By strange twist of fate or because of intervention from higher beings (or a PR agency) Fujifilm have announced another camera today to join the F20 - the FinePix S6500fd, a new sub-SLR camera. The styling and specification of the S6500fd are pretty much what you'd expect from a sub-SLR: a high resolution 6.3MP sensor, a 10.7x optical zoom lens (equivalent to 28-300mm) and manual control over all the settings via controls on the lens barrel.
However its under the [lens] hood of the S6500fd where the real magic starts, with the grand entrance of Fujifilm's new Face Detection technology. As the name suggests, FD can identify up to 10 faces in a scene and adjust focus and exposure to ensure people appear sharp and clear even if they move around. The top-priority face is surrounded with a green rectangle and the others are surrounded by white so you can see where the main point of focus is. FD technology has been around for a while, an example being Nikon's FaceIt, but the difference is that it is a hardware feature in the camera rather than software. As a result it is blisteringly fast in operation, only 0.05 seconds to run, instead of a longer pause in other cameras - which could make all the difference between a mediocre and outstanding.
Face detection is the latest part of Fujifilm's Real Photo Technology suite, which features in full on the S6500fd. This includes i-Flash (an intelligent flash system), Dual Shot mode and Picture Stabilisation. The latter is especially important as the camera offers super-high sensitivity of ISO equivalent 3200 to stop blurring of movement and camera shake, without Flash ruining the natural colours of the shot.
The camera will be released in October 2006, and the RRP shall be released nearer the time.
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