The Best 3 Megapixel-Class Camera On The Market

To set this review up properly, you need to understand a little of where I've been. My first digital camera ever was the Minolta Dimage V, a VGA-quality camera with a tilt-swivel lens head that succumbed to a single fall on the ground, and a Nikon Coolpix 800 which I've owned since 2000. I really liked the Dimage V because it was the only digital camera at the time that had the optical zoom controlled by a lever on the side - good design. But the quality of the materials didn't allow that model a longer life. It would be replaced by the Nikon Coolpix which was a solid performer all the time I had it, but recently I began to have concerns it was going out of focus and wanted to get my hands on one of the several cameras with 10X digital zoom, such as made by Minolta, Kodak, Nikon and (happily for me) FujiFilm.

The field of digital cameras now is astonishing. You now have 2MP (megapixel) cameras (the only class I've had up until now), 3 MP cameras, 4 MP cameras, 5 MP cameras and even some 6 MP ones. There are also professional-grade cameras beyond 6MP but I didn't want to spend that much.

Here's what I wanted most:

1. A camera that uses AA NiMH batteries rather than rechargeable Lithium Ion ones. AA rechargeables are much less costly and can be used with a (now) wide variety of battery charging systems (of which I would highly recommend Ray-O-Vac's). Many such charging systems also have car lighter cords available (such as the Ray-O-Vac 1-Hour one I have) so I can charge batteries while I'm en route somewhere if I forgot to do it the night before.

2. A 10X telephoto lens. My digital camcorder has 10X zoom; I figured I could get quality at least as good for a still picture camera.

3. Image quality as good as, or better than, the Nikon Coolpix 800 I had.

Any other bells and whistles would be pure gravy. When doing research - which included the Internet as well as a computer magazine - based on the criteria I was considering I narrowed my search to the new Minolta Dimage Z1 and the FujiFilm S5000. Some of the other 10X cameras I looked at, like the Kodak, didn't look enough like "serious" cameras, or they didn't have 10X optical zoom - Nikon's Coolpix 3200 only has 3X optical zoom for the price class I was researching, a disappointment after all the years they've been making cameras. (They have a camera with 10X zoom, but it's well beyond the sub-$400 I was hoping to spend.)

The first time I ever saw the S5000, a photographer friend of mine showed it to me at a local cafe. I was impressed with the body - black, solid and compact - but wondered if it would make me happy as the Nikon had; I had never heard of FujiFilm digital cameras. I had shot a roll of pictures with Fuji color film once and hadn't been overly impressed with it, so I was a little skeptical, by extension, about their cameras.

I ordered the S5000 from an Internet-based photo supply place out of New York and opened the box. I was very impressed by the feel of the camera - the S5000 doesn't feel cheap the way the Minolta Dimage Z1 felt, although both are in the same price class (I felt like if I had bought the Z1, I would have had to have handled it with kit gloves; it seemed plastic and delicate). Then I began to use it, and that's when I was really impressed with it. This review is being written after only about two days with the camera, but I wanted to write it to highlight some of the features that make it worth serious consideration.

For this review, I'm going to focus on the basic functions of the camera, the ones I'll use the most, rather than the extensive list of bells and whistles.

READ THE MANUAL

First of all, other critiques have suggested reading the manual, and I agree, but not because the camera is hard to use. It's because you should be aware of all the features packed into this little dynamo. If you're like me, chances are you'll only use about half the main features. But you may miss something that you may want to try, like built-in automatic bracketing (the S5000 shoots 3 of the same image with varying apertures) or AVI movie recording with sound. Also, the manual is one of the best-written I've ever seen for a piece of electronics; bargain components usually have badly written texts loaded with misspellings and grammatical errors. The user's guide has thoughtfully marked tips, cautions and warnings, as well as LOTS of diagrams and illustrations.

EASY, WELL-DESIGNED CONTROLS

I really like the controls, switches and knobs on the S5000 - a LOT. Every button or dial is easy to find and access with your fingers. A single on/off switch at the top front of the camera lets you switch between record and play modes which is very nice; the different photography modes are controlled by a separate wheel. The back of the camera has the silver-color wide and telephoto zoom buttons in an easy to reach place. The camera's menu system is controlled by a four-position, "compass-style" rocker switch (that's the best way I can describe it) that makes changing the camera settings pretty simple.

There are actually two viewfinders on the S5000 - there's the VERY bright and beautiful LCD monitor, and there's what the camera calls the "EVF" (which I can assume probably means "electronic viewfinder") which you peer through as you would a conventional SLR camera. As the name suggests, it is electronic – you're looking at a teeny-tiny illuminated LCD monitor - very nice for bright sunlight.

