Previous Fujifilm dSLRs have been painfully slow to use, but the S5 Pro shows marked improvements over its predecessors. The S5 Pro takes 0.5 second to start up and capture its first JPEG. Subsequent JPEGs take 0.82 second between shots with the flash turned off and 0.86 second with the built-in flash turned on. When capturing raw images, the S5 also took 0.84 second between shots. Shutter lag measured a decent 0.4 second in our high-contrast test, which mimics bright shooting conditions, but slowed to a disappointing 1.2 seconds in our test that replicates dim shooting conditions. When capturing JPEGs in continuous-shooting mode, we were able to capture an average of 1.9 frames per second, regardless of image size. That's nowhere near the 4.1fps you can get from the D200 or the 3.2fps you can get from the Pentax K10D.
Image quality was impressive, but the S5 Pro's resolving power just can't match the Nikon D200. Colors are generally accurate, and the automatic white balance does a respectable job of neutralizing colors in most normal lighting situations. Studio shooters should note that, as one would expect, our unusually warm tungsten hot lights confounded the S5 Pro's auto white balance. We don't hold that against it, however, since this is the case with many cameras. However, if you have tungsten lights that are near the 3,200K color-temperature range as ours are, you'll need to use the tungsten or manual settings, both of which did an effective job of neutralizing colors with those unusual lights.
The S5 Pro does an outstanding job of keeping noise under control. Our test images were nearly noise-free all the way out to ISO 400. Even at ISO 800, we saw only the tiniest traces of noise on our monitors when viewed at 100 percent; it didn't show up in prints at all. Noise crept up a little at ISO 1,600 but was still very well tamed and didn't adversely affect prints. At ISO 3,200 noise grew some, but it never took on the annoying, larger, off-color blob-like look that some cameras exhibit; instead it remained as tiny speckles. At this highest setting, images do lose some shadow detail. Fuji's noise-reduction processing robs a minor amount of fine detail, but overall, the noise profile looks more like what we'd expect at ISO 800 or ISO 1,600 in other cameras. Noise, or more accurately the lack thereof, was one of the most impressive and surprising things about the S5 Pro.
Ultimately, the Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro feels more like a studio camera than anything else. Its unique sensor gives the camera an edge with its extended dynamic range but also translates into bloated, pseudo-12-megapixel files that can fill up your memory card quicker than 8- or 10-megapixel files would. This becomes especially noticeable when shooting in raw, or even worse, raw-plus-JPEG mode. Also, if you're not shooting in a studio, the Nikon's blazingly fast AF system will most likely be more useful to you than this camera's dynamic range or fancy features. While this Fuji definitely is a nice camera, I'd have to opt for the D200 or Canon's EOS 5D, considering their higher effective resolutions and that my personal shooting habits tend as much toward the outdoors as to the studio. Of course, the D200's lower price also helps.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
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(Longer bars indicate better performance)
What You'll Pay
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