Fuji S5 Vs D700 ( people have both cameras welcome to share comments)

Hello guys i am an owner of A m43 camera with a complete set of good lens.

and more specific i have the Olympus Em10 with 12-40 F2.8, 25mm F1.7, 45mm F1.8 and 75mm F1.8, Rokinon 85mm F1.4 , panasonic 35-100 . I am not professional but i  am thinking to gain experience so i can make it as an extra income too. Mostly i make portrait photography.  In  Last month i found a good deal of A fuji S5 pro with low shutter counts with a zoom attach on it and i bought it. I read  a lot of things about this camera that makes excellent portrait photos.The camera had a zoom lens attached  when i bought it and is the nikkor 28-200 ( an old lens) the quality of the lens was not bad but i wanted to test the camera with better lens so to choose if the camera stays in my bag. Then i ordered the Tamron 17-50 Non Vc model and the Nikon 50mm F1.8 ( the cheap version). I already test the camera in a friends nikkon 50mm ( the more expensive model) and i found that it can make very good photos. so after this i ordered the tamron the the 50mm . The tamron arrived and i test it today in portrait and it amazed me. for the money i gave both in tamron and this camera photos was excellent with pleasant colours out of the camera.  I had to say that i never had a Camera with professional body and i like the feeling of this camera. although this camera is little slow but during portrait photohooting was more than ok for me. I am not a man that i spending money but looking all the time at this internet you want to treat yourself all the time with new lenses new things etc. I came across with a good value of a nikon D700  with a lens and with low shutter counts. under 10000. And i decide to buy it . By the way in any case one reason i bought is that i can sell and i can take back the same amount of money or more in both cases of fuji and d700. So what you think about the Fuji compare to D700. And the problem now is that the fuji i like it for portraits. if i like the D700 too i cant have 3 diferent cameras as my main complete system is the olympus m43  with the lenses. One solution i am thinking If i decide the D700 to stay with me or the Fuji maybe h have to sell The 75mm  from m43- that is very good lens , expensive lens but its takes not a lot of usage as most of portraits in olympus are made by the olympus 45mm f1.8 . From the one side i am starting feeling bad spending all this money for buying new things, but for the other side if is good value it will be good for me to test cameras and if i dont like i can sell. Sorry guys for this all story but i said as i feel so i can take honest thoughts and answers. thank you very much

I've had both cameras, years ago though!  The S5 is great, I used to love it with the Zeiss F mount lenses.  But the D700 is a whole other level it's basically the later flagship in a smaller body.  It has better autofocus, cleaner iso, the camera is faster in general operation, a better viewfinder etc

And the biggest difference to me is if you shoot raw many more programs work well with Nikon RAWS.  The S5 wasn't just a different array the underlying sensor was different to anything else too.

The only downsides of the D700 are the quality of jpeg straight from camera and the cost of lenses (it's full frame so your 17-50 won't work for example).

Either one seems like an odd choice to me unless there is something in particular you are after that your Olympus isn't giving you.  Both would need expensive glass to outperform your Olympus in any way.

JamieTux wrote:

I've had both cameras, years ago though! The S5 is great, I used to love it with the Zeiss F mount lenses. But the D700 is a whole other level it's basically the later flagship in a smaller body. It has better autofocus, cleaner iso, the camera is faster in general operation, a better viewfinder etc

And the biggest difference to me is if you shoot raw many more programs work well with Nikon RAWS. The S5 wasn't just a different array the underlying sensor was different to anything else too.

The only downsides of the D700 are the quality of jpeg straight from camera and the cost of lenses (it's full frame so your 17-50 won't work for example).

Either one seems like an odd choice to me unless there is something in particular you are after that your Olympus isn't giving you. Both would need expensive glass to outperform your Olympus in any way.

