Use your browser's "Back" button to return to the previous page, or the links at the top and bottom of this page to navigate to related information. If you have difficulty fitting the text on this page onto your printer output, simply resize your browser window to a narrower width and print again.

Dave here: Have our reviews been helpful to you? (Is this article you're reading right now useful?) Preparing this level of information on as many products as we do is incredibly hard work, not to mention expensive. Things on the Internet may look like they're free, but they're not. (As a lot of big dot.com companies are finding out these days.) Somewhere, somebody has to pay to produce worthwhile content. YOU can help us though, by remembering us when it comes time to make your purchase. Would you consider coming back to our site and clicking-through to one of our advertisers to make your purchase? Every dollar you spend with one of our advertisers helps us directly (in affiliate fees) or indirectly (the advertiser will keep renewing their ad contract with us). To make it easy for you to support us, here's a URL you can visit, to see all our current advertisers, with links to click on that will register your visit to them as having come from our site. It's up to you where you buy, but Mike, Mike, Kim, Yazmin, Marti and I would be really grateful if you'd help us out by choosing one of our advertisers to purchase from.

Back to Full Fuji FinePix S5000 Review
Go to Fuji FinePix S5000 Data Sheet
Go to Fuji FinePix S5000 Pictures Page
Up to Imaging Resource Cameras Page

	*	3.1-megapixel Super CCD HR produces 2,816 x 2,120-pixel images. (Interpolated)
	*	10x Fujinon optical zoom lens equivalent to 37-370mm lens on a 35mm camera.
	*	"Top 5" and "Final 5" continuous shooting modes are great for capturing fast action
	*	Full range of exposure control includes Auto, Scene Program, and Full Manual options.
	*	Excellent color.

Manufacturer Overview

The Fujifilm S5000 is the latest in Fuji's line of FinePix digital cameras sharing a similar style, with a prominent lens on the left side of the body, balanced by a larger handgrip on the right. The new S5000 is a digital SLR, in that both the rear-panel LCD and eyelevel viewfinder are both electronic displays, showing a "live" view through the lens. The lens on the S5000 is a full 10x optical zoom, with a relatively fast maximum aperture range of f/2.8-3.1. This is a longer zoom than Fuji has previously offered, placing the S5000 squarely in the midst of what has become a popular category, the long-zoom digital camera. Where the Finepix S5000 differs from much of its competition though, is in its flexible continuous-shooting modes, which sport a very fast 5 frame/second capture rate, and a very handy "Last 5" capture mode, which records five shots spanning the last second of time before you released the shutter button. (A real help for catching fast-breaking action, if your reflexes are as slow as mine.) The S5000 carries the other features we've come to expect from Fuji, foremost of which is very appealing, natural color, particularly under outdoor shooting conditions.

With list price at introduction of $499 (and street pricing reaching well below $400), the S5000 appears well-positioned in the long-zoom marketplace, and its unique continuous-shooting modes make it well-suited for shooting sports, wildlife, and other distant, active subjects. If you're in the market for a long-zoom camera, the Fuji FinePix S5000 deserves a good look - Read on for all the details.

High Points

• 3.1-megapixel Super CCD HR with interwoven pixels, interpolated to produce images as large as 2,816 x 2,120 pixels.
• 0.33-inch electronic optical viewfinder with dioptric adjustment, plus 1.5-inch color LCD monitor.
• 10x Fujinon 37-370mm equivalent zoom lens, with f/2.8-3.1 maximum aperture.
• Adjustable ISO setting with 200, 400, and 800 equivalents, plus an Auto setting.
• Up to 2.2x digital telephoto.
• Auto and manual focus options, with an adjustable AF area.
• Shutter speeds from 1/2,000 to two seconds.
• Built-in, pop-up flash with six operating modes.
• Seven user-selectable white balance settings.
• Movie with sound and Voice recording modes.
• Program AE, Auto, Scene Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual exposure modes.
• Three Continuous Shooting modes, plus Auto Exposure Bracketing.
• Three image quality recording modes in JPEG format, and an uncompressed RAW option.
• Image storage on xD-Picture Cards (16MB card included).
• A/V cable included for connection to a television set.
• Power via four AA-type batteries or optional AC adapter (four AA alkaline batteries included).
• USB cable and interface software for connecting to a computer.
• DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) Compatibility.

Executive Overview

Falling somewhere between the popular Fuji FinePix 3800 Zoom (now replaced by the FinePix S3000) and FinePix S602 Zoom digicams (about to be replaced by the S7000), Fuji's latest release, the FinePix S5000, offers the simplicity of point-and-shoot photography with the advantages of optional manual control and a generous 10x optical zoom lens. The S5000 retains the styling of the earlier S602, with a large grip providing secure purchase for your fingers, helpful for hand-holding the long telephoto shots its 10x zoom makes possible. Though quite compact (even with the 10x zoom lens), the S5000 definitely won't fit into a shirt pocket, but it ought to do just fine in a large coat pocket, purse, or backpack. The included neck/shoulder strap makes it easier to carry as well. The body appears to be almost entirely composed of structural plastic, but the camera nevertheless has a very solid "feel" to it, with a rubbery outer coating on the hand grip portion for a secure hold. The S5000 features a 3.1-megapixel Super CCD HR, which uses an interwoven honeycomb pixel pattern to produce high-quality, interpolated images as large as 2,816 x 2,120 pixels.

