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Home / Reviews / Digital Cameras / Spotlight Review: Fujifilm FinePix S4000 Digital Camera with 30x Zoom Lens

Spotlight Review: Fujifilm FinePix S4000 Digital Camera with 30x Zoom Lens

Overall Ratings
Cool factor: 
8
Features
Connections Type: USB
Image Stabilizer: Optical
LCD size: 1 in or more
Senior Friendly
Image Stabilizer: Optical    
Fujifilm's new S4000 digital camera is a good camera for seniors who want something more than a point-and-shoot. Its main feature is an unbelievably long zoom lens; the thing goes from the equivalent of a 24mm wide angle to a super-long 720mm. Most pro cameras don't have that kind of reach, even with the addition of a $10,000 600mm lens. And that lens weighs about 12 pounds, or more than 11 pounds more than the Fujifilm S4000. It offers many features of modern point-and-shoots, like intelligent auto mode, optical image stabilization, high sensitivity (ISO up to 6400, great for low light shooting), smile and blink detection, and more. It doesn't have a lot of manual functions, even focus and zoom are camera-controlled only. It shoots HD video at 720p as well. The focus works fairly quickly and can track moving subjects. If you want to shoot your kids or grandkids playing soccer or football, this will work, and can shoot up to 8 frames per second for up to 20 frames, to capture the action of those great plays. Don't expect it to respond as fast as an interchangeable lens DSLR, it takes a few seconds to start up and some functions take a while. As someone who works with professional DSLRs for a living, this can be a little frustrating to me, but for many people, it won't matter at all. And for $240, you don't expect it to be as fast as a DSLR that costs many, many times more. There are tools to tag images for easy uploading to social media websites, like Facebook and YouTube. If you like to show off your images to friends while they're still on the camera, but hate searching through every picture you've taken, the search features built into the camera will help. You can search by name or location. The latter is perfect for showing off your Italian vacation.
  • 14-megapixel CCD sensor; 30x wide-angle optical zoom lens
  • Motion Panorama shooting mode
  • 720p HD movie capture
  • Easy upload to Facebook and YouTube
  • 14 million effective pixels; 1/2.3 inch CCD sensor; 30x optical zoom lens plus approx 6.7x digital zoom
  • 3.0 inch color TFT LCD monitor plus electronic viewfinder; HD MPEG4 movie 720p with sound
  • 6 scene SR AUTO recognition; Motion Panorama mode with auto stitch; Auto image rotation in playback
  • Dual image stabilization; Face and Blink Detection; Smile and Shoot mode; Auto red-eye removal; Tracking auto focus
  • USB 2.0 High-speed; HDMI mini connector; Video output NTSC / PAL selectable; SD/SDHC memory card slot (card NOT included)
  • For more information or to purchase a Fujifilm FinePix S4000 digital camera, visit Amazon.com.   Read the Eldergadget Guide to Digital Cameras.


    Main Features

    Product type Digital Cameras
    Price: $200 - $300
    Manufacturer: Fujifilm
    Connections Type: HDMI output
      USB
    Digital Camera Type: Full body
    Flash Memory: SD Memory Card
      SDHC memory card
    Image Stabilizer: Optical    
    LCD size: 1 in or more
      2 in or more
      3 in or more
      2.7 in
      3 in
    Resolution: 10 megapixels
      12 megapixels
      6 megapixels
      7 megapixels
      Less than 5 megapixels
      More than 12 megapixels
      14 megapixels

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    Comments
     
     
     
    • Barry Bass 08-25-2011 03:55 PM
      Kindly give me a comparison, rundown, and suggestion when analyzing the pros and cons between the Fuji s4000, and the Panasonic Lumix FZ100 with Leiica lens. Lumix only weighs 1.2lbs. Will the extra 120mm that Fuji gives up to 720mm (Lumix 600mm), create problems when shooting at that distance. Unless you are always carrying around a monopod, or tripod? Both Fuji and Lumix have built-in image stabilizers. So, tell me what you think comparing the two cameras. I await your answer before I make the purchase. Thank you.