Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro Review 2005

March 2005 | Phil Askey

Review based on a production FinePix S3 Pro

The S3 Pro was first announced on 5th February 2004, in the run up to the PMA show in Las Vegas. At that time the announcement was strictly the 'development of' type with very brief specifications and an expected completion date of 'second half of 2004'. Eight month later we've got our hands on a pre-production camera which is fully operational (although not final firmware). The camera looks and feels a 'level above' the S2 Pro, the new camera has a more rounded appearance with chunkier hand grips and more use of rubber around the hand grip and on the rear. In addition the S3 Pro now has a vertical had grip and shutter release button for easy portrait shooting.

Fujifilm SuperCCD SR vs. SuperCCD SR

The S3 Pro utilizes Fujifilm's "extended dynamic range" SuperCCD SR sensor which features two photodiodes at each photosite (a single 'input pixel'). The 'S' pixel has normal sensitivity and captures the same range of light as a conventional CCD photosite, the 'R' pixel is smaller and has a lower sensitivity and is designed to capture detail above the saturation point of the 'S' pixel, the camera can then combine the information from the 'S' and 'R' pixels to produce an extended dynamic range and avoid the loss of detail due to over-exposure. (click here for more information).

Initially the design of the S3 Pro's SuperCCD SR sensor was the same as that used in the F700, F710 and S20 Pro (the R pixel above the S pixel; diagram on the left below). However Fujifilm has since then slightly modified the design by moving the R pixel to the empty space between S pixels which now allows for a larger S pixel (diagram on the right below). This also means that the S3 Pro must have a fairly unusual microlens layout (as each S and R pixel must have its own microlens) and we'll be very interested to see if this has any impact on image quality.

If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital Photography Glossary before diving into this article (it may help you understand some of the terms used).

Conclusion / Recommendation / Ratings are based on the opinion of the reviewer, you should read the ENTIRE review before coming to your own conclusions.

Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro Specifications

Price (Body only)	US: $ 2,499 UK: £ 1,599 (inc VAT)
Body material	High-impact plastic / rubber, metal sub-structure
Sensor	• Fujifilm SuperCCD SR II • 23.0 x 15.5 mm • 6.45 million total photosites (2 photodiodes per photosite) • 12.9 million total photodiodes • RGB color filter array • 14 bit A/D converter
Effective pixels	12.34 million (S-pixel: 6.17 million, R-pixel: 6.17 million) pixels
Image sizes	• 4256 x 2848 (12.1 million) • 3024 x 2016 (6.1 million) • 2304 x 1536 (3.5 million) • 1440 x 960 (1.4 million)
Image formats	• JPEG (EXIF 2.2) - 2 levels (Fine, Normal) • CCD-RAW (14 bit) - S only mode (approx. 12 MB) • CCD-RAW (14 bit x2) - S+R mode (approx. 24 MB)
Lens mount	Nikon F mount (with AF coupling & AF contacts)
FOV crop	1.5x
Focusing	• 5-area AF • TTL phase detection • Nikon Multi-CAM900 autofocus module • Detection range: EV 1 to EV 19 (ISO 100, 20°C/68°F) • Single / Dynamic Area AF (inc. Closest Subject Priority)
AF assist	Yes, white LED lamp
Shooting modes	• Programmed AE Mode (with program shift) • Shutter-Priority AE • Aperture-Priority AE • Metered Manual
Metering	• 3D Matrix Metering with 10-segment SPD • Center-Weighted Average • Spot
Metering range	• Matrix: 0 - 21 EV • Center-Weighted Average: 0 - 21 EV • Spot: 3 - 21 EV (Normal temperature with F1.4 lens)
AE Lock	• Dedicated button • Half-press shutter release
Exposure compensation	• +/- 3 EV • 0.5 EV steps
Exposure steps	0.5 EV
AE Bracketing	• 2 or 3 frames • 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 or 2.0 EV steps
Sensitivity	• ISO 100 • ISO 160 • ISO 200 • ISO 400 • ISO 800 • ISO 1600
Shutter	Electronically controlled vertical-travel focal-plane shutter
Shutter speed	• 30 sec - 1/4000 sec • Bulb
Flash X-sync	1/180 sec
Aperture values	Depends on lens (0.5 EV steps)
DOF preview	Button, stops-down lens aperture
Drive modes	• Single frame • Continuous shooting • Self-timer mode (2, 5, 10 or 20 sec)
Continuous shooting (our test results, not from official specs)	Standard dynamic range • JPEG 12 MP / Fine: 2.5 fps, up to 12 frames * • JPEG 6 MP / Fine: 2.5 fps, up to 12 frames * • RAW: 2.5 fps, up to 7 frames * Wide dynamic range (Auto DR mode) • 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 * * Before slowing down significantly
Built-in flash	• Pop-up (manual) • Guide no. 12 (ISO 100) • Max shutter speed: 1/180 sec
Flash sync mode	• Front-Curtain Sync (normal sync) • Red-Eye Reduction • Red-Eye Reduction with Slow Sync • Slow Sync • Rear-Curtain Sync
External flash	• X-contact hot-shoe (with D-TTL support) • PC sync terminal
Viewfinder	• Fixed eye-level pentaprism • Built-in diopter adjustment (-1.8 to +0.8) • Coverage: 95% horizontal, 93% vertical
Focusing screen	Fixed Clear Matte screen II with focus brackets and On-demand Grid Lines able to display
Viewfinder information	• Focus indications • Metering system • AE lock • Shutter speed • Aperture • Exposure mode • Electronic analogue exposure display • Exposure compensation display • Frame counter/exposure compensation value • Ready-light • Multiple exposure • Focus area • Flash exposure compensation • Five sets of focus brackets (area) • Spot metering area • Centre-weighted metering • On-demand grid lines
White balance	• Auto • Custom 1 • Custom 2 • Fine • Shade • Fluorescent 1 (Daylight) • Fluorescent 2 (Warm White) • Fluorescent 3 (Cool White) • Incandescent
Color space	• sRGB • Adobe RGB
Dynamic range	• Standard mode (only uses S pixel) • Wide (Auto, Wide 1, Wide 2)
Image parameters	• Film simulation: Standard, F1 (portrait), F2 (Velvia like) • Color saturation: 3 levels, B&W • Contrast: 3 levels • Sharpening: 3 levels
Storage	• xD-Picture Card (up to 512 MB) • Compact Flash Type I/II
LCD monitor	• 2.0" TFT LCD • 235,000 pixels • 100% frame coverage
Custom functions	15 functions
Connectivity	• USB 2.0 (Hi-Speed) • IEEE 1394 (Firewire) • Video Out (NTSC / PAL) • DC-IN • Wired remote • PC Sync terminal
Remote control	• Mechanical release socket on shutter button • IEEE 1394 remote control using supplied software
Power	• 4 x AA batteries (2300 mAh NiMH supplied) • AA battery charger supplied
Dimensions	148 x 135 x 80 mm (5.9 x 5.3 x 3.2 in)
Weight (no batt / lens)	835 g (1.8 lb)
Weight (no lens)	935 g (2.1 lb)

Design

The top of the S3 Pro (and the photographic parts of the camera; shutter box, AF, metering etc.) are based on the Nikon F80 (N80), however the bottom seven eighths of the camera (the main body area) is a custom build specifically made for the camera. The S3 Pro is only slightly taller than the S2 Pro but manages to fit in a vertical hand grip and shutter release button. A large percentage of the front and rear of the body has a new soft rubber coating which not only provides a better grip but also gives a more professional appearance. It's fair to say that the S3 Pro feels considerably better built and more robust than the S2 Pro.

In your hand

As mentioned above the new rubber coating which wraps around the entire hand grip is soft and sticky, it provides a good hold and feels comfortable. Fujifilm has clearly taken some time on the shape of the entire camera but especially those areas which make up the grip areas. Also noteworthy is a more sculpted thumb grip on the rear of the camera. The new vertical hand grip also works well, size wise it's quite similar to the main grip and there's plenty of room for your fingers between the inside of the grip and the lens mount (unlike some other digital SLR's with built-in vertical grips).

Side by side

You can see the S3 Pro with the Canon EOS 20D, Nikon D70 and the camera it replaces, the S2 Pro. The S3 Pro is visibly larger and is indeed one of the largest and heaviest of all current digital SLR's. That said the S3 Pro does include a vertical hand grip, add the BG-E2 to the EOS 20D for example and it will weigh in at almost 1 KG.

Left to right: Canon EOS 20D, Nikon D70, Fujifilm S3 Pro, Fujifilm S2 Pro

Camera	Dimensions (W x H x D)	Body weight (inc. battery & card)
Canon EOS 300D	142 x 99 x 72 mm (5.6 x 3.9 x 2.8 in)	649 g (1.4 lb)
Konica Minolta 7D	150 x 106 x 78 mm (5.9 x 4.2 x 3.1 in)	649 g (1.4 lb)
Pentax *ist D	129 x 95 x 60 mm (5.0 x 3.7 x 2.3 in)	650 g (1.4 lb)
Nikon D70	140 x 111 x 78 mm (5.5 x 4.4 x 3.1 in)	679 g (1.5 lb)
Canon EOS 20D	144 x 106 x 72 mm (5.6 x 4.2 x 2.8 in)	770 g (1.7 lb)
Fujifilm S2 Pro	142 x 131 x 80 mm (5.6 x 5.2 x 3.1 in)	870 g (1.9 lb)
Fujifilm S3 Pro	148 x 135 x 80 mm (5.9 x 5.3 x 3.2 in)	935 g (2.1 lb)

LCD Monitor

The S3 Pro has a new larger 2.0" LCD monitor which is bright and detailed (235,000 pixels). Just like the S2 Pro it is mounted directly below the rear 'control panel' LCD display. With the advent of the S3 Pro Fujifilm has improved the supplied protective cover which now clips over both the LCD monitor and control panel and is completely transparent in the screen areas.

Top LCD Panel

The S3 Pro's top display panel provides information about the photographic portion of the camera, this includes settings such as exposure compensation, AF point, flash mode as well as a readout of exposure (shutter speed / aperture). It appears to be identical to the one used on the S3 Pro. This panel is illuminated by a green light at the same time as the rear display panel by pressing the small backlight button to the right of this panel.

A breakdown of information displayed on the LCD panel can be found on the diagrams below.

Control Panel

On the rear of the S3 Pro is the now familiar rear 'Control Panel' LCD. This provides both information and control over the majority of digital settings. The row of four function buttons below the panel refer to the different setting sections displayed in the panel (depending on the current mode). The FUNC button to the left of the panel scrolls through each page of information or settings. The panel is illuminated with an orange backlight at the same time as the top LCD panel by pressing the backlight button on top of the camera (or automatically after pressing the FUNC button). A breakdown of each setting and options is available later in this preview.

