new fujifilm F100fd

Summary: No aperture/shutter priority. And due to the 5x zoom, the large, square-ish lens barrel on the housing looks like trouble. Maybe the F50fd is a better choice.

a new fuji F camera, 12MP with the fuji super CCD sensor that, according to the reviews i've read, has by far the best high ISO performance. The new camera offers an ISO 12800 !!! mode in 3MP resolution. dcviews.com says something about a 380USD pricetag.

interesting features, copied from a dpreview.com preview article and fuji's announcement:

• SD/SD-HC cards supported
• 28mm equivalent wide lens
  
• good high ISO performance, low noise
• wide dynamic range comparable to the fujifilm S5 pro
• image stabilization (CCD shift)
• Dual Shot Mode: In this selectable mode, the FinePix F100fd quickly shoots two images in rapid succession – one with the flash and one without – and saves both.

some stuff that look like disadvantages especially for underwater photography

• 12 Mpixels
• 5x zoom. if the lens needs to extend too far, it may make it difficult to use wide angle wet lenses ( a problem that the canon G7 has for example)
• no aperture/shutter priority ?? is this true? that would be a deal breaker.

Fuji has announced also a matching housing (see this page for example).

The lens barrel looks big and square-ish. reminds me of the odd shaped lens barrel of the canon WP-DC11 housing for the G7 (and i guess the canon G9 housing as well). This is expected because of the 5x zoom which means that the lens length changes quite a bit from wide to all-zoomed-in. I am guessing that the housing will have the same issues with wide angle conversion lenses as the G7. Anyone has any info about that?

Also, I am guessing that the shadow from the lens barrel will render the internal strobe of the camera totally useless as in the case of the G7: If an item is close enough, you get a shadow. If it is far enough to avoid the shadow, well it is too far away for the weak internal strobe to give enough light.

Comparison with the previous model, F50fd

If indeed the F100fd camera has no Aperture/shutter priority, then it is a 'pass' for underwater photography. And it seems that this is the case, as mentioned on dpreview.com and according to fujifilm's website. a short comparison for underwater-useful features:

feature	F100fd	F50fd
SD cards	SD-HC	SD-HC
Image stabilization	CCD shift	CCD shift
lcd size	2.7in	2.7in
macro closest focus	5cm	7cm
Aperture/Shutter priority	NO ??	yes
aperture (wide)	f3.3-f9	f2.8-8
zoom	5x	3x
wide (35mm equiv)	28mm	35mm
u/w housing	weird lens barrel	yes
dynamic range function	yes	no