Digital Camera Review

Digital Camera Review

Mar 26, 2007 - By Patrick Singleton
In the film era, shooting infrared was just a matter of buying the right film. If you wanted to be serious about it, you would also need a special-use filter. Digital photography changed that. Photographers who wanted to shoot infrared digitally could hack their cameras (or pay a pro to do it) by removing the UV and IR cutoff filter, or count on incredibly low sensitization. That was until the introduction of the Fujifilm FinePix S3 UVIR, released last year. Essentially, it's a prehacked version of the S3. Fujifilm removed the cutoff filter and replaced it with clear glass. The result is a camera that is sensitive to ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light. With the use of filters the camera can produce infrared or ultraviolet images. For this reason, the S3 UVIR will appeal to scientific and forensic photographers.
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Value
The S3 UVIR is a unique camera. It's possible to have the cutoff filter removed from any DSLR – usually for between $350 and $500 – but that sort of work voids the warranty. And of course, altered Canons and Nikons would lack a live preview. We didn't run across any mention of altered Olympus EVOLT E-330's or Panasonic L1's, with their live preview system.

One indication of the value of the S3 UVIR is that Fujifilm sold out its initial production run. For many technical and forensic photographers who work for police departments and research facilities, full-spectrum DSLRs made the jump from film to digital possible. Given the amount of experimentation needed to hit the right exposure, moving away from film is a huge advantage. For many of those photographers, a warranty from a reputable manufacturer is very important. Other features, such as live preview and extended dynamic range, are also significant advantages over aftermarket cameras.

Who It’s For
The S3 UVIR is a special-purpose camera. Some buyers may want it for pictorial effects, but the main market is technical and forensic photographers.

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