Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro

Connectivity
Software (8.5)
Fuji’s Hyper-Utility2 software is capable, but tricky. It wouldn’t be my first choice for sorting, organizing, or editing photos, but its RAW converter does an excellent job, and it’s the only option for controlling the camera with a computer.

Controlling the camera with a computer works well, though it was only with a revised software version, not the one packed with our sample, that it was possible to trip the shutter via computer. Running the camera with a tethered laptop is a surprisingly convenient way to shoot in the studio, and rather common among commercial users of S2s and S3s.

The RAW converter is set up quite a bit like the camera itself -- white balance, tone, color, sharpness, plus "Sensitization," which is simply exposure compensation, available in 1/6-stop increments from 1 stop under to 2 stops over.

Some other settings in the converter are more flexible than the in-camera settings as well. The tone control allows the user to draw a curve, as you might in Photoshop. White balance can be set in degrees Kelvin, by picking a gray region with an eyedrop tool, or by setting any of the camera presets.

Adobe’s RAW converter plugin for Photoshop also converts S3 RAW files, and does a good job. Its exposure compensation tool allows a much wider range of adjustment than Fuji’s one stop under and two stops over, but it looks to me as though you might get into trouble with that option. Adobe’s converter does not offer control over dynamic range.

Throughout Hyper-Utility2, I found the interface fussy and too technical. The histogram display includes, as a table of numeric data, the Mean, Standard Deviation, and Median values for each channel. I’m sure some users might find that useful, but I don’t think most wedding or portrait photographers would jump for it.

The help system, which pops up in a web browser, is a bit self-defeating and filled with cryptic lines like, "In this mode, the display will be similar to histograms in Adobe Photoshop. Values are normalized to 1/68 of the total number of pixels."

Some features did strike me as both useful and unusual. First, the software can show out-of-range warnings in both highlights and shadows, and the values for each can be customized. Second, it allows the comparison of two images in side-by-side (or one-over-the-other) windows. (The histogram is available for comparisons, too, showing a normal histogram for the two images, or a histogram for the two images multiplied, differenced, or excluded.)

Jacks, ports, plugs (9.5)
Fuji did the right thing and included both FireWire and USB 2.0 on the S3. It may be that we only got FireWire because USB won’t run camera controls, but it’s there. Fuji makes, and offers as an extra-cost option, an AC power supply, and includes the cable to plug into the analog output and your television. The FinePix S3 accepts Nikon’s 10-pin remote controls and intervalometers. They’re expensive, but very reliable.

Direct Print Options (7.0)
The S3 offers direct print through DPOF (Digital Print Order Format). DPOF specs can be applied to images on either CompactFlash or xD media. The camera allows you to specify the number of prints you want of each image you select, and whether or not to print the date the image was shot on the print. Printers that accept CompactFlash or xD media can read the images and the DPOF data from the cards to make prints. The camera will also make prints when connected directly to a PictBridge compatible printer, using DPOF data, or by following menu commands on the LCD. The S3 also offers a system for cropping images via the LCD screen, and saving them at various resolutions.

Memory (6.5)
The S3 takes CompactFlash and xD-Picture Card. CompactFlash is quite common, and available in very large sizes, which would be necessary if you shoot in RAW on the S3. Each file is about 25MB in wide dynamic range, or 13MB in normal.

Other features (8.0)
Sensor Clean - The S3 has a setting to allow for cleaning of the CCD. Since CCDs are so very delicate, DSLR manufacturers have been skittish about recommending that users clean their own CCDs. Fuji remains skittish, and the manual notes that if you scratch your CCD, you’ll probably want to replace it, which will be expensive. The manual describes cleaning the CCD with a blower (without a brush), and with sensor swabs. The particular benefit of the cleanup setting is that it cuts all electric current to the CCD. Cleaning a sensor with the shutter set to "B" is very different, because in that case, the CCD is actually operating while it’s being cleaned.

Battery Discharge - The S3 offers a setting to completely discharge its batteries, something you should do once when you buy a set of rechargeable NiMH batteries, and then again only if their capacity drops significantly.