| Fuji’s S3 Requires Minimal Manual Labor
By Robert Ankrum
Like many others, I hate to read the manual when ever I get a new piece of equipment. I much prefer to dive right in and figure it out myself. It’s usually only when I’m on the verge of breaking something or when I can’t figure out how to make the equipment perform a specific function that I finally cave in and reach for the manual. And in the case of the Fuji FinePix S3, it’s a pretty hefty one at 143 pages!
I was consistent with my modus operandi when testing the new FinePix S3 Pro. Our FujiFilm representative gave me an excellent one-hour introduction, and off I went. (He also emphasized that if you ever have any questions, contact your local rep—they are there to help.)
On the whole, I found the camera to be extremely user friendly. The controls are logically placed and most of the buttons and dials are big enough—even for those of us with large hands. (I was frustrated, however, by the tiny metering selection dial. If I’d trimmed my fingernails, I probably wouldn’t have been able to change the selection.)
Super CCD Extends Dynamic Range
The new S3 has numerous improvements over the S2 (see sidebar). The biggest one is Fuji’s new Super CCD SR II with 12.3 effective megapixels. The sensor contains 6.17 million low-sensitivity R-pixels and 6.17 million high-sensitivity S-pixels. The S-pixels capture the highlight and shadow detail that’s lost by many other digital cameras. Using the S3’s “WIDE1” or “WIDE2” dynamic range setting—as opposed to leaving it in the STD mode—activates these S-pixels.
S3 Is Easy To Use
The camera is fairly light-weight (about 29 ounces, excluding the batteries and lens) and well-balanced. The Fuji-designed polycarbonate body is married with the top piece from a Nikon N80, so it will look familiar to many. The polycarbonate provides a “sticky” feel so it’s easier to get good hand-held images.
An unusual feature is the S3’s dual shutter release buttons. The first is where you’d expect it, and the second is on the lower right side of the camera. This way, when you rotate the camera to portrait orientation, the shutter release is once again under your right index finger. It’s lockable so you don’t accidentally fire the camera with the heel of your hand.
I tried using it a few times, and it was an odd feeling not having my hand wrapped over the camera to fire the shutter. I don’t think I’d get used to it, but others might prefer it.
Like all digital cameras, the LCD was difficult to read in direct sunlight although in open shade, it was fine.
Feature-Rich Menus
The S3’s menu system so extensive, it needs two LCDs to hold all the selections. One (the Function menu) changes the quality settings (white balance, RAW vs. JPEG, dynamic range, etc.) while the other (on the 2” LCD) controls a myriad other settings—from color space to formatting media cards.
Scrolling through the selections is straightforward. However, I didn’t like it when I pressed “OK” to confirm a setting change and it exited the menu system completely. To make another change, I had to re-activate the menus and scroll through the selections again until I found the next one I wanted to change. I would have preferred that it return me to the main menu once I clicked “OK” instead of having to start over.
Faster Capture Rate
In the STD dynamic range mode, Fuji states that the S3 can shoot 2.5 frames/second, up to a maximum of seven and 12 frames in RAW and JPEG, respectively. In the WIDE dynamic range mode, the specifications say it can shoot 1.4 frames/second up to three frames (in RAW mode) and 1 frame/second up to six frames (in JPEG mode). I didn’t get a chance to test this; however, I’ve read that some photographers would prefer faster capture rates and write speeds.
Downloading a full 512 megabyte CF card to my Mac G4 took about 17 minutes using the USB 2.0 connection.
Developing Your RAW Files
The Hyper-Utility HS V2 developing software merits an article all to itself; but, I’ll touch on a few highpoints here.
Unlike with the camera, I recommend at least skimming the software’s manual. There are a lot of variables that can affect how the software develops your image, and I think it’s important to understand what these are and how to retain control over them.
Specifically, I recommend turning off all of the auto correction functions—such as Exposure, Brightness, Contrast, etc. These auto corrections are designed to apply to a “standard” photograph, and none of us wants to produce “standard” photographs.
Instead, retain control over the development and make your own adjustments using the sliders. You can save your settings in a “Custom” file to use again if you have several images to develop that were all shot under the same conditions.
Hyper-Utility Options
The interface looks and feels very much like that of other developing software such as CaptureOne and Adobe Photoshop. It’s very user-friendly, and the layout can be customized to display just about any look that facilitates your workflow. It does, however, require that your operating system be Windows XP SP1/SP2, Windows 2000 SP4 (PC) or Mac OS X 10.3 to 10.4.1.
If you’d rather not use the Hyper-Utility software, Photoshop CS2 (or Photoshop CS using a downloadable plug-in) can develop the RAW files. Remember, however, that Fuji doesn’t provide the developing algorithms to Adobe. As a result, Adobe has to reverse engineer the files to determine them. So, if you’re a perfectionist, be aware that the image quality might suffer a little by using a third-party’s developing software instead of Fuji’s.
S3 Produces Pretty Photographs
RAW files produce an acceptable 13.7” x 20.5” image using the interpolation function of Hyper-Utility, although there was a small amount of noise, even when shot at ISO 400. Without interpolating, the RAW file produces a 6.8” x 10” image. JPEGs are larger, at 9.5” x 14”, without interpolation.
Overall, I found that the new S3 produced beautiful images and was easy to use—even without reading the manual. But for everyone who actually has the discipline and finds comfort in reading the manual, there’s a wealth of information in it and on Fuji’s website at www.fujifilm.com. |
Marin County Civic Center
 Marin County Farmers Market
Both photos are © Robert Ankrum
S3 Facts & Figures
Accepts both compact flash card and x-D Picture card
FAT32 compliant
Accepts both USB 2.0 and Firewire
Two-inch LCD display
Highlight warning in LCD
Live B&W video preview
Two, user-set custom white balance settings
Two film-simulation modes; one optimized for portraits to reproduce skin tones and one that mimics Fuji’s saturated films
Produces a 14-bit, 25 megabyte RAW file
JPEG capture in either sRGB or Adobe RGB (1998)
Fire the camera from your computer using Hyper Utilities HS-V2
100 to 1600 ISO
On-demand gridlines in viewfinder are helpful in lining up subjects
Lens mount is Nikon F (1.5x multiplier)
Flashsync 1/180th second
Compatible with most Nikon speedlights
Uses four AA Ni-MH batteries (the S2 required an additional CR123A lithium battery) |
