Good all round camera, particularly the 28-300 fixed zoom lens. Plenty of manual settings for creative photography. Good flip LCD. Takes good photos and videos. Sanyo Eneloop batteries are excellent to drive the camera in harsh condition. I give this camera 9 out of 10
When videoing, the camera flips back to B&W in a very very low light situation.
Very occasionally the camera freezes (locks up) after saving a photo. The fix is to open battery cover to cut the power, then it works properly after closing cover.
There is no setting for an indefinite time exposure, although I suspect the electronic noise from all makes of digital camera would eventually create a bad shot.
This camera has lots of scope for the photographer who wants to be creative. The colour and sharpness of images is excellent. I was finding that rechargeable battery life was very limited particularly in very cold (snow) conditions. Then I purchased some Sanyo Eneloop AA rechargeable batteries. The battery performance is outstanding and I can now completely fill a 2Gb Flash Card with photos, then almost fill another on one set of batteries. These batteries hold up to 85% of their charge for 12 months, so their not flat when left in the camera for a few weeks. They cost around $30 AU for a set of 4 AA's.
Anyway for those critics of battery life, have a good look at these Sanyo batteries.
I have used this camera extensively in caves and in sync with many slave flashes. It has produced some outstanding results. Also the cameras has been used extensively in the snow, rainforest, canyoning and even canoeing. A Pelican case is the best for protecting the camera until your ready to use it in the harsh environment.
In my view, the advantage of not having to change lenses in dusty or damp conditions puts this camera well in front of the SLR's. Any dust on the CCD can spell disaster when you have spent a full day getting to the remote location. For instance if you have been crawling through a cave for 8 hours and covered in mud, there is no way of cleaning a dusty CCD. Hence the changing of an SLR's lens is definitely out. This is where the Fujifilm FinePix S9600 is excellent with the 28 - 300 fixed zoom lens. The flip screen on the back is very handy for those awkward angles - high or low. The real time viewfinder is excellent for photographing as well as playing back the shots which are stored on the Flashcard. The big advantage is the diopter adjustment on the viewfinder, which means that I don’t need prescription glassed to view the photos and check on focus.
The Camera handles focusing in the dark very well and even the torch beam is enough to generate a reasonable real time image on the LCD at the back of the camera - very handy for framing the picture in the dark.
Overall I give this camera 9 out of 10