Fujifilm FinePix S5700

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By Lori Grunin, CNET.com
Jun 28, 2007

With its attractive price, the Fujifilm FinePix S5700 seems quite a compelling buy for the budget-strapped megazoom shooter. And on some levels, it delivers the dSLR-like shooting experience that its design promises. Certainly, at 306g, its sturdy plastic body has the heft of a low-end dSLR.

Design
However, it takes quite a bit of effort to adapt to the S5700's design, which ranges from simply odd in places--you increase shutter speed and aperture with the down arrow and decrease them via the up arrow--to downright frustrating in others. For example, every button requires a press and hold to register.

For more details on the S5700's design and image quality, click on the image.

We can't tell you how many times we accidentally ended up in macro mode or enabling the flash because we didn't press the exposure compensation button, wait, and check that it was ready for the down/up shutter speed input before making the adjustments. True, you can eventually pace yourself to match, but we don't want to lose 2 seconds waiting for the interface every time we need to make a change. I suggest trying the S5700 in a store before buying to make sure you've got the requisite patience.

It's a pity, because those lethargic buttons lead to a broad selection of controls unusual for this price class. These include three metering options (dubbed "Photometry" by Fujifilm); manual white balance and a handful of presets; continuous, single, or manual autofocus; sensitivity settings up to ISO 1,600; center focus, auto area select or user area select from 36 autofocus points; flash compensation; and exposure bracketing.

Features
Then there are the borderline gimmicky features. A High-Speed Shooting mode speeds focus by limiting the hunting zone to beyond 3.3 feet. Since that precludes focusing on anything closer, you have to know in advance that your subject will never approach you, diminishing its usefulness.



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And you have to remember to turn it off, or (like me) you'll wonder why the camera can't focus on subsequent, closer shots. The S5700 also offers a 1.4-frames-per-second "Top 3" continuous-shooting mode--three shots only--but it's even less useful.

Furthermore, Fujifilm leads the pack at eking every bit of marketing possible out of high ISO shooting. Like many competitors, the S5700 offers a Picture Stabilization mode, which bumps up the sensor gain in order to increase shutter speeds. Fujifilm goes even further, with its Natural Light mode and combo Natural Light/Flash modes. In Natural Light, the S5700 bumps up the sensor gain to boost shutter speed--as far as I can tell, the only difference between it and Picture Stabilization is that you can't use flash in Natural Light mode.

The Natural Light/Flash hybrid mode takes two sequential shots--one with Flash and one at a high ISO/fast-shutter-speed setting--and lets you select your preferred photo at your leisure. Fujifilm uses its so-called "Intelligent" flash, however, which dials back the flash output and--you guessed it--combines it with a higher ISO setting.

In theory, Intelligent flash gives you the best of both worlds; a more natural color light plus higher shutter-speed sharpness. In practice, it delivers the worst of both--the flash makes the smeary high-ISO artifacts that much more visible.

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