last though; a max of three frames is disappointing. The Long Period mode is much slower at 0.7 fps, but fills the card to capacity. The Auto Bracketing snaps three consecutive frames with different exposure levels, which can be changed in the recording menu. Of note here is the self-timer, which is available in the shooting menu with 2 and 10-second options.

**Playback Mode
**Playing back images on the Fujifilm FinePix S6000fd is typical of other digital cameras’ playback modes. Images can be viewed one at a time or in index frames of 9 per screen. When scrolling through pictures with the multiselector, there is a slight delay. It’s almost like when you’re surfing the internet and try to go back a page, and when it takes too long you push "back" again and again, and then all at once you end up six pages back. When looking at an individual picture, users can push the face detection button to view the same green and white brackets that appeared when shooting the picture. There are a few editing options available in the playback menu.

Voice memos can be added up to 30 seconds, but because of the circus and other various loud noises I was unable to hear it properly, so we'll have to wait until our full review to provide an adequate analysis of this function. From the "F" button, users can create print orders and play slide shows too. Pictures can be selected for printing and tagged with the date if desired. Slide shows can be played with the following effects: normal, face, fade in face, fade in, multiple, and clock. In general the slide show isn’t very elaborate. That goes for the playback mode too – not very elaborate but it does its duty.

**Custom Image Presets
**The Fuji FinePix S6000fd has quite a few scene modes. The more basic modes are located directly on the mode dial and allow access to options like the burst mode. These are Landscape, Portrait, Natural Light, and Picture Stabilization. To get to the dual shot mode, users must select the Natural Light mode on the dial and then enter the menu and select the Natural Light & With Flash option.

The Picture Stabilization mode is widely marketed, but is somewhat misleading. It sounds like an image stabilization system, right? Wrong. Instead, it boosts the ISO and quickens the shutter speed to reduce blur. This works in optimal lighting, but still doesn’t replace an optical image stabilization system that keeps noise levels low while keeping blur to a minimum. Other scene modes are found in the scene position on the dial: Sport, Night, Fireworks, Sunset, Snow, Beach, Museum, Party, Flower Close-up, and Text.

Control Options

**Manual Control Options
**The Fujifilm FinePix S6000fd has Manual, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Program modes along with a full set of manual ISO, white balance, focus, and other options. Read on for the details, but the general outlook on manual control is good.

**Focus
***Auto Focus*

The FinePix S6000fd is outfitted with a contrast-type through-the-lens auto focus system. It can be controlled in several different ways, selectable from the left side of the lens. There is a small switch that moves from Single to Continuous to Manual, much like similar controls found on Nikon DSLRs.

The auto focus frame can be set to Center, Multi, or Area within the shooting menu, and only when the Face Detection is turned off. The Face Detection auto focus system is functional when its designated button is pushed in. It calls up some interesting technology. The camera can recognize up to 10 faces in one frame as long as they are all facing the camera. The hardware-based technology shows green brackets around a "primary face," which seems to be the closest and largest face in the frame. Others are framed in white brackets.

Not only does it recognize the faces, but it tracks them too. It does a good job of recognizing faces quickly and focusing on them. The auto focus system had a slight lag in the movie mode, but that doesn’t show in the still image shooting modes. The only lag when taking pictures occurs when the flash pops up for the first time. The reliable auto focus system can focus as close as 0.4 inches to 3.3 ft in the super macro mode, 4 inches to 9.8 ft in the wide macro mode, 3-9.8 ft in the telephoto macro mode, and 1.3 ft to infinity normally.

Manual Focus 

When the manual focus mode is selected on the left side of the lens, users can focus with the ring surrounding the lens barrel. The live preview can be magnified in the center with the magnifying glass button. This view looks fine on the high-resolution LCD screen but looks terrible on the electronic viewfinder.