Thank you for answering me.  for me testing the fuji , images straight out of the camera in portrait came out very beautiful and with a good amount of  contrast. the only " need" in the lightroom is to add some sharpening. by the way i notice that when i am applying sharpening in olympus files i have to make a noise reduction a bid. if the sharpening is enough. The same  amount of sharpening applying to the fuji files they dont need any  a noise reduction at all. the fuji testing with the tamron for me i was more than happy so i dont plan to sell this camera especially if you consider the price i bought it  and the price of the tamron was 160 euro.   I can sell some lenses ( the zoom lens that came with the fuji, nikon 28-200 an old lens, and the 24-120 f3.5 -5.6 that will come with the nikon d700, and also the expensive 75mm olympus) . if i sell those lenses i can take enough amount of money to buy the 24-120 F4 to use it with the nikon D700. but for this i have to be sure that this lens will cover me  and also will produce some beautiful portraits too so i can  accept to sell the 75mm.

what you think?

Hi,

I'm a professional photographer (wedding and portraits) and I've been working with a D700 and a S5 Pro for a while, before totally switching to the Fuji X system in 2014 (I'm currently working with 2 X-T2.

The D700 is a beast : very quick (AF, etc.), very good high ISO, etc. Great viewfinder too.

The S5 Pro has a similar body, but :

- the viewfinder is really smaller

- it's really slower (AF, viewing the pictures on the screen...)

- you can't fine tune the optics if you have front or back focus (you can with the D700)

- back screen is really bad and doesn't give you a good idea of the picture you've taken

Though, if I had to take one of these bodies today, I would take a Fuji S5 Pro.

Why ? Mainly for two reasons :

- The colours, especially the skin tones. There is something magical with the colours produced by the Fuji S5, and the D700 is not even close (in my opinion). This is also one of the reasons why I've switched to the Fuji X system.

- The dynamic range. It's amazing how you can recover burnt highlights with the S5, even on JPGs !

I also prefer the softer rendering of the S5, which suits portraits perfectly. This camera is special, it gives a "soul" to the pictures it produces.

Of course, the D700 is a way better camera overall. But it doesn't have this "magic".

It's a very subjective matter, of course !

I broadly agree with you and Victoria.
My work was mainly product photography though and accurate was more important than pleasing
I could create colour profiles for a shoot in Lightroom with the D700 and then run all the raw  files through that as a batch - and this made a huge difference to the look of the photos.  But I could never recreate the subtlety and pleasing highlights of the S5 Pro (jpeg or raw with their old converter)
You do need to use the cameras differently (like all cameras actually) - the Nikon is better when you expose to save the highlights and then brighten the shadows - especially in raw.  The S5Pro is better to expose for the shadows and pull the highlights back (as long as you have the right settings in camera!!)
I do remember that other guys shooting weddings at the time loved the S5 Pro as it meant that they could capture wedding dresses and dark suits without losing detail on either as a jpeg.

JamieTux wrote:

The S5 is great, I used to love it with the Zeiss F mount lenses.

Indeed. Ended up running the S5 with the Zeiss 21mm (well more than half the time the camera was out) and the Nikon 85 1.4 Other Nikon glass I got early on just didn't do it like these optics did.

Peter

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James
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I have Fuji s5 attached with sigma 50mm f 1.4.amazing camera amazing color rendition.

JamieTux wrote:

I do remember that other guys shooting weddings at the time loved the S5 Pro as it meant that they could capture wedding dresses and dark suits without losing detail on either as a jpeg.

Yes ! Today, you can do that with any APS-C or 24x36 camera on the market, but back in 2006, it was unique.

After 3 years of shooting with Fuji mirrorless cameras, I'm pretty sure I'll never go back to DSLR : every time I take one in my hands, even a small one (like a friend of mine's D3100), I find it chunky. But maybe one day I'll buy a used S5 Pro (they cost almost nothing now).

I don't really get attached to gear, for me it's just working tools. But there are a few cameras which I enjoyed using more than others :

- the Fuji S5 Pro : not for the body itself and the handling, but for the files it produces.

- Fuji X-T1 and X-T2 : the first time I took a X-T1 in my hands to try in a store, it knew I would take it. It just fell perfect for me, like it was built for my hands !

