Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro

RRP: £ 1,249 body only

User: Digital SLR over £1,000: Aimed at Enthusiasts & Professionals

While other camera manufacturers have been trying to fit more and more megapixels on a sensor, Fuji has been developing and improving its Super CCD, which promises to capture a wider dynamic range than other types of sensor.

Daniel Lezano takes a close look at the S5 Pro to see if its performance really does set it apart

HOW MANY MEGAPIXELS has it got?’ Without doubt, that’s the question every prospective digital SLR buyer will ask when choosing a camera. And that’s no surprise really, as the pixel count has always been used as the gauge of image quality. And sure enough, the argument is compelling: the more pixels you have, the bigger the file size and the larger you can print your pictures and so on. However, this is quite a naive way of determining image quality as there are many other factors that have a major influence. These include the size of the actual pixel site, the processing used to create the image and the optical quality of the lens fitted to the camera. And while sharpness and colour reproduction are two of the main criteria used when discussing image quality, another major area that needs looking at is the dynamic range. This term relates to the highest and lowest signals the pixel can generate and in practical terms means how much shadow and highlight detail can be recorded in a single exposure. With this in mind, we have the FujiFilm S5 Pro and its Super CCD Pro sensor, which promises to capture a wider dynamic range than conventional sensors.

Handling & ease of use

While Fujifilm is not able to confirm it, there is little doubt that the FinePix S5 Pro is based on the Nikon D200. Which, anyone who has handled the D200 will verify, is a good thing. The S5 Pro feels like a camera made for serious use – something its predecessors didn’t really manage. The body is quite large and feels very substantial, with the rubberised handgrip really assisting its handling and allowing for one-handed use. All the buttons and controls are large and well marked, so pros looking to work quickly wont have to worry about fiddly controls with this camera. There are quite a number of buttons to be found, mainly on the top-plate and the camera's rear and while their functions are clear enough, the level of customisation and adjustments the camera allows, as well as its range of features, means that it will take a while to learn everything properly. That’s not a complaint about the camera, it's just that with so much on offer, you’ll need to keep the instruction book (which, incidentally is comprehensive) with you until you’ve worked out how to find and select the S5’s many facilities.

The viewfinder on the Fuji is excellent, with a large and bright screen, showing markings not only for the 11 AF points, centre-weighted metering circle but also a ‘No memory card warning’ symbol. Along the base of the viewfinder is an exposure readout which includes a very comprehensive display, including the metering pattern, exposure compensation scale and ISO rating. There’s a dioptric correction dial for spectacle wearers and a decent viewfinder hood – although, as with most other SLRs, it’s easily dislodged and lost (sorry Fuji!). The top-plate houses the main camera controls, with the left dial allowing Quality, White Balance, ISO and shooting mode (single or continuous) to be quickly set. While the first three of these parameters can be selected via the on-screen menu system, it’s very useful to have controls for them available for fast access. On the right of the top-plate is a large, traditional LCD panel, along with buttons to select the exposure mode and exposure compensation.

While the S5 Pro might prove intimidating to an SLR newcomer, experienced photographers (in particular Nikon users) will most likely quickly get to grips with the main operations of the S5 Pro, while learning how to use its more unique facilities with time.

Features

As you’d expect of a camera aimed at serious enthusiasts and professional photographers, the S5 Pro has plenty on offer. At Its heart is the 12.34-megapixel Super CCD Pro sensor built into a lightweight and durable magnesium-alloy body. Its autofocus system uses 11 AF sensors spread to cover a wide area of the frame. The full range of standard AF modes (such as activating all or a single point) are available and you are also able to select a cross-pattern of five AF sensors as well as offer predictive focus tracking for when a moving object momentarily shifts out of focus or is obscured by another object. The metering system is equally comprehensive, with the highly rated 3D Colour Matrix Metering II system as well as spot (2% metering area) and centre-weighted average patterns. The serious intentions of this camera are clearly evident when you note that only the core four exposure modes are included (program, aperture-priory, shutter-priority and manual).

Unlike many pro models, the Fuji has an integral flashgun using iTTL flash metering, which has a proven track record of delivering consistently accurate exposures. The rear LCD monitor has a bright 2.5in display and with the mirror lock-up engaged, offers Live View in either colour or black & white.

Other features to note are an ISO range of 100-3200 and a top shutter speed of 1/8000sec. Multiple exposures are available, so you can shoot between two and ten exposures on one frame. The Face Zoom In function has been designed to allow you to quickly zoom into an viewed image to check the subject’s face (see Final Thought on page 146 for more on this), while on top of the usual modes for adjusting colour saturation and contrast, there is a film simulation mode to mimic different types of emulsion (see panel).

So what’s missing? Well, there is no sensor cleaning system and no body-integral shake reduction, although several Nikon lenses boast VR (Vibration Reduction). And that’s about it.

