Fujifilm S5 Pro

Anybody still using this camera? If yes, why?

Since you haven't got any feed back I'll try but I can't directly answer your question and the reason is I traded it when bought my first X-Pro1. I still have the S2 and S3 and use them occasionally and I do it more in Jpeg mode as I did often with the S5 and the reason is the quality of the Jpeg files when properly exposed (ETTR'ish) you hardly need any PP. But yes if needed RAF files are more "flexible" with for example with the Lightroom than with the Hyper-Utility HS-V2 at the time. The reason for using these old cameras is purely sentimental.

S2 with SB600, 2009 jpeg

It was a great camera in its time. I had it and loved it.

But techology has since moved on. My current X-H1 runs rings around it, in ALL respects.

Marco

marco1974 wrote:

It was a great camera in its time. I had it and loved it.

But techology has since moved on. My current X-H1 runs rings around it, in ALL respects.

Marco

The S5 Pro 🦖 still runs rings around the XH1 when it comes down to skin tones 😁

I have so much better F mount glass now than when I had the S5 Pro I wish I never sold it.

Batdude wrote:

marco1974 wrote:

It was a great camera in its time. I had it and loved it.

But techology has since moved on. My current X-H1 runs rings around it, in ALL respects.

Marco

The S5 Pro 🦖 still runs rings around the XH1 when it comes down to skin tones 😁

I have so much better F mount glass now than when I had the S5 Pro I wish I never sold it.

To me, it is an eternal mystery why Fuji did not follow up with a full frame S6. I waited for years for that to happen before I finally purchased a Nikon (D3s) for a full frame sensor. Gave away the S3. A 12 MP full frame Fuji would have been a contender to Canon and Nikon. It was the dual photo diode pixels that enabled the wider dynamic range to each color channel and the resulting perfect deep colors.

Philip Eihuyar wrote:

Batdude wrote:

marco1974 wrote:

It was a great camera in its time. I had it and loved it.

But techology has since moved on. My current X-H1 runs rings around it, in ALL respects.

Marco

The S5 Pro 🦖 still runs rings around the XH1 when it comes down to skin tones 😁

I have so much better F mount glass now than when I had the S5 Pro I wish I never sold it.

To me, it is an eternal mystery why Fuji did not follow up with a full frame S6. I waited for years for that to happen before I finally purchased a Nikon (D3s) for a full frame sensor. Gave away the S3. A 12 MP full frame Fuji would have been a contender to Canon and Nikon. It was the dual photo diode pixels that enabled the wider dynamic range to each color channel and the resulting perfect deep colors.

A 16MP FF would have DESTROYED the competition and I’m pretty darn sure I would still be using such camera today.

I just bought one last week for $100. Picked up a used 35mm F1.8G, MB-D200 battery grip, some 3rd party batteries and charger. I have $270 into this kit and its very enjoyable to use.

7 years ago i found one on craigslist for $250 with a F2.8 zoom lens. I used it for a few months and then resold it with lens for $600. The real reason i am keeping it this time is; 1. I like CCD sensors. 2.) my wedding in 2009 was shot with an S5 pro which makes it sentimental for me

Someday, when i can just no longer stand using the S5 it will become a relic or artifact around my home. If nothing else, just a talking piece or something i put on a ledge as a nick nack.

I love the grip, i love the CAAAA-THUNK of the shutter, and i enjoy the challenge of trying to extract every ounce of IQ i can from it. I hate the optical viewfinder ( i love punch in manual focus, instead of guessing if it focused on the eyes or not )

I just picked up a fuji S5 pro and a nikon 35mm F1.8G.  This is my 2nd 35mm F1.8g and both times ive been pretty disappointed.  Thinking about selling both my nikon lenses and just grabbing a 35mm F1.4 art.   or 18-35mm F1.8 (but id really like F1.4)

jassyou wrote:

Anybody still using this camera? If yes, why?

Just shot photos for my Christmas cards with the S5 Pro yesterday. Why? It excels at skin tones and Christmas cards put no resolution demands on its 6MP sensor.

But seriously, I regard the S5 Pro as my most filmic digital camera. Color is the number one reason I continue to use it today and color is the reason I will never sell it.

fPrime

I wish I still had mine...

As far as Fuji goes, I started out with an S3 Pro. Loved the IQ but that camera was so slow. Slow in AF, slow in writing images to the card, slow in operatin the menu. And it was not the most battery friendly camera, either.

When I replaced it with an S5, a whole new world opened up for me. It had the (then) superior AF and ergonomics of Nikon's D200 and it's IQ was truly unique. I guess for skin tones it still has not really been matched by anything else, not even after 14 years. But I traded it in for cameras with more advanced AF en particularly better low light performance.

However, looking back I regret I didn't keep the S5. I miss the unique, film like color rendition and for portraits and landscape, where you don't need lightning fast AF and can control light, it still would be an awesome camera. I've even been looking at gettin a used S5, but most samples I found were either ridiculously overpriced or trashed to breaking point. So I guess that's not meant to happen. I'll have to make do with the many happy memories!

Skin tones are really good. Lately ive been doing a lot of indoor natural light shooting and the s5 pro struggles for sure, but i have been shocked how much color / skin tones it retains as i lift the shadows. Makes me want to pick up a F1.4 lens so i can get a little quicker shutter speed.  People rave about fuji X-trans, but my X-h1 is not on this level.

Buttons252 wrote:

Skin tones are really good. Lately ive been doing a lot of indoor natural light shooting and the s5 pro struggles for sure, but i have been shocked how much color / skin tones it retains as i lift the shadows. Makes me want to pick up a F1.4 lens so i can get a little quicker shutter speed. People rave about fuji X-trans, but my X-h1 is not on this level.

This is actually consistent with what a lot of Fuji shooters find when they have both their old and new cameras at hand... they like the skin tone colors from their XT and XH cameras but they find the colors from S5 Pro are a notch better. Even the GFX cameras can’t beat it IMHO.

fPrime

da7329 wrote:

What are the best memory cards to use with S5/d200 cameras?

You’ll want larger capacity CF cards because the full dynamic range RAF files from the S5 Pro are 25MB each. I use Lexar 32GB UDMA 7 cards in both of my S5’s.

fPrime