Fuji FinePix S3 Pro

Picture Quality / Size Options (9.0)
The S3 offers unique picture quality among comparable cameras. Extended dynamic range is a fundamental shift in what’s now possible with digital SLRs. There are a few controls over whether and how this technology functions in a given shot. Because the camera takes such a heavy performance hit from the wide dynamic range technology, Fuji provides a way to turn it off completely. The option is in a Set-Up menu, and the choices are “Standard” and “Wide.”

When “Wide” is selected in the camera’s Set-Up, three choices for dynamic range become available on the monochromatic rear display. They are “Auto,” “Wide1,” and “Wide2.” According to Fuji, “Wide1” accommodates 230 percent of the standard dynamic range, and “Wide2” accommodates 400 percent. In photographic parlance, 200 and 400 percent amount to one and two stops, respectively. “Auto” lets the camera choose among no extended range, “Wide1,” or “Wide2.”

The camera also offers three “Quality” settings: “Normal,” which creates JPEGs with significant compression; “Fine,” which creates a less-compressed, higher-quality JPEG; and “High,” which records the image in Fuji’s RAW format. With the S3, Fuji has dropped the option of in-camera TIFFs, which are very large and extremely slow to produce on the S2.

Fuji is rightly proud of the quality of the JPEGs the S3 produces, arguing that it’s not necessary to shoot RAW to get great quality from the camera. Many wedding and portrait shooters apparently agree, and ship the camera’s JPEGs straight to the lab for proofing.

Finally, in either “Normal” or “Fine” quality settings, the camera will produce image sizes of 1, 3, 6, or 12 megapixels. Six megapixels is the native resolution of the CCD, but because of the layout of the pixels on the CCD -- they’re staggered, a bit like cells in a honeycomb -- there is extra data to use when interpolating a 12-megapixel file. Picture

Effects Options (9.0)
The S3 does not offer the sorts of effects often found on consumer cameras -- sepia tone, posterization, et cetera. Its film simulation modes, however, are a subtle alternative and have been described in detail in the previous section. 

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