Home > Consumer Reviews > Fujifilm FinePix S5Pro Digital Camera - Black (6.0MP) 2.5 inch LCD

Wow, holding this in your hand is an invitation to want to go out and instantly take photos, just like a kid with a new bike. In practical situations I have achieved super A3 enlargements printed at home on an inkjet printer, which have been displayed in exhibitions; and wedding couples have been amazed at so much detail.

Prices of digital SLR cameras have tumbled noticeably in 2007/08, reaching a point where it is difficult to improve the camera. Briefly looking at where the S5 has come from, the S1 was about £2000 in 2001, S2 was a 6 mega-pixel model with a noticeable improvement for 30% less money, S3 upgraded the sensor to 12mp and better rear view screen, S4 was not produced.

One of the biggest draws for me to go digital over film cameras was the ease of changing the ISO rating in camera to suit a situation if you suddenly found yourself in a dimly lit location, for instance, in a church. Just change the ISO from 100 to 800 or even 1600 and, hey presto, 3 or 4 extra stops to enable a faster shutter speed for a sharper hand held image. S5 has an ISO range from 100 to 3200.

Also, if you are already a Nikon owner, the Fuji SLRs are compatible with Nikon F-mount lenses. For example the Nikon 28-105mm f3.5-4.5D which has the CPU contacts on the throat of the lens. Even an older manual lens like the Nikon series E 75-150mm f3.5 can be fitted and the viewfinder focussing aid will help but the metering will not work, just take an image and see what it looks like on playback.
The S2, after all, has the same layout as the Nikon F80 film camera and the S5 resembles the D80.

The hand fits snugly around the S5 hand-grip, fore finger ready to press the shutter or rotate the finger wheel when changing aperture settings. The thumb falls neatly on a rest to help hold steady or ready to rotate the main command wheel which alters shutter speed and other functions when needed like setting ISO rating.

The solid feel to the S5 is down to its metal alloy body, and I found it robust and resilient to showers.

There have been plenty of pleasing improvements over the previous Fuji models S2 and S3:

- rear view screen is 2.5" with a much larger protective cover which is now better fixed to stay in place when viewing images.

- The flimsy door accessing the media card storage is now opened with an easy thumb activated lever, accepting CF cards. S2 had a second Smartmedia card slot which was never available in a large capacity.

- Batteries are always a bone of contention. S2 and S3 adopted the readily available AA batteries in a pull-out tray in combination with CR123 lithiums. S5 has single rechargeable lithium battery which has impressive lasting power but of course you need a spare . . . at about £40.

- The release mode button on the left of the top plate is improved, this is for setting the self-timer, choosing single or continuous shooting mode. It is easier to hold down with one finger while rotating the thumbwheel.

- Previous models had a separate smaller LCD display to show ISO, white balance and quality of pixels settings, i.e. RAW, as well as frame counter. These are now incorporated into the top plate LCD display.

- I have noticed that the voice memo has been omitted from the S5, but they have added Live Image viewing on the rear screen which is similar to that found on compact digital cameras.

- Also, I think it a shame that the second grip, which was on the S3, along the bottom length of the battery compartment is not on the S5, it was useful when composing vertical shots.

A touch I particularly like, especially when photographing buildings, is the `on-demand' grid in the viewfinder, one of the customised features.

One bugbear with inter-changeable lens cameras is dust appearing on images in the same place on every image, more noticeable in plain blue skies. This is actually on the sensor surface and will require cleaning at some point. While more expensive cameras claim to have an integral cleaning device, Fuji provides adequate description in the manual of how to successfully remove the dust effectively yourself.

Downloading images is the aim after taking wonderful images, and the necessary lead is supplied in the box. Doing it this way uses the battery power up and I have found buying a card reader is better as it uses the pc power.

When comparing with other cameras, the bottom line may come down to price. If you are already in possession of auto-focus Nikon lenses, you may be swayed in Fuji's direction as the S5 is the cheaper option than those comparable models offered by Nikon, the D80 and D90. The S5 produces 12megapixels images and has an ISO range 100 - 3200 and feels more solid while the D80 gives 10mp images and an ISO range of 100 - 1600 and is more expensive. The D90 has superior spec and is newer with unique selling points of shooting 1200px movies, ISO range up to 6400, 4.5 frames per second motor drive, 3" rear view screen and an integrated sensor cleaner . . . but is this worth paying extra for?

How would I improve the S5? Fuji has come up with the answer, the price has tumbled.


