Fujifilm's 2015 superzoom bridge — a 50x zoom on a budget FinePix body.
The Fujifilm FinePix S9800 is a 50x superzoom bridge camera announced in January 2015 alongside the Wi-Fi-equipped S9900W, reaching shops that spring at around £230 in the UK. It is a classic SLR-styled bridge design from the last generation of Fuji's FinePix S-series.
Behind the headline 24-1200mm equivalent f/2.9-6.5 Fujinon zoom sits a 16.2MP 1/2.3-inch back-illuminated CMOS sensor with optical image stabilisation, a small electronic viewfinder, a 3-inch 460k-dot LCD and Full HD 1080/60i video. Distinctively for its era, it runs on four AA batteries rather than a proprietary lithium pack, which travellers either love or loathe.
The S9800 matters mostly as an accessible long-reach camera: 1200mm equivalent for pocket money makes it a perennial choice for casual wildlife, aviation and holiday shooters, and it turns up in volume on the UK used market because so many were sold through supermarkets and catalogue retailers. Image quality is honest small-sensor bridge fare - good in sunlight, soft at the long end and in low light.
Used examples are cheap enough that condition should be near-perfect: extend the zoom slowly through the full 50x range listening for motor whine or hesitation, check the stabiliser by half-pressing at 1200mm equivalent and watching the finder settle, and look for dust blobs against a plain sky at small apertures, since the sensor cannot be cleaned economically. Test the EVF/LCD switchover, make sure the battery door latch is intact (a known weak point on AA bridge bodies), and prefer examples with the lens cap and hood present.