**ISO **

This digital camera’s ISO settings are available from the "F" button on the camera body. The Fujifilm FinePix S6000fd has 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, and 3200 manual settings along with an automatic setting. Fujifilm included noise reduction technology, but its effectiveness can’t be fully evaluated on the show floor of course. I magnified a picture taken with the ISO 3200 setting and it didn’t look very good though. The image looked like it’d been drawn on a piece of paper, dropped in a puddle, and dried in the sun. The edges looked fuzzy and the image was speckled and slightly discolored. My eyes could have been fooled though, so check back for a full review. The S6000fd comes with a Picture Stabilization mode that uses the higher ISO sensitivities along with quick shutter speeds to reduce blur. This highly marketed mode will likely produce more noise than a mode using an optical image stabilization system.

**White Balance **

The Fujifilm FinePix S6000fd has the following white balance options available from the shooting menu: Automatic, Manual, Shade, Fluorescent Daylight, Fluorescent Warm White, Fluorescent Cool White, and Incandescent. The manual white balance is easy to set with on-screen directions, but the colors still look a bit off.

**Exposure **

Photographers who want to adjust the exposure themselves will be pleased to know that the Fujifilm FinePix S6000fd allows control over the shutter speed and aperture, along with exposure compensation and such. A typical +/- 2 exposure compensation range is available in the typical 1/3 increments. The problem with this is that users must hold down the button with the index finger while scrolling with the thumb. There is a bracketing mode accessible in the burst mode options, and its intervals can be adjusted in the shooting menu. For users who want a close eye on the exposure in the preview, a histogram can be viewed with the Disp/Back button.

Metering

The shooting menu also houses the metering options – Multi, Spot, and Average – complete with a live view if you can see through the overlaid text. The Fujifilm S6000fd uses a 256-zone through-the-lens metering system that seems to work well.

Shutter Speed

The 30-1/4000th of a second shutter speed range can be accessed in the Manual and Shutter Speed Priority modes. In both modes, the shutter speed is changed by scrolling up and down with the multi-selector. The shutter speed range is decent on the S6000fd but some users may wish there was a bulb setting.

Aperture

The aperture can be adjusted in the Aperture Priority and Manual modes. In the priority mode, it is adjusted with the multi-selector much like the shutter speed. In the Manual mode, though, the exposure compensation button must be held down while simultaneously scrolling up and down with the multi-selector. The maximum aperture available on the Fujinon lens is f/2.8 in wide and f/4.9 in telephoto. The aperture can be adjusted in 1/3 increments for 13 steps up to f/11. This is a decent range that should suffice.

Image Parameters

**Picture Quality / Size Options
**Within the shooting menu, users can choose to shoot in CCD-RAW format. This does not compress the image at all so users can enjoy more flexibility with it later when color-balancing or otherwise editing on a software program. The RAW shooting takes up a lot of space on the memory card though. The camera can’t even fit one RAW file on its internal memory. The default image format for the camera is JPEG. The following image sizes are available from the "F" menu: 2848 x 2136, 3024 x 2016 (3:2), 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, and 640 x 480. The top resolution is available in Fine and Normal compressions and the other sizes are normally compressed.

Picture Effects Mode

Many digital cameras are including more elaborate color modes and in-camera editing effects. The Fujifilm FinePix S6000fd keeps a standard list though with Standard Color, Chrome, and Black & White options. The color modes all look decent and are nothing too outlandish. They can be found in the "F" menu.

Connectivity / Extras

**Connectivity
***Software*

The Fujifilm FinePix S6000fd comes with FinePix Viewer software, which includes a RAW file converter. The CD-ROM also has Image Mixer VCD2 LE for FinePix digital cameras.

Jacks, ports, plugs

On the left side of the camera is an L-shaped door with three jacks beneath it. They include DC-in, AV-out, and USB. The power adaptor is not included with the camera and is an optional accessory. The AV cable is included and can be adjusted to output in NTSC or PAL standards for playback anywhere in the world. The USB 2.0 hi-speed cable is included and transfers pictures to the computer, printer, or other USB-enabled device.

