297: FUJI S5 PRO review...

Ok two days ago I gave some insights on the Nikon D5000. So now let's continue with a little insight on the Fuji S5 pro.

Disclaimer: This isn't a scientific test or a "real" review, just my views on this camera.

First and foremost: A Fuji? Thought you use Nikon? Well, the Fuji S5 pro is based on the Nikon D200. It shares the same body and therefore the same lens mount, but this is where the similarities end. Fuji designed a completely different sensor. On this sensor basicly each pixel consist of two photocells: One for really bright and one for darker exposure (that's probably a real simple explanation). This leads to the very good dynamic range and color rendition. The camera is "only" 6 megapixel, but due to it's double construction and interpolation it is featured as a 12 megapixel camera.

In my experience so far this interpolation isn't bad, especially for people photography. The dynamic range and the color rendition is something that I really like with this camera. For instance, this picture was completely overexposed. I was able to recover all the detail and still make it a good picture (click "continue to read" to see the before picture). Unfortunately the file size is despite it's 12 or rather 6 megapixels quite big. 25 mb if you capture RAW files with full dynamic range, and that leads to the S5 pro's "speed".

The camera is really really slow. It takes a long time to clear the buffer and to write to the card. At first I was really annoyed by this, but over the time I got used to it and it helped me to shoot less and more thoughtful, instead of shooting away and ending up with thousands of pictures that I do not need anyway.

Sometimes you read on the web that the camera isn't "sharp". This is due to the antialiasing process of the camera. It seems quite strong, but since this camera is targeted for people photographers I believe this is actually a good thing. You don't need ultra sharp skin, you don't wanna see every pore or zit. I used to pixel peep and check for sharpness or some other geeky thing, BUT I lost track of the picture. I guess now I do prefer an unsharp but good picture over a sharp picture with nothing in it.

Here the unedited picture. That's my brother by the way.