Two buttons on top of the camera allow you to switch to continuous shot mode (rapidly shooting several images in sequence similar to auto-advance on regular SLR's) and perform exposure compensation (lightness/darkness of the output image).

XD DIGITAL MEDIA CARD: FAST BUT VERY SMALL

FujiFilm cameras have apparently migrated to the xD format digital media card. These cards are very fast but boy, you'd better be careful with them; they're quite small. Unless you want the dog to swallow your portfolio, you'll safeguard the cards carefully.

I have to confess I was a bit of a skeptic about switching to a camera that didn't use CompactFlash. CF cards are large enough to keep track of, plus they can store a good number of images. But I think I'm going to get along with xD just fine.

I had considered purchasing a separate USB-based xD card reader but after I plugged the camera into my USB port with the cable that's included and saw how fast it was, I decided it wasn't necessary. The pictures can be copied from the camera to my PC as quickly as if I had a reader; Windows XP recognizes the camera as a removable drive (yes!). So if you're factoring in the cost of an xD media reader for this camera, don't bother. For most of you (if not all of you) it should be fast enough.

But one criticism I have to raise is the media card capacity. Like many camera manufacturers, FujiFilm shipped the S5000 with a 16MB card which, for the size of the pictures you get, isn't very much space. I wound up going to Best Buy and - as good luck would have it - caught a 25% off sale on FujiFilm xD cards. A 128 MB card normally running about $80 was only $60. Even 32 MB would have been better than 16 MB. If you don't take many pictures often, you'll probably be fine with the 16 MB card; otherwise, get ready to spend a little more.

SHUTTER LAG? WHAT SHUTTER LAG?

Some other reviews I've read about have criticized this camera for its excessive shutter lag. I don't know what people are talking about; I think the camera is fast enough. The S5000 has less shutter lag than my Nikon Coolpix 800, which had a lag of about 3-5 seconds. The S5000 will take about 2 seconds to save your picture in 3MP mode, and that's the second-highest resolution on the camera (after 6MP). I wouldn't let shutter lag stop you from buying this camera. Also, remember it does have repetitive image capture, allowing you to get a series of images rapid-fire style.

I selected the classification "Good; camera lags less than a second before taking the picture" for its acceptable lag by MY standards, even though its lag is more than 1 second. If 2 seconds (!) is too long you may be a bit frustrated with the S5000.

**Update** Now that I've used the camera a little more I see how folks are concerned about the shutter lag. A moving subject I took at the middle of the viewfinder, when shot, sometimes wound up at the left edge. But, as I mention above, if you use the Last-5 option which gets the last five images until you release the button, you'll be fine.

THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR

The only things to watch out for on the S5000 are small. If you have the nicely fitted lens cap on the lens in place when you turn the camera to record mode, the S5000 will complain with the mildly cryptic message "Zoom Error" on the LCD monitor (the camera is basically saying "I can't extend the zoom lens 'cause you've got the cap on, dummy"). But switching the camera off and on again will get rid of that.

Another thing has to do with the flash. To activate flash you push a button on one side of the camera to extend the flash unit. It does not automatically pop up if it's needed. This is not a problem for me, because I only use flash when I absolutely have to, but for those of you expecting it to pop up when light is insufficient, you'll have to take one more step and press the button. Nothing more.

**Update** I just realized I won't have to deal with an occasionally annoying habit the Nikon Coolpix 800 had - accidental flash. Sometimes I would set up a shot, thinking the camera's flash wouldn't fire, but it would. The S5000's requiring you to extend the flash unit (and it's twice as bright as that of the Nikon) will prevent surprise flash situations.

The S5000 does NOT come with an AC adapter; if you want one of those you'll need to purchase it separately. (But the Nikon Coolpix 800 I previously had didn't come with one either, and I never missed it.)

One other thing is the grip: it's fabulous for right-handed photographers but lefties will feel a bit uncomfortable with something so clearly designed to fit a right hand. (A remote control doesn't appear to be offered as an accessory, regrettably for southpaws.)

WEIRD SHAPE MAY MAKE BUYING CARRY BAGS TRICKY

Largely because of the 10X lens, when I was shopping for camera bags, I had a bit of a hard time. The footprint of the camera is a thick capital "L" with the lens jutting out. It's not the sleek, thin profile of many other digital cameras out right now, but then again, the sleek, thin cameras don't have a 10X telephoto lens either. A tip: you might have better success looking in the camcorder bag section than the camera pack section if you're looking for a small one.

