Reviews for FinePix S3 Pro Digital SLR Camera Body Only

By member: kenholt57 - Jan 30, 2005

FinePix S3 Pro Digital SLR Camera Body Only

Strengths: Incredible dynamic range compared to previous digital cameras. Smooth creamy and realistic skin tones, low noise and greatly improved resolution.

Weakness: Slower continuous shooting than some less expensive cameras. Annoyingly aggressive sleep shutdown mode. Water proof gasket needed on compact flash door. Useless, battery robbing “Live Image” function.

I am a professional photographer familiar with digital imagery for over 5 years now. I have owned several pro level digital cameras, including the 2 previous versions of this one, the Finepix S1 & S2. The images I have taken with this camera are among the best that I have ever seen; better (and sharper) than 35mm by far, and close to medium format tonal quality and resolution. If you custom white balance and get your exposure within one and a half stops of the proper setting you can get incredible images that look better that the raw images shot with the S2. And the raw images (with a little tweaking in Photoshop) look as good or better than any digital (and most film) images that I have ever seen! I am VERY happy with this camera, and if you are a serious photographer who knows how to shoot properly, I guarantee that you will too. And no, I DON’T work for Fuji.

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Reply by member: kenholt57
Jan 11, 2006

Sorry for this late response, I just noticed your comments today in passing. If you haven’t purchased a camera yet, read the following:

1. The continuous shooting speed I believe is between 2 & 3 fps at full resolution. If you need to shoot “rapid fire” there are a number of better suited digital cameras than this one in this price range or less.

2. Start up time is near instantiations.

3. Just ignore the useless “live Image” function and pretend it doesn’t exist. You don’t have to turn it off.

4. You can set the time it takes for the camera to go to sleep mode, making it less aggressive.

5. I use NiMH (2500 mAh) batteries and get between 4-500 shots (conservative estimate) on a freshly charged set.

6. I would put the resolution somewhere between 35mm and medium format film, closer to medium format. Its true resolution (read sharpness) has been tested to be about that of a 8 megapixel camera even though it is capable of giving you 12 megapixels of information through interpolation. But it is the dynamic range and the film-like tonal characteristics of this camera, not the resolution that makes it unique. I shoot great 16x20 images in raw and fine jpeg routinely.

7. Color saturation and rendition are excellent. I would highly recommend learning Photoshop and purchasing a large white balance/white-gray-black exposure target to take full advantage of this camera’s capability. The raw software in Photoshop is far superior to the raw software that comes with the camera.

8. The camera is Nikon based and uses all Nikon lenses and DX flash equipment.

9. I use a 24-200 Tokina zoom lens.

10. This is not a beginner – amateur camera.

11. The Canon EOS 20D is a superior camera in many respects, but does not have the dynamic range or film like tonal qualities of this camera.

12. If I were purchasing a new camera today I would probably opt for the new Canon EOS 5D, which does have the tonal qualities and dynamic range of this camera and a sharper, cleaner, higher resolution image.

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GREAT PHOTOS TAKE TIME!

Strengths: Great image results!

Weakness: Slow on review and writing speed..

