Cons: Uses 4 AA batteries, not very compact, no image stabilization
The Bottom Line: I am very impressed with the Fuji S5200. It has excellent build quality, ergonomics, performance and it even looks good. I highly recommend it.
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What Is Canon Fuji FinePix S5200?
The Fuji FinePix S5200 is a 5.1-Megapixel 5th Generation SuperCCD digital camera with a 10x non-extending optical zoom (38-380 mm equivalent), a 1.8-inch LCD screen and an electronic viewfinder, powered by 4 AA batteries (disposable batteries included, rechargeable recommended).
The camera features ISO range of up to ISO 1600, 1.1-second startup and shutter lag of 0.01 sec when pre-focused. The camera stores pictures on xD-Picture memory cards (16 MB xD card is supplied) and features fast USB 2.0 Hi-Speed connection to PC and Mac computers. The camera stores photos in JPEG or RAW format and can store short video clips in AVI format.
First Impressions
I was immediately impressed by the camera’s build quality, ergonomics and styling. The S5200 looks like a digital SLR camera, although it is not one. It has a large, convenient handgrip covered in soft textured plastic with a shutter release button on top, a large mode selection dial on the top deck, a relatively long lens barrel and other elements that make it convenient to use and make it look like a compact SLR.
The camera uses 4 AA batteries and I used four rechargeable 1600 mAh NiHM batteries with it. The battery compartment door is sturdy and the battery polarity is marked well. The camera stores photos and videos on xD-Picture memory cards and I used the supplied 16 MB card. You might want to get a larger card, since the supplied card can only store 12 5-Megapixel photos in normal compression or only 6 in Fine compression. And should you choose to use RAW mode, you will only be able to fit 1 phot on the supplied card.
The camera has a 1.8-inch LCD screen and the control buttons on the rear panel are well-made and have good tactile response. The memory card door is also sturdy, yet easy to open and the same applies to the rubberized door that covers the USB, A/V and DC ports.
The camera has a built-in pop-up flash that pops up automatically when needed or when you select the forced-flash mode. There is no mechanical switch to make the flash pop up.
Operation
The camera is pleasant in use. Although it is larger than some of its competition, due to its non-extending lens, it is much faster than the competition in the startup and shutdown speed. Since the competitors like Sony H1, Canon S2 IS or Panasonic FZ5 use designs where the lens extends on startup, whereas the S5200 does not have to do that, the startup time of the S5200 is only 1 second, whereas the others have a startup time of several seconds.
I have to immediately state that if you want compact size when turned off, the S5200 might not be the best choice. But if you want a SLR-like startup and shutdown speed, this camera delivers.
The camera is turned on by a switch in front of the handgrip. You can rotate it from its OFF position to the review or shooting mode. The shooting mode is selected by rotating the mode selection wheel/dial to one of the positions clearly marked on it: Auto, P (program), A (Aperture Priority), S (Shutter Priority), M (Manual), movie, night scene, landscape, portrait, etc.
The camera uses a lens cap that you have to remove by hand. It is attached to the camera body with a cord to prevent it from being lost. The lid is sturdy, protects the lens well and is easy to remove or place back.
The camera’s top deck also has buttons to control burst mode, set exposure compensation and switch between manual or auto focus.
LCD
The camera has a 1.8-inch LCD screen and an electronic viewfinder (EVF). You switch between them by pushing the EVF/LCD button. The LCD can also be brightened at a push of the button next to it (the button has an icon depicting a circle with rays of light radiating from it).
The LCD screen is fluid, well-visible in the dimly-lit environments (gains-up) and has good resolution. Same applies to the EVF.
Focusing
The automatic focusing system works very well, even in low light. It focuses in under a second at wide angle and I noticed that most of the time it does not even have to use its powerful green focus-assist light. In near-darkness, the light comes on for a brief moment and the camera still focuses in under a second.
At telephoto, however, the focusing in low light slows down substantially. At full telephoto, it may take up to 5-6 seconds for the camera to obtain focus.
The camera has so-called Hi-Speed Shooting mode. It consumes more power but seems to result in slightly faster operation. The zooming in dim light at telephoto seems to take a couple of seconds less, but not always.
But in good light, it focuses in under a second at either wide angle or telephoto.
The camera lets you select between auto focus, continuous auto focus and manual focus. I did not notice any improvement with continuous auto focus in comparison with regular auto focus, aside from the camera making slight scraping noises all the time and possibly depleting battery faster. I would avoid using the C-AF (continuous auto focus) at all times.
The manual focus is poorly-implemented. Just as in many other Fuji digital cameras, you have to hold the exposure compensation button depressed while adjusting the focus using the zoom control. There is no distance scale displayed and the camera does not show you the magnified area on the screen. This results in two things: it is difficult to hold the camera and use the manual focus at the same time and it is difficult to fine-tune and confirm focus.
Zooming
The camera zooms or and out completely in about 4 seconds, which is not very fast, but lets you frame the shot precisely. The zooming is almost silent.