The S5000's 10x Fujinon 5.7-57mm (37-370mm equivalent) retractable lens has a removable, plastic lens cap that attaches to the camera body and protects the lens surface. The same threads that hold the lens cap in place also accept an accessory lens adapter (included with the camera, a very nice touch), allowing a variety of front-element add-on lenses and filters to be used with the camera. Maximum aperture ranges from f/2.8 to f/3.1, depending on the zoom setting, the f/3.1 setting at maximum telephoto being "faster" than that of most long-zoom digicams. A Macro focusing mode gets as close as 3.9 inches (10cm), for roughly average macro performance. Auto and manual focus options are available, as well as a Continuous AF mode suitable for more active subjects. You can set the AF area to Center or Multi positions (Multi basing focus on a broad area in the center of the frame), or manually select the AF point using the multicontroller. An AF-assist lamp helps the camera focus in dark shooting conditions. In addition to the generous 10x optical zoom, the S5000 also features as much as 2.2x digital zoom, although I remind readers that digital zoom directly trades off image quality for magnification. That said, Fuji's approach to digital zoom is more intelligent than most, since they limit digital zoom based on the selected image size, so the camera never interpolates the resulting images, preserving image quality. For framing images, the S5000 features both an "electronic" optical viewfinder (EVF) and a larger rear-panel LCD monitor. The electronic optical viewfinder is actually a miniaturized (0.33 inches) version of the larger, 1.5-inch LCD, and shows the same information displays. An EVF / LCD button switches the viewfinder display between the two monitors, so that only one is active at a time. A dioptric adjustment on the EVF, and its very high eyepoint, makes it convenient for eyeglass wearers.

Accommodating a wide range of users, the S5000 offers full Auto and full Manual exposure modes, and modes in between, including several "Scene" modes. A Power/Mode dial sets the camera to either Record or Playback modes, while the Exposure Mode dial on top of the camera features Manual, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Program AE, Auto, Movie, and Scene Program exposure modes. Scene Program offers a handful of preset shooting modes, including Portrait, Landscape, Sports, and Night Scene. Shutter speeds range from 1/2,000 to two seconds, so low-light shooting is a little limited.

In all exposure modes except for Auto, Scene Program, and Manual, Exposure Compensation is adjustable from -2 to +2 exposure equivalents (EV) in one-third-step increments. By default, the S5000 uses a 64-zone, multisegment metering system, but Average and Spot metering modes are available through the settings menu. Through the Drive menu, an Auto Exposure Bracketing function snaps a series of three images at different exposure settings, which can vary by 1/3, 1/2, or one full EV step. In any of the manual exposure modes, the camera's ISO sensitivity setting offers 200, 400, and 800 equivalents, plus an Auto setting that adjusts from 160 to 400 equivalents, depending on the flash setting. (Note that the 800 ISO setting automatically reduces the image size to the one-megapixel setting.) White Balance choices include Auto, Daylight, Shade, Daylight Fluorescent, Warm White Fluorescent, Cool White Fluorescent, and Incandescent. You can also adjust image sharpness, and a Self-Timer mode offers a 10-second countdown before snapping the picture. The camera's built-in, pop-up flash operates in Auto, Forced On, Forced Off, Red-Eye Reduction, Slow-Synchro, and Red-Eye Reduction Slow-Synchro modes, with an intensity adjustment in the settings menu.

Three Continuous Shooting modes are available through the Drive menu: Top-5 Frame, Final-5 Frame, and Long-Period Continuous Shooting. The Long-Period Continuous Shooting mode is only available in Auto exposure mode, and fixes the image size at 1.0-megapixel setting, but allows very long sequences of images to be captured. (Up to 40 images, at 0.6-second intervals.) The Final-5 frame continuous mode is unusual, in that the camera begins acquiring images continuously when you press the Shutter button, and then saves the last five it shot just before you released the shutter. This is great for capturing fleeting moments in sports and other fast-moving situations. Just hold down the Shutter button, then release it as soon as the event occurs. In Playback mode, a Voice Memo option records as much as 30 seconds of sound to accompany still images. The S5000's Movie mode records movies with sound at the 320 x 240-pixel resolution, for as long as the memory card has available space, at a full 30 frames/second.

Images are stored on xD-Picture Cards (a 16MB card comes with the camera). Image quality choices include three JPEG compression levels, and an uncompressed RAW option. An included A/V cable lets you connect to a television set for image playback and composition, and a USB cable provides high speed connection to a computer. (The included Windows-only PictureHello software also makes the S5000 into a webcam.) A software CD comes with the camera, loaded with Fuji's FinePix Viewer software for image downloading and viewing. Also on the CD is a RAW converter, for processing RAW data image files. Power for the S5000 is provided by four AA-type alkaline or NiMH batteries, and a set of alkaline batteries comes with the camera. As always, I strongly recommend picking up a couple of sets of high-capacity rechargeable batteries and charger.

Looking a bit like a very compact film-based SLR with a "handle" on the right hand side, the FinePix S5000 offers a full range of exposure control options for a variety of users, as well as an impressive 10x optical zoom lens. Its body appears to be almost entirely composed of structural plastic, but it nonetheless has a surprisingly solid feel to it. It's light enough to hold easily with one hand, but the weight of the lens will make you want to hold it two-handed while shooting, despite the counterbalance provide by the mass of the batteries in the hand grip. Despite its relatively light weight, its non-pocketable size means you'll almost certainly want to use the included neckstrap when walking around with it. The camera measures 4.4 x 3.2 x 3.1 inches (113 x 81 x 79 millimeters), and weighs about 15.7 ounces (444 grams) with batteries.