Record mode

Record mode information display	Settings page 1 (WB, Qual, Size, Film sim. mode)
Settings page 2 (DR, Color, Tone, Sharpening)	Settings Page 3 (AF mode, Lock, Reset)

Play mode

Play mode options	Play mode information page 1
Play mode information page 2

Viewfinder

The S3 Pro's viewfinder (which appears identical to the S2 Pro) has a rubber eyepiece cup (which can be removed for accessory attachment). The view itself is good enough but as commented on by others has a simple cropped focusing screen which can appear small (especially when compared to the Nikon D70 or the Pentax *ist D). The S3 Pro has a sliding dioptre lever tucked away on the right hand side.

Viewfinder view

Through the viewfinder you'll see the center-weighted metering circle and five indicated AF area markers. Note that the active focus area darkens when selected. The on-demand grid lines can be turned on via custom function 2, these are useful for ensuring alignment when taking landscape or architectural shots. Along the bottom of the viewfinder view you will see the status bar. This provides you with an overview of camera (photographic) settings as well as exposure settings.

Battery Compartment

Unlike the S2 Pro the S3 Pro takes just one set of batteries, four AA's (NiMH will be needed if you want any kind of life) which fit into a tray which locks into the base of the camera from the left side. It's a pity Fujifilm still hasn't come up with a Lithium-Ion battery pack solution for the S3 Pro, capacity could have been higher and having to carry sets of four separate batteries can be troublesome.

Storage Compartment

The S3 Pro's storage compartment is in the same location, bottom right of the camera rear. The door opens downwards and reveals both xD-Picture Card and CF Type I/II slots. I complained in my S2 Pro review that the compartment door on that camera had no rubber seals (and hence was potentially at risk from the elements, well the S3 Pro's door is no better.

Connections

On the left side of the camera (from the rear) are five of the camera's connectors; USB 2.0 (Hi Speed), IEEE 1394 (Firewire), remote terminal, DC-IN and A/V out. On the front of the camera there's a PC Sync terminal. Kudos to Fujifilm for including both USB 2.0 and Firewire.

Tripod Mount

	On the bottom of the camera you'll find the metal tripod socket which is aligned exactly with the center line of the lens. The mount also appears to be in line with the focal plane (position of the imager). As I have commented on with other Digital SLR's it would have been nice to see a rubber coating on the bottom of the camera.

Pop-up Flash

The S3 Pro's pop-up flash (identical to the S2 Pro) is released by pressing a small button on the left side just below the flash. Opening the flash automatically enables it and charges the flash capacitor ready to shoot. The flash has a guide number of 12/39 (m/ft) at ISO 100 and a maximum sync speed of 1/180 sec. The camera uses the AF assist lamp for red-eye reduction.

External Flash

	The S3 Pro has a standard Nikon hot-shoe which can accept a wide range of Nikon Speedlights. It also now has full D-TTL flash sync support. (No detailed specifications yet - more detail on this as it arrives)

AF Assist Lamp

	The AF assist lamp on the S3 Pro will automatically illuminate the subject if light levels are too low for the AF system to make a good focus. The lamp can be enabled or disabled via a custom function.

Lens Mount

The S3 Pro has a Nikon F lens mount, it can accept almost any Nikkor F mount lens. Full camera features are only available when you use G or D type AF Nikkor CPU lenses. Note that because of the smaller size of the S3 Pro's sensor it effectively crops the field of view provided by a 35 mm lens. Thus a 17 mm lens on the S3 Pro will provide approximately the same FOV as a 25.5 mm lens would on a 35 mm SLR (with 35 mm film).

Shutter Release Sound / Continuous drive

In some of our digital SLR reviews we are providing a sound recording of a continuous burst of shots. Below you can see waveforms of a recording made of the Fujifilm S3 Pro, Nikon D70 and Fujifilm S2 Pro shooting continuously for 30 seconds each. The cameras were set to manual focus, shutter speed 1/250 sec and aimed at our standard resolution chart. Image quality was set to six megapixels JPEG Fine on both cameras. The CF card used was a SanDisk Ultra II 1 GB (Type I).

As you can see the S3 Pro improves on the S2 Pro with both a faster initial shutter speed and a larger buffer, once the buffer is full the camera manages to process and flush images more quickly and allows a total of 29 frames to be shot in 30 seconds. While good it's still not a patch on the excellent Nikon D70.

30 seconds, total 29 frames (JPEG)
30 seconds, total 69 frames (JPEG)
30 seconds, total 16 frames (JPEG)

Download the MP3 (S3 Pro, D70 and S2 Pro) 1,846 KB

Box Contents

• Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro digital SLR body
• Neck strap
• Body cap
• LCD cover
• Eyepiece cover
• Accessory shoe cover
• 4 x AA NiMH batteries (2300 mAh)
• AA Battery charger BCH-NH2
• Video cable
• USB cable (mini-B)
• IEEE 1394 (Firewire) cable (4-pin to 6-pin)
• Cable holder
• CD-ROM: FinePix AX (FinePix Viewer etc.)
• CD-ROM: FinePix Hyper-Utility2 Version 3.0 *
• User Manual, Quick Start Guide

Top of camera controls (left)

Top of the camera on the left side of the viewfinder are situated the mode / settings and drive dials. The mode dial is free to move, the drive dial is 'locked', this means you must hold down the small locking pin to move this dial. To change ISO sensitivity you turn the dial to the required position and then use the main or command dial to change the setting. The special CSM position puts the camera in custom setting mode. (Can we please have a shortcut to ISO from one of the rear buttons?)

Just like the S2 Pro the S3 Pro is limited to 0.5 EV (half stop) exposure steps, this is because its exposure system is inherited from the Nikon F80 (N80).

Mode / Settings Dial: Settings

Dial position
ISO	ISO Sensitivity • ISO 100 • ISO 160 • ISO 200 • ISO 400 • ISO 800 • ISO 1600	No function

Mode / Settings Dial: Mode

Icon	Mode
P	Programmed Auto (Flexible) The Program AE on the S3 Pro is flexible, that means that you can select one of a variety of equal exposures by turning the main command dial (rear of camera) left or right. Example: • 1/15 F4.0 (turn left a click) P* • 0.50 F3.3 (turn left a click) P* • 1/30 F2.8 (metered) P • 1/45 F2.4 (turn right a click) P* • 1/60 F2.0 (turn right a click) P* The S3 Pro remembers the selected offset from default metering, the only way to reset this is to quickly turn the camera off and on again.
S	Shutter Priority Auto In this mode you select the shutter speed and the camera will calculate the correct aperture for the exposure (depending on metered value; metering mode, ISO).Shutter speed is displayed on the viewfinder status bar and on the top LCD, turn the main command dial (rear) to select different shutter speeds. A half-press of the shutter release causes the cameras exposure system to calculate the aperture, if it's outside of the cameras exposure range (for instance trying to take a shot at 1/500s in darkness) the aperture will show 'Lo' or 'Hi'. • 30 seconds - 1/4,000 sec (in 0.5 EV steps)
A	Aperture Priority Auto In this mode you select the aperture and the camera will calculate the shutter speed for the exposure (depending on metered value; metering mode, ISO). Aperture is displayed on the viewfinder status bar and on the top LCD, turn the sub-command (front) dial to select different apertures. A half-press of the shutter release causes the cameras exposure system to calculate the shutter speed, if it's outside of the cameras exposure range the shutter speed will show 'Lo' or 'Hi'. • Range depends on lens max. and min. apertures (in 0.5 EV steps)
M	Full Manual Exposure In this mode you select the aperture and the shutter speed from any combination of the above. Main command dial selects shutter speed, sub-command dial selects aperture. The meter on the viewfinder status bar and top LCD will immediately reflect the exposure level compared to the calculated ideal exposure, if it's outside of +/- 2EV the indicator bar will add an arrow '<' or '>' on the end of the meter. Bulb shutter release can only be accessed when enabled by a custom setting.
CSM	Custom Setting Menu This mode enters the cameras custom setting menu. Custom settings can be selected by turning the main command dial, a setting change can be made by turning the sub-command dial. A numerical indication of the custom setting is shown on the top LCD panel, a full descriptive version is also shown on the rear LCD monitor. This menu is detailed later in this review.

Drive Mode Dial

Symbol	Mode
	Single frame shooting One frame is taken when shutter release is pressed. You can take another shot almost as quickly as you can re-press the shutter release.
	Continuous shooting Press and hold the shutter release and the camera will shoot frames continuously (the actual frame rate and maximum number of shots depends on DR and image quality settings).
	Self-timer shooting Camera takes a single frame after a predefined delay, this delay can be set to 2, 5, 10 or 20 seconds via a custom function.

(Still no mirror lock-up option either here or via the menu / custom functions)

Top of camera controls (right)

Top of the camera on the right side are the two sub and main command dials (front and back), the power switch, shutter release, exposure compensation, flash compensation and LCD illumination button.

Power switch

Symbol	Mode
OFF	Camera Off The camera will only power off once it has completed writing any buffered data. This means that you can shoot a burst of frames, turn the power switch to the OFF position safe in the knowledge that the camera will write all your images to the storage card before powering off.
ON	Camera On Switches camera on, this is virtually instant, there's only a slight delay (perhaps a third or half a second) between turning the dial to the On position and being able to shoot.

Buttons

Button
	Exposure Compensation • +/- 3.0 EV in 0.5 EV steps	No function
	Flash Compensation • +/- 3.0 EV in 0.5 EV steps	No function

Rear of Camera Controls

The control layout on the S3 Pro has been cleaned up with a more logical layout for the BACK, 4-way controller and MENU/OK buttons. At the top of the rear are four photographic setting controls (Bracket, Flash, Metering mode, AE/AF Lock), on the left the Control Panel and FUNC button. Sadly, just like the S2 Pro the camera can only be woken from 'sleep' mode by half-pressing the shutter release button, it is not possible to wake it by pressing any of the rear buttons (such as PLAY or MENU).

Photographic settings buttons

Button
BKT	Auto Bracketing Enable • On • Off	Auto Bracketing: Shots / EV Choose any combination of: • 2 or 3 shots of • 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 or 2.0 EV steps
	Flash sync mode • Front-curtain sync (normal flash) • Red-eye reduction • Red-eye reduction with slow sync • Slow sync • Rear-curtain sync	No function

Metering Mode

Metering	Description
	3D Matrix Metering with 10-segment SPD Selects 3D matrix metering which uses a 10 segment sensor to calculate the best exposure for the frame. Use D or G type lenses with 3D Matrix Metering for the optimum metering.
	Center Weighted Metering The camera uses the entire frame for light measurement but assigns a greater weight to an area in the center of the frame (indicated in the viewfinder by the circle).
	Spot metering The camera measures light only in a circle 4 mm in diameter. This is tied to the currently selected AF area point unless dynamic AF or a non-CPU lens is used when it defaults to the center of the frame.

