Official statements by Fuji on the sharpness issue

Hi people,

Having problems with my S2 regarding bad focussed pics almost all the time with all my lenses, I decided to mail the Fuji Service Dept. BTW I own a Nikkor 28-70 / 3,5-4,5 D, Nikkor 80-200 / 2,8 ED 1and a Sigma 18-35 / 3,5-4,5 D.

Before you read on, I'm aware that there are very few happy S2-photographers with a camera delivering Pro-specs. My point here is that I like to inform people who're having the same problem.

Within 2 days I got response from Fuji. I'm not quite satisfied with it, here's a brief literally translation:

Begin fuji response
The settings on the camera should be the following:

• Do not select the dynamic autofocus option (no [+] but [ ])
• CSM function 7 and 8 disable
• Sharpness HARD
• Color and Tone on ORG

Besides that: the S2pro on high resolution needs very good lenses, other then commonly used by analog camera's. When not using a good lense, the resluting image maybe dissapoint you, for example with the 28-70 and 18-35. The 80-200/2.8 should produce good images

End Fuji Response

The fact that they are giving advice for taking a razorscharp picture, they're admitting that the camera is in fact less sharp as one might expect.

All other posts on this issue together with my own experience will result in the following (all offical info from Fuji):

To take a pic with good sharpness/focus you should:

• use a small aperture (> 4) due to shallower depth of field from the S2 (BS!)
• only use top-line Nikkors (a 28-70 will not do, the 17-35 does) forcing you to buy very expesive lenses
• Never use any default setting
• Don't use dynamic autofocus (no [+] but [ ])
• Don't use manual focus because sharpness in the viewfinder is not the same as the focus on the CCD
• Sharpness on HARD and possibly do some sharpening in Photoshop

Am I dreaming?? No!! You can place your questionmarks at each separate point here.......When I think about it, it drives me crazy!! That a friend of mine with an Canon S45 produces far better images than my S2!!! And he has not taken into account all these kind of restrictions

When I knew this before (having to buy new lenses and so on....) I would never 've bought this camera, never!

Are these tricks all excuses for maybe a defect on a batch of camera's which cannot easily be fixed?? (CCD Allignment, Thanx Sjoerd)??

I can not remember that S1 users have had similar problems.......
Thanx for your time and shoot me if I'm wrong.
Patrick

Are you looking at you pictures at 100%? No S2 image is going to be sharp at 100%. Period. That's the nature of the beast.

Remember that it is NOT REALLY a 12MP camera. It just delivers more info than a 6MP. If you want a sharp out of camera image, shoot in 6MP mode, and you'll likely be thrilled.

Personally, I turn in camera sharpness off. It distorts the image too much.

Hugensjr said:

Hi people,

Having problems with my S2 regarding bad focussed pics almost all
the time with all my lenses, I decided to mail the Fuji Service
Dept. BTW I own a Nikkor 28-70 / 3,5-4,5 D, Nikkor 80-200 / 2,8 ED
1and a Sigma 18-35 / 3,5-4,5 D.

Before you read on, I'm aware that there are very few happy
S2-photographers with a camera delivering Pro-specs. My point here
is that I like to inform people who're having the same problem.

Within 2 days I got response from Fuji. I'm not quite satisfied
with it, here's a brief literally translation:

Begin fuji response
The settings on the camera should be the following:

• Do not select the dynamic autofocus option (no [+] but [ ])
• CSM function 7 and 8 disable
• Sharpness HARD
• Color and Tone on ORG

Besides that: the S2pro on high resolution needs very good lenses,
other then commonly used by analog camera's. When not using a good
lense, the resluting image maybe dissapoint you, for example with
the 28-70 and 18-35. The 80-200/2.8 should produce good images

End Fuji Response

The fact that they are giving advice for taking a razorscharp
picture, they're admitting that the camera is in fact less sharp as
one might expect.
All other posts on this issue together with my own experience will
result in the following (all offical info from Fuji):

To take a pic with good sharpness/focus you should:

• use a small aperture (> 4) due to shallower depth of field from

the S2 (BS!)

