Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro

Picture Quality / Size Options (9.0)
The S5 saves files in three pixel dimensions: 4,256 x 2,848; 3,024 x 2016 and 2,304 x 1,536. 3,024 x 2,016 is the sensor's native resolution, and RAW files are recorded at that size. Fujifilm's Hyperutility software will save them at the higher resolution. JPEGs can be saved in Fine or Normal compression, and any of the resolutions. The RAW files with extended dynamic range are over 30 megabytes.

Fujifilm justifies the highest pixel dimension by noting that its sensors' photosites are arranged honeycomb-fashion, which theoretically yields a bit more data than the standard checkerboard.

Picture Effects Mode (9.25)
The Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro has two settings that fall into this category: its D-Range dynamic range expansion, and its film emulation mode. Both change the appearance of the image by electronic means, rather than with optics or mechanics.

Film emulation is the less interesting of the two. The film modes vary saturation and contrast, and Fujifilm says they act like film with different curves – they handle the transitions in portrait highlights differently. The differences are subtle enough to be of questionable use.

The Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro has individual settings for saturation, tone and sharpening, all of which are locked out in the film emulation mode. The saturation control offers a black-and-white mode.

D-Range is Fujifilm's now-proven dynamic range expansion strategy. The SR CCD has two photosites for each pixel. The S site is comparable to the sites on the chip in the S2, and the R site is much smaller, and much less sensitive to light. When the S site gets blown out, the R site still has measurable data, and the camera can use the R site data to fill in the blown highlights of the S data. The FinePix S3 had the same system, but the S5 allows the user to set the range in 1/3-EV increments, and reaches 2 full EV, a half-stop more than the S3. Fujifilm went after the wedding market with the S3, and succeeded in creating a following. According to the company, the 1/3-EV increments and the increase to 2 EV are responses to feedback from loyal S3 shooters in the wedding and portrait industry.

The increase in range comes at enormous costs, though. First, speed: the S5 can't manage 3 frames per second with D-Range on, even though the optical and mechanical systems of the D200 can manage 5 fps. The burst length is equally affected – the S5 chokes after three or four RAW images. The second price paid is related – file size. Though the S5's native resolution is only 6 megapixels, its D-Range RAW file is over 30 megabytes. Clearly, the slow performance is a result of the amount of data the S5 has to push around.