Confused
September 27th, 2006
I’m a little confused by the luke warm response to the new Fuji S5. For those that hadn’t heard the news, here’s the skinny:
As depreview already noted in their S3 Pro review, the extendended dynamic range function of Fuji’s sensor really works. Furthermore, the S3 Pro had “Good resolution, better than the average six megapixel”. The S5 promises all that and the improved AF, metering, ergonomics and durability of the D200. What’s not to like?
- D200 body, AF and metering
- Same extended range sensor as the S3 Pro with improvements to the low pass filter
As depreview already noted in their S3 Pro review, the extendended dynamic range function of Fuji’s sensor really works. Furthermore, the S3 Pro had “Good resolution, better than the average six megapixel”. The S5 promises all that and the improved AF, metering, ergonomics and durability of the D200. What’s not to like?
September 27th, 2006
There seems to have been a lot of lukewarm receptions given to stuff at this Photokina. You could tell similar stories over at the Sigma and Olympus camps too.
We’ve grown to expect miracles and the manufacturers can only deliver mere improvements.
I’m excited by the possibilities that some of these incremental improvements open up, but some folks out in forum land are getting a bit jaded.
September 27th, 2006
Actually, I was a little disapointed to see that the mock up of of the E1 successor was just that, a mock up, and a large one at that. The digital equivalent of the OM-1 seems to be what a lot of folks want, but no one is making it. The D80 or the new Pentax might be the closest to that design ideal.
I am intrigued by Sigma’s new cameras. Their new P&S is interesting. I’d want a 35 f2 instead of a 28 f4, but it’s an interesting deviation from the standard P&S.
Photographers can only benefit from more variety in sensor technology and camera design.
September 27th, 2006
Resolution hasn’t improved in 6 years. The S5 will have the same resolution as the S2, which was released back in 2001.
Fuji and Canon are the masters of low noise.
Now look at what Canon has accomplished in that time frame. Yes I know that Canon is 100x bigger than Fuji, but look at what Fuji has accomplished given their size. The S5 delivers almost nothing more than tweaks to the sensor and a better body. (It took them 3 years to do that?)
The extra dynamic range you get with the S3 and S5 is realised only in certain situations. On an overcast day or indoors or at night, you get no benefit from the S3 or S5 (in terms of dynamic range).
Compare progress on the S5 with progress Fuji has made with their digicams over the last few years.
For the size of prints most people print at, the S5 is good enough. But everyone expected more because Fuji is capable of so much more.
September 27th, 2006
You might look at Thom Hogan’s review of the S3, in which he details the sensor improvements the S3 made over the S2. I’ve not used either camera, but it sounds like more than tweaks to me.
As far as what they’ve done in 6 years, this is the first Fuji DSLR that I’m even vaguely interested in buying even if all they’ve done is convinced Nikon to sell them some D200’s instead of N80’s.
I’ll grant that the extra dynamic range may not be of much use on overcast days, but indoors, at night or in full sun, I could use extra dynamic range at least 2/3 of the time particularly when an indoor scene has a window in frame or when the lighting is that awful pseudo theatre design so popular in restraunts these days. Exposing to hold those highlights just pushes the midtones and shadows down below an easily recoverable range. This can make accurate representation of the upper midtones in skin next to impossible in natural light settings.
BTW, nice website. I particularly like this one.
September 27th, 2006
Indeed, the S3 has a much better sensor than the S2. I meant the S5 sensor vs the S3 one. Resolution hasn’t improved from the S2 to the S5.
The S3’s extra dynamic range wouldn’t have helped in that scene with your better half sitting in the chair and the light coming in the window. It helps only in a sunny scene where you want to hang onto detail (say a wedding dress or a white shirt or white sign).
Glad you liked that photo. Most of my shots lately have been with the Panasonic LX2 and a Pentax K100. The S3 proved to be too big for street work (scares people and is v heavy with the Sigma 30/1.4) unless I’m out at night or at an event where there are lots of photographers.
Digicams are much better street cameras as no one takes them too seriously so you’re usually free to shoot away.