Zoom Coverage and Optics
The camera features 10x optical zoom with a range of 38-380 mm in 35-mm equivalent. The lens has a maximum aperture range of f/3.2-3.5 (and goes to f/8 at either wide angle or telephoto in 1/3 EV steps).
The zoom range is rather good and is quite typical for mega-zoom cameras, but if you want better wide-angle coverage, you might have to look elsewhere. But keep in mind that not many cameras with high optical zoom go wider than 35mm. You can also get a wide-angle conversion lens for this camera.
Ease of Use
The camera is rather easy to use in its automatic mode. You just point and shoot, the camera takes care of the rest. If you use the scene modes or manual modes, the parameter selection is also easy. In Manual mode, the camera shows you the exposure scale and you can figure out what parameters to set to make the photo well-exposed.
The camera menus are a slightly different story. The are not difficult to use, but are not very intuitive in terms of icons. At least the most important menu is easy to use and easily accessible. The F button on the back of the camera gives you instant access to the most important parameters: resolution mode, ISO and color mode.
The Almighty [F] Menu
The first entry in the menu is the resolution selection. You get a choice between the following resolution modes:5M F (fine), 5M N (normal), 3:2 (2736x1824, perfect fit for 6x4 prints), 3M, 2M and 03M (610x480).
The camera shows you descriptions as you scroll through the choices and even shows you haw many pictures of the currently-selected size will fit on the memory card, based on its remaining capacity. The camera comes pre-set to 5M N quality.
The second parameter is ISO (sensitivity). You get a choice between Auto, 64, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1600. The camera comes pre-set to ISO 200 for manual modes.
The color mode can be set to Standard, Chrome (high saturation) and B&W.
Performance
Let’s recap the speed of operation. The startup is about 1 second, the shutdown is even faster at wide angle or several seconds at telephoto (but you do not have to wait for the camera to shut down, you can just place the lens cap on the lens barrel and and put the camera away).
The focusing is faster than 1 second in good light at all focal lengths. It is fast (less than a second) at wide angle in dim light, slows down in dim light at telephoto (up to 5-6 seconds). Hi-Speed shooting mode may help the camera focus faster in low light at telephoto, but not consistently and at an expense of battery life. Continuous auto-focusing (C-AF) does not improve the focusing speed noticeably.
The zooming is precise and full zooming takes about 4 seconds.
I was able to take photos at about one a second in single-frame mode. The camera also has several continuous/burst modes. In the continuous mode, the camera takes pictures at about one per second until the memory card is full (or you release the shutter release button).
Another burst mode lets you take 3 photos at about two photos per second.
The auto bracketing mode also operates at 2 frames per second and takes three photos.
Battery Life
Fuji claims 500 photos can be taken on a single charge of 2500 mAh rechargeable batteries or 250 on a set of disposable batteries. I used 1600 mAh NiMH batteries and took about 70 photos with no low battery warning.
Connectivity
I used the camera with a supplied USB cable to transfer photos to my computer. I could have used a memory card reader, but mine does not support xD-Picture cards. The camera has a USB 2.0 Hi-Speed port and the transfer rate was very fast at about 3-4 MB per second. I did not have to install any drivers on my Windows 2000 SP4 computer.
Image Quality
And now, the most important item: image quality. I provided a sample photo from the S5200 at the following address:
I cannot provide more than one photo since I do not have enough space where I host my samples.
The sample photo was taken at moderate wide angle. You can see that it has pleasing colors, low noise, virtually no chromatic aberration and good sharpness corner to corner. I have taken other photos at different focal lengths and ISO settings as well. Below are my findings.
The camera features very good sharpness. The telephoto shots had slightly softer corners, but at other focal lengths, the photos were sharp corner to corner. The photos have pleasing colors and good contrast. The exposure is generally accurate and the shadow and highlight detail is preserved well.
The chromatic aberration (purple fringing) is very low.
The noise levels are lower than average, but higher than the Fuji F10 (which is a different kind of camera). The noise is very low up to ISO 200, but gets higher at ISO 400 and above with loss of detail. The photos are quite usable at up to ISO 200 for enlargements up to 11x14 inches. Photos at ISO 400 and higher may be used at 6x4.
The compression at 5M N is a bit on the high side, creating mild JPEG artifacts. I would not use the 5M N setting for something I want to enlarge or crop and would rather use 5M F or RAW. But the 5M N and 3:2 modes are well-suited for 6x4 prints.
Overall, I am very pleased with the quality of photos that the S5200 prodices.
Concerns
The camera has no optical image stabilization (OIS) and tries to compensate for it by using higher ISO settings, which may result in higher noise than that produced by its competitors with OIS, e.g. Panasonic FZ5, Canon S2 IS, Sony H1, Konica Minolta Z6.
I am also not a big fan of cameras that use 4 AA batteries. I prefer either 2 AA batteries or a proprietary battery pack. But I am sure many people have no problem using 2 AA batteries.
Bottom Line
I am very impressed with the Fuji S5200. It has excellent build quality, ergonomics, performance and it even looks good. I highly recommend it.
5.1-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 13 x 17-inch prints 10x optical zoom (equivalent to a 38-380mm on a 35mm camera) 1.8-inch l...More at Amazon Marketplace
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