Photo answers review
Photo answers rating 
As you can tell from the pictures, the Fuji S5 Pro is housed in the body of the Nikon D200. There’s no hiding it – it really is a D200 with some internal changes. But at least these changes are significant enough to make the S5 a camera in its own right and not just a D200 by another name.
One of main areas where the cameras differ is the menu system. While Nikon uses a single menu system for all the options, the Fuji uses two menus and splits the camera or shooting settings from the general set-up options.
The Fuji does have a couple of really nifty settings, such as Face Recognition. This option works when you are reviewing images, automatically detecting faces in your shots and magnifying them first so you can check for sharpness or that your subject’s eyes are open. It works for multiple people in a shot and is genuinely very handy for those photographers who take a lot of people photos and particularly wedding groups.
Another quality function is the LCD screen boost, which is performed by pressing down on the centre of the multi-directional pad. It comes in handy when you are trying to see the screen in bright sunlight and the boost makes the screen a lot clearer in those conditions.
Finally, the biggest difference of all is the sensor. Fuji uses its Super CCD sensor, which claims a total of 12.34MP but is actually made up of two 6.17MP sensors. One of these is used to record the image as a typical sensor does while the other just looks for and records highlight tones. The camera then makes the final image from both.
There is much debate on whether the S5 Pro is a true 12.34MP camera or not, but from our experience we’ve come to the conclusion that it’s better than any 6MP camera but not quite as good as any 12MP D-SLR. We place it somewhere between 8MP and 10MP in terms of overall quality and the ability to be used for high quality, larger size prints.
At the high ISO settings, the S5 certainly displays the highest levels of noise but does an excellent job at the lower settings. You can get more highlight detail by enabling the extended dynamic range options but they actually just make the image look a little flat, and you subsequently lose that extra detail when you increase the contrast a little. It also slows the camera down dramatically, which isn’t great as speed is not one of the S5’s strong points. In fact, it’s one of the major downsides.
The build may be the same as the Nikon D200 but the D200 is much faster, and this really makes a difference even if you aren’t shooting action. Ideally, the Fuji needs to be less expensive than the Nikon to be a truly worthwhile purchase and sadly it doesn’t quite offer enough to warrant great value.
Product Specifications
| Weight/size (WxHxD) |
830g/147x113x74mm |
| Effective resolution |
12.34MP (S-pixel: 6.17million, R-pixel: 6.17million) |
| Lens mount |
Nikon F |
| Focal length conversion |
1.5x |
| Aspect ratio |
3:2 |
| LCD monitor size |
2.5in |
| File formats |
JPEG, RAW |
| Card type |
CF |
| Exposure modes |
Program, aperture-priority, shutter-priority, manual |
| Metering modes |
3D Color Matrix Metering II, centre-weighted, spot |
| Autofocus |
11-point |
| ISO range |
100-3200 |
| Battery type |
1x Lithium-ion NP-150 |
| Software supplied |
Image browser with CCD-RAW converting function (Hyper-Utility Software HS-V3 optional) |
| Start-up time |
Less than 1 second |
| Write times |
2.7 seconds (JPEG), 3.3 seconds (RAW)* |
| Shutter speed range |
30 seconds to 1/8000sec + Bulb |
| Flash sync |
1/250sec |
| Continuous shooting speed |
Max. 3fps (when no film modes or D-Range settings are activated as these seriously slow the camera down) |