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| Click photo for more images of the Fujifilm Finepix IS-1. |
On the outside, there is virtually nothing distinguishing the Fujifilm Finepix IS-1 (Street: $800) from the Finepix S9100 (Street: $400) . Both are 10.7x EVF superzooms (28-300mm equivalent) featuring Fuji's 9MP Super CCD HR sensor. Both are built to look and feel like a compact DSLR with a lot of high-end features built in: RAW capture, pc sync and hotshoe, super macro that close-focuses to 1 centimeter, xD and CF card slots, in-camera multiple exposure mode, spot-, center-weighted and evaluative-metering, button-based operations for many shooting-specific functions and a solid build. Externally, the only difference is the pop-up flash housing -- on the S9100 it is black and gives the model number, on the IS-1, it's a kelly green and lacks the model number text.
But internally, these are two very different cameras. By purposely eliminating the IR cutoff filter from the IS-1, Fuji has made it one of the most unique EVF cameras on the market.
So, from a rather cynical point of view, you're paying upwards of twice the price of its visible-spectrum-only sister, because they left a piece out! (It's actually more than twice the price if you opt to get the kit with an external IR-cutoff filter, and IR passing/visible blocking filter kit!)
That's a rather steep upcharge for the omission of a postage-stamp sized piece of glass!
So, Is It Worth It?
The Fujifilm Finepix IS-1is certainly not for everyone, but for certain photographers, it is invaluable. Unlike even it's bigger IR/UV sensitive sibling, the S3 Pro UVIR DSLR, the IS-1 has real-time color IR preview due to its EVF design. With the UVIR, the live preview mode flipped up the reflex mirror and showed a grayscale preview for 30 seconds max. Then the IR shooter had to switch back to shooting mode and shoot blind with nothing showing in the viewfinder.
Not so with the IS-1. It is a case where the mechanics of EVF design, often considered "wannabe" DSLRs without full DSLR functionality, actually work in this camera's favor. The IS-1 has real-time IR preview in color, either through the electronic viewfinder or via the articulated LCD screen, just like a visible-spectrum-only EVF.
What does this mean? It means the forensics photographer can search for evidence much more efficiently. It means the creative IR photographer can actually compose and focus the image through the viewfinder, as opposed to having to shoot blind and hoping that focus and composition are close to his or her vision. In many of our field tests, we were able to achieve focus through the dark IR filters in high-contrast situations. That opens up a lot more subjects to infrared capture -- sports, moving wildlife, and other subjects that aren't content to sit still while you fiddle away with filters and framing and IR hyperfocals.
But there's a caveat -- not one about the performance or functions of this camera, which are class competitive in terms of color accuracy, resolution and noise when the external IR cutoff filter is attached, nor about the impressive live-view Infrared capture -- but with Fujifilm's User Licensing Agreement.
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