The 10x f/2.8-3.2 zoom lens dominates the front view of the camera, leaving room only for the hefty handgrip. The lens telescopes out an additional 7/8-inch from the camera body whenever the camera is powered on. A ribbed ring surrounds the end of the lens barrel, looking like a focus or zoom ring, but it doesn't turn. It does, however, provide an additional grip for your left hand when holding the camera in shooting position. Just above and to the left of the lens is the AF assist lamp, which projects a bright green pattern when light levels drop below a certain threshold. The handgrip is large enough to provide a firm hold, with a leather-like texture that provides good traction for your fingers as they wrap around the camera. Tucked away above and to the right of the lens (when viewed from the front) and beneath the flash compartment is the tiny microphone used to record audio.

The camera's top panel hosts a number of controls, as well as the pop-up flash compartment. The Power/Mode dial and Shutter button angle down slightly toward the front of the camera, behind which are the Drive and Exposure Compensation buttons, as well as the Exposure Mode dial. On the opposite side of the pop-up flash is the Focus Mode Selector Lock and Focus Mode button.

The opposite side of the camera features the second neck strap attachment, as well as the memory card slot and terminal connector compartment. A hinged, plastic door protects the memory card compartment. Adjacent to the compartment is the camera's speaker. Just below the speaker is the connector compartment, covered by a flexible, rubbery flap that remains tethered to the camera. Beneath this flap are the USB, DC In, and AV Out jacks. Also visible on this side of the camera is the Flash Release button, on the side of the flash compartment.

The rest of the camera controls are on the back panel, sharing the space with the "electronic" optical viewfinder eyepiece and LCD monitor. A small diopter adjustment dial adjusts the viewfinder optics for eyeglass wearers, and a firm rubber eyecup surrounds the viewfinder eyepiece. Zoom controls, a Four-Way Multicontroller, and a handful of other control buttons dot the back panel. Atop the LCD monitor are the Photo Mode and EVF/LCD buttons, along with a small LED lamp that indicates when focus is set, or the camera is accessing the memory card. On the right side of the LCD monitor are the Back and Display buttons.

The S5000's bottom panel is nice and flat, with a plastic tripod mount off-center from the lens, roughly aligned with the camera's center of gravity. Also on the bottom panel is the battery compartment, with a plastic door that slides out before opening. The position of the battery compartment is such that you can't access it with the camera mounted on a tripod plate, but at least the memory card compartment is easy to get to.

Activated through the Setup menu, an Image Display function automatically displays the last captured image on the LCD monitor for a few seconds as it's being recorded to the memory card. Another option on the Image Display menu entry is a "Preview" setting, which gives you the option to delete the image before it's saved. An interesting feature here is that the Preview mode lets you enlarge the captured image and double-check framing or exposure details (using the zoom control to enlarge and the arrow keys to move the view). If you're not happy with the shot, simply erase it and start again. Preview mode also lets you select specific images from a series to record, if you were shooting in one of the Continuous Shooting modes. You can thus save memory card space by keeping only the frames you want, a handy feature.

Like most EVFs, the one on the S5000 is of only limited use in low-light conditions. The problem is that the camera has to use a rather short "shutter speed" when driving the LCD display, to keep the screen refreshed properly. Under low light conditions, this means that not enough light gets in to produce a usable image. As a result, the S5000 can capture an image under somewhat darker conditions than you can see to aim it. In my tests, the S5000's EVF was usable down to a light level of about 1/4 foot-candle, which is about 1/4 the brightness of a typical city street scene at night. (I could still barely make out objects in the scene at 1/8 foot-candle, but wouldn't feel comfortable recommending the EVF for use at that light level.) Like them or not, EVFs are a fact of life with long-zoom digicams, as the cost of making an optical viewfinder with a 10x zoom ratio that accurately tracks the lens framing is prohibitive. Still, while I personally dislike EVFs due to the problem most of them have with dim lighting, many users find them very appealing, thanks to the amount of information they provide while you're shooting.

In my tests, the S5000's electronic optical viewfinder proved to be somewhat tight, showing a frame accuracy of approximately 89 percent at both wide-angle and telephoto. The LCD monitor produced the same results, leaving some room for improvement. (Most digicam viewfinders crop the subject more tightly than the lens itself does, apparently to keep amateurs from inadvertently cutting off their subjects heads and feet in their photos. I really disagree with this approach, feeling that the viewfinder should show you what you're actually taking a picture of.)

Free Photo Lessons

Learn how to use lens aperture to control depth of field - Visit our free Photo Lessons area!

The S5000 is equipped with a, Fujinon 10x 5.7-57mm zoom lens, with a 35mm equivalent range of 37-370mm. This corresponds to range from a moderate wide-angle to a pretty substantial telephoto. Aperture ranges from f/2.8 (f/3.1 with the lens at its telephoto position) to f/8, and is manually and automatically adjustable in 10 steps. The f/3.1 maximum aperture at telephoto is better than most long-zoom digicams manage, further suiting the S5000 to sports and wildlife shooting, where you'll frequently be working at telephoto focal lengths, and where you generally want the widest aperture possible, to keep shutter speeds high and depth of field shallow. Focus ranges from 3.0 feet (0.9 meters) to infinity in normal AF mode, and from 3.6 inches to 6.6 feet (0.1 to 2.0 meters) in Macro mode. Pressing the left arrow key enables the Macro shooting mode.

A removable plastic lens cap protects the lens surface when not in use, and comes with a small strap to attach it to the camera body and prevent it from being lost. The two zoom buttons in the upper right corner of the rear panel control both optical and digital zoom. The 2.2x digital zoom feature increases the S5000's total zoom range up to 22x (depending on the image size selected), and is accessed by zooming past the optical zoom range with the telephoto zoom button. The amount of digital enlargement is reported in the LCD display. As with any "digital zoom" function, remember that there's no free lunch: The amount of zoom achieved trades off directly against image resolution. Fuji's way of dealing with this is to restrict the amount of digital zoom to whatever the ratio is between the currently-selected image size and the maximum resolution of the sensor. This insures that no additional interpolation is applied to digitally-zoomed images, preserving image quality. (To my thinking, this is the intelligent approach, rather than upsizing the cropped, digitally zoomed image, which only makes the photos soft and fuzzy-looking. As far as I know, Fuji was the first to employ this approach to digital zoom, but Sony has recently followed suit, with their "Smart Zoom" feature.) The net of all this is that no digital zoom is available at the six-megapixel resolution, 1.4x is available at the three-megapixel image size, 1.8x at two megapixels, and the full 2.2x only for one-megapixel resolution images.

