S9600 problems

[bonjen3]

I bought myself a s9600, and I am wondering if I made a mistake or if its due to me being a rubbish photographer. I am trying to take pictures of my 6 month old nephew. He move pretty quick so I need a fast shutter(@250) to avoid blur, its OK when Im outside and there is lots of light but indoors - where most of the pictures are taken its pretty poor lighting. I do try and position him near the window, have a wide aperature but I still get pretty dark pictures, if I change my ISO to anything above 400 the noise is too much and the grainy level is high. It is my 40th birthday soon and hubby has said that he would buy me a SLR if I want one but Im not sure whether to go for it or not.
Any advice would be welcome??

[amberjane]

I had the 9600 and it was great when I first started but I soon found the limitations of it frustrating.
Indoor shots always disappointed in low light. I think the only way you can over come this is attach an external flash and learn how to bounce the flash to give you more available light.
I gave up when mine developed a major fault and Fuji was less than helpful about fixing and brought myself the Samsung GX10 and the difference is huge
The Fuji can only take you so far and is a step towards the DSLR so I would take the hubby up on his offer

[bonjen3]

Thanks for your reply, I did think about buying an external flash but thought am I just throwing good money after bad. Its a shame as the camera takes great pictures in good light

[amberjane]

It does take good pictures in good light which is why even though it no long works in anything but auto ( the manual wheel is broken ) I still use it especially for Macro shots as I don't have a macro lens for my Samsung yet.

[dominic.christopher]

Hi I have been using the Fuji S9600 for about a year now and I am not a professional. Well I had a few assignments and I do agree that outdoor shooting is great, as I did some of an air show, F1 cars screaming pass me and outdoor scenery shot. However a part of my job involves me to click pictures of conferences and meetings in hotel ballrooms when there is a lot of movement of the subject and a tripod is not helpful as I need to move around. Still outdoor night shots are quite nice keeping the ISO really low but the bottom line is I have big problems shooting in dim light of people who can sit still. Any suggestions...Dominic

[victor.ghost]

Dim light is a bit tricky... especially is the subjects are moving... I had some issues with a kendo demonstrations a week ago, low light and lots of movement... In such conditions you either need a flash (i don't recommend it, i kinda hate flash) or you need to boost up your ISO (to an acceptable level). In a concert shoot (I have more experience with concerts than with conferences) I usually use ISO 200-400 and an exposure of 1/15-1/30 (1/45 if I'm lucky and the concert has a good lighting). even though some concert shots have motion imprinted, they tend to be good shots, don't know about conferences.

[Duncan Fraser]

I'm sure I've read somewhere that the manual wheel is a known problem with these cameras and if it breaks then fuji will replace it free of charge - might be worth contacting them.

[Fujiarmour]

Hi , I use the Fuji S9600 and I had the same problem until I started to use the natural light, position N on the menu wheel, you should find that you don't need flash also in conjunction try the three different positions on the spot metre. Hope this will work, please let me know.

[iansammutdacoutros]

I have been using the 9600 for a while and have managed to achieve some good shots with it, though there are a couple of little problems - and infact i now keep it as a secondary camera as I have also purchased a DSLR.

There are a couple of probs with the famous wheel at the top though these are physical probs, personally I have found that there are a couple of limitations in the actual design that are a bit too much to oversee.

Overall it is a good camera to have when out with friends and you wanna take some shots in general but for taking some serious shots i feel that it is a little bit short. Though the closest I can think of to a DSLR without the cost.