Digital Camera - Fujifilm FinePix S5200

H

hamstring

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Hi folks,
saw this highly recommended in PCworld and thinking of getting it. Has any AAM members got or used one that they could give me a steer good or bad?
 
that's it tiger. Thanks for that. I'll have a read through those customer reviews and make a decision. Cheers.
 
I have the S9500 and it is slow to take a picture. I as often as not miss the shot I was looking for with my kids.
 
ordered a cool blue one from pixmania (A500) for an xmas present,
(185 euro)except the manual was in french as was the adaptor.
Anyway panicked a bit as it was so near xmas, after contacting customer support, downloaded one in english off their site.
 
I've had its predecessor, the [broken link removed] for the last three years and have been well pleased with it. The only thing it doesn't have, and which I would like for taking action/sports shots, is image stabilisation — a must at full 10X (equiv. 380mm) zoom, unless you're shooting in bright daylight and can use very high shutter speeds like 1/500 or 1/1000th. BlueSpud, the shutter time lag problem (common to most non-professional digital cameras) can be got around easily by using it in 'burst' mode — fire off 7 or 8 frames per second, then go back and delete all but the one that captures the moment you wanted...

There's a pretty on it on pixmania at the moment, bundled with case/charger/batteries/extra memory (the S5200 and the S5600 are US/EU names for the same camera).
 
Hamstring, Which magazine has a review of the S5600, which Doc Moriarity says is the same as the S5200 - and I've never known that darn man to be wrong. It gives it a score of 59% -

Fujifilm FinePix S5600

Despite having a good range of features and excellent shutter delay, this camera falls short due to picture quality being some way behind that of the best. It has a powerful zoom and excellent battery life.

With a 38-380mm lens, the S5600 zooms in much further than the average camera. Shutter delay is a very impressive 0.2 seconds. Start-up time is just under 2 seconds and the shot-to-shot time (the time it takes the camera to ready itself for a new photo after taking the last one) is again speedier than most. The S5600 has a manual focus setting, aperture priority and shutter speed priority modes and a maximum of 40 photos in burst mode.

The good LCD viewfinder is a useful alternative to the screen in bright sunlight when the screen can be hard to view. LCD viewfinders are also more accurate than optical ones, showing exactly what the lens will take a picture of.

It only comes with alkaline batteries. For long term cost effectiveness, buy a set of rechargeables and a charger separately.

Pros: Excellent shutter delay. Creative controls. Powerful zoom. Excellent battery life. LCD viewfinder.

Cons: Average picture and movie quality.

Cameras (under ST£200) it gives higher ratings to -

Canon PowerShot A520
Score: 66%

Nikon Coolpix P2
Score: 64%

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W1
Score: 65%

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W5
Score: 66%

Canon Digital Ixus 750
Score: 66%

Olympus mju 810
Score: 65%

Canon Digital Ixus Wireless
Score: 65%

Samsung Digimax i6 PMP
Score: 65%

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T9
Score: 65%

Fujifilm FinePix F30
Score: 68%
 
Bushfire said:
and I've never known that darn man to be wrong.
Click to expand...
Very kind of you, Bushfire! Actually, I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken... :p

Only thing I'd question about the value of comparing those % ratings is that, apart from the <£200 price tag, they don't really compare like with like. Most of those other cameras, while of fine quality, are compacts with 3x or 4x zooms. The kind of camera everyone should have, because it'll fit in a shirt pocket and you'll be more inclined to actually carry it around with you — so ending up with more pictures, which is what it's all about. But the S5600 is more akin to having an SLR kit with a 35mm wide angle, standard 50mm, 80-200 zoom and 400mm long telephoto, all rolled into one. The F30 scores higher than it, but it'd be nigh on useless for taking shots at of my young fella playing footie, for instance.

The S5600 should by rights be compared with similarly-featured 10x zoom (or 12x) SLR-like models such as the Canon PowerShot S1 IS, Kodak Z650 or Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ50 — which I must say I rather like the look of. Leica 12x zoom lens, and image stabilisation. Pricier, though...

Of course, there's also the matter of whether one's personal preference is for the feel and look of black rubber...

[broken link removed]
...or brushed chrome. [broken link removed]

But that's another kettle of fish. ;)
 
Personally I think most of these super zooms are too slow, and when you bump up the ISO too shoot faster, the images get too noisy because the sensors are too small. I ended up going for a DSLR and while more expensive you get what you pay for in this instance.
 
This is true. Personally, I'll probably wait until the old Finepix dies and then upgrade to a proper DSLR.

Best value is probably to be had by buying 'last year's model' — for example, the Canon EOS 350D (a fine camera, by all accounts) now still costs the bones of €700 with an 18-50mm zoom. But as its replacement the 400D climbs up the [broken link removed]*, it'll inevitably fall in price as punters flow into the shops wanting to be sold the latest and greatest.

(* OK, these aren't actual sale charts, just 'click stats' from dpreview.)
 
Thanks for all the tips folks.
I passed all the info onto my g/f who's in the States at the moment and we decided on the Canon PowerShot S3 IS which she managed to get yesterday for $400. I reckon that's a good deal based on some of the prices i've seen on sites over here. Also got a 2GB SD card for the price of a 1GB i.e $30.
So, sometimes, women going shopping can actually be a good thing ;)
 
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