The S5000's lens barrel has a set of filter threads, which accommodate Fuji's accessory lens kits. An adapter ring accompanies the camera, so that you can attach the accessory lens, or other third-party ones such as closeup adapters or polarizing or other filters. The adapter provides a set of 55 mm accessory threads in front of the furthest extension of the S5000's lens.

Optical distortion on the S5000 is slightly better than average at the wide-angle end, where I measured approximately 0.7 percent barrel distortion. The telephoto end fared much better, as I measured only a half-pixel of pincushion distortion there. Chromatic aberration was higher than average, showing fairly bright color around the edges of the resolution target lines in the corners of the frame. (This distortion is visible as a very slight colored fringe around the objects at the edges of the field of view on the resolution target.) However, this effect was most likely exaggerated by some corner softness, which appeared in all four corners of the frame at the full wide angle lens setting.

The S5000 has a macro mode that lets it focus down to 3.9 inches (10 cm). That's fairly close, but note that the lens will only focus that closely when set to its maximum wide-angle position, which reduces the S5000's performance to only a bit better than average, with a minimum area of 2.88 x 2.17 inches (73 x 55 millimeters).

The remaining exposure modes on the dial offer a range of manual control options. Program AE lets the camera control shutter speed and aperture, but gives you control over all other exposure variables. You can also bias the exposure toward a faster shutter speed or greater depth of field. Simply pressing the up and down arrow keys cycles through a range of equivalent exposure settings. Aperture and Shutter Priority modes both offer limited control, letting you adjust either the lens aperture or shutter speed while the camera picks the best value of the other variable. In both modes, the up and down arrow keys adjust the setting you're controlling. An exposure readout on the LCD reports whether the resulting shot will be under- or overexposed, showing one or both of the exposure variables in red. Thus, you have a chance to adjust the setting. Finally, Manual exposure mode offers total exposure control, letting you select both aperture and shutter speed together. In Program, Shutter Priority, and Aperture Priority exposure modes, the Exposure Compensation adjustment lightens or darkens the overall image from -2 to +2 exposure equivalents (EV) in one-third-step increments. Exposure times range from 1/2,000 to 1/4 seconds in Program and Aperture Priority modes, and to 2 seconds in Shutter Priority and Manual modes.

By default, the S5000 uses a multisegment metering system, which bases the exposure on readings taken from 64 zones throughout the frame, taking both brightness and contrast into account. The camera also offers Average and Spot metering modes, accessible through the settings menu. Average metering reads the entire scene and bases the overall exposure on the average value. Alternatively, Spot metering bases the exposure on a reading from the very center of the frame (good for off-center or high-contrast subjects). If you're not sure of the exact exposure to use, an Auto Exposure Bracketing option can snap a series of three images at different exposure settings, making it easier to get a good exposure in critical shooting conditions. You can set the exposure step size for these series through the Record menu, with options of 1/3, 1/2, or 1 EV units between steps. The camera captures one image at the normal exposure, one slightly underexposed, and one slightly overexposed.

In any of the nonautomatic exposure modes, the camera's ISO sensitivity setting can be adjusted to 200, or 400, regardless of the resolution setting. Selecting the 800 ISO equivalent forces the camera's resolution to one megapixel because the camera uses Fuji's Pixel Data Coupling to achieve the high ISO value with minimum noise. (This feature combines data from groups of four pixels at a time, trading off resolution in order to achieve lower image noise.) The Auto ISO setting automatically adjusts sensitivity from 160 to 400 equivalents, though the maximum setting depends on whether the flash is in use or not. (The camera will limit the ISO to lower values when the flash is being used, to reduce image noise.)

The S5000 has a full range of color balance settings, selected through the White Balance option of the Record menu. Choices include Auto, Daylight, Shade, Daylight Fluorescent, Warm White Fluorescent, Cool White Fluorescent, and Incandescent settings. In addition to white balance, a Sharpness adjustment lets you control the in-camera sharpening, with options of Hard, Normal, and Soft. A FinePix Color option offers Standard, Chrome, and Black and White color settings. (The Chrome adjustment increases contrast and saturation.) For delayed exposures, the S5000's Self-Timer mode offers a 10-second countdown between the time the Shutter button is fully pressed and when the shutter actually fires.

Flash
The built-in, pop-up flash on the S5000 operates in one of six modes, all accessed by pressing the Flash button (left arrow key). Modes include Auto (lightning bolt icon with an "A"), Red-Eye Reduction (eyeball icon), Forced On (lightning bolt), Forced Off (lightning bolt with a slash), Slow-Synchro (lightning bolt with an "S"), and Slow-synchro with Red-Eye Reduction (eyeball with "Slow" beneath it). Auto, Forced On, and Forced Off are pretty self-explanatory. Red-Eye Reduction means that the camera fires a small pre-flash before the full flash, to reduce the occurrence of the Red-Eye Effect. The Slow-Synchro modes combine the flash with a slow shutter speed and are good for night subjects because they allow more ambient light into the image. (This helps avoid the common syndrome of a ghastly white subject in front of a pitch-black background so common in flash shots from low-end cameras.) A small release button on the left side of the flash (as viewed from the rear) releases the flash from its compartment. Note that the flash must be popped up in order to change its operating mode. A brightness adjustment accessed through the settings menu increases or decreases the overall flash power from -0.6 to +0.6 EV in one-third-step increments.

