FujiFilm FinePix S5000: Great Looking Mid-Range Digital Camera that Feels Like an SLR
Over the weekend, a bridal shower was held for my sister, Julie Aiello, who will be married to Robert Howson in April. I "made an appearance" in order to help setup the party room, entertain the groom-to-be while the shower was taking place, take photos at the end, and probably most importantly, help with post-shower gift logistics.
During the picture taking part of the shower, my sister's bridesmaid, Marijo Yates showed me her FujiFilm FinePix S5000, a 3.1-megapixel digital camera with a rather unique design that includes a 10X optical zoom. This is a very substantial feeling camera which feels surprisingly more like a film-based 35mm SLR camera or a Canon EOS Digital Rebel the more compact designs typical of this price range. However, I liked the way it felt in my hands and I could see shooting a lot of pictures with it.
I really liked the fact that it had both a 1.5-inch LCD display on the back of the camera body and a 0.33-inch electronic viewfinder. However, the button to switch between the two seemed slightly counter-intuitive to me when I first picked up the camera. That's probably because I expected the viewfinder to be a traditional through-the-lens type, like the one on my old standby Nikon N50 35mm SLR.
Some of the reviews I've seen of the FinePix S5000 are somewhat critical of FujiFilm's choice of JPEG compression methods because this camera will shoot a 6.1 megapixel raw image (2,816 x 2,120 pixels) but typically stores images in JPEG format at a 3.1 megapixel effective resolution (2,048 x 1,536 pixels). In my opinion, you can look at this from two different perspectives. Most regular folks are going to find the 3.1 megapixel JPEGs that this camera produces fine for most applications, including traditional 8 x 10 inch photo prints to frame and hang on the wall.
Camera enthusiasts may look at this camera as an economical way to shoot good to very good quality 6.1 megapixel raw images. Compare the price of the S5000 to higher-end cameras like the soon-to-be-released Fujifilm FinePix S7000 or the current prosumer digital camera gold standard, the Canon EOS Digital Rebel. I think you'll agree that the S5000 represents a substantial savings, if you know how to get the most out of it or can pick up advanced digital camera shooting techniques.
I'm not that familar with the storage media that the S5000 uses, XD Picture Cards, nor the economics of it relative to CompactFlash or Secure Digital cards. I'll have to familiarize myself with the storage format and do a little comparison shopping to see whether this was a good choice for FujiFilm to make.
I was really impressed with the fact that my sister's friend Marijo had a FujiFilm FinePix S5000. This is not your see-one-everyday, fits-easily-in-your-pocket digital cameras, and it shows that she and her husband have done some careful shopping in order to make this choice. I think it's a very good camera for the money, and I know that a lot of Operation Gadget readers could get a lot out of it.
Comments
nice review - thanks for that...i've been wondering about it.
Posted by: Darren Rowse | February 24, 2004 9:44 PM
I have had the Finepix S5000 for about three months now and I'm am happy with the purchase. You can't beat the price for a 10x optical zoom. The pictures are not perfect but are what one would expect from a digital camera under 6 megapixels. I really take the camera every where I go because it is small enough to take with you. And the 30 fps video is like a video camera. The video is extremely smooth and looks great on a TV. As for the xd picture cards, FujiFilm made a wise choice in their selection. Thought the cards may be slightly more expensive than the competition, the xd picturecard format is 3 times faster than Compact Flash card and requires half the power. That means the images are saved to the memory faster allowing you to take consecutive pictures quicker and does not eat up the battery power in the process. Also, the battery life of this camera is better than any other digital camera on the market. It takes four AA batteries which might seem illogical but I prefer it over built in batteries. First you can purchase AAs anywhere, second, you can buy Nickel Metal Hydride batteries that recharge in 15 minutes and hold much more power than alkaline batteries. One site showed the camera lasted 5.5 hours straight taking pictures with flash and the LCD screen on. They went through hundreds of pictures before the power died. And they used 1300 mAh batteries (amount of power the batteries hold) while 2300 mAh batteries are widely available now, probably adding a couple more hours of continuous, non-stop picture taking. I charge my batteries every two weeks and I used the camera a lot.
Hope this is useful. Email me if you have questions. Thanks.
Posted by: Kevin | March 9, 2004 11:50 PM
I have had the Finepix S5000 for about three months now and I'm am happy with the purchase. You can't beat the price for a 10x optical zoom. The pictures are not perfect but are what one would expect from a digital camera under 6 megapixels. I really take the camera every where I go because it is small enough to take with you. And the 30 fps video is like a video camera. The video is extremely smooth and looks great on a TV. As for the xd picture cards, FujiFilm made a wise choice in their selection. Thought the cards may be slightly more expensive than the competition, the xd picturecard format is 3 times faster than Compact Flash card and requires half the power. That means the images are saved to the memory faster allowing you to take consecutive pictures quicker and does not eat up the battery power in the process. Also, the battery life of this camera is better than any other digital camera on the market. It takes four AA batteries which might seem illogical but I prefer it over built in batteries. First you can purchase AAs anywhere, second, you can buy Nickel Metal Hydride batteries that recharge in 15 minutes and hold much more power than alkaline batteries. One site showed the camera lasted 5.5 hours straight taking pictures with flash and the LCD screen on. They went through hundreds of pictures before the power died. And they used 1300 mAh batteries (amount of power the batteries hold) while 2300 mAh batteries are widely available now, probably adding a couple more hours of continuous, non-stop picture taking. I charge my batteries every two weeks and I used the camera a lot.
Hope this is useful. Email me if you have questions. Thanks.
Posted by: Kevin | March 10, 2004 12:01 AM
These comments contributed to my purchase! So far, no complaints. One question though: any ideas about the specifications of the 5V charger? Prices in the UK for the Fuji model are 3 times what I might pay from an electronics shop - assuming I know what to ask for!
Any info will be gratefully received.
Thanks
Ian
Posted by: Ian | April 6, 2004 8:24 PM