Other controls

Button	Description
AE-L AF-L	Auto Exposure and Auto Focus Lock Pressing this button locks the current exposure and focus, they remain locked for as long as you hold the button even if you press or release the shutter release button.

Control Panel buttons

The function of the four buttons below the control panel display panel depends on the status of the display and selected menu. By default the display is used to relay information such as ISO sensitivity and frames remaining, press the FUNC button and the display switches to a menu of four options, each controlled by one button. In play and preview modes a menu is always displayed. Each of the available menus and the function of each button is described below.

Menu	Button 1	Button 2	Button 3	Button 4
Record / shooting mode
Record 1	White balance • Auto • Custom 1 • Custom 2 • Sunny • Cloudy • Fluorescent 1 • Fluorescent 2 • Fluorescent 3 • Incandescent	Image quality • High (RAW) • Fine (JPEG) • Normal (JPEG)	Image size • 4256 x 2848 • 3024 x 2016 • 2304 x 1536 • 1440 x 960	Film simulation • Standard • F1 (Portrait) * • F2 (Velvia) *
Record 2	Dynamic Range • Auto * • Wide 1 * • Wide 2 *	Color • Standard • High • Original • Black & White	Tone • Standard • Hard • Original	Sharpening • Standard • Hard • Off
Record 3	Focus area mode • Single Area AF • Dynamic AF	Lock • Off • On		Reset Function • Ok
Play mode
Play	Histogram • None • Master (Lumin.) • Red Channel • Green Channel • Blue Channel • Blinking highlights	Erase • No • Ok	Protect • On • Off	Thumbnail index • On • Off

* Camera must be in 'Wide' Dynamic Range mode (record menu option)

Rear controls

Button	Description
FUNC	Rear Display Panel Function Press the FUNC button to rotate through various options available in the current mode (record / play) which can be executed using the control panel. The panel will change its display and up to four options made available on the soft keys below the panel.
PLAY	Playback Displays the last image taken (or the last image on the storage card) in this mode you can browse through images and view various items of exposure information (detailed later in this review). The S3 Pro is a shooting priority camera, a half-press of the shutter release will turn the monitor off and ready it for the next shot.
MENU /OK	Camera menu / Confirm Display or cancel the camera menu or confirm a selection (detailed later in this review).
	4-way controller In shooting mode where AF point selection is enabled the 4-way controller is used to choose AF points. In playback mode this control reverts to image navigation / menu movement. The 4-way controller can be locked by turning the small lever below the dial to the 'L' position. Unfortunately the 4-way controller lock is a physical lock which disables the controller for use in menus too.
BACK	Back Back out or cancel the display of a menu.

Front of camera controls

On the front of the camera are two controls, on the left side of the lens is the depth of field preview button, pressing this button stops the lens down to the selected (or metered) aperture allowing the photographer to preview the depth of field of the final shot. On the right side of the lens mount is the focus mode selector (modes defined below).

Focus modes

Mode	Description
M	Manual Focus Focusing is carried out using the focus ring on the lens, the focus indicator on the viewfinder status bar will indicate 'o' when the manually focused subject distance matches that calculated by the camera's AF system.
S	Single servo AF (focus priority) If the subject is stationary, the camera focuses when the shutter release button is pressed halfway. Focus remains locked while the shutter release button is held in this position (focus lock). The shutter can only be released when the in-focus indicator is displayed.
C	Continuous servo AF (release priority) The camera adjusts focus continuously while the shutter release button is pressed halfway, automatically tracking moving subjects (focus tracking). The shutter can be released at any time, whether or not the camera is in focus (release priority). Focus is not locked when the in-focus indicator is displayed.

Displays

Record Review (immediately after shutter release)

The S3 Pro provides two different record review display modes, I've described them separately because they work in quite different ways:

Postview (menu: Image Disp: On)

In this mode the camera will display the review image for two seconds immediately after shutter release. You can not delete/cancel the image in this mode nor can you display histogram or blinking highlights (as is common on many other cameras). If you tap the shutter release (half press) the screen is cleared immediately.

Preview (menu: Image Disp: Preview)

In this mode the camera will show the review image and enable a menu of options on the LCD Control Panel, the review image will stay on the LCD monitor until the 'OK' button is pressed or you half-press the shutter release. You can magnify the review image using the up/down arrows. The control panel options are:

• OK (store image, clear screen)
• Delete (cancel the image, don't save)
• Histogram (master, red, green or blue) *
• Brightness warning (blinking highlights, standard chart) *

* These display settings are remembered and will be used for the next image display

One of the biggest drawbacks of Preview mode is (a) it doesn't timeout and remove the image from the display, you must half-press the shutter or select OK and (b) it reduces the amount of buffer space available for continuous shooting.

Ideal of course would have been just the one review mode based on 'Preview' which didn't affect buffer space, didn't have the OK option (as it's superfluous to use) and could be set to timeout after a customizable number of seconds.

Play display

Press the PLAY button to display the last image taken (or the last image on the storage card). Just like the S2 Pro you can't enter play mode until currently buffered images have been saved.	Select the histogram option from the control panel to display a histogram for the image, the first histogram page is Master (luminance). At least we now have a border around the histogram.
Press again for Red channel histogram.	Press again for Green channel histogram.
Press again for Blue channel histogram.	Press again for blinking highlight warning.
Press the 4-way controller upwards to magnify the image. Magnification is available up to a fairly high level (not specified). Once at the desired magnification press the PLAY button to pan (scroll) the image using the 4-way controller.
Select thumbnail from the control panel to display a 3x3 index.	An example of the 'erase image' animation, looks cute but slows the operation of the camera.

Record: Live Image mode

No other digital SLR has ever been able to provide a live view on the LCD monitor, until now. The S3 Pro has a unique (if slightly pointless) feature. You can switch to a 'Live Image' mode which provides a video-like B&W live view feed direct from the sensor to the LCD monitor (just like a consumer digital camera). In this mode you can also magnify the center portion of the frame. The important limitations however are: (a) its for display only, you can not trigger the shutter release in this mode, (b) the viewfinder is blacked out because the mirror must swing up and shutter open, (c) the display is in black and white, (d) the display can only be provided for a maximum of 30 seconds. All in all this mode seems to be more of a technology stunt than a useful feature.

During 'Live Image'	Press the UP arrow in Live Image to magnify the center portion of the frame

Play: Control Panel Information

By default in play mode the control panel provides four options of histogram, erase, protect and thumbnail index. Press the FUNC button and this display will then change to provide image information, press again for the second page of information.

Play mode info page 1 Date & Time of shot, Image Quality, Resolution, White Balance mode	Play mode info page 2 Shutter Speed, Aperture, Sensitivity, Color setting, Tone setting, Saturation setting

Set up Menu

	Pressing the MENU/OK button without an image displayed on the LCD monitor enters the camera's set up mode. This mode provides control over various settings including custom white balance, high mode selection, storage card selection etc. Use the up and down arrows to navigate through the menu, press the left or right arrows to change settings.

Set up Menu

Option	Values / Actions	Notes
Image Display	• Off • On • Preview	- No record review - Record review - Record review, requires confirmation
Custom WB	• Set	Set a custom white balance (choose custom 1 or 2 via the control panel)
Color Spaces	• sRGB • Adobe RGB	Allows you to select the color space, new to the S3 Pro, as you can now shoot Adobe RGB JPEG.
Dynamic Range	• Standard • Wide	- Uses only S pixels - Uses both S and R pixels, mix can be changed
Auto Rotate	• On • Off	Defines whether or not the camera's orientation sensor is used to record orientation of image
Media	• xD-Picture Card • Compact Flash	The camera will automatically select the correct media of only one is inserted, this option allows you to select the specific media slot if both are in use.
Test Shooting (No Card)	• Off • On	When enabled this option allows you to take images without a storage card (and therefore no images are stored).
Format	OK	Formats current media.
Beep	• Off • Low • High
Date/Time	• Set
USB Mode	• Mass storage • PTP (Direct Print)
1394 Mode	• Mass storage • Remote control
Frame no.	• Cont. • Renew
Language	• English • French • German • Spanish • Italian • Chinese • Japanese
Video System	• NTSC • PAL
Discharge	• OK	Used to fully discharge the batteries
Reset	• OK	Resets all camera settings
Live Image	• On	Enters 'Live Image' display mode

Play Menu

	Pressing the MENU/OK button while an image is displayed (after pressing PLAY) enters the Play menu. The menu consists of five options arranged along the bottom of the display. Menu options are displayed over the current image. For clarity we have used a black background.

Play Menu

Option	Values / Actions	Notes
Erase	• Al Frames
Protect	• Reset All • Set All	- Remove protection from all frames - Mark all frames as protected
DPOF	• Reset All • Without Date • With Date
Playback	• With transition, Slow • With transition • No transition, Slow • No transition
Trimming	• Set	Allows you to create a reduced resolution crop of an image in-camera
Monitor Brightness	• Set	Brightness can be set from -5 to +5

Custom Function Menu (CSM)

	Turn the camera mode dial to the 'CSM' position to change the camera's custom function settings. In this mode settings are chosen using the main command dial (front) and changed using the sub command dial (rear). A full textual description of the setting is shown on the rear LCD monitor and a numeric representation is shown on the top status panel LCD.

Custom Function Menu

Option	Values	Notes
1: Bracketing Order	0: Meter -> Under -> Over 1: Under -> Meter -> Over	Change the Bracketing compensation sequence
2: On-demand Grid lines	0: Off 1: On	Enable viewfinder grid lines
3: Illumination for Focus Area	0: Auto 1: Off 2: On	Makes AF points glow red when AF is being measured
4: Focus Area Selection	0: Normal 1: Enable Rotation	Enable 'wrap around' selection of AF point using 4-way controller
5: AE-Lock	0: Disabled 1: Activated	When enabled a half-press locks AE
6: Bulb in Manual Mode	0: Disabled 1: Activated	Enable Bulb exposures in manual exposure mode
7: S-AF Closest Subject Priority	0: Enabled 1: Disabled	Disable closest subject AF for AF-S mode
8: C-AF Closest Subject Priority	0: Disabled 1: Enabled	Enable closest subject AF for AF-C mode
9: AE/AF Lock Button	0: AE/AF Lock 1: AE Lock only 2: AF Lock only 3: AE Remains locked 4: AF Operation	Control the function of the AE/AF lock button
10: Command Dial functions	0: Disabled 1: Enabled	Allows you to switch the function of the command dials
11: Multiple Exposure	0: Single Shutter Release 1: Continuous Shutter Release	Enable continuous shooting for multiple exposures
12: Auto Power Off	0: Off 15: 15 secs 2: 2 mins 5: 5 mins	Change the auto power off time
13: Self-Timer Operation	2: 2 secs 5: 5 secs 10: 10 secs 20: 20 secs	Change the self-timer time
14: LCD Illumination	0: Off 5: 5 secs 15: 15 secs	When set to 5 or 15 the LCD panels will illuminate with any button press
15: AF-Assist Illuminator	0: On 1: Off	Enable or disable white AF assist lamp for low light situations

Timings & File Sizes

The S3 Pro delivered a mixed performance, one on hand startup is fast and you can get the first shot taken almost as quickly as you can flick the power switch and depress the shutter release. Other timings are (as to be expected) dependant on dynamic range mode. In wide dynamic range mode the camera is always having to deal with twice as much data as standard dynamic range mode, this means twice the data retrieved from the A/D converters and more work for the image processing pipeline (unless you're shooting RAW). Storage card write speeds were fairly good, although the best performance was using Fujifilm's own xD-Picture Card's. The main consideration must be the camera's continuous shooting capability which is average in standard dynamic range mode and slow in wide dynamic range mode. You'll have to decide how important this would be to your photography.

