Should I upgrade?

You should wait before you upgrade…

It's tempting to upgrade to another camera with supposedly better features…BUT…before you do…go to http://www.flickr.com and do a search for your camera model: fujifilm s9000. There you will see some great shots taken by other photographers using your same camera. Look at the info for each photo and note the settings they used and see if you can duplicate the results. You will gain more appreciation for what your camera can already do.

Eventually, you will have a much better understanding of exactly what you want in a newer or different camera.

Mike

By the way, I saw one of your images and ran it through DxO Optics Pro…

Before:

After some contrast adjustment and slight saturation bump:

Bob, Ric and Micheal have given you good recommendations. I would add that it is a mistake to take a new camera on a trip. Learn a new camera at home. VR helps control your handshake it will not help to freeze action. A tripod, lighting aids and slowing down will be your best friends. Finding your sharpest aperture and using a tripod will help give you sharper images. Still you will have to deal with the wind. Seems like you have figured out from your last session how to get better images. Keep up what you did and try to improve instead of a new camera.

Thanks again guys. I'm sticking with my camera.

I'll try to increase the aperture, but what shutter speed do you think I'll need to freeze plants that are shaking in the wind? Unfortunately there's no wind around my house today for me to find out myself. I'd like to stop down the lens until I reach that shutter speed so that I still freeze the image, but get as much depth of field as possible.

Eugene,

Start with 1/100th of a second and go from there.

There are two approaches to setting shutter speed: manual (shutter priority) and automatic (aperture priority "A" mode, or Program "P" mode).

Shutter Priority:
First set your ISO (start at ISO 100). Then put your camera in shutter priority ("S") mode and you can vary your shutter speed up or down and the camera will change the aperture as necessary. If the camera cannot set a wide enough aperture (ie: low number) for the shutter speed you want, then increase the ISO a bit. Some cameras also have an auto ISO setting that will increase the ISO if there is not enough light.

Aperture Priority (automatic shutter speed):
First set your ISO (start at ISO 100). Then put your camera into Aperture Priority ("A") mode. Change your aperture to get at least 1/100s shutter speed. If you cannot get the depth of field for the shutter speed you want, then increase your ISO.

"P" mode makes all of the decisions for you. Sometimes it works out great and you don't have to think about it.

Let me know if this helps.

Mike