After the successful trials of our first digital camera,
http://www.epinions.com/content_169686306436 I knew it was time to upgrade to something better. While I had dreams of a Canon Rebel or a Nikon or something along those lines; realistically I knew they were not an option. Price being one consideration, the other being to be honest they were too much camera for my immediate and future needs. Honestly the main reason I wanted one of them was for the LCF (look cool factor).
On serious note I began to look at the Fuji line again. It made sense, we already had a Fuji camera and it performed well. There was also the compatibility issue. One camera type/brand equated to the same accessories, and that s an important issue. We wouldn t have to lug around two different and most likely incompatible sets of memory cards, cables and other assorted bits and pieces.
I also had a friend whose opinion I valued who d recently bought a Fuji
http://www.epinions.com/content_87326887556 and he raved on it. That settled it the only consideration was which model, and of course price.
After some research I realised that 4 mega pixels would probably be sufficient for most of the work I could see myself doing. This would provide good enough quality shots for magazine, newspaper and Internet articles and allow for 8x12 enlargements of perhaps even larger.
A good quality zoom was important, perhaps more than the number of mega pixels. Sometimes the perfect shot is not right in front of you. Taking it without a zoom as I ve been forced to in the past with a cheapy point and shoot results in a tiny blip in the middle of an expanse of nothingness. Then you re left to explain what it is you trying to take a picture of to a disinterested audience.
After checking out what was available I settled on this model, the Fuji FinePix S5100. It was a 4 Mg pix and had a 10x zoom lens, but that s not all.
First of all it s small and light, much smaller and lighter than a comparable SLR digital or film. That s a major factor as it makes it more portable, even with all the toys that come with it.
It s also easy to use. On automatic mode an amateur can have it out of the box and be taking reasonable pictures in minutes. The various modes (macro, night, portrait, etc) are also easy to master, and there are a surprising number of toys with this camera, enough to keep even a pro or semi pro interested and at the same time not overwhelm a beginner.
Ergonomically it s impressive. It s easy to use and operate and the needed buttons are right at your fingertips even while shooting. With a bit of practice there is no need to bring the camera down from your eye and make minor adjustments and then try recapture the shot.
This is especially helpful is one the functions is a continuous auto focus allowing for a series of action shots in quick sequence. I just used it capture the antics of some monkeys hanging around our hotel in Honduras and it s also come in handy following my two year old nephew around.
Like most modern digitals there s even a limited movie mode, although here you re limited by the size of the memory card.
Speaking of memory cards, the camera uses the new XD card system designed by Fuji and Olympus for their cameras. This is the newest and smallest card system to date, which in turn allows both Fuji and Olympus to design and build smaller and lighter cameras without sacrificing in other areas.
They re also some of the most expensive cards on the market, but not overtly so and I ve noticed the price has come down in the past year. Both Fuji and Olympus make the cards and either will work in this camera, although for some reason the Olympus one s are usually less expensive than the Fuji ones.
The camera comes with a 16 MB card, the smallest there is, which is a bit of a tease. At the fine setting this translates into about 30-32 pictures. There are 128 MB, 256MB and 512 MB cards available with even larger ones planned.
Surprisingly this camera is not a battery hog. I ve been using it on a regular basis and find that the four AA batteries will usually last through a 128 MB (60-64 pictures) and sometimes a 256 MB (120-128 pictures) card. That is provided you don t keep the camera on at all times. There is a built in sleep mode if you forget to turn it off. Things like the continuous auto focus thought tend to drain the batteries faster though.
The camera does come with four batteries, however I quickly replaced these with rechargeables. I actually have three sets, one in the camera, a spare set in the bag and a third in the recharger.
After having the camera for a month and a half I just had the opportunity to put it to a real test. I used it on my trip to Roatan in Honduras. During the week there I shot over 350 pictures. Actually I probably shot a few more, that s what I saved. Sunsets, sunrises, picturesque scenery, people, animals, almost everything that came into the viewfinder. Surprisingly I deleted very little, and mostly because I didn t like, not because of the quality.