IMAGE QUALITY GOOD SO FAR, ISO OPTIONS

Since I've only had the camera a couple of days the jury is still out on the quality of the images vs. the Nikon. I'm very partial to Nikon's images because in available room light the camera did an outstanding job. Incandescent lighting had the nice warmth I was expecting. The few pictures I've taken with the S5000 have been good so far, but my experience with Fuji film before (see the introduction, above) have me hoping the color will be just as good as the Nikon.

A noteworthy aspect of the S5000 is that it has a 6MP mode, but (from what I've read) that 6MP figure is interpolated (translation: simulated). I don't know how good the pictures will be that way, but FujiFilm is proud enough of their "Super CCD" that they have a small nameplate on the front of the camera to call attention to it.

You can specify different ISO ratings on the camera to simulate photographing with 200-, 400- and 800-speed film. A caution: 800-speed film will, for some bizarre reason, only shoot in 1MP mode. This will likely only be an issue for me if I'm photographing a skyline at night, or an image of a candle in total darkness. For higher resolution, I'll probably use ISO 400 and grab a good tripod.

**Update** I would strongly suggest playing around with the 7 white balance settings in "P" mode. I noticed a difference and automatic mode doesn't always quite get indoor light perfect. Outdoor light or any other really bright situation, you'll see no problems.

SOFTWARE BUNDLE

The camera comes with the drivers for the USB connection, and the FinePix Viewer, a decent image management application. No complaints here. And, I have to compliment the folks at FujiFilm for testing their installation program thoroughly. This installed about four or five things and the whole process went off without a hitch.

HAVE DISK SPACE AVAILABLE!

It probably won't come as a surprise to most of you, but for those of you new to digital photography, you're going to want a large hard drive and/or a CD or DVD burner to archive the photos you take with the S5000; the file sizes are pretty large. The 2MP images average about 400K; the 3MP and 6MP images are even larger. CD burners are under $100 now, so consider getting one soon if you start snapping a bunch of pics with the S5000.

POWERED BY AA BATTERIES

The higher-end Nikon cameras seem to all work with Lithium Ion batteries, for which there are fewer chargers and none (that I know of) with car power cords. The designers at FujiFilm wisely designed the S5000, like the S3000 before it, to operate with easily available AA cells. The camera ships with 4 alkaline cells, but you'll want to spend about $50 on a 1-hour (or less) NiMH charger and at least one set of NiMH AA cells. Each set of 4 costs about $14 but will save you hundreds of dollars on batteries. As I've not had the camera for very long I can't comment on battery life, but with NiMH batteries (I have four sets of 4) that won't be an issue.

**Update** After a photo shoot in which I used a Nikon Coolpix 800 side-by-side with the FinePix S5000, the S5000 beat the Nikon on battery life. The Nikon fired off about 100 images on a set of four NiMH cells before going bye-bye. The S5000 went on to do over 200 - a pleasant surprise.

"AND MUCH, MUCH MORE!"

Here's a partial list of the features the S5000 comes with that I'll occasionally or never use: shutter-priority mode, aperture-priority mode, program-shift mode (override either shutter speed or aperture concurrently), "raw" picture mode (uncompressed images), AVI video recording with sound, audio memo (up to 30 seconds of audio to record with a picture), red-eye reduction, picture protect (against accidental erasure), flash brightness control (you can make incremental changes in how bright the flash is), manual focus, image sharpness adjustment, something called "DPOF" (digital print order format, a special way of marking pictures for processing, I guess), auto-focus location change, NiMH battery discharge (to kill such batteries' "memory effect") and quite a few others. Equally remarkable is that there are conversion lenses for wide and, if 10X digital zoom isn't powerful enough for you to see the dimple on that cute jogger clear across the park, telephoto - sold separately, of course.

CONCLUSION

The street price for the FujiFilm FinePix S5000 is $399, but if you hit sites like CNet.com's Shopper site you can find some remarkable deals on this gem. I paid $309 for mine (with overnight shipping, $353), so you can save about $75 by going on-line to get it. (I went to ButterflyPhoto.com.) Just remember with on-line shopping that if you don't like the camera (and I can't see why you wouldn't like this one) you'll get hit with a restocking penalty of 15% or more of the selling price (Butterfly Photo only charges 10%).

With the wide range of 3MP cameras out there I have never seen a package quite like the FujiFilm FinePix S5000. It's an attractive, solid camera that feels good to hold and is refreshingly simple to use. At an MSRP of $399 (with deals online that could save you up to 25%), you won't find a better value than this out there. Nikon could learn a thing or two from the geniuses at FujiFilm!