Fujifilm FinePix S1000fd review

If you like to get arty with your camera, a generous zoom range and manual exposure controls will let you shoot more creatively than most compacts allow.

'Ultra zooms' tend to be bulky and pricey, but Fujifilm bucks both trends with the S1000fd. It's not quite pocket-sized, but it's the smallest digital camera with a 12x zoom lens, and at £140 we reckon it's also the most affordable.

It looks smart, with its large 2.7 inch screen and generous smattering of controls. There are dedicated buttons for continuous shooting and face detection, and although there's no dedicated ISO speed control, it isn't hard to locate it in the menu. Manual exposure is easy to adjust, with a responsive histogram display to help you choose settings, although the aperture range is limited. We were more disappointed by the lack of manual focus. Auto-focusing is quick, but you have to wait three seconds between shots. Still, there's a 1.2 frames per second continuous mode for quicker bursts.

A bigger worry is the lack of optical image stabilisation to counteract camera shake and avoid blur. It's pretty much essential on an ultra-zoom, because telephoto shots are particularly susceptible to shake. The far end of the S1000fd's zoom is only really usable in sunlight or with a tripod.

Image quality is the saving grace. Our outdoor test shots were clean, amazingly sharp and bursting with colour. Indoor shots were a little scruffy, with high ISO settings bringing significant noise (graininess). But we were delighted to see Fujifilm is using less aggressive noise reduction, so noise is more visible but fine details aren't obliterated.

The S1000fd is a likeable camera, but the lack of stabilisation and manual focus make it less practical. We'd be more tempted by Fujifilm's S8000fd, which has now been superseded by the S8100fd but is still available for around £150. If money isn't so tight, consider Panasonic's FZ18, a phenomenal ultra-zoom camera that costs around £215.