JamieTux wrote:

I broadly agree with you and Victoria.
My work was mainly product photography though and accurate was more important than pleasing
I could create colour profiles for a shoot in Lightroom with the D700 and then run all the raw files through that as a batch - and this made a huge difference to the look of the photos. But I could never recreate the subtlety and pleasing highlights of the S5 Pro (jpeg or raw with their old converter)
You do need to use the cameras differently (like all cameras actually) - the Nikon is better when you expose to save the highlights and then brighten the shadows - especially in raw. The S5Pro is better to expose for the shadows and pull the highlights back (as long as you have the right settings in camera!!)
I do remember that other guys shooting weddings at the time loved the S5 Pro as it meant that they could capture wedding dresses and dark suits without losing detail on either as a jpeg.

The S5 PRO has very little resolution and a very strong AA filter and poor ISO performance so you are not going to be able to get very large sharp detailed clean images.  Other than that the camera is fantastic and till this day the S5 Pro has qualities that other new modern cameras don't have.

If you are going to shoot a white wedding dress in very difficult sunlight, take a S5 Pro with you!

Adoubeur wrote:

Hi,

I'm a professional photographer (wedding and portraits) and I've been working with a D700 and a S5 Pro for a while, before totally switching to the Fuji X system in 2014 (I'm currently working with 2 X-T2.

The D700 is a beast : very quick (AF, etc.), very good high ISO, etc. Great viewfinder too.

The S5 Pro has a similar body, but :

- the viewfinder is really smaller

- it's really slower (AF, viewing the pictures on the screen...)

- you can't fine tune the optics if you have front or back focus (you can with the D700)

- back screen is really bad and doesn't give you a good idea of the picture you've taken

Though, if I had to take one of these bodies today, I would take a Fuji S5 Pro.

Why ? Mainly for two reasons :

- The colours, especially the skin tones. There is something magical with the colours produced by the Fuji S5, and the D700 is not even close (in my opinion). This is also one of the reasons why I've switched to the Fuji X system.

- The dynamic range. It's amazing how you can recover burnt highlights with the S5, even on JPGs !

I also prefer the softer rendering of the S5, which suits portraits perfectly. This camera is special, it gives a "soul" to the pictures it produces.

Of course, the D700 is a way better camera overall. But it doesn't have this "magic".

It's a very subjective matter, of course !

Thank you for the answer. The " problem" now for me i will have 3 systems. but with different lenses. I agree with you that with my first photoshoot with the fuji S5 already pass my expectations . It feels like a beast on hands but i like this. compare to my em10 viewfinder is bigger and is pleasant for me to shoot with optical viewfinder. About the screen your absolutely correct. is very difficult to see the pictures especially in bright light.but i have to admit that i like this. It makes me to work and think more like a photographer and try to do the best trough the manual controls. This i like on this camera is that you dont have to enter the main screen to work. physical buttons is everywhere . generally i am very happy with the camera. About the Nikon D700 my feelings is mix now. fuji cost me around 250 euro with a lens (28-200 af-d) with low shutter count.  Nikon cost me  600 with 24-120 f3.5-5.6 lens  that i plan to sell those lenses if they are not sharp  with nikon d700. so if the fuji will stay in my bag i have 2 options . Or to sell or to keep the D700:)

Adoubeur wrote:

Hi,

I'm a professional photographer (wedding and portraits) and I've been working with a D700 and a S5 Pro for a while, before totally switching to the Fuji X system in 2014 (I'm currently working with 2 X-T2.

The D700 is a beast : very quick (AF, etc.), very good high ISO, etc. Great viewfinder too.

The S5 Pro has a similar body, but :

- the viewfinder is really smaller

- it's really slower (AF, viewing the pictures on the screen...)

- you can't fine tune the optics if you have front or back focus (you can with the D700)

- back screen is really bad and doesn't give you a good idea of the picture you've taken

Though, if I had to take one of these bodies today, I would take a Fuji S5 Pro.

