Fuji FinePix S3 ProFuji updates their digital SLR with a 12.34-megapixel Super CCD SR II, for amazing tonal range.<<Design :(Previous) | (Next): Optics>> Page 4:ViewfinderReview First Posted: 9/7/2005 |
Viewfinder
Like other SLRs, the S3 Pro's optical viewfinder looks out through the lens. A sliding diopter adjustment control to the right of the eyepiece adjusts the focusing of the viewfinder optics to accommodate eyeglass wearers, and the viewfinder's "eyepoint" is also high enough that you can see the full viewfinder frame even while wearing fairly thick eyeglass lenses. An illuminated display in the viewfinder gives detailed exposure and camera status information, including focus area indicators, shutter speed, aperture, exposure mode, metering, AE lock, exposure and flash compensation, frame counter, ready light, and five sets of focus brackets. When activated, the view also includes an alignment grid, useful for lining up difficult shots. A large circular outline in the center of the view indicates the Center-Weighted metering area. The optional grid (enabled via Custom Menu setting number 2) and focus area indicators can be set to illuminate briefly when the Shutter button is half-pressed, through Custom Menu setting number 3.
While most digital SLRs offer an LCD panel, the LCD typically isn't available as a viewfinder, due to the digital SLR design. However, the S3 Pro breaks with tradition here, offering a "Live" mode that turns the LCD monitor into a viewfinder. When activated through the camera's main menu, Live Image mode opens the shutter for 30 seconds and displays the image area on the LCD monitor. You can't use the autofocus mechanism, but you can manually adjust focus and frame the shot. There's also an Enlarge option (activated by the up arrow key), which enlarges the center of the image to help you achieve a tight focus. The LCD monitor also provides both normal and zoomed playback of previously captured images, as well as a histogram overlay. (The S3's histogram overlay is unique in my experience in that it shows not only overall brightness values, but separate histograms for the red, green, and blue channels of the image separately.)
The LCD monitor on most digital SLRs also serves to display information about the captured images as well. There's generally an optional information overlay that lists various exposure parameters (shutter speed, aperture, ISO, image size, etc) for the displayed image. On the S3, this function is handled by the monochrome rear-panel LCD data readout just above the main LCD monitor screen. Two screens of information there show image file number, date and time of capture, image compression level and resolution, white balance setting, shutter speed and aperture, ISO, and the settings for color, tone, and sharpening. (You simply hit the Function button to scroll through screens.) I really liked what this data readout panel did for the S3's user interface overall, and particularly enjoyed being able to see the exposure information without it interfering with my viewing of the displayed image.
A new display feature on the S3's image playback is a "blinking highlights" display, which flashes any overexposed highlights. Histogram displays are useful for determining overall exposure, and the S3's addition of RGB histograms is a nice touch. Histogram displays are virtually useless though, if you have relatively small areas of strong highlights that you don't want to blow out. If only a relatively small area is affected, you won't be able to see the tiny peak that corresponds to it on the histogram plot. To address this issue, the S3's playback display shows highlights that are either blowing out or in danger of doing so by letting them "blink" in the display, flipping between white and black. This sort of display makes it immediately obvious anytime you're in danger of losing highlight detail.
The zoomed playback option on the S3 Pro deserves particular mention, given the range of magnification it offers. At maximum magnification, you can easily see down to the pixel level in captured images, allowing pretty precise evaluation of focus and depth of field. (I'd like to see this level of magnification as a standard feature on all digital cameras, but particularly on D-SLRs, whose users are more likely to be interested in precise depth of field evaluation.) The S3 offers a maximum magnification of 26.6x, for maximum resolution images. (The actual level of magnification depends on the image resolution size.)
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