Movie and Sound Recording
The S5000's Movie mode captures moving images with sound at 320 x 240 pixels, at 30 frames per second. (Only one resolution/quality option is offered for movie recording.) Movie recording stops and starts with a full press of the Shutter button, and a timer appears in the LCD monitor to report the available recording time. Movie exposures are fully automatic, with no adjustments available for exposure compensation, white balance, or color effects.

Accessed via the Playback menu, a Voice Memo mode lets you record short sound clips to accompany still images. Voice captions can last as long as 30 seconds.

Continuous Shooting
The S5000 really shines in the continuous-shooting department, offering a range of high-speed shooting modes, all selected by pressing the Drive Mode button on top of the camera and cycling through the modes with the left and right arrow keys. The available modes are Top-5 Frame, Auto Bracketing (discussed above), Final-5 Frame, and Long-Period Continuous Shooting.

Perhaps the most interesting of the continuous modes are the ones called Top-5 Frame and Final-5 Frame. Top-5 Frame captures five consecutive frames at intervals as brief as 0.25 seconds. After the series is captured, all images are displayed at the bottom of the LCD screen as thumbnails while they are being recorded to the memory card. Final-5 Frame mode captures as many as 40 frames at the same five-fps frame rate while the Shutter button is held down. The camera then records the last five frames of the series, recording what happened just before you released the Shutter button. Final-5 Frame mode is thus especially handy for capturing fleeting moments. If you're like me, you always recognize the perfect expression on your child's face or the perfect pose by your pet a fraction of a second after it's gone. With the Final-5 Frame feature, I can finally capture all those previously-missed moments, since the camera effectively reaches back in time to grab what I was looking at up to a second before I released the Shutter button.

For more extended rapid-fire shooting, Long-Period Continuous Shooting mode works only in Auto exposure mode, and automatically sets the image resolution to one megapixel. What you gain though, is the ability to capture up to 24 seconds of continuous action, albeit with a longer interval between frames of about 0.6 seconds. (That's about 40 frames, at a rate of about 1.7 frames/second.)

When you press the shutter release on a camera, there's usually a delay or lag time before the shutter actually fires. This is the time required by the autofocus and autoexposure mechanisms to do their work, and can amount to a fairly long delay in some situations. Since this number is almost never reported on, and can significantly affect the picture taking experience, I routinely measure it with a custom test setup I built for the purpose. The table below shows the numbers I collected for the FinePix S5000.

NOTE: My qualitative characterizations of camera performance below (that is, "reasonably fast," "about average," etc.) are meant to be relative to other cameras of similar price and general capabilities. Thus, the same shutter lag that's "very fast" for a low-end consumer camera might be characterized as "quite slow" if I encountered it on a professional model. The comments are also intended as only a quick reference: If performance specs are critical for you, rely on the absolute numbers to compare cameras, rather than my purely qualitative comments.

• Scene Program: Offers a selection of preset "scenes" for shooting in specific situations. Scene options are Portrait, Landscape, Sports, and Night Scene. (Note that the Mode dial doesn't rotate through these various options, but rather stops at the "SP" position, and further selections are made from there via the up/down arrow keys.) Night program mode permits exposures as long as two seconds, other modes stop at 1/4 second.
• Movie: Records movies with sound, for as long as the memory card has available space.
• Automatic Exposure Mode: Puts the camera in charge of all exposure decisions, with the exception of flash mode, macro focusing, continuous shooting, and the self-timer. Shutter speed in this mode ranges from 1/2,000 to 1/4 second.
• Program AE Mode: Lets the camera control shutter speed and aperture, while the user controls all other exposure variables. (Pressing the up and down arrow keys allows you to select from a range of equivalent exposure settings, however.) Shutter speed in this mode ranges from 1/2,000 to 1/4 seconds.
• Shutter Priority Mode: The user controls the camera's shutter speed setting, from 1/2,000 to two seconds, while the camera chooses the best aperture value. All other exposure options are available.
• Aperture Priority Mode: Just the opposite of Shutter Priority, the user now controls the lens aperture (from f/2.8 to f/8 in 10 steps) while the camera selects the best corresponding shutter speed, from a range of 1/2,000 to 1/4 seconds. All other exposure settings are available.
• Manual Exposure Mode: Provides total control over the exposure. All exposure functions except for Exposure Compensation are available. Shutter speeds cover the full range from 1/2,000 to 1/4 second.

In Playback mode, the right and left arrows scroll through captured images on the memory card. When an image has been enlarged in Playback or in Preview mode, all four arrows move around within the enlarged view.

Menu/OK Button
Tucked in the center of the Four-Way Multicontroller, this button calls the settings menu in any mode. This button also acts as the "OK" to confirm menu changes.

Display Button
Directly below the Four-Way Multicontroller, this button cycles through the information display options in both Playback and Record modes. In Record mode, one of the optional displays includes an alignment grid that divides up the image area into thirds, horizontally and vertically. (This is very handy for lining up the camera with objects in the scene, to insure that your photos are square and level.) In Playback mode, the Display button also activates a nine-image index display mode.

EVF / LCD Button
Just above the top right corner of the LCD monitor, this button switches the viewfinder and playback displays between the electronic viewfinder eyepiece and LCD monitor.