Timing notes:

• 12M = 4256 x 2848 pixels
• 6M = 3024 x 2016 pixels
• S-Dyn = Standard dynamic range mode
• W-Dyn = Wide dynamic range mode
• All times calculated as an average of three operations
• Unless otherwise stated all timings were made on an 6M JPEG Fine (approx. 2,700 KB)

The media used for this test were:

• 512 MB Fujifilm xD-Picture Card
• 1 GB SanDisk Extreme III CF card (Type I)
• 4 GB Lexar Pro 80x CF card(Type I, FAT32)

Action	Details	Time, secs (512 MB xD)	Time, secs (1 GB SanDisk)	Time, secs (4 GB Lexar)
Power Off to On *1		0.5	0.5	0.5
Power Off to Shot taken *2		0.5	0.5	0.5
Power On to Off		0.9	0.9	0.9
Record Review *3	RAW	1.5 / 1.9	1.5 / 1.9	1.5 / 1.9
	12M JPEG	1.4 / 1.8	1.4 / 1.8	1.4 / 1.8
	6M JPEG	1.7 / 2.0	1.7 / 2.0	1.7 / 2.0

*1	This timing was taken from the moment the power switch was turned on to the moment the LCD Control Panel displayed information.
*2	This timing was taken from the moment the power switch was turned on to the moment a shot was taken, with finger held down on the shutter release button.
*3	The first timing is for Standard dynamic range mode, the second is for Wide dynamic range mode.

Continuous Drive mode

To test continuous mode the camera had the following settings: Manual Focus, Manual Exposure (1/250 sec, F4.0), ISO 200. The media used for these tests was the 1 GB SanDisk Extreme II CF card.

The tests carried out below measured the following results for various image qualities:

• Frame rate - The shooting rate (frames per second)
• Number of frames - Number of frames in a burst, this was always four
• Slows to - If you keep the shutter release held what the time between frames becomes
• Full write - How soon after a burst the CF light goes out (the burst is written)

Standard Dynamic Range mode

Image type	Frame rate	Number of frames	Slows to per frame	Full write
CCD-RAW *1	2.5 fps	6	5.7 sec	40.5 sec
12M JPEG Fine	2.5 fps	12	1.3 sec	28.4 sec
6M JPEG Fine	2.5 fps	12	1.3 sec	19.3 sec
6M JPEG Normal	2.5 fps	12	1.3 sec	15.9 sec

Wide Dynamic Range mode (Auto)

Image type	Frame rate	Number of frames	Slows to per frame	Full write
CCD-RAW	1.5 fps	3	11.2 sec	34.2 sec
12M JPEG Fine	1.1 fps	9	2.0 sec	15.4 sec
6M JPEG Fine	1.0 fps	6	1.6 sec	11.0 sec
6M JPEG Normal	1.0 fps	6	1.6 sec	9.2 sec

*1	The camera shot one more frame just 0.5 sec (1.8 fps) after the burst, this wasn't included as it would have reduced the average frame rate.

In standard dynamic range mode the S3 Pro puts in a usable but not particularly exciting continuous shooting performance, it's slightly faster than the S2 Pro (2.5 vs. 2.0 fps) and has a larger buffer (12 vs. 8 frames). Switch up to wide dynamic range mode (as most users will with this camera) and things slow down considerably, sneaking just over one frame per second for just 9 (12 mp) or 6 (6 mp) frames is pretty disappointing.

Compare this continuous shooting capability to similarly specified (and cheaper) cameras from Canon, Nikon and Konica Minolta and it's clear that this is the S3 Pro's achilles heel.

File Flush Timing

Timings shown below are the time taken for the camera to process and "flush" the image out to the storage card. Timing was taken from the instant the shutter release was pressed to the time the CF activity indicator beside the CF door went out. The 7D will begin writing images as soon as it can and continue to write 'in the background' while you take further shots / change settings.

The media used for this test were:

• 512 MB Fujifilm xD-Picture Card
• 1 GB SanDisk Extreme III CF card (Type I)
• 4 GB Lexar Pro 80x CF card(Type I, FAT32)

Image type	Time, secs *1 (512 MB xD)	Time, secs (1 GB SanDisk)	Time, secs (4 GB Lexar)	Approx. size
CCD-RAW, W-Dyn	8.1	13.2	13.2	25,086 KB
CCD-RAW, S-Dyn	4.0	7.4	7.4	12,826 KB
12M JPEG Fine, W-Dyn	3.8	4.6	4.6	4,400 KB
12M JPEG Fine, S-Dyn	3.8	4.2	4.2	4,400 KB
6M JPEG Fine, W-Dyn	3.0	3.9	3.9	3,200 KB
6M JPEG Fine, S-Dyn	3.0	3.5	3.5	3,200 KB

*1	These timings are approximate as the S3 Pro doesn't keep the write activity indicator on as a 'solid light' during xD write.
*2	The S3 Pro begins writing approximately 1.5 seconds after the shutter release is pressed so you must subtract 1.5 seconds from the above timings to get the actual write time.

A good performance, and considerably better with xD-Picture Card media. In CCD-RAW mode the S3 Pro wrote single images at approximately 2.1 MB/sec to Compact Flash and around 3.8 MB/sec to xD-Picture Card. As you can see from the graphs below performance (and our accuracy to measure) increases slightly with a burst of continuous shots.

Card performance: JPEG burst (12 images)

Card	Fujifilm S3 Pro, write speed (12M JPEG files)
512 MB Fujifilm xD-Picture Card	4,025 KB/sec
1 GB SanDisk Extreme III	2,188 KB/sec
4 GB Lexar Pro 80x (FAT32)	2,208 KB/sec

Card performance: RAW burst (6 images)

Card	Fujifilm S3 Pro, write speed (CCD-RAW files)
512 MB Fujifilm xD-Picture Card	4,402 KB/sec
1 GB SanDisk Extreme III	2,233 KB/sec
4 GB Lexar Pro 80x (FAT32)	2,236 KB/sec

Cardbus 32-bit CF Adapter benchmark

Card	Cardbus 32-bit CF Adapter, write speed (RAW files)
1 GB SanDisk Extreme III	10,091 KB/sec
4 GB Lexar Pro 80x (FAT32)	9,279 KB/sec

The results above were produced by measuring the write time for a burst of shots, this gives a more accurate measurement of actual throughput. Note that the CF cards used were all high speed and in our fastest device (the Delkin Cardbus 32-bit CF Adapter) were capable of around 9.8 MB/sec.

Battery life

Thankfully Fujifilm has done away with the dual / split battery requirement we saw on the S2 Pro which required two CR123A Lithium's and four AA batteries. The S3 Pro now requires just four AA's which are placed on a battery tray which slides into the body. Fujifilm (at least in the UK kit) supply an AA battery charger and a set of four 2300 mAh AA NiMH batteries, we found these to provide plenty of capacity to shoot all day long without even a hint of low power. The disadvantages to this setup versus a single Lithium-Ion (as used in other digital SLR's) are that you have to unload and load four batteries each time they need charging, that NiMH batteries lose their charge 'on the shelf' and that they take longer to charge.

Output image file quality / JPEG artifacts

Standard Test Scene

The S3 Pro provides two JPEG compression levels (Fine and Normal) in combination with four image sizes (12, 6, 3 and 1 megapixel) as well as RAW mode. The RAW file size (.RAF) depends on the dynamic range mode selected, in standard mode file will be approximately 12.5 MB, in wide dynamic range mode the file will be approximately 25 MB (as twice the data is recorded). Because of the honeycomb layout of the SuperCCD sensor there is no real 'native' direct pixel-for-pixel output, however the six megapixel (3024 x 2016) should be seen as the nearest size to the input pixel count.

Below you will find crops of the same 240 x 180 portion of the center of a sequence of images taken at some of the available combinations of image size and quality. Crops shown are at 100%, saved as extremely high quality JPEG. The RAW file was converted to a TIFF using Fujifilm Hyper-Utility 2 (ver 2.3). All shots below were taken in Wide dynamic range mode.

4256 x 2848 CCD-RAW (Uncompressed), W-Dyn 25,049 KB .RAF (not for download)	4256 x 2848 JPEG (12 MP) Fine 4,532 KB .JPG
4256 x 2848 JPEG (12 MP) Normal 2,262 KB .JPG	3024 x 2016 JPEG (6 MP) Fine 2,861 KB .JPG
3024 x 2016 JPEG (6 MP) Normal 1,396 KB .JPG	2304 x 1536 JPEG (3 MP) Fine 1,718 KB .JPG

With such large image sizes and fairly small crops it's quite difficult to see artifacts, a closer inspection (a 'pixel peep') of the entire image revealed no JPEG artifacts with the Fine setting but some in Normal (as well as a slight softening / JPEG smearing of image detail). We would therefore recommend everyone sticking to the Fine setting unless they wish to shoot RAW (disadvantage: very big files).

Color space

The S3 Pro provides independent selection of output color space, you can select from sRGB or Adobe RGB. Images taken in the Adobe RGB color space have their filename prefixed with an underscore (_) which complies with DCF 2.0 (Exif 2.21). *

As you can see from the samples below (switch between the two by moving your mouse over the labels) Adobe RGB mode doesn't affect the gray balance of the image but does deliver a very different color response, most notably deeper blues and paler reds (although greens remain unaffected). This is a fairly dramatic difference, the only thing we can conclude is that in sRGB mode the camera is applying some additional color mapping (for that Fujifilm 'pop') which doesn't happen in Adobe RGB mode. Anyone who finds the S3 Pro's standard sRGB color too saturated could perhaps try Adobe RGB.

sRGB	Adobe RGB (converted to sRGB)

* This DCF naming convention makes it difficult to keep your images in the correct order if you don't routinely rename them by date/time. A suffix would have been far better.