• only use top-line Nikkors (a 28-70 will not do, the 17-35 does)

forcing you to buy very expesive lenses

• Never use any default setting
• Don't use dynamic autofocus (no [+] but [ ])
• Don't use manual focus because sharpness in the viewfinder is not

the same as the focus on the CCD

• Sharpness on HARD and possibly do some sharpening in Photoshop

Am I dreaming?? No!! You can place your questionmarks at each
separate point here.......When I think about it, it drives me
crazy!! That a friend of mine with an Canon S45 produces far better
images than my S2!!! And he has not taken into account all these
kind of restrictions

When I knew this before (having to buy new lenses and so on....) I
would never 've bought this camera, never!

Are these tricks all excuses for maybe a defect on a batch of
camera's which cannot easily be fixed?? (CCD Allignment, Thanx
Sjoerd)??

I can not remember that S1 users have had similar problems.......
Thanx for your time and shoot me if I'm wrong.
Patrick

Click to expand...

Hugensjr said:

Within 2 days I got response from Fuji. I'm not quite satisfied
with it, here's a brief literally translation:

Click to expand...

Fuji's response seems to be a considered set of options that would rule out user error versus camera error.

Hugensjr said:

When I think about it, it drives me
crazy!! That a friend of mine with an Canon S45 produces far better
images than my S2!!! And he has not taken into account all these
kind of restrictions

Click to expand...

If you compare apples with oranges you'll find neither of them are purple. The Canon S45 uses a small focal length lens, a smaller CCD, and produces enormous depth of field as a result. Indeed, you'll find that many pros complain about the consumer cameras' inability to isolate an in-focus subject with an out-of-focus background.

I don't recall seeing a post with an image (I may be wrong--I look at way too many forums every day), so you're simply not using the help that this forum could provide you to figure out what the real issue is here. I see many possibilities: you have a defective camera, your expectations are incorrect, your assumptions/handling need refinement, etc. Without ways to elminate any of them (which as I noted, is probably what inspired Fuji's response), we'd all be shooting in the dark trying to help you.

--
Thom Hogan
author, Nikon Field Guide
author, Nikon Flash Guide
author, Complete Guide to the Nikon D100
author, Complete Guide to the Nikon D1, D1h, & D1x
http://www.bythom.com

I just bought an S2 and, frankly, I have been pleasantly surprised with its sharpness - particularly when compared to the competition(including the Canon 1Ds and D60 whose cmos sensors are inherently less sharp than a CCD.) What I did notice is that the S2 is so sharp in fact that until I used a prime Nikkor 50 1.8, the images did indeed look blurry from my zooms, even at 50%. Also, jpegs are not as sharp as Raws in my testing. I shoot with sharpening off and sharpen in Photoshop by the way. When I have shot with the 50 in jpeg mode with sharpening set ot std, the shots have been very sharp right out of the camera. My guess is that either A) You do indeed have a defective camera(and I don't think Fuji should be telling you to shoot with the Hard setting! B) Your lenses are not up to the task. Of the lenses you mention, the 80-200 2.8 should be plenty sharp enough unless something is wrong with it as well. Do you shoot it with a high shutter speed on a Tripod because, remember, that 80-200 is really a 120-300 in 35mm terms(1.5 factor) and will not give good sharp results hand held with slow shutter speeds. The other lenses may not indeed be sharp enough to resolve the full sharpness of the S2 sensor.

Tariq
Tariq.com

Hugensjr said:

Hi people,

Having problems with my S2 regarding bad focussed pics almost all
the time with all my lenses, I decided to mail the Fuji Service
Dept. BTW I own a Nikkor 28-70 / 3,5-4,5 D, Nikkor 80-200 / 2,8 ED
1and a Sigma 18-35 / 3,5-4,5 D.

Before you read on, I'm aware that there are very few happy
S2-photographers with a camera delivering Pro-specs. My point here
is that I like to inform people who're having the same problem.

Within 2 days I got response from Fuji. I'm not quite satisfied
with it, here's a brief literally translation:

Begin fuji response
The settings on the camera should be the following:

• Do not select the dynamic autofocus option (no [+] but [ ])
• CSM function 7 and 8 disable
• Sharpness HARD
• Color and Tone on ORG

Besides that: the S2pro on high resolution needs very good lenses,
other then commonly used by analog camera's. When not using a good
lense, the resluting image maybe dissapoint you, for example with
the 28-70 and 18-35. The 80-200/2.8 should produce good images

End Fuji Response

The fact that they are giving advice for taking a razorscharp
picture, they're admitting that the camera is in fact less sharp as
one might expect.
All other posts on this issue together with my own experience will
result in the following (all offical info from Fuji):

To take a pic with good sharpness/focus you should:

• use a small aperture (> 4) due to shallower depth of field from

the S2 (BS!)

