Fuji S5 Pro Camera has arrived

The Fujifilm S5 Pro 12.3 MP digital camera has finally arrived! I was among the first in the USA to receive this camera and it's great!

The camera is built on the Nikon D200 body with the firmware and image sensor from Fuji. Fuji is well known for its excellent image sensor's ability for great colors, high sensitivity and wide dynamic range. What this means is that the camera will be able to work in very low light and very bright light. This is critical for wedding photography work since photos are taken often in dark churches without flash and in bright sunlight. Not many cameras have this ability with low digital noise. But the new S5 does. And because the body is actually a Nikon body, all of my great Nikon lenses can be used on this Fuji camera.

Last year, I shot weddings with both the Fuji S3 Pro camera and two Nikon D200 cameras. What happened to the S4? Rumor has it that Fuji skipped the designation of the F4 camera because the Japanese word for FOUR sounds like the word for "death" and that's something they did not want to have associated with their cameras!

Well this new Fuji S5 is identical to the Nikon D200 in virtually all aspects of operation since it's really the identical body. Fuji buys the body from Nikon. But the image sensor is where it's all at. The camera has already shown that it can handle just about any situation I can give it. The noise levels from the camera at ISO 1600 is probably as low as what I can notice on ISO 400 on a D200. And, this camera can even go to ISO 3200! Although noiser than ISO 1600, it's still very acceptable if I'm required to use it.

I'm impressed with this camera. Even shot in JPG rather than RAW (formats of digital capture) the images are near perfect! This means my post production time to manipulate an image after photographing it will be reduced. I have found that the colors are almost spot on and need very little or no corrections right out of the camera. Exposure seems perfect too because the meter is very accurate.

This is going to be a fun year for weddings!