Color space: CIE u'v' Color Distribution chart

Note that in these samples the Adobe RGB image has not been converted to sRGB and so to view it correctly you will have to load it into a color space aware photo application and assign the Adobe RGB color space. Below each sample is the CIE u'v' Color Distribution chart; larger gray triangle approximately represents the range of color which the human eye can resolve, the inner triangle the available gamut in each color space (sRGB or Adobe RGB).

Again you can clearly see the difference between sRGB and Adobe RGB in the CIE charts, while blues and greens remain close to the limits of gamut reds are paler.

sRGB	Adobe RGB

Image parameters

By modern digital SLR standards the S3 Pro's range of image parameter adjustment is fairly limited, three levels for each of color saturation, tone (contrast) and sharpness provides some customization but not the subtle adjustment some photographers may be looking for. Sharpness is a good example of this, there's no 'just less than standard' option, only Off.

Image parameter adjustments

• Color: Standard, High, Original, Black & White
• Tone: Standard, Hard, Original
• Sharpness: Standard, Hard, Off

Color saturation adjustment

Saturation adjustment allows you to control the strength of color in the final image. Most people consider the S3 Pro's standard output to be fairly saturated, in this case the Original setting would be a good choice, at least that way you won't lose any color detail to clipping and you can always increase saturation later in post-processing.

	Saturation	100% crop
S t d
H i g h
O r g
B / W

Contrast adjustment

Adjusting the tone alters the shape of the 'S curve' used to map the linear image data captured by the sensor into the correct gamma. A lower contrast setting maintains more of the original data's dynamic range but leads to a flatter looking image. A higher contrast setting stretches the grayscale (dark to light) of the image and could lead to clipping of both shadow detail and highlights.

	Contrast	Luminosity histogram
S t d
H a r d
O r g

Sharpness

The S3 Pro's Standard sharpening setting is already fairly strong and can exhibit some halo artifacts as can be seen around the 'Heuer' logo below. The Off setting is very soft, it would have been nice to have an option somewhere between Standard and Off. The crops below are from six megapixel images.

Sharpness: Standard
Sharpness: Hard
Sharpness: Off

Software

FinePix Viewer

FinePix Viewer is a basic image management and browsing application with image transfer support. You can have FinePix Viewer automatically start when the camera is connected and transfer images to your computer. You can use it to browse images as well as carry out rudimentary image adjustment. Viewer does support the browsing of RAW files and low resolution display but launches RAW File Converter for conversion to TIFF.

View modes

The three view modes available in FinePix Viewer are Thumbnail, Preview and Details.

View mode: Thumbnail	View mode: Preview
View mode: Details

Adjust Image

In 'Manual Adjust' mode you can apply simple image corrections; Brightness, Saturation, Hue and Contrast (although only on JPEG files).

Hyper-Utility2 (ver. 2.3.0.23)

Hyper-Utility2 is a far more advanced application than FinePix Viewer, it's designed to provide a range of workflow, conversion and control features which professional photographers would require. In the UK Hyper-Utility2 is bundled with the S3 Pro, in other regions it may be an optional purchase. The functionality of Hyper-Utility2 can be split into three main areas:

• Browsing, organization, categorization and output (basic workflow)
• Advanced RAW conversion
• Camera control and remote capture

Browsing

Upon starting Hyper-Utility2 you are presented with the 'Standard Layout' browsing view, this is similar to the 'filmstrip' view seen in other browsers, a row of thumbnails along the bottom of the window (alternatively vertically in a column on the right) and a larger view of the selected image in the center. Down the left side are a column of 'panes' which show; folder selection, navigator (pan around image when magnified), histogram (Luminosity, R, G and B), image information (exposure data from EXIF / RAW).

If you prefer a full window of thumbnails you can simply drag the bar above the film strip to the top or click on the blue up-arrow, you can select from four different thumbnail sizes (larger one shown below). Lastly there's also a 'detail view' which is a list of images with basic exposure info. At the bottom of the browser window are three tags (magenta, cyan and yellow) which provide simple categorization of images.

Another feature of Hyper-Utility2 is side-by-side comparison of two images, the images can also be 'interlocked' so that magnification and panning is carried out on the two images at the same time. This is very useful for picking the best of two shots (as shown below).

Other functions in browsing mode include:

• Move to Folder, Copy to Folder, Delete, Create New Folder
• Display in Slide show, Preview and Print, Print or Output Contact Sheet
• Rename, Edit Date, Edit Comment, Save in different format
• Cut, Copy, Paste, Select all, Deselect, Modify with Marker
• Rotate clockwise, Rotate counterclockwise
• Save CCD-RAW as Exit-TIFF (Converter LE), Extract CCD-RAW preview (JPEG), Compress
• Show warnings, Show pixel information (under mouse cursor)
• Rectangle trimming, Photo studio trimming, Portrait trimming, Copy to clipboard (selection)
• Favorites (folders): Add, Organize, Go to Favorite

Software (contd.) - Hyper-Utility2

RAW conversion

If you double-click on a thumbnail in browse mode Hyper-Utility2 will launch the application associated with that file type (.JPG / .RAF etc.), in my case that was ACDSee or Adobe Photoshop. It's a pity you can't change this as most of the time what I really wanted to do was perform RAW conversion on .RAF files using Hyper-Utility2. Instead you must select one or more RAF file and then click on the tiny RAF icon at the bottom right of the window. This will then display the RAW FILE CONVERTER pane on the right side of the window along with your selected RAW files (which can be processed one by one or in batch).

In the example below we have already applied a couple of adjustments; tone and white balance.

RAW adjustments are provided vertically in the RAW FILE CONVERTER pane (you may have to scroll the pane to access all), a full description of all available adjustments are shown below:

Tone curve - provides selection of one of the three in-camera tone settings or a manual tone curve of your own 'design'.	White balance - select one of the numerous WB presets, or use a gray picker to select a gray area of the image, or select a Kelvin temperature (2500 - 9500 K). All with fine tuning.
Sensitization - known as 'digital exposure compensation' in other RAW converters, allows you to apply exposure adjustment to the RAW data before it is converted. The range for this is -1.0 EV to +3.0 EV (not all shown in this clip) in rather odd 1/6 EV steps.	Color - select one of the four in-camera color modes including Black & White.
Sharpness - select one of the three in-camera sharpness settings (it would have been perhaps nice to add some 'in between' settings here).	Dynamic range - select the dynamic range 'mix' between S- and R-Pixels, the range for this setting is 100% to 400% (20 steps).
Output - at the top of the RAW conversion pane you can select the output type including Color space / Film simulation (sRGB, Adobe RGB, sRGB / Pro Negative, sRGB / Fujichrome) as well as format (TIFF, JPEG).	Execute - finally at the bottom of the RAW conversion pane you can undo settings, restore back to camera settings, load / save settings and execute the conversion (for this image or all images).

The final area of interest for those performing RAW conversion will the the RAW converter preferences dialog (shown below). It allows you to select trimming / resizing options but more importantly the type of conversion carried out on the image. The notes below the 'Image Conversion' options hint that 'Super High Quality Image Conversion' also includes additional noise reduction. Additionally you can also select 'High Speed' or 'High Quality' Image Resizing, using the later setting does appear to deliver slightly 'crisper' 6 MP images.

Conversion of a single typical ISO 100 image to a 6 MP TIFF (8-bit) took 15.6 seconds in 'High Speed Conversion' mode, 18.9 seconds in 'High Quality Image Conversion' mode and 23.7 seconds in 'Super High Quality Image Conversion' mode (50% longer than 'High Speed Conversion').

Camera control and remote capture ('tethered storage')

Another feature of Hyper-Utility2 is remote capture, the camera must be connected to the computer via Firewire (IEEE 1394) and have the '1394 mode' option set to 'Remote control'. Note that although camera settings are displayed in the 'FinePixS3Pro' pane on the right side (see image below) they can only be changed on the camera. The output folder and file naming convention can be set from the preferences dialog. You can't trigger the shutter release from the computer, you still have to press the shutter release button, hence this 'remote capture' mode is really more of a tethered storage option. *

* UPDATE: Shortly after I wrote this page Fujifilm updated Hyper-Utility2 and it can now apparently trigger the shutter release remotely.

Software (contd.) - RAW conversion

As is normal in our digital SLR reviews I like to compare the supplied RAW conversion software, any optional manufacturer RAW conversion software and Adobe's Camera RAW plug-in which is now standard with Adobe Photoshop CS. The current version of Adobe Camera RAW (2.4) has preliminary support for the S3 Pro. Below you will find crops from three images of the same scene, the first image is a straight-from-the-camera JPEG, the next two are conversions of a single RAW file. The crops show are from TIFF files saved by each RAW converter (JPEG high quality copies are linked to these crops for your own analysis). All images compared at the six megapixel size (3024 x 2016 pixels).

• JPEG - Fine, Default settings
• Hyper-Utility2 2.3.0.23 - Super High Quality Conversion, High Quality Resizing *
• Adobe Camera RAW - Sharpness: 25 (default), Color Noise Reduction: 25 (default)

* We chose to use Super High Quality Conversion and High Quality Resizing to ensure the best possible output from Hyper-Utility2, the tradeoff is minimal (50% longer conversion in most cases) and we did notice a subtle improvement in overall image quality.

Sharpness and Detail

Best overall sharpness and reproduction of fine detail go to Hyper-Utility2 and Adobe Camera RAW, this is exactly what we would expect. The primary difference between these two are sharpening halos, Adobe Camera RAW delivers a cleaner image with less obvious sharpening (although the image appears just as sharp).

J P E G
H U 2 S H Q
A d o b e R A W

Color comparison

Compared to the color of the original crayons (on our calibrated screen) the closest to the original color was Hyper-Utility2 followed by in-camera JPEG (both had that vibrant 'Fujifilm' look, love it or hate it). Adobe Camera RAW (as usual) under-saturated the image and had less contrast, to be fair these could easily be compensated for by adjusting the 'Shadows' and/or 'Saturation' sliders.

JPEG	Hyper-Utility2 SHQ	Adobe RAW

Image processing artifacts / moire

Fujifilm's SuperCCD layout does tend to lead to moire in unexpected places, we observed this on the S2 Pro and the S3 Pro doesn't appear to be that much different. As you can see from the magnified 200% crops below the JPEG image has some color moire artifacts along 45 degree detail but is otherwise fairly clean. The Hyper-Utility2 image is the best with no interpolation or moire artifacts, a clean and sharp looking image (albeit for a few sharpening halos). Lastly the Adobe Camera RAW image does appear to have the beginnings of some moire on 45 degree detail, white halo sharpening artifacts aren't apparent but you can see some darker pixel sharpening artifacts on the inside of the '1' and '2' figures.