• only use top-line Nikkors (a 28-70 will not do, the 17-35 does)

forcing you to buy very expesive lenses

• Never use any default setting
• Don't use dynamic autofocus (no [+] but [ ])
• Don't use manual focus because sharpness in the viewfinder is not

the same as the focus on the CCD

• Sharpness on HARD and possibly do some sharpening in Photoshop

Am I dreaming?? No!! You can place your questionmarks at each
separate point here.......When I think about it, it drives me
crazy!! That a friend of mine with an Canon S45 produces far better
images than my S2!!! And he has not taken into account all these
kind of restrictions

When I knew this before (having to buy new lenses and so on....) I
would never 've bought this camera, never!

Are these tricks all excuses for maybe a defect on a batch of
camera's which cannot easily be fixed?? (CCD Allignment, Thanx
Sjoerd)??

I can not remember that S1 users have had similar problems.......
Thanx for your time and shoot me if I'm wrong.
Patrick

Click to expand...

Hugensjr said:

Before you read on, I'm aware that there are very few happy
S2-photographers with a camera delivering Pro-specs.

Click to expand...

What the hell are you talking about? I'm a pro and I'm amazed by the quality and sharpness. Too sharp sometimes! Maybe you should send the camera in and have them send you some sharp pics taken with it. Stop wasting your time here. I think 90% of people who own an S2 are very happy, pros included.

--
http://www.timothymurray.com

Timothy110388 said:

Before you read on, I'm aware that there are very few happy
S2-photographers with a camera delivering Pro-specs.

Click to expand...

One should never make assumptions on behalf of other people. I happen to be a semi-pro who has no problem getting sharp pictures with the S2 while using an assortment of lenses. I think you are over reacting and should also be considering other variables as well as the camera.

Timothy said:

Timothy110388 said:

Before you read on, I'm aware that there are very few happy
S2-photographers with a camera delivering Pro-specs.

Click to expand...

What the hell are you talking about? I'm a pro and I'm amazed by
the quality and sharpness. Too sharp sometimes! Maybe you should
send the camera in and have them send you some sharp pics taken
with it. Stop wasting your time here. I think 90% of people who
own an S2 are very happy, pros included.

--
http://www.timothymurray.com

Click to expand...

Tim, though I dont like to see people take on a "all cameras are defective" attitude because they are having problems, nor is it fair to adopt a "all cameras are great" attitude and chop someone down because they are having problems with their equipment. There has been and will be defective equipment coming out of any manufacturer. Lets help someone having problems understand how to make things better, not feel stupid for raising the issue.

Dan Zimmerman

Timothy said:

Timothy110388 said:

Before you read on, I'm aware that there are very few happy
S2-photographers with a camera delivering Pro-specs.

Click to expand...

What the hell are you talking about? I'm a pro and I'm amazed by
the quality and sharpness. Too sharp sometimes! Maybe you should
send the camera in and have them send you some sharp pics taken
with it. Stop wasting your time here. I think 90% of people who
own an S2 are very happy, pros included.

--
http://www.timothymurray.com

Click to expand...

Patrick,

Hugensjr said:

Having problems with my S2 regarding bad focussed pics almost all
the time with all my lenses, I decided to mail the Fuji Service
Dept. BTW I own a Nikkor 28-70 / 3,5-4,5 D, Nikkor 80-200 / 2,8 ED
1and a Sigma 18-35 / 3,5-4,5 D.

Click to expand...

I have the 80-200 and just got the 28-70. Both of these lenses are tack-sharp. I try finding good lighting and up the shutter the speed and do some test. Start w/ 180th and go faster. Originally, I was not happy w/ sharpness from my 80-200 too. But, I later found out that it was my handhold technique that was the problem. It has since gotten much better. I have not get a chance to do much w/ the 28-70 but look for some post GMD did that lens--they're plenty sharp.

Hugensjr said:

Before you read on, I'm aware that there are very few happy
S2-photographers with a camera delivering Pro-specs. My point here
is that I like to inform people who're having the same problem.

Click to expand...