Photo Mode Button: To the left of the EVF/LCD button, this button activates the camera's Photo Mode menu in Record mode, and the DPOF menu in Playback mode. Options are as follows:

• Photo Mode (Record Mode):
  • Quality: Sets the image resolution to 6M (2,816 x 2,120 pixels), 3M (2,048 x 1,536 pixels), 2M (1,600 x 1,200 pixels), or 1M (1,280 x 960 pixels).
  • ISO: Adjusts the camera's sensitivity to 200, 400, or 800 ISO equivalents, or to an Auto setting. (The 800 setting automatically decreases the resolution to the 1M setting.)
  • Color: Sets the camera to record images in Standard color, Chrome (increased contrast and saturation), or Black and White modes.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
• DPOF Settings (Playback Mode):
  • DPOF: Designates whether the image will print with or without the date overlay. No matter which option is selected, you can then set the number of prints, or the file to be printed.
  • DPOF All Reset: Lets you reset the DPOF settings.
    

Auto Exposure Mode
Gives the camera control of all exposure parameters, although the user still can adjust flash mode, drive mode, file size and quality settings, and zoom.

Program AE Exposure Mode
Returns most of the exposure control to the user, although the camera remains in charge of aperture and shutter speed values. Pressing the up and down arrow keys selects a range of equivalent aperture/shutter speed combinations, though.

Shutter Priority Exposure Mode
Gives the user control over shutter speed (from 1/2,000 to two seconds), while the camera selects the best aperture value. All other exposure options are available.

Aperture Priority Exposure Mode
Similar to Shutter Priority mode, only now the user controls the aperture setting (from f/2.8 to f/8 in 10 steps) while the camera selects the shutter speed. All exposure options are available.

Manual Exposure Mode
Gives the user complete control over exposure parameters, including aperture and shutter speed. All exposure options are adjustable, but exposure compensation is disabled since there's no automatic exposure selection to adjust.

Playback Mode
This mode lets you scroll through captured images and movies, view a nine-image index display, zoom into a captured image to inspect it more closely, delete unwanted images, and set up images for printing on DPOF compatible devices.

Record Menu
Accessed by pressing the Menu button in any of the Record modes. Not all options will be available in all exposure modes.

• Self-Timer: Turns the Self-Timer on or off.
• White Balance: Sets the color balance of the image to Auto, Daylight, Shade, Daylight Fluorescent, Warm White Fluorescent, Cool White Fluorescent, or Incandescent.
• AF Mode: Sets the AF area mode to Center, Multi, or Area.
• Photometry: Changes the camera's metering mode to Average, Spot, or Multi (64-zone metering).
• Set: Accesses the Setup menu (described further on), or the LCD brightness adjustment.
• Auto Bracketing: Sets the step size between successive shots in the auto-bracketing mode. Choices are +/- 1/3, 2/3, and 1.0 EV steps.
• Sharpness: Adjusts the in-camera image sharpening to Hard, Normal, or Soft.
• Flash Brightness: Boosts or cuts the power of the built-in flash from -0.6 to +0.6 EV.
  

Playback Menu: Accessed by pressing the Menu button in Playback mode.

• Erase: Deletes either all frames or the current frame from the memory card, also has an option to reformat the memory card.
• Protect: Marks the current frame for write-protection, or all frames. Also disables protection.
• Playback: Enables an automatic slide show of all images captured on the memory card, with options for different interval settings.
• Voice Memo: Records a short, 30-second sound clip to accompany a captured image.
• Set: Accesses the Setup menu (described below), the LCD/EVF brightness adjustment, or the playback volume adjustment.
  
  
  

Setup Menu: The following menu options automatically appear when entering Set mode:

• Image Display: Turns the instant image review function on or off, or sets it to Preview mode. In Preview mode, you have the option of deleting the image before it is saved to the memory card.
• Power Save: Tells the camera to shut itself off after two or five minutes of inactivity. You can also disable the Auto Power Off, in which case the camera will remain powered up until its batteries run down.
• Format: Formats the xD-Picture Card, erasing all files (even protected ones).
• Beep: Adjusts the camera's beep sound volume, or turns it off.
• Shutter: Adjusts the shutter sound volume, or turns it off.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Date/Time: Sets the camera's internal clock and calendar.
• Frame Number: Resets frame numbering with each new memory card, or continuously numbers frames from card to card.
• USB Mode: Sets up the USB connection to operate in either DSC or PC CAM modes. DSC is the standard mode for downloading images. PC CAM lets the camera work as a web cam when connected to a computer, using the Windows-only PictureHello software included with the camera.
• CCD-RAW: Activates the CCD-RAW recording mode, which records one image in RAW data mode in addition to a second image at the specified JPEG resolution. As is typical with CCD-RAW file formats, that of the S5000 is a proprietary one, but can be read via the software included with the camera.
• Language: Changes the menu language to one of five languages. (English, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, and one other Asian language not named in the manual.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Video System: Sets the video signal to PAL or NTSC formats.
• Set Adapter Ring: Selecting Yes here sets up the camera to work with accessory lens adapter kits.
• Discharge: Fully discharges the rechargeable batteries, which takes a maximum of 15 hours, depending on the amount of charge left in them. This option should only be used with NiMH batteries. (This is a nice feature, in case your NiMH charger doesn't have a "conditioning" option. While they aren't supposed to be subject to the so-called "memory" effect, my experience has been that NiMH cells benefit from occasionally being completely discharged and then recharged fully.)
• Reset All: Resets all camera settings to their default values.
  

The FinePix S5000 stores images on xD-Picture cards, and comes with a 16MB card. Since this won't hold very many high resolution images, I highly recommend buying a larger capacity card right away, given the camera's high maximum resolution setting and optional RAW recording mode. (A 64 MB card should probably be considered a minimum for this camera.)

