Review: Fujifilm FinePix S5000

Don Bradbury looks at a high spec, mid-priced, SLR digicam.

Product	FinePix S5000
Company	Fuji
Web	www.fuji.co.uk
Price	£279
We like	Small, light, good control, wide range zoom
We don't like	Some controls fiddly, grainy EVF
Rating	8.5/10
Requirements

Digital cameras vary enormously in price of course, but within a price bracket the quality of output is not necessarily related to what you have to pay. For less than £300, as in this case, you'll find a range of facilities that may or may not suit your purpose, but these days, picture quality can generally be relied upon to be at least presentable.

A highly useful 10x optical zoom lens (37-370mm equiv on 35mm) is offered by several manufacturers. Fujifilm competes here, but in addition, a (manual) pop-up flash gun, controls aplenty and power from four ubiquitous AA size batteries will also be valued by aficionados.

The EVF

While electronic viewfinders are either sworn by or at, it has to be admitted that the one fitted on the S5000 is grainy, rather slow to refresh and not particularly attractive to use in comparison with an optical viewfinder.

Fujifilm would probably argue that the EVF is really a convenient aid to composition; if you want a decent view of the scene you're shooting, you can always switch on the 1.5 inch LCD. True, but LCD panels eat battery power, and you may not want to use yours too often for general shots. Further, LCD panels are not easily seen in bright sunlight (though brightness is user-variable in the S5000), so using the EVF may be obligatory under some conditions.

However, a good range of shutter speeds (2secs to 1/2000 sec), lens apertures (f2.8 to f8 at wide angle), and exposure options, with ISO speeds up to 800, metering via multi, spot, or average modes, plus the usual range of flash options means that the relatively impecunious digital photographer has access to many desirable features for quite a modest outlay.

This camera looks small and feels light. The very welcome supplementary lens adapter adds substantial length to the lens barrel, but it doubles as a rather nice lens hood, as well as protecting the front element of the lens, and so should be tolerated in general use. And, of course, the facility to add an extra lens when necessary extends the already wide range of acceptance angles from the zoom lens.

Handling

Most controls on the S5000 fall nicely to hand, though some may be considered on the small side, necessitating finger nail operation. And one - manual focus mode - is rather awkward, requiring in one of its two variants that you hold down one button while pressing an adjacent button, all while composing the shot and preparing to press the shutter button (though you should really have the camera mounted on a tripod in this mode).

Macro mode is useful, although it does not give the really close approach that some other digicams permit (10cm closest on the S5000), and it has to be engaged if you want to get closer to your subject than 3 feet. Having said that, focus was found fairly decisively in macro mode, if not particularly quickly. You'll probably need to use the LCD for macro and manual focusing modes due to the EVF's graininess.

Manual white balance control is via menus, and there's no external flash connection, though you might not expect one at the price. However, the quality of the camera's output is likely to satisfy most users in this buying category, with good colour rendition and generally accurate exposure. Using interpolation to squeeze what can be quoted as 6 megapixel resolution out of a basically 3 megapixel CCD might be considered something of a sales pitch, but few will complain at their printed pictures up to at least A4 size.

We thought beginners might struggle a little with the manual; it could be clearer in several places.

Resolution

Zooming an image on the LCD shows that good resolution is there alright, and automatic focus can generally be relied upon to find the plane you select in the viewfinder - with the usual reservations of low light strength or poor subject contrast where it might struggle.

The camera's software is perhaps not of the most intuitive, but a little practice brings rewards. And you'll almost certainly need to fit a larger capacity SD card; the standard 16MB is really too small. Similarly, the AA Alkaline batteries in the pack are really only there to get you going when the shops are closed on Christmas Day. Get yourself a good set of rechargeable NiMH batts and a decent charger before venturing forth.

The pack includes a video lead for viewing shots on your TV, and a mini-to-standard USB lead for uploading your pictures to a PC. The inclusion of a Compact Flash adapter would have been nice for those already equipped with an older card reader - the xP Picture Card is rather too new for many upgraders. The adapter can be bought separately, however, as can a PC Card adapter for notebook users. Bear in mind, though, that if you choose not to load all the Fuji application software, you can still copy your pictures to the PC simply by installing the USB driver from the software CD (exit the auto-menu and run Setup from the relevant drivers folder) using Explorer. This can sometimes prove easier to handle than accepting the manufacturer's arrangements; it's up to individual users.

Other goodies

Exposure compensation and bracketing, scene and movie modes, continuous shooting and continuous auto focus, easy escape from operations that need aborting via a Back button, the inclusion of an auto-focus assist lamp, multi-playback modes, auto-picture trimming, sharpness adjust (though this is generally best done in your graphics editing software), a 10 secs self-timer, flash brightness adjustment, voice memos, DPOF print options, monitor brightness adjustment, power saving, RAW image capture mode as well as JPEG, with AVI and Motion JPEG for movies, and WAV for monoaural sound, A/V output to NTSC or PAL, and the all-important eyepiece correction facility. All told, rather satisfyingly comprehensive capability.

In conclusion

Less than £300 buys you a decent digicam in the FinePix S5000, then. It may not be all things to all men, but it's a lot of camera for the money. The all-important photographic results can be quite impressive, and that's the most important point. Some fiddly controls will put off a few potential buyers, but practice makes perfect and you soon get used to most of them - with the possible exception of manual focus.

Competition is fierce in this part of the market, and increasingly so. Have a look round for discounts as well. Compare handling, the EVFs if you choose a camera fitted with one, startup rate, and other operating parameters that could influence your buying decision.

 

 

Don Bradbury