Fuji S2, S3 or S5 PRO?? Assistance Needed!

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S5 D-SLR Fuji ever made.

S2: Mine died (line on sensor appeard). Was nice while working though, but no advantages over S5. Faster than S3 if I remember well.

S3: only if you are on a budget, S5 is better in every aspect.

I stick to the S5. I would like to have a X, abut I don't want to trade in all the nice Nikon lenses I own. So the S5 is still the first choice for me.

I have owned all of them, starting with S1.

Main advantages of S5:

- "Big Nikon Semi-Pro Body" (D200 - based, the same lineup as F100 and following, still the same base for the D800) Compared to this, the S3 is F80-D100-D70-etc. based. The s5 has the same main advantages as the Nik D200 body compared to the D70 or similar: Better flash system (check compatibility anyway!). Bigger, brighter viewfinder. Compatible with much more old Nikon-F-lenses. Way Faster AF for screwdriver-AF-lenses. Etc.)

- Much faster image saving than S3 (better memory-card-writing, more buffer size). However, still not for action enthusiasts (e.g. you have to wait for preview until all RAWs are saved to the card with all Fuji D-SLRs, and this can be frustrating when you are in a hurry). However, if you decide for the S3, use ONLY XD-PICTURE CARDS, they work MUCH faster on the S3 than compactFlash.

- If you need decend speed, you can still trade in a bit of quality and and post-processing possiblities, go for JPG-only.

- Dynamic Range (compared to S2)

- JPG and RAW storage at the same time (impossible up to S3)

- Image Quality is about the same from S3 to S5. However, for best results, Always shoot RAW and convert it ONLY with the Fujifilm HyperUtility and there, play with the quality settings to find the best results. DO NOT USE ANY 3rd-Party-Raw converters, none of tham handles the "SuperCCD" as good as the HyperUtility. However, pay attention to the hyperutility-Version, it's a bit confusing. The lastes version is compatible with all S-SLR I believe, and it is the HS-V3. (the V is important!). I know, the HyperUtility is not user friendly. But if you don't want to compromise quality, you will get used to it.

If you do your RAW conversion right, you can get about the resolution of a standard 10MP SLR as it would be sold by Nikon, Canon etc., but you geht the Fuji-color-rendering and DR. In my oppinion, the High-ISO-performance is better too compared to other brands of the same generation.