The LCD display reports the number of available images at the current resolution setting, so you always have an idea of the remaining image capacity. The table below shows the number of images of each size that can be stored on an average 64 MB memory card, and the approximate level of JPEG compression used for each. (Note that this is NOT the size card shipped with the unit, but rather a typical and fairly useful size many owners may end up using. Divide the image capacities shown by four, and you'll see why I say you really have to plan on buying an extra card or cards with the camera: The included 16MB card really isn't very useful with files this large.)

As you would expect, the memory card should never be removed while the camera is in operation to avoid damaging the media. A flashing orange and green LED lamp above the LCD monitor lights when the camera is accessing the card. Through the Playback menu, you can write-protect individual frames or all frames on the memory card. Write-protection prevents accidental erasure, except through card formatting.

A USB cable and software CD accompany the camera, for connection to a computer. Like many USB-equipped cameras these days, the S5000 is a "storage class" USB device, meaning that it will show up on the desktop of Mac OS 8.6 and higher machines, as well as those of Windows Me, XP, and 2000 computers, without having to load driver software. This is a handy and increasingly common feature on digicams, since it makes it a lot easier to connect the camera to computers other than your own, without having to worry about special driver software, etc.

The S5000 is pretty speedy when downloading images to a host computer, as I clocked it at 673 KB/second on my Windows XP machine. (Sony VAIO desktop, 2.4 GHz PIV, 512 MB RAM) This is faster than most cameras with a USB v1.1 interface, but slower than some that have USB v2.0 connections.)

Thanks to its SuperCCD technology, the S5000 can also function as a "webcam," streaming video imagery over the USB connection to a host running the appropriate software. Fuji includes the Windows-only package PictureHello in the box with the S5000.

Video Out

The S5000 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 changes the video mode to PAL or NTSC.

Power

The S5000 uses four AA-type batteries for power, and comes with a set of single-use alkaline cells. 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, potentially handy when downloading images or reviewing captured files, and essential if you plan to use the S5000 as a webcam. (If you don't plan on using the camera as a webcam, a good set of rechargeable NiMH cells should more than do the trick.) 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. There's also a "Discharge" function accessible through the Setup menu, which discharges the batteries. (Only use with NiMH rechargeable batteries, and never alkaline cells.) The Discharge utility completely discharges the batteries, so that they can be recharged completely. - This is a nice feature, handy if your NiMH charger doesn't have a "conditioning" option on it. (For best results, discharge-condition your NiMH batteries every 20 charge cycles or so.) The table below details power consumption in various operating modes.

• Fuji FinePix S5000 digital camera.
• Neck strap.
• Lens cap with strap.
• Lens adapter ring.
• A/V cable.
• USB cable.
• Four AA-type alkaline batteries.
• 16MB xD-Picture card with case.
• Software CD.
• Instruction manuals and registration information.

Lost Images? - Download this image-recovery program so you'll have it when you need it...
Since we're talking about memory and image storage, this would be a good time to mention the following: I get a ton of email from readers who've lost photos due to a corrupted memory card. It's tragic when it happens, there are few things more precious than photo memories. Corrupted memory cards can happen with any card type and any camera manufacturer, nobody's immune. "Stuff happens," as they say. A surprising number of "lost" images can be recovered with an inexpensive, easy to use piece of software though. Given the amount of email I've gotten on the topic, I now include this paragraph in all my digicam reviews. The program you need is called PhotoRescue, by DataRescue SA. Read our review of it if you'd like, but download the program now, so you'll have it. It doesn't cost a penny until you need it, and even then it's only $29, with a money back guarantee. So download PhotoRescue for Windows or PhotoRescue for Mac while you're thinking of it. (While you're at it, download the PDF manual and quickstart guide as well.) Stash the file in a safe place and it'll be there when you need it. Trust me, needing this is not a matter of if, but when... PhotoRescue is about the best and easiest tool for recovering digital photos I've seen. (Disclosure: IR gets a small commission from sales of the product, but I'd highly recommend the program even if we didn't.) OK, now back to our regularly scheduled review...

In keeping with my standard test policy, the comments given here summarize only my key findings. For a full commentary on each of the test images, see the S5000's "pictures" page.

As with all Imaging Resource product tests, I encourage you to let your own eyes be the judge of how well the camera performed. Explore the images on the pictures page, to see how the S5000's images compare to other cameras you may be considering.

• Color: The S5000 generally delivered very pleasing color, with good hue accuracy and appropriate saturation (although it tended to slightly oversaturate very bright reds). It rendered Caucasian skin tones very attractively, slightly more pink than in real life, but the effect was quite pleasing. Indoors, it handled the very difficult household incandescent lighting of my Indoor Portrait test fairly well, although it left a bit more color cast in the final images than I would personally prefer. (Overall, it tended to leave slight color casts in most shots, but they were small enough that most users probably wouldn't notice them.) All in all, very pleasing color.
  
  
• Exposure: The S5000's exposure system handled a variety of lighting situations well, and stood up to the high-key Outdoor Portrait quite well. In general, it seemed to need less positive exposure compensation with high-key subjects than most cameras I test, although it did call for a lot of adjustment on the Indoor Portrait image. Its tone curve is a little contrasty, which produces bright, punchy images with lots of color, but which also leads to blown highlights and plugged shadows when shooting under harsh lighting.
  
