Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro: New King of Dynamic Range

I believe all you photography enthusiasts out there agrees that
Fujifilm’s SuperCCD sensors are one of the better DSLR sensors out
there. The way it works allows a dynamic range much wider than what the
competitors offer. And with a wider dynamic range, it means an easier
time keeping whites from blowing out into “255” hell. Many wedding and
landscape photographers love this.

But the common complaint with the current FinePix S3 Pro is the
performance. Although it is still the current king of dynamic range,
its speed is dead slow. Its continuous shooting FPS is slow, its card
writing speed is slow and its image playback is slow. Hence, many S3
Pro owners have another faster body for works that demand speed.

With today’s announcement of the new FinePix S5 Pro,
things might well be looking better for Fujifilm. But from the reaction
I gathered from forums, it seems like quite a majority are still
unsatisfied with the S5 Pro.

The goodies first. The S5 Pro is built upon the highly successful
Nikon D200. Almost every specification follows those of D200, and even
the button layout is almost identical. Hence, the improvements over the
S3 Pro includes much faster performance, huge viewfinder, 11-point
Multi-CAM 1000 autofocus system, 2.5-inch wide-angle LCD and the sturdy
magnesium alloy body.

And for the baddies. Although the camera was announced today, it
will not be available until February 2007. That is like five months
from now! We all know how technology changes in a blink of an eye. As
the S5 Pro is announced as a 6-megapixel camera, many felt that it has
already lost out to the newly announced 10-megapixel cameras.
While the rest of the photographers still feel that the dynamic range
advantage has a strong place, one can’t really predict how the market
will be like in five months.

If you have ever used the S3 Pro (I never, I just held one before),
I’m sure you could appreciate the extra dynamic range. And with the S5
Pro, it no longer comes at the cost of speed. The D200 might not be the
fastest beast out there, but it sure measures up to most photographers’
expectations. So I would say the S5 Pro is a DSLR worth watching out
for.

DPreview’s detailed list of FinePix S5 Pro specifications.