(Review by Peter N)

I love this camera.
Ive been eyeing this camera up for months but it's been way out of my price range until now.
If like me you take a lot of portraits (i.e kids,pets and family) then there really is no better camera.It produces pictures with the famous Fuji colours and skin tones also it is capable of 12 stops of dynamic range,which is as close to film as a digital camera can produce and is way above the competion.
The pictures are great straight out of the camera,so you don't really need to touch them.
The body is pro quality ,weather sealed and feels solid,it is the same body as the Nikon D200 which very similiar to the new Nikon D300.
If you Search www.PBase.com you can see what it is capable of in the right hands.
Due to it's specail qualities a lot of wedding photographers use this camera and at this price it is a real bargain (12 months ago it was retailing at £1000 )..
A word of warnng though if you take photo's in the RAW format then they are 25mb each! so you'll need a lot of storage space.

This camera is based on the Nikon D200. A very solid pro body with all functions perfectly to hand. Skin tone is perfect in most lighting conditions.
Many reviewers have classed this as the ideal portrait or wedding camera. Although this is true, i have also found it to be excellent for landscape photography.
After just over one years use - i am still very happy with the S5 Pro and would not hesitate in recommending this anyone who is into wedding, portrait, or even landscape photography.
The latest reduction in price is another good reason to buy one now.

Mostly being a landscape photographer having done most of my work using 35mm slr`s and slide film i was a little dubious about digital cameras. However, after this camera made it`s debut and garnered a major eisa award for best expert camera i took notice and after waiting 12 months for the price to come down i bought one. Let me say straight away the image quality is superb and thats fom jpeg`s. I use the film simulation modes a lot, mostly f2 (fujichrome velvia)and admire the work fujifilm have put in to recreate the look and tonal range of their films. if you buy cameras for their bell-and whistle quotas then you will probably be better off looking elsewhere (not that the s5 pro doesn`t have it`s share).If you are a photographer that know what you want and know how to get it the s5 pro is the one for you. It is quite simply a craftsman`s camera, built for achieving maximum image quality. Buy one while you still can.

The Fuji S5 Pro is a unique camera, specifically for those who use, or remember film, it is a digital camera that can have the positive aspects of film - wide latitude for colour negative work, and a narrower latitude of exposure - like most other digital cameras - for exposing transparency reversal film.

We old timers, in the heyday of photography, used to expose our films in camera as we wished our creative expression to appear in the final print. Low key results were obtained by cutting exposure manually in the camera, while high key work was overexposed by two stops - sometimes more if our experimentation warranted it. The results were mostly as we wished, but working with manual exposure settings assessed by the use of an exposure meter could be fraught with complications should we forget to reset aperture and shutter speed for the next shot(s). Automatic (digital) cameras set on Aperture priority or Shutter priority simply still took away the human element for the most part, enabling even raw amateurs to achieve a good degree of technical excellence. That is not a bad thing in itself, but it does not allow for the photographic skills of yesterday to ripen and flourish as they did within the days of film. With Photoshop taking the place of the darkroom nowadays and post production now frequently assessed and managed almost automatically by the computer programme things should be so much more simple, however I spend far more time now producing work at the keyboard than ever I did in the darkroom, because digital is so simple and easy to do, with results and effects being offered in retrospect, by comparison with hand printing and manipulating images by hand. Which was not easy, believe you me.

The S5, to my way of thinking, is a bridge between film and digital, a fond memory if we are going to get sentimental. But the ability to use the characteristic curve of film with the aid of modern technology (should you make a mistake - (heaven forbid) gives you, the photographer, to get out their with the exposure meter, and think before you take the picture about the result you desire in the finished print.

Forethought and planning are, in my experience, one of the crucial elements of consistent creative photography. Never mind megapixel counts. I have seen works of art produced on Kodak Instamatic cameras that would hold up with any Hasselblad or Rolleiflex. Oh yes. The Instamatic was never as sharp as the Schneider or Zeiss lenses, but beauty is a thing to behold, and definition (sharpness) is a circle of confusion combined with a degree of contrast. That is a fact rather than a theory.

The S5 is a superb camera, simply asking to be used creatively, perhaps in the slightly old fashioned manner, should you wish not to take advantage of the superb modern facilities offered. Quality is quality either way, if done properly. My S5 is now my camera of choice. Stick a good tried and tested lens on it, think when you are taking the picture, and with post production simplified I defy most, if not all, photographic wizards to tell the difference between this and most full frame chipped cameras, which tend to have a similar number of megapixels spread over a wider area anyway. This camera represents great value all round, particularly for those who photograph people.

Alan Wildsmith-Towle FBIPP FRPS FMPA