Fujifilm FinePix S5200 Digital Camera Review

by Patrick Singleton
Published on November 30, 2005

Navigation
Intro	Testing / Performance
Physical Tour	Components
Design / Layout	Modes
Control Options	Image Parameters
Connectivity / Extras	Overall Impressions
Conclusion	Specs / Ratings
Photo Gallery

Auto Mode (7.5)
The FinePix S5200 has a full Auto setting, which controls exposure, white balance, and autofocus area mode. Oddly, it does not set the ISO, and manual focus is available in Auto mode. Several flash modes are also available in Auto: Auto flash, no flash, always flash, and red-eye reduction. Flash with slow shutter speed and Red-eye reduction with slow sync are not available in Auto mode.

Movie Mode (7.0)
The FinePix S5200 movie mode runs at 30 frames per second at 640 x 480 and 320 x 240 pixels, both in AVI (Motion JPEG) format. It records mono sound (WAV format). The image looks clear and clean. The microphone picks up the sound of the focusing motor, which is distracting and annoying. Neither optical nor digital zoom is available in movie mode. Though the FinePix S5200 is no replacement for a camcorder, its video will probably be an appealing add-on for some users.

The S5200 also lets users record a 30 second voice memo audio clip, separate from video and any still image taken.

Drive / Burst Mode (6.5)
The FinePix S5200 has three burst modes and a bracketing mode, which Fuji regards as a burst mode.

Top Three burst mode shoots three frames in about two seconds, and then stops to write them to the memory card. Final Three shoots as many as 40 frames at about two frames per second, and records the final three to memory. “Long-period” continuous shooting drops the frame rate to less than one frame per second (Fuji times it at 0.9 frames per second) but allows the capture of up to 40 images.

The bracketing mode takes three frames at three different exposure values, with a single press of the shutter release.

The FinePix S5200 does not refocus during bursts, but it does adjust exposure during Long-period bursts. The flash doesn't go off in any of the burst modes.

Bursts of three frames will help snapshooters get the definitive shot of birthday candles being blown out, but it's less likely to snag more challenging moments. Shooters who want to catch sports or wildlife will get better results with a DSLR. Any DSLR will be faster, handle focus better, and shoot more images in a burst.

Playback Mode (7.5)
The FinePix S5200 has a flexible and convenient playback mode, with a number of options for slide shows and for reviewing images.

The Display/Back button cycles through four views: single image with data, single image plain, nine thumbnail images, and nine images in a sort-by-date layout. When a single image is up on the screen, pressing the exposure compensation button brings up a histogram and shooting data.

The slide show tool also offers a few cool options, but less flexibility than one might hope for. It's great that it offers a fade option between images, but it's too bad that it only offers a long or short interval for each image to show. A few other cameras will allow the user to set the length of time in seconds. The multiple image slide show option is interesting too, showing images four at a time, and mixing in full-frame images. Unfortunately, there aren't any controls for timing or which images are shown full-frame. For that matter, the slide show option shows all the images on the memory card; there isn't a way to select just the best shots for the show.

The FinePix S5200 playback mode allows the user to rotate and crop images. The crop tool uses the image magnifier and the navigation tools to choose the amount of cropping and the framing. The image is saved at one of the camera's standard file sizes. It's not possible to crop an image smaller than the standard 640 x 480 pixel size that the FinePix S5200 saves, so images originally shot that small cannot be cropped.

The FinePix S5200 is DPOF compatible, and print orders can be created in playback mode. The S5200 can imprint images with the capture date and specify the number of prints to make. More sophisticated settings, such as print size and border options, are not available of the S5200.

Custom Image Presets (5.0)

The FinePix S5200 offers five preset modes. The presets play up the strengths of the S5200 and Fuji's digital line in general: low light performance and high ISO settings. However, unlike the S5100, the S5200 surprisingly does not offer a sports or action mode, but rather supplements it with an Anti-blur more. Sounds like a marketing decision to me.  

Mode
Anti-Blur	Uses the fastest shutter speed available to limit the effect of camera shake; increases ISO to boost shutter speed
Natural Light	Increases ISO and shuts off flash for available light shots in dim settings; sets White Balance to Auto
Portrait	Fuji says the portrait mode is for getting beautiful skin tones and soft overall tones; the user can set both ISO and FinePix color mode in Portrait.
Landscape	For landscapes; flash is not available; user can set ISO and FinePix color mode
Night	For shooting low light scenes with long exposures; slow shutter sync flash is available; user can set ISO and FinePix color mode