Why ? Mainly for two reasons :

- The colours, especially the skin tones. There is something magical with the colours produced by the Fuji S5, and the D700 is not even close (in my opinion). This is also one of the reasons why I've switched to the Fuji X system.

- The dynamic range. It's amazing how you can recover burnt highlights with the S5, even on JPGs !

I also prefer the softer rendering of the S5, which suits portraits perfectly. This camera is special, it gives a "soul" to the pictures it produces.

Of course, the D700 is a way better camera overall. But it doesn't have this "magic".

It's a very subjective matter, of course !

This is a straight out of the camera Jpeg file  with the tamron 17-50 f2.8

Nice picture, I'm glad you got the hang of Fuji S5. Maybe Fuji S5 is not suitable for pro work anymore but for a personal family album is really a special camera, it is a camera to enjoy photography for yourself. If I were you I would choose to keep the FUJI S5. I still hope Fuji could make a sequel of this camera some day.

bobogdan78 wrote:

Maybe Fuji S5 is not suitable for pro work anymore

I wouldn't say that. I know professional photographers who work with older cameras than the S5.

It depends on what you do as a pro. I would happily use a S5 Pro for studio work and portrait sessions.

But when one needs to go fast and take high ISO pictures, well, today's cameras are far better.

It is better to compare similar like d 200 and s5pro .both has the same body and are released at the same time.

zakaria wrote:

It is better to compare similar like d 200 and s5pro .both has the same body and are released at the same time.

Yes is the same body but it seems that this fuji uniqueness to provide beautiful portraits it makes a difference.now i am confused. i have the olympus omd with nice lenses and the fuji and the nikon d700 and  i i could sell everything i could afford for example one good system with fast autofocus , high iso performance and   good stills

bobogdan78 wrote:

Nice picture, I'm glad you got the hang of Fuji S5. Maybe Fuji S5 is not suitable for pro work anymore but for a personal family album is really a special camera, it is a camera to enjoy photography for yourself. If I were you I would choose to keep the FUJI S5. I still hope Fuji could make a sequel of this camera some day.

the "problem" now i have 3 systems. my olympus mirroless main system with good lenses. the fuji s5 with the tamron 17-50 and the nikon 50mm and the nikon d700 (will arrive soon) the only lens will be fit to the d700 at the moment is the 50mm   . the good news is that systems can work together. for example in photoshoot taking both cameras with me. the bad news is that i dont have a very " strong" camera ideal for everything.

Andreascy wrote:

zakaria wrote:

It is better to compare similar like d 200 and s5pro .both has the same body and are released at the same time.

Yes is the same body but it seems that this fuji uniqueness to provide beautiful portraits it makes a difference.now i am confused. i have the olympus omd with nice lenses and the fuji and the nikon d700 and i i could sell everything i could afford for example one good system with fast autofocus , high iso performance and good stills

X-E3

I'e only recently got mine but the Nikon kit (and Zeiss lenses) are now finally gone. I love black and white photography and portraits and the skin tones are very Fuji- the in camera raw processing is exceptional too.

Check out the latest shots of my kids in the Flickr link if you want to see what we've done in the first week and a bit

I'e found the AF very accurate and fast, MF is a dream and the jpeg colours are sublime.

I agree 100%. But in this case, being used especially by pro wedding photographers, how would a pro's wedding portofolio look like with a 6mp 10 years old APSC? There must be a FF(the newer the better) or clients won't hire you. If we could compare only the pictures, no gear, exifs, pixel peeping involved, then I'm sure Fuji S5 pictures would be still on top (afaic they are). A few weeks ago I went on a trip with some friends and kids and we took some pictures with Fuji S5. It was a sunny autumn day so the light was great, the scenery was great and the Fuji sensor did the rest. We have taken pictures together before but when I showed them the S5 pictures (sooc jpegs) they were so excited, I've never seen them so excited for a bunch of pictures and that meant a lot to me.