Fuji FinePix S20 ProFuji's latest electronic SLR offers a high dynamic range Super CCD (6.7 million photosensors in a 3.4 megapixel array) that interpolates to 6.0 megapixels, plus an external flash sync connection!<<Image Storage & Interface :(Previous) | (Next): Test Results & Conclusion>> Page 12:Video, Power, SoftwareReview First Posted: 04/27/2004 |
Video Out
The
S20 Pro comes with an A/V (audio and video) cable that allows you to connect
the camera to a television set for reviewing images and movies. Since the viewfinder
signal in record mode is also routed to the video jack, you can also use a video
monitor as an expanded viewfinder for composing shots. A setup menu option offers
NTSC and PAL video timing settings.
Power
The S20 Pro uses four AA-type batteries
for power, and comes with a set of single-use alkaline batteries. As you'd expect,
the increased power capacity provided by high-capacity NiMH AA cells brings
some clear benefits in terms of extended operating times. As always, I strongly
recommend buying a few sets of high-capacity NiMH AA cells and a good charger,
and always keeping a freshly charged set on hand as spares. You can read my
battery test results here,
or see this
article for a review of my favorite charger.
An AC adapter is available as a separate accessory, handy when downloading images or reviewing captured files, essential / mandatory if you plan to use the S20 Pro as a webcam. An Auto Power Off function shuts off the camera automatically after either two or five minutes of inactivity (adjusted through the Setup menu), but can be disabled if you want to keep the camera ready all the time, at the obvious cost of shorter battery life. The table below details power consumption in various operating modes. (Note that the numbers in this table are based on the use of NiMH AA cells with 1600 mAh capacity, to maintain compatibility with earlier reviews. Actual run times will depend on the capacity of the batteries you use. Modern NiMH cells have true capacities of 2000 mAh or more, so you could see battery life 25% or more higher than shown here.)
| | (@ 5 v) | (1600mAh, 4.8v 4 NiMH Cells) |
| Capture Mode, w/LCD | | |
| Capture Mode, EVF | | |
| Half-pressed shutter w/LCD | | |
| Half-pressed w/EVF | | |
| Memory Write (transient) | | |
| Flash Recharge (transient) | | |
| Image Playback | | |
The S20 Pro offers very good run time, particularly if you use the latest high-capacity NiMH cells to power it. (Worst-case run time with true 2000 mAh cells would be a bit over 3.3 hours, very good indeed.) I still recommend purchasing a second set of rechargeable batteries, and always keeping one set topped-off via a trickle charger, to avoid the Murphy's Law problem of batteries failing exactly when you most need them. As noted above, see my battery shootout article, for the latest test results of various NiMH cells under actual load conditions.
Included Software
Packaged with the S20 Pro is a software CD containing
Fuji's "Software for FinePix," compatible with Windows 98 / 2000 /
Me / XP and Macintosh OS 8.6 to OS X. In addition to USB drivers,
the software package includes FinePix Viewer for organizing files, and ImageMixer
for creating CD albums. There's also a RAW file converter, and Hyper Utility
Software HS-V2, a remote control application for use over the IEEE 1394 FireWire
connection. Windows users can take advantage of the Picture Hello application,
which turns the S20 Pro into a webcam.
I don't have the time here to go into a full description of the capabilities of HyperUtility or RAW Converter, but can say that both are fairly full-featured.
HyperUtility is a general file browser, with little or no image-manipulation capability, but a very complete ability to control the S20 Pro remotely. About my only quibble with its remote-control capability is that there's no way to get a live viewfinder display on the screen (at least, as far as I could tell), and the lens zoom control is rather slow. Other than that, it's a very capable application that seems to work well and transfer data quickly via the FireWire connection. You can also choose whether to control the camera from the computer, or to use the camera's controls, with captured images being transferred to the computer as they're shot.
Fuji's Raw Converter program offers a fair bit of control, but I found its option for image sharpening a little limited. My other complaint was that it was very slow to zoom in on a Raw image to see detail. It offers all the standard raw-conversion tools, to adjust sharpness, color, exposure compensation and white balance. The unique wrinkle is the "Dynamic Range" control slider, which lets you select how much of the low-sensitivity "R" sensor data is used in the final result. In the screen shot above, I've told it to use the maximum amount, which has brought the very washed-out highlight of the white paint on the bay window completely down out of saturation, recovering all the detail that was present there.
I'd still like to see the ability to export S and R-pixel data as separate files for manipulation in Photoshop, but the control offered directly within RAW Converter is a very good start.
Included Hardware
Included in the box are the following items:
- Fuji FinePix S20 Pro digital camera.
- Neck strap.
- Lens cap with strap and holder.
- A/V cable.
- USB 2.0 cable.
- IEEE 1394 FireWire cable.
- Four AA-type alkaline batteries.
- 16MB xD-Picture Card.
- Software CD.
- Instruction manuals and registration information.
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