Fuji S3 Pro... my initial impressions

[ballroom_boy]

Hi there,

Today, I had the opportunity to get my hands on the Fuji S3 Pro - a production model with serial number 000001. Yes, it is the first S3 Pro to roll off of the production line. A nice man from Fuji Canada came to demonstrate the camera and I was able to get my hands on it for a grand total of 3 minutes. This by no means a complete review given my time with the camera (or lack of it), but I wanted to report to those of you interested in this DSLR what my impressions were.

Body
====

It is *definitely* improved over the S2. It is quite a bit larger, however, the ergonomics are fantastic. They (Fuji) paid a lot of detail to the shape and it fit in my (medium sized) hands perfectly. Also, Fuji added quite a bit of rubber to the body, specifically the grip. It actually feels like a pro body without the weight. Nicely done. The vertical grip is a very nice too.

Since the S3 is based on the Nikon N80, the control layout is identical to the S2.

AF
==

Nothing new, same old Nikon CAM900 AF system. I had a Nikon 17-55/2.8G DX lens on it and the focus seemed exactly the same way as my S2's.

Viewfinder
==========

This surprised me. It is bigger - 17% to be exact. The little icons, etc, are still at the bottom and the gridlines can be turned off/on. Not that much different than the S2, although it is nice to have the bigger view.

Batteries
=========

Only one set (4) of AA's are required. Fuji recommends a minimum of 2300 mAh NiMH batteries. The rep stated that he has shot a minimum of 400 photos on a fully charged set of AA's (2300 mAh's) with the built in flash for 50% of the shots and reviewing every shot on the LCD screen. Actually, that's better than what I thought it would be.

LCD Screen
==========

235,000 pixels - very easy on the eye although the gamma seemed quite high. Also, the histogram finally shows you blown out highlights. Fuji also put a decent "clear" LCD protector on the back - unlike the milky one they used on the S2.

Menus
=====

If you have used an S1 or an S2, you will find yourself very much at home with S3 menus - very logically laid out.

Colour Space
============

You can shoot in in sRGB or Adobe 1998 for either JPEG or RAW. Nice to have those options. The rep did say that if you use one of their built in "film modes", then you are restricted to sRGB. Seems that the film modes are just a bunch of S3 settings that have been "preset".

Write Speed
===========

The S3 seemed to write faster to Compact Flash than the S2 - I have no hard data (neither does Fuji) to support this. The 4MB JPEGs just seemed to write faster, IMHO. In STD dynamic range mode, I could shoot almost 3 FPS (2.5?), but in WIDE dynamic range mode, this drops to 1 FPS. Also, when shooting RAW in this WIDE mode, the buffer filled up at 3 RAW frames, and I had to wait 30 seconds before I could shoot again. If you are looking for a camera for action photography, the S3 in WIDE DR mode is not what you want!

Software
========

Here is another suprise - Fuji had their software (EX converter and shooting software) running on a Mac - and it is fully functional. The Fuji rep was "annoyed" by all of the rumours on the web about it not being ready.

Here is a bigger surprise - in Canada, the USA, and the UK, all software will be included in the S3 purchase price! This is different to what we are reading on the web! He wasn't too sure about other countries though. The rep admitted that they (Fuji) made a mistake with the S2 - they should have bundled all of the software with the camera - like they did in the USA. This makes the price of the S3 a little more palettable.

He gave an extensive demo of the shooting software - it looked good, however, since I did not use the previous Fuji Software (I use ACR to convert my S2 RAW images), I cannot form an educated opinion on this.

Images
======

Here is the real test. Like I said, I only had a few minutes, so I popped in a CF card and fired off a few frames in the limited time I had. What I noticed were two things:

1) Lower noise than the S2 - ISO 800 and 1600 seemed cleaner (IMHO)

2) Extended DR does work. In some of the samples I took, parts of the gentleman's face that were blown out using STD DR mode were not blown out in WIDE DR mode.

I have put these images on my website so you can view them. Be forewarned that each image is about 4MB in size. I have not postprocessed these images at all. The STD DR images have "std" in the name; the WIDE DR have "wide" in the name:

http://www.eternalmoments.biz/s3samples/S3-std-400.JPG
http://www.eternalmoments.biz/s3samples/S3-std-800.JPG
http://www.eternalmoments.biz/s3samples/S3-std-1600.JPG

http://www.eternalmoments.biz/s3samples/S3-wide-400.JPG
http://www.eternalmoments.biz/s3samples/S3-wide-800.JPG
http://www.eternalmoments.biz/s3samp...-wide-1600.JPG

Final Thoughts
==============

If we "preordered" today at a price of $CAD 3,299.99, we would:

1) be guaranteed delivery by Dec 31, 2004
2) receive a free 1GB Sandisk Extreme CF card
3) receive a free 8 in 1 reader
4) receive a $50 coupon towards a Nikon lens

I didn't preorder. Not because I wasn't impressed - because I would like to read some formal reviews and also, have more time to fully test one. I thought I was going to be really disappointed with the S3 - instead, I want to find out more. A lot more.