J P E G
H U 2 S H Q
A d o b e R A W

Software (contd.) - RAW conversion

RAW Resolution

In most of our previous digital SLR reviews Adobe Camera RAW has been the clear winner in our resolution comparison, things appear to be a little different when it comes to the S3 Pro. To put it bluntly it appears as though (a) in the case of six megapixel output size the camera and Hyper-Utility2 produce the 12mp image first and then downsample, (b) both the camera and Hyper-Utility2 have better demosaic / processing / interpolation algorithms than Adobe Camera RAW which performs fairly poorly by comparison.

Six megapixel image size

JPEG from camera	Hyper-Utility2
Adobe Camera RAW

Twelve megapixel image size

JPEG from camera	Hyper-Utility2
Adobe Camera RAW

Noise

Standard Test Scene

Nobody would consider the S3 Pro's noise levels to be particularly high, however we did note that the different Hyper-Utility2 image conversion settings applied slightly different levels of noise reduction. Below you will find 100% crops from a series of images, the first image is straight from the camera, the next five are converted from one RAW image. As you can see Hyper-Utility2's "High Speed" conversion is almost identical to JPEG straight from the camera, some noise visible in shadows but nothing to be concerned about. After this the High Quality and Super High Quality settings apply gradually more noise reduction (at the expense of detail and a natural photographic look). Compared Adobe Camera RAW's noise reduction appears to struggle, obviously Fujifilm's noise reduction algorithms are quite a bit stronger.

• ISO 800, 1/1.5 sec, F8.0, 1x RAW, 1x JPEG, Wide Dyn Range, Default settings, 6 MP
  
• JPEG straight from camera
• Hyper-Utility2: High Speed Conversion
• Hyper-Utility2: High Quality Conversion
• Hyper-Utility2: Super High Quality Conversion
• Adobe Camera RAW: Default settings (Color noise reduction 25)
• Adobe Camera RAW: Luminance Smoothing 50, (Color noise reduction 25)

JPEG from camera
Hyper-Utility2: High Speed Conversion
Hyper-Utility2:, High Quality Conversion
Hyper-Utility2: Super High Quality Conversion
Adobe Camera RAW: Default settings
Adobe Camera RAW: Luminance Smoothing 50

ISO Sensitivity / Noise levels

Standard Test

ISO equivalence on a digital camera is the ability to increase the sensitivity of the sensor. The works by turning up the "volume" (gain) on the sensor's signal amplifiers (remember the sensor is an analogue device). By amplifying the signal you also amplify the noise which becomes more visible at higher ISO's. Many modern cameras also employ noise reduction and / or sharpness reduction at higher sensitivities.

To measure noise levels we take a sequence of images of a GretagMacBeth ColorChecker chart (controlled artificial daylight lighting). The exposure is matched to the ISO (ie. ISO 200, 1/200 sec for consistency of length of exposure between cameras). Note that this wasn't exactly possible on the S3 Pro because of its 0.5 EV exposure steps (we got as close as we could).

The image sequence is run through our own proprietary measurement tool which measures the standard deviation (normalized) of the middle gray patch (indicated by the red rectangle above). Additionally we now have a 'detail crop', this is currently a postage stamp (lots of fine detail) but we may replace this at a future date. Note that noise values indicated on the graphs below should not be compared to those in other reviews.

Test notes

• Shots taken at approximately 22°C (~72°F)
• Lighting was simulated daylight measured as 10.1 EV (at ISO 100)

Fujifilm S3 Pro vs. Canon EOS 20D (ISO 100 - 3200)

• Fujifilm S3 Pro: Nikkor 50 mm F1.4 lens, Aperture Priority, Manual WB,
  Default Parameters, JPEG Fine, Standard Dynamic Range
  
• Canon EOS 20D: Canon 50 mm F1.4 lens, Aperture Priority, Manual WB,
  Parameters 1 (default), JPEG Large / Fine

Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 6 mp ISO 100, 1/90 sec, F3.3	Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 12 mp ISO 100, 1/90 sec, F3.3	Canon EOS 20D ISO 100, 1/100 sec, F4
Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 6 mp ISO 200, 1/180 sec, F3.3	Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 12 mp ISO 200, 1/180 sec, F3.3	Canon EOS 20D ISO 200, 1/200 sec, F4
Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 6 mp ISO 400, 1/350 sec, F3.3	Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 12 mp ISO 400, 1/350 sec, F3.3	Canon EOS 20D ISO 400, 1/400 sec, F4
Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 6 mp ISO 800, 1/750 sec, F3.3	Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 12 mp ISO 800, 1/750 sec, F3.3	Canon EOS 20D ISO 800, 1/800 sec, F4
Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 6 mp ISO 1600, 1/1500 sec, F3.3	Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 12 mp ISO 1600, 1/1500 sec, F3.3	Canon EOS 20D ISO 1600, 1/1600 sec, F4
Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 6 mp n/a	Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 12 mp n/a	Canon EOS 20D ISO 3200, 1/3200 sec, F4

One of the S3 Pro's biggest competitors (assuming you're not locked into the Nikon lens mount) is the Canon EOS 20D. If you scan down the gray patch comparison you can see that from ISO 100 to 400 noise levels are as good as identical and at ISO 800 and 1600 the S3 Pro appears cleaner. Look at the detail crop however and the reason becomes evident, the S3 Pro's aggressive high ISO noise reduction takes its toll on image detail, while areas of continuous tone are smooth, detail is lost elsewhere in the image. It's a tradeoff that Fujifilm should perhaps have left in the hands of the photographer (user controllable noise reduction).

Fujifilm S3 Pro vs. Nikon D70 (ISO 100 - 1600)

• Fujifilm S3 Pro: Nikkor 50 mm F1.4 lens, Aperture Priority, Manual WB,
  Default Parameters, JPEG Fine, Standard Dynamic Range
  
• Nikon D70: Nikkor 50 mm F1.4 lens, Aperture Priority, Manual WB,
  Default Parameters, JPEG Large / Fine

Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 6 mp ISO 100, 1/90 sec, F3.3	Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 12 mp ISO 100, 1/90 sec, F3.3	Nikon D70 n/a
Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 6 mp ISO 200, 1/180 sec, F3.3	Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 12 mp ISO 200, 1/180 sec, F3.3	Nikon D70 ISO 200, 1/200 sec, F3.5
Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 6 mp ISO 400, 1/350 sec, F3.3	Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 12 mp ISO 400, 1/350 sec, F3.3	Nikon D70 ISO 400, 1/400 sec, F3.5
Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 6 mp ISO 800, 1/750 sec, F3.3	Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 12 mp ISO 800, 1/750 sec, F3.3	Nikon D70 ISO 800, 1/800 sec, F3.5
Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 6 mp ISO 1600, 1/1500 sec, F3.3	Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 12 mp ISO 1600, 1/1500 sec, F3.3	Nikon D70 ISO 1600, 1/1600 sec, F3.5

Much cheaper but no less competitive the Nikon D70 delivers an impressive performance in maintaining detail all the way through its sensitivity range however its noise levels are noticeably higher from ISO 800 to 1600. This was a choice made by Nikon, rather than use strong noise reduction which would affect image detail they decided to maintain it. The other thing that's noteworthy is that the D70's noise is more luminance based (like film grain) rather than colored blotches.

Changing the dynamic range setting on the S3 Pro had only a subtle effect on noise as can be seen in the graph below, most noticeable was a slight increase in luminance noise at ISO 200. We can surmise that the smaller R-Pixels have a lower signal to noise ratio (higher noise) and hence must also have noise reduction applied at higher sensitivities, in this case we're probably near the crossover between little noise reduction and 'some'.

Luminance noise graph

Indicated ISO sensitivity is on the horizontal axis of this graph, standard deviation of luminosity (normalized image) on the vertical axis.

RGB noise graph

Indicated ISO sensitivity is on the horizontal axis of this graph, standard deviation of each of the red, green and blue channels (normalized image) are on the vertical axis.

Dynamic Range The S3 Pro's unique selling point is that it is the only digital SLR to have an extended dynamic range, it achieves this by the use of two interleaved photodiodes. Fujifilm refer to these as the S (normal sensitivity) and R-Pixels (less sensitive). The camera's image processor can then combine the values of these pixels to extend the dynamic range of the image. (This is supposed to be similar in effect to film which has different sizes of 'grain' which are sensitive to large or small amounts of light). The S3 Pro has 6.17 million of each type of pixel (12.34 million effective total), however it's important to understand that the R-Pixels are only used to extend dynamic range they do not increase image resolution. Note that for ease of reading we're using Fujifilm's nomenclature of an (input) Pixel however the correct term would be photodiode. The S3 Pro provides four different options for dynamic range, firstly you have to select between 'Standard' and 'Wide' dynamic range on the camera menu. Selecting standard uses only the S-Pixels (hence would be pretty similar to the S2 Pro in terms of dynamic range). Selecting the Wide option mixes data from the two 'Pixels' to create the final image. In Wide mode you have access to three different modes for 'mixing'; Auto where the camera decides (depending we assume on how much R-Pixel data there is), Wide 1 (described as 230%; just over 1 stop more) and Wide 2 (described as 400%; about 2 stops more). To be honest I think the whole 'percentage' thing is deceiving, most people don't think logarithmically, and most people won't realize that you only gain at the highlight end of the light scale. It's worth remembering that the S3 Pro's extended dynamic range is at the highlight end of the brightness scale, it doesn't add any more 'shadow detail' at the bottom end, this means that to get the most out of the camera's dynamic range logic dictates we should be over-exposing slightly with wide dynamic range mode (as we won't lose highlight detail and this will lift the shadows). Aren't those R-Pixel's quite small? The answer to that is yes, they are, in fact by our estimations they're about the same size as a normal consumer camera's CCD pixel which shouldn't be much of an issue in most high dynamic range situations (ISO 100, bright outdoors or studio flash) but they will obviously get noisier the higher up the sensitivity range they are pushed. Standard vs. Wide (JPEG) Below you can see two images, the one on the left was taken in Standard dynamic range mode, the one on the right in Wide dynamic range mode (Wide 2 - 400%). We have overlaid an animated 'blinking highlights' display on these thumbnails as you would perhaps see in digital camera playback, those pixels which blink red were either overexposed or almost overexposed. As you can see the S3 Pro's Wide dynamic range approach clearly works, maintaining more detail in highlight areas of the image and avoiding overexposure clipping. Standard Dynamic Range Wide Dynamic Range (Wide 2 - 400%) ISO 100, 1/180 sec, F6.7, 6 MP ISO 100, 1/180 sec, F6.7, 6 MP Another example below, same setup, wide dynamic range mode is good for maintaining all types of detail, here you can see that the blown out color which we have in the standard dynamic range mode is maintained and detail recovered in wide dynamic range mode. That said it's not clear that there is a 300% gain of dynamic range in the second image. Standard Dynamic Range Wide Dynamic Range (Wide 2 - 400%) ISO 100, 1/60 sec, F6.7, 6 MP ISO 100, 1/60 sec, F6.7, 6 MP Measuring the difference We've tried to measure dynamic range in the past but it's always been a little hit or miss, mostly because our previous methods required multiple exposures, each of which could be subject to different automatic tone adjustment. Our new test involves shooting a calibrated Stouffer Step Wedge (13 stops total range) which is backlit using a daylight balanced lamp (98 CRI). A single shot of this produces a gray scale wedge from (the camera's) black to clipped white. Each step of the scale is equivalent to 0.3 EV (a third of a stop) and so if we find the 'middle gray' and measure outwards we can define the dynamic range captured in the shot. We have chosen to stop at the dark end of the scale where there is no longer any measurable distinction to the next step and at the high end where the step becomes clipped. I've chosen to present this data in two forms, firstly visually, these are reduced size crops of the actual step wedge shots taken in Standard and Wide 2 dynamic range modes. Depending on how well your monitor is calibrated you may or may not be able to see a difference between the two, but essentially the Wide 2 tablet carries more detail into the highlight. Next in graph form, this is a little easier to see, as we have described earlier the S3 Pro's dynamic range 'extension' occurs at the highlight end, our test supports this as in both modes the amount of dynamic range available below middle gray is approximately 5.0 EV. However above middle gray we can see that Standard dynamic range mode clips at about +3.0 EV and Wide 2 dynamic range mode clips at +5.0 EV. So it's fair to say that Standard dynamic range is about 8.0 EV (8 stops - about the same as the Canon EOS 20D) and that Wide 2 dynamic range is about 10.0 EV (10 stops). This is in line with Fujifilm's claim and is typically more than most other digital SLR's, you should remember though that the gain is made in highlights only. Perhaps it would be more accurate to name it 'expanded highlight dynamic range'. It would also have been more interesting if the wide dynamic range modes used a different tone curve and/or automatically exposed for shadows. Exposure value (EV) or stops * In our previous tests of dynamic range this has been the average for most digital SLR sensors, we are developing a standardized dynamic range test which will be used for all our D-SLR reviews in the future.