Fuji S3 Pro my own review

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I have own Fuji S2 & S3 PRO for over 3 yrs now, i love the result images Fuji puts out, much better than any DSLRs i've own before. People are talking about Fujis are good for weddings and portraits, to me if its good for weddings and portraits its good for the rest, Fuji is not faster shooting than Canon or Nikon, but in the end the results that counts, look for samples here. it tells everything about Fuji DSLRs.Eventhough its the samples from new S5 but its says pretty much the same as S2& S3 vs Nikons.
www.shadow.janikit.co....
If your goal is to shoot 5 frames per second everyday then buy Canon or Nikon. If you care about image quality then buy Fujis. I've shot in 3fps with my Fujis many times in fine JPG mode without any problem. So i've sold all my Canon and Nikon gears and switched to Fujis and Sony for much better end results, im selling prints, i dont sell speed.
You can see why i switched, the reasons are here in this gentlman's webpage.
forums.dpreview.com/fo...
To see is to beleive, i had a chance to compared both of my Fuji s2 & S3 vs my newly Nikon D50 on the same lens, after about 300 shots the results were very easy to pick, pretty much the same as these samples you see here on these 2 links above. Fujis rules.
I bought Nikon D50 because many reviews gave it a 5 star( noway its a 5 star) and Kent Rockwell said he could'nt tell the diff between D2X and D50 in images quality, thats a "BS", D50 is noway near the quality of Fujis. If D50 images look the same as D2X then shame on NIKON, D50 is just a beginner camera, it does beginner stuff. Kent Rockwell only said that so may be he could get free lunch from Nikon.
www.kenrockwell.com/ni...
If you want a Nikon?, buy Sony A100 for more advance CCD than Nikon gets, you should know that Sony made CCD for all Nikon DSLRs. Plus you get Anti Shake in body ( thats means any lens will be stabilized when mounted on A100)i bought 4 lenses for A100 and they all very sharp, thats the big advanatage over Nikon, you will never have to worried about buy Nikon or Canon over price VR & IS lenses ever again.
In additional, Fujis and Sony produce much better colors , sharpness, details contrast, more neutral, truer and more pleasing colors,and most of all the extend dynamic range, with very smoot details in hilites and shadows, not as Nikon always seems to blown hilite details,harsh details and plugged shadows, metering is hit or miss, therefore exposures is over or underexposed. Colors is off too.
Please dont be stuck or wounded up with just 1 brand name, its not the way to be, if you really want to write reviews or get some knowledge about Digital cameras you should try many diff cameras as you can to see and learn what other brands can do. I personally would like to try or buy newly Sigma SD14 and S5, watch out for new Sony DSLRs coming out soon.
Best sellers dont mean that its the best, if that was the case then everyone should drive TOYOTA?
I dont wear Tshirt that say Canon or Nikon, infact i wear Tshirt that say JESUS SAVED!
my 2 centz.
JV

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Fuji FinePix S3 Pro Digital SLR

Strengths: (1)Superb color rendition in both JPEG & RAW formats due to superior CCD sensor technology;(2)Uses standard AA batteries (x4), long battery life, no need expensive custom types;(3)solid grip/feel body

Weakness: (1)slow file transfers from camera buffer to CF, resulting in slower motor drive FPS, esp serious if using RAW;(2)can't meter using manual AI/S Nikkor lenses;

Color rendition is very good. I used ISO1600 (1M JPEG) for my son's football game under night stadium lighting. Another time ISO400 (1M JPEG) for soccer game under normal daylight. I shot with my trusty manual Nikkor 300mm/f4.5 in both occasions & JPEG turn out fabulous & not grainy on my 1680x1050p WFP LCD. I don't really care about S3 not metering w/manual AI/S Nikkor lenses since S3 has built-in histogram function. I always try many test shots to get the optimum settings. Manual focusing is easy because focusing screen is very clear & bright w/built-in eyesight correction. Good for me because I'm short sighted. I've tried S3 w/Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 18-70 mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED lens. So far results are good & all AF DX bells & whistles work as they should.

The included S3 sw is easy to install. It even allows my PC to shoot pictures at the click of the mouse. How cool!!!

I highly recommend the S3 for those semi-pros who are on a budget, unwilling to pay through the nose for a Nikon D2X, or really don't need the FPS speed of D2X. You'll get extremely faithful color rendition on S3, plus you can use your trusty manual Nikkor lenses, plus acceptable motordrive FPS. Perfect for taking potraits, sceneries, architectures, even sports (high ISO, 1M JPEG). The pictures are lively, beautiful & sharp.

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Fuji S3Pro

Strengths: dynamic range, resolution, focus-accuracy, AA-batteries

Weakness: artefacts in adobe color space

The dynamic range in the +200% setting is very close to color slide film. Plus/minus 5 appertures on exposing a rough white wall still show some structure. In the field I met almost no light condition, I could have handeled better with color slide film. I made test shots on USAF resolution charts with the Fuji S3 an two good selling 6 megapixel SLR cameras. The linear resolution is nearly 40% higher, which is close to what one would expect theoretically. When using the Adobe color space, I noticed an artefact with a period of 4 Pixels and a height of 1 pixel on vertical lines. In most prints this is not disturbing. The effect ist almost gone when working in raw-mode. I find irritating, why the raw import filter of photoshop lists the native resolution as approx. 2000 by 3000 pixels? The AA-batteries last very long (watch out for quality accumulators). Where ever You run out of power, AA's are available.

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