Click to see more photos of the Fujifilm FinePix IS-1.

Fujifilm has followed up on the success of its FinePix S3 Pro UVIR DSLR by releasing an EVF (electronic viewfinder) camera that offers infrared capture in a more affordable and compact package. While Fuji is marketing the FinePix IS-1 primarily for law enforcement and scientific purposes, it's worth a look from any digital photographer who misses Kodak HIE.

The IS-1 offers 9-megapixel resolution, an f/2.8-4.9 28mm-300mm (35mm equivalent) 10.7x zoom lens, a light sensitivity range of ISO 80-1600, and a flip-out LCD to supplement the high-res EVF. It captures RAW photos and smooth VGA-resolution video with sound, and can store your images on both CompactFlash and xD-Picture Card media. However, unlike the S3Pro UVIR, which has both ultraviolet and infrared capabilities with a range of 350-1000NM, the IS-1 is not sensitive into the UV, with a range of 400-900NM.

The IS-1 lens takes 58mm filters so that you can cut out most of the visible spectrum to produce mauve-tinted monochrome IR shots, or cut out the IR range to capture color or black-and-white images in the visible spectrum just as you would with any digicam. We'll be looking at how well the IS-1 handles both tasks, so check back soon for our full test results.

The IS-1 will be available in February 2007 at a retail price of $899, and comes with Fujifilm's Hyper Utility Software HS-V2 version 3 for RAW image processing and comparison.

Key Specifications

CCD Sensor: 1/1.6-inch Super CCD HR

Number of Effective Pixels: 9.0 Million Pixels ( Visible – IR   400nm 900nm)

Number of Recorded Pixels
Still image: 3,488 x 2,616 / 3,696 x 2,464 (3:2 format) / 2,592 x 1,944 / 2,048 x 1,536 / 1,600 x 1,200 / 640 x 480 pixels
Movie: 640 x 480 pixels (30 frames/sec.), 320 x 240 pixels (30 frames/sec.), with monaural sound

Storage Media
Slot No. 1: xD-Picture Card (16MB to 2GB)
Slot No. 2: CF Card and MicroDrive (compatibility listed on Fujifilm website)

File Formats
Still image: JPEG (Exif Ver. 2.2), CCD-RAW
Movie: AVI (Motion JPEG), (Design rule for Camera File system compliant / DPOF-compatible)

Recording capacity with 256MB xD Picture Card (not included)
Still image:
Resolution  ## Number of Pictures
• CCD-RAW ## 13
• 9MP (F) ## 56
• 9MP (N) ## 113
• 3:2 ## 113
• 5MP ## 204
• 3MP ## 325
• 2MP ## 409
• 0.3MP  ## 1,997

Movie:
Resolution Movie Length
• 640x480  Approx. 223 sec
• 320x240  Approx. 7.3 min

Lens: Fujinon 10.7x zoom lens, (F 2.8 - 4.9) (58mm lens threads)

Lens Focal Length: f=6.2 - 66.7mm/Equivalent to 28 - 300 mm on a 35 mm camera (IR and IR Cut Filters are Optional – 58mm)

Aperture Range: F 2.8 - F11, 13 steps in 1/3 EV increments Manual/Auto selectable

Digital Zoom ratio at Shooting: Approx. 2.0x (10.7x optical zoom lens is used together: Max. zoom scale: 21.4x)

Focus: Auto focus (Area, Multi, Center)/Manual focus/Continuous AF
AF assist illuminator available, Effective range: up to 3.5m (Wide angle)

Focus Distance
Normal: Approx. 1.3 ft. to infinity (wide), 6.6 ft. to infinity (telephoto)
Macro: Approx. 3.9 in. to 9.8 ft. (wide), 3.0 ft. to 9.8 ft. (telephoto)

Note: Certain functions are available only in the use of an infrared cut or "hot mirror" filter on the lens. Then IS-1 can capture a visible light image very close in quality to that of a standard digital camera.