Anyway, that's all I can think of for now... if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Happy shooting!

[Swampy]

Thanks for doing the review Roel. Wow. 1fps in RAW Wide. hehe. 30 seconds to write when the buffer was full? Yuk.

You're right, looks like it's nothing for an action type shooter.

It does seem to show some definite promise for portraits, but some limited use for wedding stuff as I'd still like to shoot raw, and in wide mode of course. but 3 frames and I'm stuck for 30 seconds? A lot can happen in 30.

I'm with you, I wanna read/see more before I'd even think about getting one.

I have a couple of tests I want to do and that will tell me what direction to go, but it would seem to me that the D2x and S3 combo would work decent.

[Tom V]

Thank you Roël for getting so much info out of 3 minutes with #000001.

Fuji should give you another 3 or 6 minutes with the camera. The world would benefit.

It's clear that the S3 is no more an action camera than the S2 was (wasn't), but I don't think they ever promote it as such. All the promo photos I've seen for the S2 and S3 are static studio shots, or casual portrait things.

[Sneakyracer]

Originally Posted by Tom Voegeli

Thank you Roël for getting so much info out of 3 minutes with #000001.

Fuji should give you another 3 or 6 minutes with the camera. The world would benefit.

It's clear that the S3 is no more an action camera than the S2 was (wasn't), but I don't think they ever promote it as such. All the promo photos I've seen for the S2 and S3 are static studio shots, or casual portrait things.

Yeah good info, specially about the feel of it and the viewfinder.

As far as speed and high resolution is concerend, right now there are few choices and all of them expensive. (Canon 1D mark2 and Canon 1Ds mark2, and the yet unreleased Nikon D2x). I can speak for the 1D mark2 and it has improved dynamic range over the 10d which itself is quite good in that regard. But Canon didnt market that aspect of the 1D mark2 (since it has lots of other great features and performance specs) but its there.

I wish there were some more DSLR alternatives in the $2500 range but right now prices are all over since Nikon and Canon dont have cameras that match well to one another in specs.

If Fuji could squeeze a little more speed out of the S2 it would be a great value. But with the 5fps 8mp 20d out there for $1500 and the reasonably fast D70 for 30% less its a tough sell.

More in peril are the Kodak SLR series.

[Wichita Wayne]

Sounds pretty much like I expected. With most wedding guys the speed should be fine. Wedding photographers that include photojournalism in their package shoot 500 to 2500 (we probably average 750) digital shots per wedding. Most use JPG at 3024 fine or 4256 normal. If we need better than that we use MF film. Can you imagine the time that it would take to process 2500 RAF files. With a white wedding dress and black tux you need the wide DR and that looks pretty good to me.

[sandman]

Thanks Roel , Fuji's been kicking their heels over this for so long it's great to find someone who's really seen and tried one out .
Nothing much there that i had'nt expected , for me , mainly a landscape shooter the speed is'nt that much of a issue .
The larger viewfinder sounds good , but what size view does it give ,i think the S2 is 93%.
The one unexpected surprise is that it will be bungled with all the goodies when it's released ,that will save us about £130 on software ,a welcome surprise if true.
Like everyone else i'll wait untill reviews start appearing ,we've got some very good digital mags over here , but i still might buy one in the new year if the price is still as advertised £1300. and the reviews are decent .

Brian

[KeithM]

Yep - thanks for getting some first-hand impressions and info from Fuji... went back to the release info from Fuji UK and sure enough they've shifted HS-V2 into the included items list, as well as 4xAA's and charger which I don't recall seeing there before ( but it may well have been.. ) so the UK looks to be getting a bit more this time

If the UK price stays at around £1300 then it'll be well placed I think - although I doubt I shall buy one - I'll bide my time and wait for the 'S4'

Keith.

[stateless]

You should ask the Canadian rep why they feel justified selling the S3 here at $3300.00 cdn when USA retailers like bh are selling it for $2,983.68 cdn (at today's exchange rate).

[ballroom_boy]

Originally Posted by stateless

You should ask the Canadian rep why they feel justified selling the S3 here at $3300.00 cdn when USA retailers like bh are selling it for $2,983.68 cdn (at today's exchange rate).

I should. I should also ask Nikon and Canon (and every other camera manufacturer) why their stuff is more expensive in Canada...

The joy of being a Canuck...

[HulaMike]

A difference in governmental import duties, tarifs and taxes I would imagine.

[robinp]

Thank you Roël for such an informative report.
I'd not been particularly bothered about the S3 just yet as I won't be buying until they're available second hand but the viewfinder information has reminded me about the most annoying weakness of the S1/S2 (and probably a lot of other DSLR's)

I recently did some comparison test shots between an old Fujica with a 35mm lens and an S2 with a 24mm lens - the difference in viewfinder size was a real shock!

