Fujifilm FinePix S5000

Front (7.5)
The font of the Fujifilm FinePix S5000 is led by an impressive 10x optical zoom lens with variable focal lengths of 5.7-57mm, equivalent to 37-370mm on a 35mm camera. There is also an additional 2.2x digital zoom option available for an increased telephoto perspective. The only problem is that the side of the lens is marked with a large "22x" zoom. This is intentionally deceiving by Fujifilm and attempts to confuse the user or potential buyer into believing optical and digital zoom are the same things and therefore can just be multiplied to give the total zoom capabilities of the camera. This is not true! Optical zoom is the only important feature of a zoom lens and if Fujifilm feels the need to market the impressive zoom lens, the optical zoom spec should be what is printed.

Looking at the camera, the lens appears off center because of the strong pillar-like grip that runs up the left portion of the S5000’s front face; however, the lens is centered within the camera’s central structure, it is just shifted over with the addition of the grip piece. Above and to the right of the lens, at the top right corner of the S5000’s front face, is a small circular microphone providing audio capabilities for both still and video (movie) frames. Just above the microphone is a self-timer lamp. This is adjacent to the pop-up flash release button, which provides manual access to the flash. The pop-up flash is located directly above the lens and is fairly condensed. It only rises about an inch off the top of the camera and contains significant power given the limited space it consumes. When the flash is elevated, just below  is a circular control sensor for the flash, gauging the usable light within the setting and interpreting how much light will be required of the flash.

Directly to the left of the flash’s encasing is a small square-like shape with a rounded top. This appears to lead to the viewfinder, both because of its placement and and because it echoes a design element of a standard SLR. However, because the FinePix S5000 contains an electronic viewfinder and is not an SLR, the round and apparent view space is actually an AF-Assist illuminator. This Auto Focus-Assist illuminator is intended to aid with focusing in low light situations by providing a green boost to the composed scene prior to capture.

Back (8.0)
The back of the FinePix S5000 is quite spacious, allowing for easy exploration of buttons and controls. The left portion of the back face of the FinePix S5000 is composed of a 1.5-inch 110K-pixel LCD screen. There are two buttons above the LCD screen, one of which is the EV/LCD button, providing access to either the electric viewfinder or the LCD screen. The button to the left is a blue button marked with an "f," which is the "Photo screen" button. Within the photo screen will be options for image quality, ISO rating, and color effects. In straight vertical alignment above the LCD is an eye cup leading to the electronic viewfinder. There is a round diopter dial to the left of the eye cup for setting the viewfinder to the user’s specific vision. To the right of the viewfinder and slightly below are two square zoom toggle buttons, one for wide and one for telephoto. By pressing either, the focal length will increase or decrease.

To the left of the EV/LCD button is the Back button, allowing the user to revert to the last menu viewed or cancel the most recent command. Just below is the Menu button. The menu button is surrounded by a four-way directional pad. The directional pad cycles through the menu screen and most other camera settings. Below the directional pad is a single Display button, controlling the numeric information that pops up in the viewfinder or the LCD and informs the user about the photo’s measurements and settings. These are all the buttons located on the back of the FinePix S5000 and compose a majority of the camera's control functions. The sparse rear plane of the camera and simplistic dispersal of commands makes for easy orientation to the camera’s functions while granting the user plenty of space to move and access them.

Left Side (8.0)
The left side of the FinePix S5000’s frame is where all of the ports and card slot are located. Just in from the back of the camera, looking at the left side of the S5000, there is a small black hinged segment. Opening like a door, the exposed slot is where the xD card goes. Further towards the front of the camera and below the card slot there is an "L"-shaped rubber segment covering the camera’s port inputs. There is a USB and D/C adapter input as well as an A/V output. Directly above the port cover towards the top of the camera is the strap bar, where the camera’s carrying strap is attached. Towards the front of the camera is the lens. While the lens itself is directed straight away from the front of the camera, printed on the left side of the lens barrel is a large "22x" while below in far smaller print is "10x optical, 2.2x digital." This is a deceitful marketing ploy and to those who know better, it's just amusing. Fujifilm is trying to market the S5000 as an "ultra 22x zoom." While the S5000 does have impressive zoom capabilities, it is not 22 times. The optical zoom is 10x, and this is ultimately what the user will use. When the digital zoom is accessed, the pixels themselves are enlarged. This will ultimately blow up the noise already present in the images and make the frame more distorted. Therefore, I do not know why Fujifilm was not content with their impressive 10x optical zoom and did not feel strong enough to market this positive attribute of the camera.

Right Side (8.0)
The right side of the FinePix S5000 is pretty bland, with no functions present on it. The main shape is formed by an added grip below the shutter release button. The other bar for the shoulder strap is also on the right side.

Top (8.5)
Looking down at the Fujifilm FinePix S5000, the user can see an array of the camera’s major general controls, spread into four main clusters. The lens moves straight back in a direct line, meeting the viewfinder. This line is parallel to the hard grip along the right side of the camera’s top. Along this segment, near the end of the rubber handgrip, towards the front of the camera is the shutter button. This button obviously snaps the shutter and powers the pre-flash and focusing measurements prior to taking the image. A circular POWER DIAL surrounds the shutter button. There are three options on the Power Dial: Photography Mode, Playback Mode, and Power-Off. Directly behind the POWER DIAL are two small adjacent, almost rectangular buttons; one has a three-dimensional yin-yang like black and white camera icon. This is for the continuous shooting mode. The other semi-rectangular icon is a "+ / —" sign, marking the EXPOSURE COMPENSATION control and providing alterations to illumination within the scene. Directly behind this pair of buttons, along the right portion of the camera, is  the mode dial. The circular MODE dial, positioned on the lower right segment of the S5000’s top, contains all the initial shooting settings.