Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro Digital SLR Camera

The S5 Pro used the body of the Nikon D200 with Fuji designed electronics. If you’re tackling weddings, it still has a lot to offer.

 Once upon a time, Fujifilm made DSLRs. The FinePix S1 Pro, S3 Pro and S5 Pro all received pretty good acclaim from advanced amateurs and semi-professionals alike, and many examples of these cameras are to be found on the second-hand market today. The best of these was the S5 Pro, which used the body of the Nikon D200 with Fuji designed electronics on the inside. The S3 Pro used much the same electronics in the body of the Nikon D1, and is likely to be even cheaper than the S5 Pro.

The FinePix S5 Pro used a Super CCD sensor exclusive to Fujifilm, which contained six million dark-sensitive pixels and six million light-sensitive pixels, combining the two sets with some clever interpolation to produce a 12-megapixel image with expanded dynamic range. It was a trick that only worked in JPEG mode, with Raw image files coming out at six megapixels, but if you are a JPEG shooter tackling weddings, the FinePix S5 Pro still has a lot to offer today, as a second body for a Nikon shooter or as a main body to those just starting out.

A range of film mode presets (Velvia, etc) lets you fine-tune the look and feel of your photography and a max ISO 3200 is surprisingly usable  though you may want to stick to no more than ISO 800 if image quality is at a premium. 

It’s not all roses, of course. The camera’s AF system is not the most responsive in the world and its 1.5fps continuous shooting rate is positively pedestrian. But this is a camera that is best suited to a specific purpose: capturing detail in shadows and highlights simultaneously, perhaps in a situation where there’s a white wedding dress and dark suit, for example. Skin tones are also handled extremely well – better than by many DSLRs made today in fact.

Using the Nikon F mount, the S5 Pro is compatible with all Nikon DX and FX format lenses, as well as decades of older secondhand manual focus stock. This could be a great addition to the Nikon shooter’s bag, and it can be picked up for an absolute bargain price.

For those that have never had a Semi-Pro dSLR before, there is quite a learning curve to this camera. I have heard complaints about the S5′s menu layout, mainly from those who have owned the Nikons (the S5 is in a D200 body), but if one has never owned a Nikon before it should not be a problem. The only problem I’ve seen so far with the S5 is the viewfinder seems small to me, compared to the K10D. I added the DK-21M eyepiece magnifier and it made a world of difference.

Overall I would highly recommend this camera. Get one while you still can!

Pros

• Fantastic color
• The best Auto white balance I have seen
• Very beautiful skin tones right out of the camera
• Fantastic camera body based on the Nikon D200 and can use almost all of Nikon’s lenses and accessories

Cons

• Not high speed compared to the Nikon D200
• Will not work with the Nikon D200 Batteries (The D200 battery grip will work with Fuji batteries OR rechargeable AA’s)

• secoundhand FinePix S5 Pro