At a glance the S5100 looks simply
like a new version of last year's S5000. The S5100 retains the
sharp 10X zoom lens of the S5000, and an electronic viewfinder
which, while it may not provide the highest resolution image
currently available with such devices, has the advantage of being
able to show all camera settings and menus. Yet, that first glance
is misleading. There is a fundamental difference between the
S5000 and the S5100.
Aperture: f3, shutter speed: 1/340 sec., 64 ISO
Unlike the S5000, the S5100 uses
a standard type CCD instead of a Fujifilm Super CCD, and its
top resolution of 4-megapixel is directly related to the over
4 million pixels on its CCD.
Aperture: f3, shutter speed: 1/15 sec., 64 ISO
For most of us however, what is likely to draw our attention
is the 10X zoom lens itself, and not what lies behind it. The
power of such a long zoom to close the gap to a distant subject
is always appealing. But, lacking some sort of an internal
stabilization system, at its maximum magnification of 370 mm
(35 mm equivalent) and without special care, the 10X zoom can
easily emphasize the slightest movement from the photographer
and capture a disappointingly blurred image.
To prevent the possibility of
having the photo ruined by camera shake, as high a shutter
speed as possible must be available when the shot is handheld — above
1/400 second is normally sufficient — or the camera needs
to be stabilized by resting it on a solid surface or mounting
it on a tripod.
Often long zoom lenses can be prone to distortion at both ends of their
focal length range, barrel distortion at the wide angle end, and pincushion
distortion at the telephoto end. But, with the S5100's zoom, while wide
angle shots of nearby subjects reveal a slight bit of barrel distortion,
the rest of the S5100 zoom range is free of any distortion, and most
notably at the telephoto end. Similarly, the S5100's photos show only
a very light chromatic aberration quite occasionally, and only where
the contrasts in the image are the most pronounced.
The S5100 offers a useful range of shooting modes. Not only
does it offer modes such as Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority,
allowing the user to emphasize the depth of field or the camera's
capacity to freeze movement respectively, it also offers a
Program Shift mode that can be used to choose alternative combinations
of shutter speeds and apertures and obtain a similar result
as the priority modes, while ensuring a correctly exposed image.
Aperture: f3.1, shutter speed: 1/6 sec., 64 ISO.
Starting with a CCD sensitivity of
64 ISO, the S5100 allows images to be captured at sensitivities
up to 400 ISO. At 64 ISO and even 100 ISO, photos contain very
little noise. At 200 ISO a bit of noise can be found, but is
not obvious. At 400 ISO, noise is visible but most often, when
photographed under good ambient light, the photo is normally
quite useable.
Aperture: f5, shutter speed: 1/400 sec., 64 ISO.
Regrettably, as is the case with
most other recent Fujifilm cameras, the FinePix S5100 offers
a very restricted choice for image quality settings when the
image size is less than the maximum size, and even at the highest
JPEG image quality, the compression applied to the photo is relatively
strong and can lessen the overall sharpness of the image. Still,
the FinePix S5100 also offers a CCD-RAW format that can be used
to obtain photos that have not sustained any level of JPEG compression.
As always, RAW format images need
to be processed into a more common format —in this case
TIFF — a process that is accomplished with the software
supplied with the camera. Usually, besides the fact that they
have not been subjected to a lossy compression, one of the major
advantages of RAW images is the fact they can be tweaked with
the software for white balance, exposure, sharpness, contrast
and saturation.
Aperture: f4, shutter speed: 1/350 sec., 64 ISO.
However, none of these parameters
can be adjusted with the minimalist software supplied with the
S5100, clearly placing the value of this RAW mode at a disadvantage
in comparison to the offerings of other manufacturers.
The Fujifilm FinePix S5100 is
a camera that is capable of producing very high quality images,
which exhibit an excellent colour accuracy. Furthermore, exposures
usually show a good balance between light and dark areas as both
normally show a lot of detail, an indication that the metering
is reliable.
Reasonably priced for its capabilities, the FinePix S5100 offers both a
long and bright zoom, a resolution that is sufficient for the most common
print sizes, and comes equipped with all the shooting modes the average
photographer would want. It should attract attention.
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