There's pros and cons to everything =[

Luckily I already have a decent compact long-zoom therefore I'm aloud to purchase a DSLR too .. I've also got an old Fujifilm 200ix ZOOM Film camera and a little digital pocket camera I can take about with me .. if I can find it that is ! ~

A camera for every occasion ;]

C'mon Fred...

You still own me a fiver for my last review..... 

[serious mode on} It's all about what you want and what you need. For 99% of all photos taken today something like the HS20 will do a perfect job.

For the last 1% the extra 5+ grand are well spend if you (as a pro) get them back for a single photo.

It's just stupid to compare a Porsche 911 with a small Honda. Both have their rights on their own track. {serious mode off}

What a great ad for the HS20 if you want the DSLR Try Getting Ripped you to can to that in about a Year then Enter Mr Universe

Horses for courses but the HS20 is a pretty impressive piece of kit for the money.

Yeh come on Fred, can the HS20 take 7 frames in 3 seconds?  I don't think so.  Like Ray said, that lens was mostly hood.  Mind you,  that HS20 is a cracking bit of kit.  I sold my HS10 cos of the stupid little eyepiece. The eye detector was an unnecessary bit of an add-on.  Had it not been for that, I would not have gone and got myself a Canon.

Cheers

A conclusion I came to 7 yrs ago with my first dgital camera, a Fuji S3000. At the time I still carried a film SLR system around as well.  That lasted about 3 weeks. Now there's no way I'll give up my HS10 for an SLR, I really dont want to have to cart all that stuff about. Maybe if I was a pro .... but I'm not so why burden myself. yes I know the SLR with its bigger sensor is capable of much higher quality, but the HS10 is so good I don't need better. And then there's the financila aspect - £250 for a camera with a 30x zoom - you can just about buy an entry level SLR body for that!

Maybe the guy with the Nikon should have used the  18-200mm VR DX lens and cropped his shots to the same sensor size as the HS-20 , having said that I have just sold all my DSLR gear and brought a second hand s200exr , why ? I am only doing point and shoot stuff at the moment. but for specialist work I would always go back to a dslr

i am hppy with what i have with 3 canon dslr's eos 300/ eos300v/ eos500 and 1 cosina ct1  now 2 fuj's s9500 and hs 10 so where are the canons and cosina in the case's  i take out the 2 fuji's to old to carry the others now no way am i going to change now so fuji' are top with me  fuji's hs20 next .

 Can anyone help a silver surfer, I have just bought a S2950, and would like to d/load finepix to suit.

I do not know how.

S & F  Jim

Fuji all the way. I gave up my dslr and the vast array of bulky lenses. Obviously its horses for courses. My HS10 can go anywhere and I dont need to stress if it gets broken.

I have used the HS20 for a couple of months and cannot fault it. It's an amazing all rounded camera. If you have just bought one, I highly recommend to upgrade the software to revision 1.03 as there were two minor bugs already fixed (check the news section in this website for details).

The features that made me buy the HS20 (apart from the price ) were: you can use it in complete manual mode including a manual focus (unique in this category of cameras) without reducing the resolution at full zoom. I was amazed to be able to use a very old professional flash with this camera in manual mode. Yesterday I bought a release cable (Fuji #RR-80) and am looking forward to my results with long exposures at night.

Mine is all of a week old now, but what a week it's been, this camera is infectious! It has been a joy to use, now i'm getting familiar with it's incredible capabilities.

Many years ago when I started my apprenticeship, "that's my age given away!" at a Japanese Camera importer distributor in Newcastle, Staffs, (Minolta/ Ricoh). I always dreamed one day of owning a top end camera and taking pictures like Jurgen Schmidt.

I never really got into photography despite the tantalising array of SLR bodies, Cokin filters and Soligor lenses, I walked past every day.

Now I'm back working in the Middle East, I can finally afford to treat myself to a DSLR, but remembering those early days made me realise all that specialist kit needs to be lugged around. Changing lenses in a dusty place like Qatar just isn't an option, nothing ruins prime optics like dust and sand. (Believe me the damn stuff is everywhere!)

So when I saw this gem at less than half what I was willing to pay, it was a no brainer!

Why indeed, would anyone but a top professional want the drudgery of carrying all that weight, bulk and moneys worth of camera equipment about?

Fuji have hit on a great formula with the excellent HS20EXR, IMO the perfect entry level camera!