ISO comparison
The Fujifilm FinePix S1 might look like a dSLR, but it is a small-sensor compact camera and while the pictures are certainly very good, they might disappoint some users expecting top-notch photo quality considering the camera's size and price.
As is the case with most cameras in its class, viewing the S1's shots at 100 percent on screen will show quite a bit of noise and artifacts and fine details even at its lowest ISOs aren't exactly clean and sharp.
Shooting out in the daylight, though, you can get very good results from the FinePix S1. If, however, your goal is to make poster-sized prints after enlarging and heavily cropping in, you won't like the results. Likewise, if you're a birder or stalker of some other wildlife who wants to view fine details of distant subjects, this might not be good enough for your needs.
It's also not particularly good at ISOs above 400 as noise reduction gets stronger and smears details making subjects look soft at small sizes. There can also be a significant amount of purple fringing in high contrast areas.
Full-size samples
This picture as well as those that follow are available for download to view at 100 percent. These are large files, though, so they may take a few seconds to open. All were taken at ISO 100 unless otherwise noted.
Waterfall
This was taken in HDR mode. You can see what a normal shot from the camera would look like in the upper left corner. View at full size.