I not quite sure where you're basing this statement from as I know the majority of owners here would sleep w/ the s2 if they could

You could have a defective cam. Try getting a loaner or exchange for another and try it out.

Hope this helps,
The'

I have used the 80-200mm AFS 2.8 for quiet awhile and IMHO is one of Nikon's better zooms. The lens is heavy and requires steady hands even at 1/250 sec. If it is shot slower use a monopod or tripod. I use it a lot for shooting on the sidelines at football games and it is a very fast, quick focusing, sharp lens. Just owning a certain lens does not make a sharp image. Good luck in your search.

Nicholas Rubenstein said:

Hugensjr said:

Hi people,

Having problems with my S2 regarding bad focussed pics almost all
the time with all my lenses, I decided to mail the Fuji Service
Dept. BTW I own a Nikkor 28-70 / 3,5-4,5 D, Nikkor 80-200 / 2,8 ED
1and a Sigma 18-35 / 3,5-4,5 D.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

So, um, it looks like Fuji is saying

• Make sure the camera's in focus, rather than relying on automatic settings that make compromises. (Well, that's good advice, definitely)
• Make sure the camera is sharpening your shots to compensate for the AA filter (again, especially for someone who doesn't want to futz with photoshop too much, good advice.)
• Use good lenses that can provide sufficient resolution to a very high-res sensor (makes sense to me! )

I've been delighted with the shots from my S2 - they are beautifully sharp, virtually noiseless and in nearly all respects superior to the results I've been getting from my F4 on Kodak pro films.

Seeing as all Fuji is really saying in this message is "try to use good technique and avoid using crappy lenses" it seems to me that the first thing you might want to look into is improving your shooting habits and your technique - having a fancy camera won't compensate for sloppiness

(An aside, when teaching a portraiture class earlier this week one of my students said "Well, I have a digital camera, so I don't need to use a flashmeter, right? 'Cause I can just check the LCD to see if the exposure is good, right?" Eeeeek! )

Hugensjr said:

Begin fuji response
The settings on the camera should be the following:

• Do not select the dynamic autofocus option (no [+] but [ ])
• CSM function 7 and 8 disable
• Sharpness HARD
• Color and Tone on ORG

Besides that: the S2pro on high resolution needs very good lenses,
other then commonly used by analog camera's. When not using a good
lense, the resluting image maybe dissapoint you, for example with
the 28-70 and 18-35. The 80-200/2.8 should produce good images

End Fuji Response

Click to expand...

--
Charles Bandes
http://www.bandesphoto.com

Tariq said:

competition(including the Canon 1Ds and D60 whose cmos sensors are
inherently less sharp than a CCD.) What I did notice is that the

Click to expand...

You what?! Pleeeeaaassseee.... CCD & CMOS have absolutely nothing to do with image sharpness. Perhaps you are getting confuzed with pixel size?

Excal

Charles Bandes said:

(An aside, when teaching a portraiture class earlier this week one
of my students said "Well, I have a digital camera, so I don't need
to use a flashmeter, right? 'Cause I can just check the LCD to see
if the exposure is good, right?" Eeeeek! )

Click to expand...

But true?

Excal

Charles Bandes said:

(An aside, when teaching a portraiture class earlier this week one
of my students said "Well, I have a digital camera, so I don't need
to use a flashmeter, right? 'Cause I can just check the LCD to see
if the exposure is good, right?" Eeeeek! )

Click to expand...

I usually use my flashmeter, but with setups that are very close to setups I've done before, I've found that I simply don't need it on many shoots. The LCD preview and familiarity with the head settings at a certain distance from the subject is usually more than adequate for beautiful exposure.

--
Best,

Michael Dean

Where's the gun??

Try to read a little deeper and you'l start to see what Fuji is recommending. Firstly, if you looked for advice on this forum on sharpness and camera settings, you'd probably have found that most users would recommend turning CSPriority off... If you don't understand the intricacies of the dynamic AF, don't use it... Seems like very sound advice from Fuji to me. Or if you do use it without understanding it, you may get unexpected results. I would strongly recommend you buy Thom Hogans eBook for a great explanation on how this works on the S2 (or N80 upon which it is based).