Not at all bothered about speed for my stuff (as Sandman knows I steer well clear of sports) so the quality of the viewfinder "experience" will play a big part in my next DSLR choice - may even investigate those Olympus 4/3rds models.

There is a good article which talks about viewfinders here http://www.steves-digicams.com/smp/03162003.html

Cheers, Robin

[frankgh]

Ok, I don't know this guy and am not endorsing him but a fella in Japan has S3Pros up for sale on eBay...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...857335623&rd=1

[-fruity-]

I'd say holding a 0000001 was the real highlight

Viewfinder, batteries and all that stuff ... it's great to hear but at least for me, at least reasonably speed is the KO criteria. If my S2 goes to heaven i'll, based on given rumors and facts, will not upgrade but get a used S2 or new D-something.

I do not shoot sports or any other action. I do not need fast focus or 8 frames/sec. But i do shoot portraits and kids. With kids and their very limited attention and ability to hold still, i need to fill the buffer as fast as possible just to get a shot without closed eyes or movement or whatever. The S2 in RAW is hard on the limit but ok.

I've once tried a D2H and its almost impossible not to find a good frame at 8/sec (yes, jpg@4MP with many limitations but i found the D2h to have a very appealing image style). Loved it.

But if wide mode really needs 1/sec@3 Buffer, who should use this???
I'm not a wedding photographer nor professional but ive done enough portraits & events to know that the max! attention time of a subject is ~30 secs. After that , unless they are actors, the image will express their annoyance.
Ever tried to shoot a 3 person picture with 3 frames at an event? You need to be really lucky to have 1 very good (sales) frame (closed eyes, open mouth, ...).
Wedding pros don't shoot hundreds or thousands of frames out of no reason.

I bet the S3 will produce same great jpgs as we have now but i dont see a application for the wide mode. Studio or Landscape? Nah. Every studio will have the few (in terms of professional business) bucks to afford a high resolution (FF) body and can setup a situation so that it won't blow out.
I think Tom and many others have a flood of tips and knowledge on how to get it right.
Landscape? With 6MP? The few landscape dudes i know even moan about their 1Ds and Kodak FF resolutions... (I'd love to see a digital back in action but i never had the chance so far.)

However, maybe i'm all wrong and this will become an all time classic

cheers

[Roger M]

The grumbling I hear about a camera's FPS or write speed seems to take on a life of it's own. Maybe I've underestimated the vast numbers of photojournalists out there who need machine gun frame speeds.... Or there are a lot of wannabee PJ's (I suspect the latter). In either case, they are wasting their time looking at the Fuji's in the first place, fast action is not it's forte. Any one caught unaware by this point needs to pay a little more attention, before buying.

However, the reported RAW write speeds of this camera may be so slow as to make it unusable in portraiture and some of the commercial work that I do. Three raw images per 30 seconds pushes the limit for anything but product Photography and landscape- for which the camera should have more resolution anyway. I've already given up on using digital for landscape , it just doesn't have the high frequency detail for prints at the size I would like to print, 13x19 on up. For landscape, I'm going back to a Mamiya 7II and scanning. So where does the S3 fit in ? Maybe the intent of this camera is to get people to shoot in jpeg the types of work that they would have shot raw in previously. Now that the DR is improved the "fudge factor" of RAW will be less neccesary for many situations ? Could be.

I'm very interested in the S3, but I have some strong reservations. I'm waiting with great interest to see what the new Olympus E-series camera will offer. I think the E-1 has the best looking image out there, rich, grreat color nice tonal range- I just wish it had more resolution. Not to mention the solid body, better viewfinder etc. If the D2x has the goods and is not stratospherically priced, I'd consider it as well.

I just wish the S3 was more of a sure thing for my needs. Maybe it will be, but right now it seems to fall short of being a true upgrade from the S2- bummer. I'm tiring of the compromises that playing the dslr game currently requires. I can't wait till the price/resolution/feature ratio evens out- and going to Canon is not an option.

[-fruity-]

Originally Posted by Roger M

The grumbling I hear about a camera's FPS or write speed seems to take on a life of it's own. Maybe I've underestimated the vast numbers of photojournalists out there who need machine gun frame speeds.... Or there are a lot of wannabee PJ's (I suspect the latter). In either case, they are wasting their time looking at the Fuji's in the first place, fast action is not it's forte. Any one caught unaware by this point needs to pay a little more attention, before buying.

Point me to someone who does. pls.
Fact is, wide mode will be an option but not an improvement since it comes at the price of great speed loss.
Even if the wide mode will deliver unique and chindropping images .. where's the pratical application? To me, this is marketing hype and not professional development.

Stolen from dpreview specs:
• JPEG 12 MP / Fine: 1.2 fps, up to 9 frames *
• JPEG 6 MP / Fine: 1.1 fps, up to 6 frames *
• RAW: 1.2 fps, up to 3 frames *

This is not about fast action .. it is simply a useability issue.

cheers