This camera is retailing in Toronto for about $550.00 Cdn now, I was able to get it for $100.00 less than that at a Boxing Day Sale. Naturally the savings were used up on cool accessories like a new Roots camera bag etc.
I can definitely see this camera coming on many many more trips in the future.
Finally for those of you who have yet to master the fine art of clicking a link, here are all the technical specs cut and pasted from the Fuji site:
Brand: Fuji
Built-in Microphone: With Built-in Microphone
Camera Type: Standard Point and Shoot
Estimated Price: $200 to $300
Focus Type: Autofocus & Manual Focus
Image Sensor Type: CCD
Interchangeable Lens: Without Interchangeable Lens
Continental Breakfast: Without Continental Breakfast
LCD Panel: With LCD Panel
LCD Protected Position: Without LCD Protected Position
Manufacturer Part Number: 2004WFUJFPS5100;2004SFUJFPS5100; finepixs5100;2004EFUJFPS5100;2004NFUJFPS5100;43861100
Optical Zoom: At Least 2x Zoom At Least 4x Zoom At Least 6x Zoom At Least 8x Zoom
Resolution: 4.0 - 4.9 Megapixels
Tripod Mount: With Tripod Mount
UPC: 074101411003
Video Speed: 30 fps
Viewfinder: Digital
Dimensions: Depth 3.1 in, Height 3.2 in, Weight.74 lb, Width 4.4 in.
Aperture Range: f8/f9(w/t)-f2.8/f3.1(w/t)
Frames Per Second: 1.6 Frames
ISO Speeds: Auto, 100, 200, 400, 64
Shutter Speed: 15 - 1/2000 sec
White Balance: Auto, Manual, Daylight/Sunny(Preset), Fluorescent(Preset),Incandescent(Preset),Shade(Preset)
Flash Functions: Flash Off, Auto Flash, Fill-in Flash, Red-eye Reduction Flash, Slow Sync
Resolution: 4.23 Megapixel
Resolutions: 640 x 480, 2272 x 1704, 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960
Self Timer: 2 Sec.,10 Sec.
Interface: USB
Video Interface:Video Out
LCD Size: 1.5 in.
Optical Zoom: 10x
Resolution: 4.23 Megapixel
lENS: 35mm Zoom Lens, 37 - 370 mm
Digital Zoom: 3.6x
Focal Length: 5.7 - 57 mm
Focus Range: 36 in. to Infinity (w)/79.2 in. to Infinity (t)
Macro Focus Range: 3.6 - 79.2 in. (w)/36 - 79.2 in. (t)
Optical Zoom: 10x
Included Accessories: 4xAA Batteries, Software, USB Cable, Video Cable, Shoulder Strap, 16 MB Memory Card, Lens Cap
Product ID: 22521981
Release Date: October, 2004
Battery Type: 4 x AA Batteries
Compression Modes: Fine, Normal, Uncompressed
Compression Type: JPEG, Raw Image
File Size (High Res.): 8.26 MB (15 images on 128MB card)
File Size (Low Res.): .13 MB (about 984 images on 128MB card)
Memory Type: xD Picture Card
Operating System: Apple Mac OS 9, Apple Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows 98SE, Microsoft Windows ME, Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Fluffy Towels: Does not come with fluffy towels
Video Max Movie Length: Without Limit (Depends on the camera free memory size)
Video Format: AVI
Video Quality: 640 x 480 (VGA), 320 x 240 (QVGA)
Viewfinder / Display: LCD Panel Size 1.5 in.
LCD Screen Resolution: 115,000 pixels
More Information:
The FinePix S5100 offers mid-level digital photographer 4.0 million pixels combined with both point-and-shoot simplicity as well as a more advanced manual feature set including continuous shooting, continuous auto-focus, shutter priority and aperture priority modes. This model offers a 10x optical and 3.6x digital zoom capability, the longest in Fujifilms consumer category. In addition, the FinePix S5100 can capture VGA video clips at a rate of 30 frames/second, with sound, and can capture RAW format files.
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