Dynamic Range (contd.) - RAW

Fujifilm's (only really useful) RAW converter is Hyper-Utility2 (covered earlier in this review), when converting RAW files which were shot in Wide dynamic range mode it provides the option to adjust the dynamic range 'mix' from 100% to 400%. In addition it also provides some digital exposure compensation but rather surprisingly only to -1.0 EV. The other application which we use regularly and which supports the S3 Pro's RAW format is Adobe Camera RAW (2.4) which is a free plug-in provided by Adobe for Photoshop CS.

Recovering dynamic range from RAW

The following image was just a typical 'snapshot' which when we examined later appeared to have been ruined by over-exposure. Time to see just what we could get back from this RAW image. The results were very, very interesting. As you can see Hyper-Utility2 did indeed manage to restore some image detail as well as some of the original color of the floor and walls, although there is a noticeable magenta color cast in 'brighter' areas of the image.

The biggest surprise however was the performance of Adobe Camera RAW, it almost miraculously recovered huge swathes of dynamic range which included accurate image detail, texture and color. It's almost as though it's a completely different exposure, but trust me the four images below came from the same RAW file.

Thumbnail	50% crop
Hyper-Utility2, 100% dynamic range
Hyper-Utility2, 400% dynamic range, -1.0 EV digital exposure compen.
Adobe Camera RAW, default
Adobe Camera RAW, -4.0 EV digital exposure compen., brightness 90

Adobe Camera RAW, getting the most from the S3 Pro

This (for me) was a bit of a revelation, it appears as though Adobe Camera RAW is far more capable of using all the R-Pixel information and combining it with the S-Pixel information to deliver detail we would otherwise assume was lost. Just how much more it can recover is a little up in the air but we estimate it's up to three stops. The results speak for themselves. Fujifilm need to speak to Adobe about getting their algorithms into Hyper-Utility2 and into the camera!

Thumbnail	50% crop
Adobe Camera RAW, default
Hyper-Utility2, 400% dynamic range, -1.0 EV digital exposure compen.
Adobe Camera RAW, -4.0 EV digital exposure compen.

This is all very exciting of course, however the downside is that you have to shoot in Wide dynamic range RAW mode (25 MB per image, 13 sec write time, 40 images on a 1 GB card) and you will need Adobe Photoshop CS (at $2499 for the camera you can probably afford to buy CS).

No side-effects?

Well not quite, it appears as though Hyper-Utility2 (and the camera) are carrying out noise reduction on the R-Pixel 'image' before it is combined with the S-Pixel 'image', Adobe Camera RAW doesn't do this which means that if you carry out 'restoration' negative exposure compensations as above you can get images with the slightly odd effect of noise in mid-to-high tones, this noise comes from the R-Pixels. The following image was converted from RAW by Adobe Camera RAW with a -2.3 EV digital exposure compensation.

White Balance

The S3 Pro's automatic white balance performance could be summarized as 'quite average', despite re-taking our outdoor test shot a few times we got the same results, a slight cool blue cast (this makes the chart 'look whiter than white' but isn't neutral). In incandescent light the results are noticeably pink. You would definitely do better using the camera's pre-programmed white balance presets or manual preset.

Outdoor - Auto WB Red: -2.6%, Blue: 3.7% Average	Fluorescent - Auto WB Red: -0.1%, Blue: -4.2% Good	Incandescent - Auto WB Red: 6.8%, Blue: -9.8% Average

Long Exposure noise reduction / Night shots

The S3 Pro features an automatic 'dark frame subtraction' noise reduction system which comes into effect for shutter speeds of 1/8 sec or slower. This works by taking a second shot just after the main exposure (in darkness, with the shutter closed) and using the noise pattern from that to clean the main exposure.

We found that while the S3 Pro's noise reduction system was fairly effective there will still a few 'hot pixel' speckles getting through to the final image and that their placement was consistent from shot to shot (within the same shooting session). We were however quite impressed with with the performance at higher sensitivities (up to ISO 400) for night exposures.

ISO 100, 30 sec, F4.8, 6 MP
ISO 200, 15 sec, F4.8, 6 MP
ISO 400, 8 sec, F4.8, 6 MP
ISO 800, 4 sec, F4.8, 6 MP

Flash

The S3 Pro has a built-in pop-up flash for quick snapshots and a fully SB compatible hot-shoe which supports D-TTL with compatible Nikon SB flash units as well as D-3D Multi-Sensor Balanced Fill-Flash with type D or G lenses. The result using the internal flash was mixed, the best result was with the Nikon SB-600 direct, that said color rendition was very good with no obvious color casts. Clearly professional photographers will be connecting the S3 Pro to studio strobe units which is facilitated via the PC Sync terminal on the front of the camera.

Built-in flash, Program (1/60 sec, F2.8)	Nikon SB-600, direct, Program (1/60 sec, F4)
Nikon SB-600, bounced, Program (1/60 sec, F4)
Built-in flash, Program (1/60 sec, F2.8)	Nikon SB-600, direct, Program (1/60 sec, F4)

Overall Image Quality / Specifics

Color reproduction was as ever vivid and bright, very 'pleasing' to the eye (especially skin tones) although some may find it a little too saturated, you can get over this by selecting the 'Org' color setting. Overall however the S3 Pro produces very nice, sharp and detailed images which have 'punch' straight out of the camera.

SuperCCD artifacts

One thing we noted on the S2 Pro was the visibility of moire in 45 degree detail ('hair moire'), this does appear to have improved on the S3 Pro but can still be seen in some images. We also noted the SuperCCD equivalent of 'bridge pixel artifacting', where the interpolation algorithm thinks it has detected a 45 degree straight line and 'bridges' a pixel, this can lead to a noticeable pattern of 45 degree lines which weren't in the original scene. Note that most of these artifacts are invisible at the 6 mp image size. Examples of these artifacts can be seen in the studio test shot below (taken in 12 mp mode).

Thumbnail (12 mp image)	Moire pattern on slanted lines
Moire pattern / bridge pixels	Moire pattern / dotted line artifact (bayer)
45 degree patterning (bridge pixels)	45 degree patterning (bridge pixels)

Twelve or Six megapixels?

Just like the S2 Pro the S3 Pro has six million effective photosites ('input pixels'), because of Fujifilm's SuperCCD honeycomb layout these are first interpolated up to a twelve megapixel image. If the camera is in twelve megapixel output mode this is then sharpened and saved, if in a lower resolution mode the image is downsampled, sharpened and saved. A simplified in-camera workflow can be seen below for 12 mp and 6 mp images:

• 6 mp RAW honeycomb -> 12 mp square -> sharpen -> save
• 6 mp RAW honeycomb -> 12 mp square -> 6 mp downsample -> sharpen -> save

The S3 Pro's twelve megapixel images do appear to offer slightly more detailed than six megapixel images, most of this is down to the quality of the camera's downsampling algorithm (and at what point sharpening is applied). The rule of thumb (in my opinion) is that while 12 mp images may exhibit slightly more detail the gain isn't significant or worthwhile shooting in 12 mp mode all the time (it's often very hard to distinguish the difference between a 6 mp and 12 mp).

Place your mouse over the label below the image to see the difference between 12 mp from the camera, 6 mp from the camera and resizing each.

12 mp comparison		6 mp comparison
12 mp from camera	6 mp from * camera -> 12mp	6 mp from camera	12 mp from * camera -> 6 mp

* Resized in Adobe Photoshop CS (Bicubic), results would be better with more
advanced interpolation algorithms.

Compared to...

For our standard studio scene comparisons we have selected the Canon EOS 20D (because it's pricing makes it an attractive proposition for anyone at this end of the market) and the Nikon D70 (considerably cheaper but similarly specified and with a Nikon mount).

