Finepix S2

Part 1 of many

Published on November 12, 2003 By KarmaGirl In Photography

I have had my new Fuji Finepix S2 for 4 days now. This camera rocks!

My next article on this will show a side by side comparison of pictures taken with my old sony F707 and my new Fuji S2.

I will say that I would not recommend this camera to those "photographers" who don't understand aperture and shutter speeds, or who don't understand the importance of ISO speeds. This camera is labeled "Pro" for a reason.

You can get "OK" shots with its Automatic settings (You still need to set the ISO), but to get the high quality shots, you really need to set it to manual mode and got at it with your own photography knowledge. If you want to use a flash besides the on board one, my best advise is to set it to manual and use your own photography knowledge. (It still has auto focus, so you only need to be concerned with exposure settings).

To me, this camera is a dream. It really reacts the same as a 35mm SLR. The feel of the camera is that of a 35mm SLR. It does have the added benefit of the on board flash and auto modes for those times that you just want to shoot "snapshots" but it also has it's intuitive features that allow you total control.

In my upcoming articles, I will be focusing on certain controls of the camera as i use and learn them. I'll give my "coffee" rating on the last article of the series.

Comments

ShlotzUser

on Nov 12, 2003

Thanks for the post. I am not a pro but I do love the camera as well. One problem I am having is using the camera in artificial light situations. For example in an auditorium setting photographing marching bands. The bright uniforms (white) makes the auto exposure lower and the pictures come out dark. I can 'correct' them somewhat with software, but I know there is a way to set the camera for this situation, but I haven't 'discovered' in yet ... any suggestions ? Where can I find any other info you may have written on this subject. Thanks

KarmaGirl

on Nov 12, 2003

I just got the camera a few days ago, so I really haven't written much on it yet. I will play with it a bit and let you know what I figure out with the white issue. I am assuming that it may be the way that it is metering the existing light when in the auto exposure modes. There is also a feature built into the camera that will allow you to correct it on the fly. By the shutter release, there are two buttons. One will adjust the flash levels, and the other will adjust the exposure (both offset the auto exposure modes and can be reset to their default by resetting them to "0"). The other thing that the camera has is two settings for metering. Spot and continuous. you probably can set it to spot and fool it about the white. I will have to play with the camera a bit more to see how it effects bright whites in the auto modes. I'll let you know what I find. Thanks for commenting and giving me something to think about!

joetheblow

on Nov 16, 2003

I forgot what ISO is.

I know about F-Stop, shutter speeds, and other stuff. I loved using my camera and can't wait to get one again! I personally like the regular cameras with film in it, but I am going to HAVE to get a digital one first.

... maybe... I CAN'T DESIDE!!!!!

mohamed

on Nov 16, 2003

thanks

KarmaGirl

on Nov 19, 2003

joetheblow, ISO is film speed. The digital cameras will fake the film speed. i find that most digital cameras work best at ISO 400. I played with mine, and really couldn't see much difference between 100 and 800 ISO, so I'm not sure that it means a lot (unless you are using an AF flash that is also faking the film speed, but that's a different topic of conversation). I love my digital camera. I still shoot film, but I love the instant gratification of digital.

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!