This camera is based upon a Nikon N80 and the default settings are the same as on the N80 with regard to AF and CSP. Fuji is recommending that you simplify things as much as possible is you don't understand them. Most N80 users also turn CSP off.... The default of CSP for on on AF-S and off for AF-C is a very strange choice by NIKON - NOT Fuji... Every forum on either camera on the web will mention this.

The recommendation for using good glass is because the S2 is capable of extremely good rendition - and Fuji and trying to make sure that you don't confuse CA and other lens issues for being a lack of sharpness. You don't have to spend a whole lot of money on a great lens either - $100 buys a great Nikon 50mm 1.8D new.

In essence, Fuji are recommending that if you don't understand the functionality, don't use it. I would strongly recommend that you read up on the functionality in a great source like Thom's book (see http://www.bythom.com ) and then try again. This camera is an extremely capable tool - yes, poor results are usually the result of the user (just about 99.999999% of the time!).

Hugensjr said:

Hi people,

Having problems with my S2 regarding bad focussed pics almost all
the time with all my lenses, I decided to mail the Fuji Service
Dept. BTW I own a Nikkor 28-70 / 3,5-4,5 D, Nikkor 80-200 / 2,8 ED
1and a Sigma 18-35 / 3,5-4,5 D.

Before you read on, I'm aware that there are very few happy
S2-photographers with a camera delivering Pro-specs. My point here
is that I like to inform people who're having the same problem.

Within 2 days I got response from Fuji. I'm not quite satisfied
with it, here's a brief literally translation:

Begin fuji response
The settings on the camera should be the following:

• Do not select the dynamic autofocus option (no [+] but [ ])
• CSM function 7 and 8 disable
• Sharpness HARD
• Color and Tone on ORG

Besides that: the S2pro on high resolution needs very good lenses,
other then commonly used by analog camera's. When not using a good
lense, the resluting image maybe dissapoint you, for example with
the 28-70 and 18-35. The 80-200/2.8 should produce good images

End Fuji Response

The fact that they are giving advice for taking a razorscharp
picture, they're admitting that the camera is in fact less sharp as
one might expect.
All other posts on this issue together with my own experience will
result in the following (all offical info from Fuji):

To take a pic with good sharpness/focus you should:

• use a small aperture (> 4) due to shallower depth of field from

the S2 (BS!)

• only use top-line Nikkors (a 28-70 will not do, the 17-35 does)

forcing you to buy very expesive lenses

• Never use any default setting
• Don't use dynamic autofocus (no [+] but [ ])
• Don't use manual focus because sharpness in the viewfinder is not

the same as the focus on the CCD

• Sharpness on HARD and possibly do some sharpening in Photoshop

Am I dreaming?? No!! You can place your questionmarks at each
separate point here.......When I think about it, it drives me
crazy!! That a friend of mine with an Canon S45 produces far better
images than my S2!!! And he has not taken into account all these
kind of restrictions

When I knew this before (having to buy new lenses and so on....) I
would never 've bought this camera, never!

Are these tricks all excuses for maybe a defect on a batch of
camera's which cannot easily be fixed?? (CCD Allignment, Thanx
Sjoerd)??

I can not remember that S1 users have had similar problems.......
Thanx for your time and shoot me if I'm wrong.
Patrick

Click to expand...

Donald Hutton wrote:
, Fuji are recommending that if you don't understand the

Donald Hutton said:

functionality, don't use it. I would strongly recommend that you
read up on the functionality in a great source like Thom's book
(see http://www.bythom.com ) and then try again. This camera is an
extremely capable tool - yes, poor results are usually the result
of the user (just about 99.999999% of the time!).
Hugensjr wrote:

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, point and shoot people will be attracted to tools that don't cater to them in hopes of getting better photos. I think this fellow would be better off with a point and shoot that has too much depth of field (small sensor byproduct) and which oversaturates, oversharpens and overboosts contrast. That's the default mode for most digital point an shoot cameras and it pleases the masses.

--
BJN

Hugensjr said:

I can not remember that S1 users have had similar problems.......

Click to expand...

I did have many problems. Wrong autofocus and green color-shift in the corner. An outdated story from that time (2 yeasr old) you can find at the next URL. Sorry if some links to other URL's doesn't work anymore.
http://home.iae.nl/users/lobers/Fuji_S1/index.htm
--
Leon Obers

excal said:

You what?! Pleeeeaaassseee.... CCD & CMOS have absolutely nothing
to do with image sharpness. Perhaps you are getting confuzed with
pixel size?

