Are there any posts on the Fuji S5?

[Pavel_Derka]

No, I don't think they were too high for the selling price but I think a quick intro a under non-shooting enviroment only serves to highlight the differences between what one is used to and the equiptment at hand. In that sense I am very well aware that I have only a very limited exposure to this piece of gear and need to keep in mind that I need to be open minded. I'm coming from a D2h and 1D so it really struck me how long the write times are, now slow the response to the shutter push and how "foreign" the body felt in menu operations.
I could be imaging things but I thought that when I snapped off a shot I had to wait three or so seconds before the preview came up. Not a big deal ... but it left me scratching my head as to why that was designed like that.

I shoot mostly sports but the few weddings I still do I don't fire off many burst (besides the flash doesn't keep up) so I'm not talking so much about the shooting speed in frames per second but rather the lack of responsiveness.
I was not expecting the world but was struck how much better in that regard the D200 (which I played with at the same time)

So I guess perhaps it takes a mental shift - to get used to the compromises in return for the trade offs? But then if that is true why is it that the D200 does not safisfy? It demands far fewer tradeoffs and for someone like myself who has not shot a jpg in four years and has had no problems with skin tones - why get excited about some arbitrary and completely subjective benefit such as purported skin tones?

Hmmm. All and all the FUji left me with the feeling that I was handling a slower version of the D100 ... or perhaps the 10D - in the wrong year and for a slightly steep price.

However the most important things here is to keep in mind that I spent about forty minutes with this ... and that is hard to bring the charms out under that, and "horses for courses" is always true.

How do the raw files compare to the jpg output? I think I would always shoot Raw and full jpg in a camera where I would be interested in the jpg output but wanted the raw "just in case".

One aspect that I absolutely loved were the loadable film curves. Does that survive for raw conversion? I really like that part.

I may go back and give it another go. It is intriguing to have a radically different choice out there - and well most of the owners sing praises. (actually I shouldn' consider that ... all the OLympus owners pretent the brand was created by god himself - and what a disapointing waste of money that trip was for me) But it's good to have choice ... and these use my same nikon lenses - what a concept.

What drew me to the Fuji and still does from what I've heard so far was my experience with the D200. I like the feel and the handling is pretty good but when I compared the image quality at high iso's (1250 or so and up) against the 5D I was terribly disapointed with the comparison. THe 5D files were soooo good ... it made me wonder if getting used to a canon layout (I hate the canon ergonomics - that is why I left) again may not be worth it for those gorgeous files.
Then the Fuji came along and suposedly the high iso performance was pretty good. So if the Fuji was markedly better than the D200 that may make it worth it for those times I have to shoot in a cave. Right now keep in mind I use the D2h and do ok with good exposure and iso 1600... but it sure could be better. There have been times that iso 3200 would have been nice ... but then the look of the D2h makes me want to cry.

So I'm not looking for the moon. I don't want to necessarily have files as clean at low light as the 5D ... nor responsiveness as good as the D2h. It takes carefull consideration and far more experience that I've had so far and then an eye towards which trade-off is best for each of us. Those things that I mentioned were rather unfair because they were all the negatives - but fair because it was how it felt to me. Now I need to look for it's virtues - and that takes more time.

[DougAxford]

I think you are correct that the screen is slow to view on raw. Even on jpg fine, it is slower than I'm used to with the Canons, but I am not an LCD watcher. I never look at histograms and only check the screen if it's a situation I'm not sure of. I'm just too set in my ways from film and the first few generations of DSLRs that were pretty ugly on LCD quality. I did notice that the Fuji LCD was a nice size, but some shots that did not look good on the LCD were excellent on the computer.

I am not a raw shooter. I think everyone here knows that by now. That was my number one reason by far to get the S5. Up to now, I've been forced to shoot raw in church interiors, most receptions, etc. On anything else, I shoot jpg and am very happy with the results, but once again, I shoot manual exposure, pre-set WB and they are always on the money, except as noted. I read a post a month ago from a wedding shooter I repect a great deal that said he would have slammed someone who shot jpg until he tried it himself with the S5.

For sports action, I would stay with a higher end Nikon or Canon. I think this camera is not rugged or fast enough for this. I found the focus to be slightly slower than I would like and the burst speeds are below what a good sports shooter needs.

There have been a few posts that the Fuji is a bit soft on focus. Since everything I use this for will be people pictures, this is not a deal breaker for me. I rarely use any sharpening on my Canon stuff.

Later Tuesday or Wednesday, I'll post a few samples on the company web site. I would rather post the original, unaltered file and I'm not inclined to take up Drew's bandwidth for that - plus, not sure how to do it anyway. I'll post the exact web address once Linda gets a chance to add it to our site Tuesday.

I have not handled the D200, but all the comments I've read are similar to yours - the S5 is slower, but better with tonal range, auto WB and skin color. Compared to the 5D, I doubt it will be nearly as good at high ISO. I went up to 800 and felt comfortable. For action sports indoors, you'll need more than that. I'm still waiting for the next Canon version to achieve the best of both worlds. Maybe, maybe not.

Doug

[joedmiles]

I've had some recent focusing problems with my S5 Pro. Just wondered if anyone else has experienced the same? The image seems to be out of focus on the righthandside intermittently using different lenses...so it's not a lens fault. I think something's come out of line inside but I've sent it back 3 times now and they never find anything wrong with it.

More worrying I had a bad error occur on an important shoot the other day. The camera batteries appeared flat even though they weren't. I turned the camera off and then on again and it worked for a few frames before happening again. It wasn't the speedgrip as I tried taking this off and put the battery in the body direct. Also I had a few black images where the lens didn't communicate with the body and shot at f22...that was worrying considering they didn't find any faults with it on the 3 times I sent it in!

They've told me they'll replace my body with another one...problem is my D2X has now gone wrong so it'll have to wait! Don't you hate pro gear!!

[DougAxford]

I haven't had focus errors that I would blame Fuji on.

I'm still using the S5, but got a Canon 40D since. I use the S5 for weddings and 40D for everything else. The S5 is best for AWB and highlight recovery, 40D for everything else. I have not used the S5 on raw and see no need to. AWB is unbelievably good. On raw, the S5 is way too slow for my shooting.

We shot some indoor swimming last Sat. on both S5 & 40D. The Fuji was better on AWB, even though we did a custom balance on the Canon. Cripes, I just don't know how it can do it. On studio work, we can custom balance the Canon precicely in preset K - not even 1 CC off with their tweaking menu, the Fuji is 3 to 4 pts off and I can't get it any closer.

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