Fuji FinePix S5 Pro

Auto Mode
The FinePix S5 Pro offers a program mode that controls both aperture and shutter speed. White balance and some autofocus options can also be automated. The S5's signature feature, increased dynamic range, has an automatic setting.

Movie Mode
The FinePix S5 does not have a movie mode. Though it has a limited live-view facility, its sensor is not appropriate for continuous use – like other DSLR sensors, it performs best with short exposures.

Drive / Burst Mode
Calling the FinePix S5's continuous shooting modes “burst modes” is a bit like calling ketchup a vegetable – there's a little bit of logic to it, even though it doesn't feel quite right. After all, ketchup sure isn't animal or mineral, so what's left?

We didn't test the S5's speed, but it's slow. Well, from the shooter's point of view, it's slow, but inside the camera, bits and bytes must be getting pushed around like mad. We formatted Fujifilm's 512MB compact flash card, and the S5 said the card could hold 17 RAW images. The camera deals with plenty of data and in D Range mode, processes it heavily.

When we do a full review on the S5, we expect to see a wide range of speed performance, based on the D-Range and file quality settings.

Playback Mode
The FinePix S5's playback mode features a 9-up thumbnail mode that shows the selected image a bit larger than the others. It zooms in for close viewing for inspecting focus but not as close as competing cameras and not as close as we'd like. Images shown at full frame can be displayed with a range of image data, including histograms for red, green and blue channels, plus a master. The EXIF data can also be superimposed over the image. It's shown on more than one page and the user can flip through them. The S5 is PictBridge and DPOF compatible for direct printing without a computer.

The slide show function uses the face detection facility to produce a “Ken Burns” effect that actually makes sense – the slide show pans and zooms in on faces, rather than random patches of images. Somebody, we don't know who or why, will really enjoy that.

Custom Image Presets
This heading is more appropriate to compact cameras that have specific settings for portrait, landscapes and so on. The FinePix S5 Pro does not have such presets.

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