Fujifilm FinePix S5000

...convince me to buy the Fujifilm FinePix S5000 digital camera - because it not only has a 10x optical zoom, it also has a 2.2x digital zoom, which (if you know your maths) will tell you that this camera can zoom up to a whopping 22x! Uh, huh, you read me right - 22 times! Stick that into your pixels and mega it, baby! Of course, if the rest of the camera wasn't also good, I wouldn't be able to tell you more, so here goes.

The Workings:
...can be found on the FujiFilm web page at http://tinyurl.com/dnsbo

At the time of writing this review, Pricerunner.co.uk only found one retailer selling this camera and that was at That Camera Place and they have this camera in stock and are selling it (delivered) for £305.99.

This camera has been replaced by newer models but you can still find them on Ebay - I found them there going for £70-£100 - or reconditioned from ... more

Megapixels, shemegapixels! Yes, you heard me. Here I am, pooh-poohing what seems to have become the zenith feature of digital cameras - the pixel count. You know why? Because I can't really see the difference between a picture taken with a 1mp camera and a 10mp camera - that's why. But ask me if I can see the difference between a 2x zoom and a 10x zoom? Then, yes, the truth is, I certainly can with no doubts whatsoever. And that's why my son was easily able to convince me to buy the Fujifilm FinePix S5000 digital camera - because it not only has a 10x optical zoom, it also has a 2.2x digital zoom, which (if you know your maths) will tell you that this camera can zoom up to a whopping 22x! Uh, huh, you read me right - 22 times! Stick that into your pixels and mega it, baby! Of course, if the rest of the camera wasn't also good, I wouldn't be able to tell you more, so here goes.

The Workings:
Let me get the boring stuff out of the way here. This camera is a 3.1megapixel camera (but goes up to 6.6mp interpolated - whatever that means) and comes with a 32mb xD picture memory card, which will probably store anywhere between 36 and 180 pictures (depending on the size and resolution of the pictures you choose to take). These memory cards are pretty cheap these days and it would be well advised to get another card or two of at least 265mb, if not more, so you can fiddle with the resolution of the pictures and still have room to take hundreds of photos as well as a movie or two.

The software that comes with this camera is pretty basic, and I'm not at all sure you really need to install it. You can download your pictures directly from the camera via a USB cable and most operating systems today will recognize the connection as soon as you plug it in and you can download by cutting and pasting just as easily - if not more efficiently - than using the software. Note that the USB connection here is 1.1 and not 2.0 so it shouldn't cause any problems with connecting to older computers, but the downloading will take a tad more time - however, not enough so that you'd really notice it, if you ask me.

Also, if you have an HP printer like I have, I've noticed that their software automatically let's you download your pictures to any specified folder when you plug your camera in. Now there may be other printers with similar software so you might want to check that before you start fiddling with brand new programs on your computer. In that sense, while we found that the software we got was perfectly fine, we never bothered to use it after the first time since my son decided that there were other photo editing programs around that were much better - including Picasa2 from Google.

The Looks:
First of all, this really looks like a 'real' camera. Just take a look at the picture of it up there. It looks sturdy, like something that you can really hold onto. Like a 35mm camera used to look. Not like these little nitty-bitty things you see all over that look like you'd use them once and toss them away. This is really substantial. It has a curved part on the side that you can get a good grip onto, which looks similar to the area where the roll of film used to go. Actually, that's where the batteries are stored. It has a big lens on the front and the usual buttons on the top. It also has a screen at the back and some buttons there, like ones for using that screen. What's more important is that the view finder has one of those bits of soft plastic around it so that when you put your eye up to the finder as little disturbing light will get in, so you can see the shot you're trying to take more clearly. This is something that's usually reserved for your more professional cameras - including the reflex ones (reflex is another way of referring to still, film cameras, in case you didn't know).

Some Features:
I don't want to get terribly technical here, but there are a few things that are especially good about this camera. Firstly, all of the automatic modes for taking your normal, run of the mill portrait or landscape pictures work very well and you'll be easily able to identify them on the wheel at the top of the camera. It also has the usual buttons for taking continuous shots - you know, for when you want the camera to take a whole bunch of pictures one immediately after the other without having to keep pushing the button for each and every one of the pictures. I've never found that handy, but I'm sure some of you might find a use for it, and if you do, you can take from 5 up to 40 in a row, depending on how you set the camera.