Direct Print Options

Users can print directly from the S6000fd through the playback mode and the "F" menu. There is a DPOF option that prints with or without the date and resets print orders altogether. Users can scroll through the pictures and select the number of prints to be made from 0-99.

Battery

The camera is powered by four AA batteries, which fit in a door on the bottom of the hand grip. Ever stuffed a suitcase so full that to close it you had to sit on top of it? That’s how it is with stuffing the batteries into the compartment. You really have to apply a lot of force to close the door, then slide a tiny plastic lock so it doesn’t bust open and puke out batteries. The S6000fd comes with alkaline batteries that get 200 shots per charge, but Fuji also sells Ni-MH rechargeable batteries that are reportedly more efficient.

Memory

The Fujifilm FinePix S6000fd comes with 10 MB of internal memory, which is enough to snap three pictures at the highest resolution but not enough to snap even one RAW image. The digital camera has a door on the left side that opens to reveal the card slot. xD-Picture cards up to 2 GB function in this camera. For photographers who want to utilize the movie mode frequently, 2 GB won’t seem like much.

Overall Impressions

**Value
**The Fujifilm FinePix S6000fd is already on sale in most markets for $499. This seems to be a bargain for all the interesting technology included on this camera. It is almost silly that some ultra-slim digital cameras cost this much. I checked out the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T50 just a few days ago and it doesn’t have manual control or much at all compared to the S6000fd but comes in a 0.9-inch sexy housing and sells for the same $499 price!

Sure, the Sony is a bit overpriced but the Fujifilm may be slightly underpriced too. It has a 6.3-megapixel Super CCD, a 10.7x optical zoom lens, and face recognition technology that is fast and useful. At a time when the prices of low-end DSLRs are falling to $599 or so, the Fujifilm FinePix S6000fd is still a good price because it already has a lens.

**Who It's For
***Point-and-Shooters *– These consumers will be intimidated by the number of buttons on the camera, but could certainly operate it in the Auto mode without a problem.

Budget Consumers – The S6000fd is a good price for all the great components and technology it packs. At $499, budget consumers come close to DSLR performance without having to purchase ten lenses and accessories.

Gadget Freaks – The face detection technology will definitely be the most interesting aspect of the camera to these folks. The camera can recognize a face as fast as .05 seconds and track it all while keeping it focused.

Manual Control Freaks – These consumers will be satisfied with the manual and priority modes along with the wide shutter speed, aperture, and ISO ranges. If you’re a control freak, this is your camera.

Pros/ Serious Hobbyists – The FinePix S6000fd could work as a backup camera or a camera that could perform similarly to a SLR and a bag of lenses. Pros will be impressed with the manual controls and blur-free pictures, but may not appreciate the 3-shot burst or the viewfinder resolution.

Conclusion

**Conclusion
**The Fujifilm FinePix S6000fd has a solid set of components on its sturdy body. The SLR-shaped camera has a Fujinon 10.7x optical zoom lens, a cushioned electronic viewfinder, and a 2.5-inch LCD screen with perhaps the best resolution on the market. The solid body is backed up with solid technology too. A 6.3-megapixel Super CCD is paired with a second generation RP Processor that is responsible for the camera’s flagship face detection technology.

The technology is activated easily with a designated button and works surprisingly well. The camera places brackets around up to 10 faces at a time – and does so very quickly. It then tracks the faces as long as they’re facing the camera. This technology is not only very interesting to watch, but quickly ensures that faces are always in focus for portraits and such. The S6000fd comes with a full manual to automatic range of controls and retails for the same price as many less sophisticated models. The Fujifilm FinePix S6000fd has a few strange quirks like the 3-shot burst mode, the lack of image stabilization, and the awful viewfinder resolution, but the $499 price tag and the other positive aspects of the camera are enough to look past those faults. Check back for our full review in the next month or so to find out how it performs in our battery of tests.