Performance

It’s time to get to the crunch – let’s cover the Dynamic Range first. Take a look at our comparison shots of our backlit portrait and its evident that Fuji has something when it comes to extending the Dynamic range. Comparing the standard (100%) to the extended range (400%) image, which effectively gives an extra two stops of information, you can see the extra detail in the highlights when the extended Dynamic Range is selected. This will prove particularly of interest to wedding photographers capturing shots of the bride in bright sunlight, as more detail can be retained in the white dress. The image quality in general from the S5 Pro is excellent, with very high sharpness and excellent colour reproduction. I particularly liked the F2 setting for general scenics, which add a fair bit of punch to the image, in terms of colours and contrast. As with all cameras, the Auto White Balance setting is good, but more accurate colours are achieved if you set the respective White Balance preset for the conditions. The S5 Pro is also very good at controlling noise, but at ISO 1600 and at ISO 3200 in particular, the noise reduction facility does soften the image slightly, so stick to a maximum of ISO 1000 whenever possible. The autofocus system works well for general use, although I wasn’t able to try it out against fast-moving subjects. The exposure system was excellent, with most shooting situations handled brilliantly by the 3D Matrix system. Only strongly backlit subjects proved a problem. The integral flash worked very well too, providing good flash coverage and the right balance of fill-in.

Where the S5 Pro falters a little is in its speed of processing. Shoot Raw and JPEG simultaneously and you’ve got a wait before you can preview images on the LCD monitor. This problem is accentuated when you’re shooting bursts. It’s far better at processing than the S3 Pro, but is slower than rivals from Canon and Nikon.

Fuji FINEPIX S5 PRO

Type: Interchangeable lens digital SLR
Lens mount: Nikon F mount
Sensor: 23x15.5mm Super CCD SR Pro: 12.34-million effective pixels (S-pixel: 6.17-million & R-pixel 6.17-million)
Max image size: 4256x2848 pixels
Effective focal length increase: 1.5x
Viewfinder: Fixed eye-level type. 0.94x magnification & 95% frame coverage
Autofocus: 11-point AF with AF assist illuminator. AF-area mode: Single-Area AF, Dynamic-Area AF, Dynamic-Area AF with closest subject priority and Group Dynamic AF modes. AF servo modes: Single-servo AF(S), Continuous-servo AF(C) and manual focus
Exposure modes: Program, aperture- & shutter-priority and manual
Metering: 1005-segment RGB sensor. 3D Colour Matrix II, spot and centre-weighted. Exposure compensation +/-5EV (in 1/3, 1/2 and one-stop steps)
Flash: TTL flash with 1005-pixel RGB sensor; i-TTL balanced fill-flash. Integral flash: Guide Number 12 (ISO 100, m); Coverage angle: up to 18mm lens
White Balance: Auto, standard lighting presets with fine-tuning & user-preset
Storage media: CompactFlash
(Type I/II) and Microdrive
File formats: Raw, JPEG
ISO Range: AUTO, ISO 100-3200
Flash sync to 1/250sec
LCD Monitor: 2.5in 230,000 pixels TFT
Power: Rechargeable Lithium-ion
(NP-150) battery
Other features: Continuous shooting (up to three frames-per-second); Film Simulation modes; Self-timer; multiple exposure facility; PC flash-sync, USB 2.0 Hi-speed & Video-Out sockets
Dimensions: 147x113x74mm
Weight: 830g (body only)

Film Simulation mode

As with other digital SLRs, the S5 Pro has menu options that allows you to vary the colour saturation and contrast of images. Additional to that, it has a Film Simulation mode that allows you to replicate popular types of films. As you'll see from the list below, special emphasis is given to portraiture (settings F1-F1c), as Fuji expects it to be popular with portrait, fashion and wedding photographers in particular, Note that you can fine tune any of the film settings (other than Standard) to your own preference. As a long-term fan of Velvia (and slide film in general), I found myself using the F2 'Fujichrome' setting when shooting landscapes and general scenery due to the vibrancy of the colours.

Supplied software

Fuji's supplied software consists of FinePix Viewer and FinePix Studio. Viewer is for organising and browsing images, while Studio is the workhorse for converting Raw files to 16-bit TIFFs or JPEGs. Both look OK and offer a fair amount of features, but on our office Apple iMacs (1Gb RAM and 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo), FinePix Studio was very slow when viewing and converting batches of Raw files.

RAW + JPEG

You can shoot simultaneously in Raw and JPEG. You can set the camera to shoot JPEGs in three different resolutions (selected as L, M or S)

Nikon F-Mount

The S5 Pro has a Nikon F-mount but compatibility varies according to the type of lens. DX-, D- & G-series AF lenses are fully compatible but for details of older series, visit www.fujifilm.co.uk Fuji Super CCD SR PRO Fuji introduced its Super CCD around six years ago and the S5 uses its latest version yet, the Super CCD SR Pro, which boasts a 12.34-megapixel resolution. Now, unlike other sensors, Fuji pairs up 6.17-million larger ‘S’ photo-diodes, which deal with the main exposure information, with 6.17-million smaller ‘R’ photo-diodes, which detects bright area information. What Fuji aims with its Super CCD is to produce a sensor where each pixel site (made up of the ‘S’ and ‘R’ photo-diodes) capture extra exposure information compared to a conventional pixel. In particular Fuji claims that this sensor captures a much wider dynamic range (i.e. than other types of sensor. We’ll obviously be looking at these claims in our test.