 Today Fujifilm announced the Fujifilm Finepix S1500 (specs), an advanced compact built to fulfill the needs of experienced shooters at a highly affordable price point. Side by side, the new Finepix S1500 is structurally identical to the Finepix S1000fd, but we're looking at a relatively different animal underneath the hood.
First off, Fujifilm is adding Tracking Auto Focus to the Fujifilm FinePix S1500, a system that functions by pressing the shutter button halfway to lock a subject in target, following the movement of that subject throughout the entire frame. We've seen the same technology from the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX500, and it's a feature available on most of the company's new compacts for 2009. We'll give you the skinny on how effective Fujifilm's new Tracking Auto Focus feature really is when we get our hands on a Fujifilm FinePix S1500 this year.
We're also looking at Dual Image Stabilization on the Fujifilm FinePix S1500. Although we'd optimally prefer Optical Image Stabilization, Dual Image Stabilization is a close second, utilizing sensor shift technology and high sensitivity levels in order to reduce blur. The Fujifilm FinePix S1500 now has a max ISO of 6400, which is gradually becoming the norm within the compact world. However, like most cameras that feature this absurdly high ISO level, the Fujifilm FinePix S1500 can only capture 3-megapixel images at such a boosted sensitivity level.
The Fujifilm FinePix S1500 also features a new Instant Zoom function that automatically tracks a moving subject and captures an image when the camera is zoomed in. Instant Zoom looks like it will come in handy for shooting fast moving subjects at high ratios, like when you attempt to capture your friend doing a wheelie, but the tight frame of a full zoom makes it difficult to capture all of the bike. This is one test we're definitely taking on once riding season hits.
The Fujifilm FinePix S1500 also has a new Scene Recognition Auto mode in which the camera automatically chooses from six different Scene modes in order to best suit a shooting environment. Auto Scene mode is raging in popularity at the moment and most compacts are equipped with the feature. For playback, Fujifilm added a new Thumbnail View mode, which displays up to 100 micro thumbnails on the LCD for rapid image selection. Just make sure you have your reading glasses handy because those thumbnails are not large, based on what we've seen from other compacts with the same feature.
Technically, the Fujifilm Finepix S1500 is nearly identical to the S1000fd, sporting the same 12x optical zoom fixed lens, 1/2.3" CCD, and running on four AA batteries. The only minor divergences between both compacts are a slightly wider aperture range and ISO 6400 ceiling on behalf of the Finepix S1500fd. The Fujifilm Finepix S1500 will ship in March for $250.
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