There's also a 'fast action' mode for taking shots of things that are moving. Of course, if you're like me, you can just set it for "Auto" and click away. Taking a picture with the flash is as easy as pushing the button to have the flash bit flip up and the camera will know to use it. Essentially, for those who don't want to plow through a huge instruction book, you'll be able to "point and shoot" with this camera and come up with some really beautiful shots.

But if you're into reading the instructions - like my son was - you'll find some really nifty things to do with this camera. For instance, you can take black & white pictures with this camera. You can fiddle with the light meter and play with exposure so that you can brighten or darken the picture you're taking without having to add a flash. You can also adjust the shutter speed so that pictures can look less or more blurry when you're trying to capture something moving. There's also an option to be able to take short movies with this camera, and depending on the size of your memory card, you could take several minutes worth of movies on this camera. There's also a built in microphone so your movies will include sound to them.

Finally, my son showed me that when you've taken the picture, you can fiddle with it when its on the screen, even before downloading it. Of course, you can also delete a picture you don't like while its still in the camera, but it seems to me that most of the time people don't do that much unless they're running out of memory space. These days with 1giga plus memory cards available, I see that function becoming the least used one on any digital camera.

My Two Niggles:
Now, while this looks like it might be heavy from its shape, its actually relatively light, even when you have the batteries in. This camera takes four AA batteries, which seem to take up almost half of the weight of the camera itself. And as for the battery life of this camera - I'd say its average to fair. I've seen my kids go through 8-12 batteries over a long weekend of touring and sightseeing. Most people would agree with me that anyone using a digital camera for any length of time would want to invest in a good set of rechargeable batteries and charger, especially if they don't want to go broke during a vacation. So, one of the things I would have preferred on this camera would have been if it was fitted with a Li-On rechargeable battery instead of using the AA ones.

I should mention that the view finder is another small drawback on this camera. The problem is that either you look through the viewfinder OR you look at the screen on the back, but you can't actually do both because they are electronically connected. What this means is that what you're seeing through the viewfinder is in reality the exact same digital viewing from the screen of what the lens will pick up. So, when you look through the viewfinder you're not actually seeing through the lens itself. Some digital cameras have the viewfinder being what your lens will pick up and the screen being the digital view of what the lens is seeing. (In those cases, you'll probably be able to use both the screen and the viewfinder at the same time.) The disadvantage of this is that because of the teeny-tiny delay between the lens and the image you're seeing, you might not actually succeed in getting the totally precise picture you're aiming at. I do think I would have preferred a real optical viewfinder in addition to the digital screen.

The Best Part:
Of course, the best part about this camera is the relatively large lens and the amazing zoom you can get with this camera. It seems to me that this is really what makes the difference between a good picture and a really great one. You see, those little lenses just can't give you the clarity and depth that a good sized lens can. And with these little digital cameras, you're totally stuck with what you buy in the package. This camera, however, has the possibility of adding a wide-angle lens or a teleconversion lens onto it for taking even more professional looking shots. But even without that, the zoom and lens here are truly of high quality.

What's more, with this camera you can be a total amateur and still have your pictures coming out looking professional without having to wade through the whole instruction book. On the other hand, if you want to read the instruction book (which is a very good one, by the way), then you can use this camera with all its bells and whistles and take truly fantastic pictures.

My son took this camera with him to Africa and the pictures he got were totally amazing. From flora to fauna, practically every shot looks very professional without ever needing to use any photo editing programs to fix them up. I'd love to download all the pictures he took for you, but I'll have to stick to the few that Ciao will allow me to upload here, since that really is the proof of the pudding. So I guess I should let my son's pictures speak for themselves.

Bottom Line - this is a really professional looking camera, which is just as great for the amateur shooter as it is for the more seasoned ones. While it looks heavy, it really isn't even though it uses 4 AA batteries. The viewfinder is unfortunately digital, but that's and the batteries are its only downfalls. Most importantly, its easy to use and takes great pictures and has lots of great features for those who really get into fiddling around with these things. I'll recommend it and give it 4 stars.

Thanks for reading!

Davida Chazan © January, 2006

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Technical Stuff:
Full information about this camera can be found on the FujiFilm web page at http://tinyurl.com/dnsbo

At the time of writing this review, Pricerunner.co.uk only found one retailer selling this camera and that was at That Camera Place and they have this camera in stock and are selling it (delivered) for £305.99.

This camera has been replaced by newer models but you can still find them on Ebay - I found them there going for £70-£100 - or reconditioned from your local camera shop, which is what we did, and at the time, including the extra xD card, and a carrying case, it cost us about £235 back in March of 2005.

Amazon.co.uk sells the teleconversion lens for this for £88.99
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