Excal

Click to expand...

\Given all the examples I have seen from the various Canon's, I would disagree. Perhaps it's just their implimintation of a Cmos chip BUT, see for yourself. Download an image from the 1D(CCD), D60 and 1Ds(both Cmos)and then tell me that the Straight out of camera Canon 1D image does not look light years Sharper than either the D60 or 1Ds image when viewed at 100%! Granted, those Canon Cmos images will take a lot of post sharpening and look great afterwards BUT, right out of the camera, the 1D is loads sharper(as are the Nikon D1x, D100, and Fuji S2(all CCD based!). Whether this is due to more noise reduction in these Cmos Canon models which tend to blur details(and give the illusion of less noise) or the chip itself, only Canon knows. Foveon images DO look sharp and that is a Cmos sensor BUT it's an entirley different animal(full color pixels) than the Canon designed Cmos. Just my observations based on looking at loads of images from all these cameras before finally buying my S2. I could be happy with any of them though(Well, maybee just the 1Ds over the S2).

Tariq
Tariq.com

excal said:

Tariq said:

competition(including the Canon 1Ds and D60 whose cmos sensors are
inherently less sharp than a CCD.) What I did notice is that the

Click to expand...

You what?! Pleeeeaaassseee.... CCD & CMOS have absolutely nothing
to do with image sharpness. Perhaps you are getting confuzed with
pixel size?

Excal

Click to expand...

I just had a long talk with my Fuji rep today about all of this.

He said many users are not using the camera properly in the auto focus mode. It seems this camera has a floating focus point that a lot of new users are not do not know how to use. It would be better to turn this feature off.

Bob

Hugensjr said:

Hi people,

Having problems with my S2 regarding bad focussed pics almost all
the time with all my lenses, I decided to mail the Fuji Service
Dept. BTW I own a Nikkor 28-70 / 3,5-4,5 D, Nikkor 80-200 / 2,8 ED
1and a Sigma 18-35 / 3,5-4,5 D.

Before you read on, I'm aware that there are very few happy
S2-photographers with a camera delivering Pro-specs. My point here
is that I like to inform people who're having the same problem.

Within 2 days I got response from Fuji. I'm not quite satisfied
with it, here's a brief literally translation:

Begin fuji response
The settings on the camera should be the following:

• Do not select the dynamic autofocus option (no [+] but [ ])
• CSM function 7 and 8 disable
• Sharpness HARD
• Color and Tone on ORG

Besides that: the S2pro on high resolution needs very good lenses,
other then commonly used by analog camera's. When not using a good
lense, the resluting image maybe dissapoint you, for example with
the 28-70 and 18-35. The 80-200/2.8 should produce good images

End Fuji Response

The fact that they are giving advice for taking a razorscharp
picture, they're admitting that the camera is in fact less sharp as
one might expect.
All other posts on this issue together with my own experience will
result in the following (all offical info from Fuji):

To take a pic with good sharpness/focus you should:

• use a small aperture (> 4) due to shallower depth of field from

the S2 (BS!)

• only use top-line Nikkors (a 28-70 will not do, the 17-35 does)

forcing you to buy very expesive lenses

• Never use any default setting
• Don't use dynamic autofocus (no [+] but [ ])
• Don't use manual focus because sharpness in the viewfinder is not

the same as the focus on the CCD

• Sharpness on HARD and possibly do some sharpening in Photoshop

Am I dreaming?? No!! You can place your questionmarks at each
separate point here.......When I think about it, it drives me
crazy!! That a friend of mine with an Canon S45 produces far better
images than my S2!!! And he has not taken into account all these
kind of restrictions

When I knew this before (having to buy new lenses and so on....) I
would never 've bought this camera, never!

Are these tricks all excuses for maybe a defect on a batch of
camera's which cannot easily be fixed?? (CCD Allignment, Thanx
Sjoerd)??

I can not remember that S1 users have had similar problems.......
Thanx for your time and shoot me if I'm wrong.
Patrick

Click to expand...

As I read this thread, I have next to me on my desk a photo of my son. It's a 3/4 length shot, printed 8.5x11, and with a magnifying glass I can see every stray hair against a black background. This was taken hand-held, using autofocus at about 80mm with my consumer 24-120mm Nikkor lens.

