Viewfinder (6.5)
I wish Fuji had crafted the S3’s viewfinder a bit larger. Conventional wisdom about the S2 was that its viewfinder was simply a 35mm one masked off for the smaller digital format. The S3’s viewfinder isn’t any better. On the plus side, it’s easy to see the entire display, even when wearing eye glasses.
The diopter setting was somewhat troublesome; without a lock, it is susceptible to accidental alteration if bumped.
LCD Screen (8.0)
The FinePix S3’s LCD is a bit larger than the S2’s, at 2 inches. That’s comparable to the Canon 20D and the Nikon N70. At 235,000 pixels, though, it nearly doubles their specs, and the S2's specs. While it may not offer quality that’s exactly twice as good, it is a substantial and noticeable improvement.
The image quality of the S3’s LCD display is excellent. Though the view on any LCD shouldn’t be the final say on image quality, inspecting a shot on the S3’s LCD will tell you much more about highlight and shadow detail than the 20D or N70 displays, and it performs well in bright light. Its off-axis performance is as good as any DSLR display I’ve seen.
Flash (7.5)
The S3’s pop-up flash does an excellent job adding a bit of fill in portraits, but it’s no substitute for an external unit. It covers the field of a 20mm lens, but at ISO 200, it won’t reach past 10 feet at f/5.6. And of course, it won’t bounce or accept any diffusers.
The FinePix S3 is compatible with Nikon’s dedicated flash system, offering multi-sensor balanced fill flash. Sync modes include standard, slow shutter speed sync, red-eye reduction, slow shutter speed red-eye reduction, and rear curtain. Nikon’s dedicated flash system is flexible and accurate, so compatibility with them is a significant advantage for the S3. Unlike the S2, the S3 can take advantage of the full capabilities of the Nikon flashes. In this sense, the S3 and the Nikon D70 are equal; however, the Nikon D70s offers a significant advantage in terms of sync speed. The D70s syncs at 1/500, while the S3’s only offers a maximum flash sync speed of 1/180. This could be a major handicap for photographers shooting in high-contrast daylight scenes without an accessory flash unit.
Lens Options (9.0)
Fuji does not market the camera with any lens, but they sent the test model with a “Tamron SP AF Aspherical XR Di LD (IF) 28-75mm 1:2.8 Macro [phi]67,” which delighted all us fans of initials and arcane product names. The lens is a very good choice for the camera. Though we didn’t test it rigorously, at first blush it’s sharp, has nice build quality, is bright at f/2.8, and has a useful zoom range.
Compatibility with the Nikon F lens mount is a major feature of the FinePix S3. Most importantly, Nikon makes excellent lenses. Not all Nikon optics are excellent, but lots are. Nearly as important, other strong lens makers offer excellent lenses that are compatible with Nikon cameras and the S3 – the Tamron lens on our test camera is an example. It’s possible to buy excellent Nikon and Nikon-mount lenses on the used market as well. Whatever lenses work on the S3 will work on current Nikon DSLRs, and almost certainly on future Nikon DSLRs. No 35mm and digital camera manufacturer has protected its customers from obsolescence better than Nikon.