  
• Resolution/Sharpness: The S5000 performed well for its 3.1 megapixel class on the "laboratory" resolution test chart. It started showing artifacts in the test patterns at resolutions as low as 800~850 lines per picture height, in both horizontal and vertical directions, and the artifacts were more pronounced at spatial frequencies close to the camera's limit than typically found with conventional CCDs. Interestingly though, at least in the instance of the test target image, there's very clearly more detail to be found in the S5000's 6 megapixel interpolated images than in the 3.1 megapixel ones. (Even resizing the 6 megapixel shots downward results in noticeable loss of detail, so it's clear that Fuji's interpolation scheme is more than just smoke and mirrors.) I found "strong detail" out to at least 1,100 lines. "Extinction" of the target patterns didn't occur until about 1,400 lines.
  
  
• Image Noise: Due at least in part to its minimum ISO rating of 200, I observed higher than average image noise in the S5000's photos throughout my testing. How you feel about this will have a lot to do with your intended use of the S5000's images. If you plan to view them 1:1 on a computer screen, or print at sizes of 11x14 or larger the noise is quite visible. Printed out at image sizes less than 8x10 though, it's relatively innocuous.
  
  
• Closeups: The S5000 performed pretty well in the macro category, capturing a minimum area of 2.88 x 2.17 inches (73 x 55 millimeters). Resolution was high, with strong detail in the dollar bill and coins. The brooch also had good detail, but was slightly soft due to some corner softness, visible in all four corners of the frame. (A frequent limitation of digicam macro shots, caused by curvature of the field in their lens systems.) Color balance was a bit warm, but still pretty good overall. The S5000's flash throttled down for the macro area almost too much, underexposing the lower portion of the frame. (Plan on using external lighting for the closest macro shots, but the S5000's flash is much more usable than average for macro shooting.)
  
  
• Night Shots: The S5000 did fairly well under low-light conditions, thanks to its default ISO setting of 200, and a bright AF-assist light that really helped it focus under dim lighting. It was able to capture usable images down to 1/2 foot-candle (5.5 lux) at ISO 200, 1/4 foot-candle (2.7 lux) at ISO 400, and 1/8 foot-candle (1.3 lux) at ISO 800. As in the rest of my tests, image noise was higher than average across the board, even at the ISO 200 setting. If you don't mind trading off image resolution for higher ISO, the 1.3 megapixel shots at ISO 800 are surprisingly usable, given the noise levels at ISO 400 in the full-sized images. Overall, I liked the bright AF-assist light, and the camera could work quite effectively at light levels a good bit darker than city street lighting at night (1 foot-candle), but the noise is higher than I'd like to see. (As I noted in the main review, I was surprised to find that the AF assist light didn't operate at very low light levels. Other reviewers apparently haven't seen this, but my unit exhibited the behavior very consistently.)
  
  
• Viewfinder Accuracy: The S5000's electronic "optical" viewfinder (EVF) was surprisingly a little tight, showing 89 percent frame accuracy at both wide angle and telephoto zoom settings. The LCD monitor resulted in the same measurements, since it shows the same view. Given that I like LCD monitors to be as close to 100 percent accuracy as possible, the S5000's LCD monitor has some room for improvement here.
  
  
• Optical Distortion: Optical distortion on the S5000 was about average at the wide-angle end, where I measured approximately 0.7 percent barrel distortion. The telephoto end fared much better, as I found only a half-pixel of pincushion distortion there. Chromatic aberration is higher than average, showing fairly strong color around the edges of the target lines in the corners of the frame. (This distortion is visible as a very slight colored fringe around the objects at the edges of the field of view on the resolution target.)
  
  
• Shutter Lag and Cycle Time: The S5000 is a bit of a mixed bag in the speed department. It starts up and shuts down a little slowly, and its shutter lag performance is solidly average. On the other hand, its shot to shot cycle times are very good, and it's very fast indeed in its high-speed continuous modes. Its "Last 5" continuous mode in particular would be very useful for sports and other fast action, with its ability capture images before you tell it to.
  
  
• Battery Life: The S5000 is really a stellar performer when it comes to battery life. While you don't have the automatic advantage of a camera with a purely optical viewfinder (no need to power an LCD when shooting with an optical VF), the S5000's power consumption is quite low, even when the full LCD is being used. An automatic "sleep" mode stretches battery life dramatically, yet leaves the camera ready to go on a few seconds' notice. Worst case run time (capture mode with the rear-panel LCD enabled) is an amazing 4.4 hours with a set of 1600 mAh NiMH batteries (true, not advertised capacity). Given that current high-power batteries achieve true capacities of 2100 mAh, you can expect very long run times from the S5000. Overall, a great performance, but my advice to purchase at least a couple of sets of high-power NiMH rechargeable batteries and a good charger still stands.

Conclusion

Free Photo Lessons

Learn how to take stunning photos with simple pro lighting tips, in our free Photo School area!

The S5000 offers some impressive capabilities, with a 10x zoom lens, good color, really excellent battery life, and its unique "Final 5" capture mode, which lets you snap photos of what took place just before you let up on the shutter button.(!) Its feature set is that of an advanced point & shoot camera, rather than a true "enthusiast" model. - In this respect at least, the S5000 isn't truly a replacement for the earlier and hugely popular S602, that role being reserved for the forthcoming S7000 model. The S5000 enters a relatively crowded field though, with multiple cameras offering the same combination of 10x zoom and nominally 3.1 megapixel resolution at the same or lower price points. The S5000 also showed somewhat higher image noise in my tests than some competing models, which will be an issue for some users, but matter not at all to others. (If you plan on printing most of your photos at sizes of 8x10 inches and below, I'd wager that image noise will be a non-issue for you.) Bottom line, if you're looking for a long-zoom digicam with good color, great battery life, and great continuous-mode capture capability, the S5000 deserves a serious look.

Reader Comments!
Questions, comments or controversy on this product? Click this link to see what other Imaging Resource readers have had to say about the Fuji FinePix S5000, or add comments of your own!