Camera	Price (body)	Sensor	Lens mount
Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro	$2,499 / £1,599	6 mp SuperCCD SR II	Nikon
Canon EOS 20D	$1,499 / £1,149	8 mp CMOS	Canon
Nikon D70	$999 / £669	6 mp CCD	Nikon

Studio scene comparison (vs. Canon EOS 20D)

This is our standard studio scene comparison shot taken from exactly the same tripod position within minutes of each other. Lighting: 2 x 800W studio lights with dichroic daylight filters bounced off a white ceiling reflector. All crops are 100%. Ambient temperature was approximately 22°C (~72°F). Camera settings:

• Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro: Nikkor 50 mm F1.4 D, Aperture Priority (F9),
  ISO 100, JPEG 12 mp/Fine, Manual WB, Default Parameters, Self-Timer
  
• Canon EOS 20D: Canon EF 50 mm F1.4, Aperture Priority (F9),
  ISO 100, JPEG Large/Fine, Manual WB, Default Parameters (Parameter 1), Self-Timer

Fufjiilm FinePix S3 Pro @ 12 mp output size

Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro @ 12 mp	Canon EOS 20D (8 mp)
ISO 100, 1 sec, F9	ISO 100, 1 sec, F9
4,506 KB JPEG (4256 x 2848)	2,931 KB JPEG (3504 x 2336)

At the twelve megapixel image output size the S3 Pro's detail crops obviously look a lot larger than the EOS 20D and yet (as we'd expect coming from a 6 mp sensor) don't yield as much detail as the Canon. That said there does appear to be more detail than we'd expect to see from a traditional six megapixel. There are also some noticeable SuperCCD artifacts (as discussed earlier) and lower 'per pixel sharpness' (again, as we'd expect from interpolation).

Compared to...

Studio scene comparison (vs. Canon EOS 20D)

This is our standard studio scene comparison shot taken from exactly the same tripod position within minutes of each other. Lighting: 2 x 800W studio lights with dichroic daylight filters bounced off a white ceiling reflector. All crops are 100%. Ambient temperature was approximately 22°C (~72°F). Camera settings:

• Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro: Nikkor 50 mm F1.4 D, Aperture Priority (F9),
  ISO 100, JPEG 6 mp/Fine, Manual WB, Default Parameters, Self-Timer
  
• Canon EOS 20D: Canon EF 50 mm F1.4, Aperture Priority (F9),
  ISO 100, JPEG Large/Fine, Manual WB, Default Parameters (Parameter 1), Self-Timer

Fufjiilm FinePix S3 Pro @ 6 mp output size

Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro @ 6 mp	Canon EOS 20D (8 mp)
ISO 100, 1 sec, F9	ISO 100, 1 sec, F9
2,824 KB JPEG (3024 x 2016)	2,931 KB JPEG (3504 x 2336)

Dropping down to the six megapixel output size (the one most people will use) the S3 Pro's images have much improved 'per pixel sharpness' (because the output size is more of a match for the input pixel count) as well as fewer noticeable artifacts. Tonal and color balance are fairly similar between these two cameras, the S3 Pro being slightly 'punchier' and more vivid (perhaps with a slight orange hue to pure reds).

Compared to...

Studio scene comparison (vs. Nikon D70)

This is our standard studio scene comparison shot taken from exactly the same tripod position within minutes of each other. Lighting: 2 x 800W studio lights with dichroic daylight filters bounced off a white ceiling reflector. All crops are 100%. Ambient temperature was approximately 22°C (~72°F). Camera settings:

• Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro: Nikkor 50 mm F1.4 D, Aperture Priority (F9),
  ISO 100, JPEG 6 mp/Fine, Manual WB, Default Parameters, Self-Timer
  
• Nikon D70: Nikkor 50 mm F1.4 D, Aperture Priority (F9),
  ISO 200, JPEG Large/Fine, Manual WB, Default Parameters, Self-Timer

Fufjiilm FinePix S3 Pro @ 6 mp output size

Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro @ 6 mp	Nikon D70 (6 mp)
ISO 100, 1 sec, F9	ISO 200, 1/2 sec, F9
2,824 KB JPEG (3024 x 2016)	2,718 KB JPEG (3008 x 2000)

It didn't seem to make sense to compare the S3 Pro's twelve megapixel image output size to the D70, instead we've tried to provide as much a 'like for like' comparison (six megapixel mode). Here the two cameras are much closer, looking down the crops we can pick out one or two where the S3 Pro's SuperCCD does appear to deliver slightly more detail, but other crops where the D70 appears to do better. It would be fair enough to say that in this comparison at least the two are pretty much an even match. Color and tonal rendition was very similar between the two.

Studio scene comparison (higher sensitivity)

As we noted earlier in our review the S3 Pro's noise reduction system is effective (it removes noise) but it also has the side-effect of softening the image, hence some detail is lost.

Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro @ 12 mp, ISO 800
Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro @ 6 mp, ISO 800
Canon EOS 20D, ISO 800
Nikon D70, ISO 800

Resolution Chart Comparison

Shots here are of the PIMA/ISO 12233 standard resolution test chart (more of which are available in our comparison database). This resolution chart allows us to measure the actual performance of the lens and sensor system. It measures the ability of the camera to resolve lines at gradually higher resolutions and enables us to provide a definitive value for comparison purposes. Values on the chart are 1/100^th lines per picture height. So a value of 15 equates to 1500 lines per picture height. For each camera the relevant 50 mm prime lens was used. The chart is shot at a full range of apertures and the sharpest image selected.

Studio light, cameras set to auto, all settings factory default. Aperture selected for optimum sharpness. Exposure compensation +0.7 EV to +1.3 EV.

Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 12 mp (4,501 KB; 12 MP)	Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 6 mp (3,000 KB; 6 MP)
Canon EOS 20D (2,537 KB; 8 MP)	Nikon D70 (2,370 KB; 6 MP)

Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 12 mp	Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 6 mp
Canon EOS 20D	Nikon D70

Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 12 mp	Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 6 mp
Canon EOS 20D	Nikon D70

Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 12 mp	Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 6 mp
Canon EOS 20D	Nikon D70

Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 12 mp	Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 6 mp
Canon EOS 20D	Nikon D70

Measurable findings (three measurements taken for each camera):

Camera	Measurement	Absolute resolution	Extinction resolution
Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 12 mp	Horiz LPH	1900	+ 2000
	Vert LPH	1600	1950
Fujifilm S3 Pro @ 6 mp	Horiz LPH	* 1600	1800
	Vert LPH	* 1450	1700
Konica Minolta 7D	Horiz LPH	1600	1750
	Vert LPH	1400	1700
Canon EOS 20D	Horiz LPH	1850	+ 2000
	Vert LPH	1650	+ 2000
Nikon D70	Horiz LPH	1600	* 1850
	Vert LPH	1450	* 1850

*	Moire is visible
+	Chart maximum
LPH	Lines per Picture Height (to allow for different aspect ratios the measurement is the same for horizontal and vertical)
5° Diagonal	Lines set at 5° diagonal
Absolute res.	Point at which all lines of a resolution bar are still visible and defined, beyond this resolution loss of detail occurs (below Nyquist frequency).
Extinction res.	Detail beyond camera's definition (becomes aliased)
n/a	Not Available (above the capability of the test chart)
n/v	Not Visible (not visible on test results)

You have to take your hat off to Fujifilm's engineers, the S3 Pro's image processing algorithms are very impressive and deliver good results on our resolution chart, however I feel that the above (especially horizontal resolution) is a result of processing rather than an absolute resolution capability. Nothing in our test images, comparisons or gallery shots suggest that the S3 Pro has as much resolution as say the eight megapixel Canon EOS 20D. Having said that I'd be quite comfortable stating the S3 Pro's actual resolution as somewhere between the best six megapixel digital SLR's and the eight megapixel Canon EOS 20D.

Conclusion - Pros

• Good resolution, better than the average six megapixel
• Good color and tonal balance, vibrant 'pleasing' color response, can be toned down
• Unique extended dynamic range SuperCCD, although crippled by in-camera algorithms
• Low noise throughout the sensitivity range although softer images at higher ISO's
• Nice body design, integral vertical grip, soft rubbers, feels robust
• Instantly recognizable control system (as it's based on the F80/N80)
• Rear panel plus soft buttons design is useful for quickly changing settings
• Fast in use, near instant power on, CF interface slower than we would have liked
• Good auto focus, works well even in low light, AF assist lamp
• Image parameter adjustment (color, tone, sharpness), although limited
• Selectable color space (sRGB / Adobe RGB)
• RAW mode provides the 'digital negative' (although very large in wide dyn. range mode)
• Now single battery solution, a single Lithium-Ion rechargeable would have been better
• Large high resolution LCD monitor
• Dual data connectivity; USB 2.0 and Firewire (IEEE 1394)
• Built-in PC Sync terminal

Conclusion - Cons

• Almost $1,000 more than the competition
• SuperCCD artifacts still visible, more so at the 12 mp size (which delivers the best res)
• Disappointing continuous shooting capability, especially in wide dyn. range mode
• Crippled extended dynamic range feature, best results from RAW -> Adobe Camera RAW
• Very large RAW files in wide dyn. range mode, not compressed
• Half-stop exposure steps
• Camera system still in 'two halves' (photo / digital)
• No mirror lock-up / anti-vibration mode
• Wake from sleep only with half-press of shutter release
• Flash sync 1/180 sec (compared to 1/500 sec for the Nikon D70)
• Confusing record review options, no simple postview with histogram & delete option
• Play mode image deletion slowed by animation
• Largest and heaviest digital SLR among its peers
• Awkward ISO selection on mode dial
• Viewfinder view is smaller than some of the competition
• Hyper-Utility2 has limited range of adjustment latitude, bettered by Adobe Camera RAW

Overall conclusion

There's plenty to like about the S3 Pro, there's a new body design which is comfortable, includes a portrait grip and feels robust. There's the image quality, resolution which for a six megapixel is really fairly impressive (if you can ignore some of SuperCCD artifacts), a color response with real 'pop', low noise (although softer images at high ISO's) and slightly better dynamic range than other D-SLR's.

The S3 Pro's unique selling feature, its extended dynamic range, really does exist and does work. We measured up to 10 stops of dynamic range in the camera's "Wide 2" mode, however it's seldom that this would be obvious in everyday shots. The reason for this is that in wide dynamic range mode you get the gain only in the highlights, it would have made sense to instead have the option of a completely different tone curve and expose for shadows to spread the additional dynamic range across the tonal scale rather than just in highlights (we often don't mind clipped highlights as long as the roll-off is smooth).

More interesting however were the results we got from Adobe Camera RAW, this revealed that there is quite a lot more dynamic range information available in the S3 Pro's RAW files than are being extracted by either the camera's processing (JPEG) or Fujifilm's own Hyper-Utility2. This is in effect crippling the apparently more impressive capability of the SuperCCD SR II sensor.

We really liked the S2 Pro, so much so that we gave it a Highly Recommended, at the time it was a great camera compared to the competition. We're now two and a half years on from that point in time and the digital SLR market has moved on. Prices have plummeted, features and image quality improved, the market's expectations of what this level of D-SLR should be capable of has shifted noticeably, at its price the S3 Pro is going to struggle to compete.

Above Average