September 27th, 2006
I’m not sure about a Fuji DSLR, but I have been intrigued by their sensor design enough to very seriously consider the F30 as a P&S replacement for my parents. I still haven’t gotten anything for them, mostly because of the mediocre comments I’ve seen regarding the F30 in regular daylight shooting.
I wonder if the big problem Fuji is having with their CCD design is the lack of innovation on the battery side…
September 27th, 2006
Luke, even hanging on to the detail in a white shirt would help, although that’s kind of bummer about the window thing. I’ll be interested in seeing what the pricing info on the S5 is. If it’s a couple of hundred bucks more than the D200, it might be worth it to me.
If you’ve got some samples where the S3 made a difference, I’d be interested in seeing them.
Fuji does have some intereseting P&S designs.
What’s the link between CCD design and batteries? It doesn’t look the Fuji sensor horks down the batteries any worse than other sensors.
September 27th, 2006
A full CCD circuit traditionally uses more power than a CMOS circuit, but maybe that gap has been narrowed as of late.
September 27th, 2006
And I guess I was under the impression that the increased sensitivity of their sensor required an increase in voltage as well, but its likely I’m mistaken :-p
September 28th, 2006
The battery life on the F30 is excellent. You’ll get about 500-odd shots per charge, or in regular use, about 3 weeks between charges. If you’re going out for the day on a freshly charged F30, you definately don’t need any extra batteries. If you turn on high-speed focus or set the screen refresh rate to 60 fps, the battery won’t last as long (maybe 300 shots instead of 500). You’ll need an extra battery only if you’re going on vacation for 3 weeks or longer.
In terms of exposure, the F30 does what most digicams do … tends to slightly overexpose to prevent noise at the expense sometimes of losing highlights. You just need to set -1/3 exposure compensation or -2/3 if you’re out in the sun.
I’ve found with the S3 that it’s not often you have situations where the S3’s sensor makes a big difference. The biggest plus of the S3 is that its Jpegs are so good you don’t need to shoot RAW (and if you do, you’ll have a very difficult time trying to match the colours etc Fuji does).
If you know the kinks of your D80 and you go shooting with with someone who has an S3, you will have a difficult time proving the S3’s sensor is doing a better job of managing dynamic range.
If the S3 did a significantly better job than any other camera more often than not, it would have been far more popular. Here the S3 quickly became a “special order” item because it wouldn’t sell.
As for the price, knowing Fuji, the S5 will cost a lot more than the D200 when it’s released. My guess is about $2600 if not more. More because the D200 body is significantly better than the brick they used previously.
As far as Photokina goes, the Sigma DP1 is a pretty exciting little camera. Let’s hope it makes it to market.
September 28th, 2006
“The digital equivalent of the OM-1 seems to be what a lot of folks want, but no one is making it. ”
The E-400 is pretty close, but the problem that everybody is having is making a lens small enough to go with it. The new Oly zooms are small, but the cost is that they are slow (which won’t help with the squinty viewfinder either).
Ironically, I think the digital OM needs a big sensor to keep the lens small and the view bright. Canon could make one now but don’t show any signs of wanting to. I don’t think anybody else could.
September 28th, 2006
Further to Fuji, Olympus et al complaints…..I’ve just found a group of photographers very happy with their Photokina. Cosina Voigtlander forums lit up this afternoon with the news that there will be a new Bessa with built in 21mm framelines and a high viewpoint finder. And CV didn’t have to pay for a stand either. They just had a private dealer meeting. No costs. Happy users. Bet there were a few other companies wishing they could achieve that.
September 28th, 2006
CV sure does have a way of coming up with photo products that fill a real but narrow niche. I hadn’t heard of their new offering until you mentioned it, but from the details available on the web it looks pretty interesting. It might be worth buying one along with a 24. I’ve always hesitated to go that wide because of the need for auxiliary VF.
February 21st, 2007
Canon is a joke. They managed to foist off two generations of point-n-shoots (the 10D and 20D) on the pro market.
The S5 has a better body than anything Canon has under $3,000 - and a sensor that’s better than the 5D.
But if you’ve got a big investment in t-shirts, hats, and camera straps with the Canon logo on them, I’d stick with them.