-john

Hey,

In the first place: thanks to everyone's response!
I'm a bit disappointed by some people's replies.

Some of them did not completely understand why I sent this post (and even didn't recognize some 'sense of humor' into it, I'm sorry for that...). I even explicitly noticed that this is not of any interest for people who don't have any problem with the S2, but just for those people who have similar problems. And you can read many of them on this forum as on the http://www.s2pro.com forum. I know there are a lot of other S2-users who have/had similar problems, which are (in some cases) caused by eg. incorrect placement of the CCD.

I'm not an idiot! I'm an amateur photographer with 15 years of experience and also did some professional assignments. I'm used to work with Nikon F4, F90X and F80 analog SLR-bodies. Mostly with the same lenses I've mentioned earlier on. I've never had such dissapointments with my S2 compared to eg.the F80, which has 'some' similar AF-components as the S2. And i'm also aware of the restrictions of an autofocus-system, but why did I never had any problems with my F90X and F80?? I scanned (w. Nikon super coolscan 4000 ED) a lot of negative shots from these camera's (mostly on Fuji NPH-400), blew these up, and never had such amount of unsharp pictures....

I'm not a chicken, but taken into account that the S2 accepts F-mount lenses, I expect to get good pictures from an 28-70 focussed on infinity with 1/125 and f5.6. But it doesn't!

And all of you know-all-guys who say 'this guy is overreacting, he needs to buy a point and shoot camera....bla bla', I'm sorry, but you didn't quite understand my meaning of this post, and if I'm not helping anyone with my post, you certainly did not......and please don't tell me 'how to use this forum'. IMHO I'm trying to help myslef but I'm also trying to help other people who possibly have the same problem!

Don't get me wrong! I'm giving Fuji the benefit of the doubt. I will follow their advices and settings and take some pics next weekend and do my very best to make some good pics (like I used to do with my F90x). I'll post some of my findings on the forum.

Enough said! It's just a camera....let's inform each other as best as we can!

Bye,
Patrick

Hugensjr said:

Hi people,

Having problems with my S2 regarding bad focussed pics almost all
the time with all my lenses, I decided to mail the Fuji Service
Dept. BTW I own a Nikkor 28-70 / 3,5-4,5 D, Nikkor 80-200 / 2,8 ED
1and a Sigma 18-35 / 3,5-4,5 D.

Before you read on, I'm aware that there are very few happy
S2-photographers with a camera delivering Pro-specs. My point here
is that I like to inform people who're having the same problem.

Within 2 days I got response from Fuji. I'm not quite satisfied
with it, here's a brief literally translation:

Begin fuji response
The settings on the camera should be the following:

• Do not select the dynamic autofocus option (no [+] but [ ])
• CSM function 7 and 8 disable
• Sharpness HARD
• Color and Tone on ORG

Besides that: the S2pro on high resolution needs very good lenses,
other then commonly used by analog camera's. When not using a good
lense, the resluting image maybe dissapoint you, for example with
the 28-70 and 18-35. The 80-200/2.8 should produce good images

End Fuji Response

The fact that they are giving advice for taking a razorscharp
picture, they're admitting that the camera is in fact less sharp as
one might expect.
All other posts on this issue together with my own experience will
result in the following (all offical info from Fuji):

To take a pic with good sharpness/focus you should:

• use a small aperture (> 4) due to shallower depth of field from

the S2 (BS!)

• only use top-line Nikkors (a 28-70 will not do, the 17-35 does)

forcing you to buy very expesive lenses

• Never use any default setting
• Don't use dynamic autofocus (no [+] but [ ])
• Don't use manual focus because sharpness in the viewfinder is not

the same as the focus on the CCD

• Sharpness on HARD and possibly do some sharpening in Photoshop

Am I dreaming?? No!! You can place your questionmarks at each
separate point here.......When I think about it, it drives me
crazy!! That a friend of mine with an Canon S45 produces far better
images than my S2!!! And he has not taken into account all these
kind of restrictions

When I knew this before (having to buy new lenses and so on....) I
would never 've bought this camera, never!

Are these tricks all excuses for maybe a defect on a batch of
camera's which cannot easily be fixed?? (CCD Allignment, Thanx
Sjoerd)??

I can not remember that S1 users have had similar problems.......
Thanx for your time and shoot me if I'm wrong.
Patrick

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