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Fuji FinePix S2 Pro Fuji updates their digital SLR with a 6 megapixel CCD, with the same excellent color... Select a topic Reference: Datasheet FinePix S2 Pro Sample Images --------------------------------- 1. Intro and Highlights 2. Executive Overview 3. Design 4. Viewfinder 5. Optics 6. Exposure & Flash 7. Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests 8. Operation & User Interface 9. Camera Modes & Menus 10. Image Storage & Interface 11. Video, Power, Software 12. Test Results & Conclusion --------------------------------- Print-Friendly Review Version Additional Resources and Other Links Reader Comments --------------------------------- Digital Camera Comparometer (TM) --------------------------------- <-- Digital Cameras (Home) <-- Digital Camera Reviews Index <<Optics :(Previous) | (Next): Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests>> Page 6:Exposure & Flash Review First Posted: 7/24/2002

Exposure

The S2 provides typical SLR exposure control, with an automatic programmed exposure mode as well as the normal manual and semi-manual modes. (The extensive selection of preset "Vari Program" modes from the S1 have been dropped.) The camera's exposure mode is controlled by the mode dial on the top of the camera body, which features Full Auto, Programmed Auto, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, and Manual modes. In Programmed exposure mode, the camera judges the appropriate exposure for the situation, but you can opt to select from a variety of equivalent exposure settings as well as adjust the exposure compensation. In Programmed exposure mode, rotating the main command dial back and forth will adjust the exposure settings to use larger or smaller lens apertures, with the camera adjusting the shutter speed to maintain the same overall exposure. I personally find this more convenient than the normal aperture or shutter priority modes, since I don't have to worry whether the particular aperture or shutter speed I've chosen is outside the range at which the camera can achieve an adequate exposure. In Programmed mode, the camera restricts the range of aperture/shutter combinations to guarantee a good exposure. Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority are pretty self-explanatory, each allowing the user to control either the aperture (which depends on the lens in use) or the shutter speed (from 30 to 1/4,000 seconds) while the camera selects the most appropriate corresponding value. As you might expect, the Manual exposure mode gives the user total control over the both aperture and shutter speed.

As noted, shutter times in Manual or Shutter Priority modes extend from 30 to 1/4,000 seconds. In Programmed and Aperture Priority modes, the maximum shutter time seems to be restricted to 15 seconds. (At least, that's the longest exposure I managed to achieve, with the camera in a pitch-dark room.) In Manual mode, CSM option 6 can be used to enable bulb exposure operation, in which the camera's shutter remains open as long as the shutter button is depressed.

While the S2 permits very long shutter speeds, I was surprised to find that it doesn't appear to incorporate a "dark frame subtraction" noise-reduction system, as found in most D-SLRs and high-end consumer digicams. I say this because the camera begins recording the captured image to the memory card the moment the shutter closes. That said, there's evidently some sort of noise reduction processing going on in the SuperCCD sensor, because even very long exposures are amazingly "clean," with virtually no "hot pixels." (I was quite impressed by the S2's low light capabilities.)

One mild disappointment in the S2's operation though, was that its metering system has trouble accurately metering exposure longer than 2-3 seconds. In a very dark room, where a 30 second manually-set exposure at ISO 200 produced a slightly underexposed image, the camera's AE system selected an exposure time of only three seconds in Programmed mode. I didn't test to determine the lower limit at which the S2's exposure metering gave out, but it seemed to work fine at levels a good three stops darker than normal city streetlighting. Thus, you should plan on using a good-quality external exposure meter if you need to do a lot of shooting in extremely dark conditions, but the built-in meter should work fine for normal indoor shots and city night scenes. (It nailed a three-second exposure at ISO 200 and f/3.5, which corresponds to a level of about 1/8 foot-candle or 0.13 lux. - Interestingly, the S2's manual seems to indicate that the exposure program bottoms out at a two second exposure time, even though my test unit went down to 3 seconds.)

Exposure compensation on the S2 can be adjusted from -3.0 to +3.0 EV (an wider than average range) in 1/2 EV increments by pressing the +/- button on the camera's top panel and rotating the main command dial. This adjustment is only available with the Programmed, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority and Manual exposure modes. Wait a minute, you say, what does "exposure compensation" mean if you're in manual exposure mode? You're controlling all the exposure parameters, so what's to compensate? It turns out that the S2 gives you an analog exposure readout in the viewfinder when in manual mode, showing whether the camera thinks you're exposing correctly or not. The exposure compensation setting in manual mode affects this exposure-feedback display, biasing it to indicate "correct" exposure when the exposure is actually high or low by the amount that you've dialed-in. Slick!

For the most part, I really liked the controls on the S2, but one area that I really felt needed improvement was the step size on the exposure compensation adjustment. The S2 has a 1/2 EV unit step size on its exposure compensation control, and there doesn't appear to be any option for switching to the 1/3 EV steps used by most other digicams. The 1/2 EV adjustment step is apparently a holdover from the N80 film body, and frankly is too large for exacting work with a digital camera. Film (even transparency film) has a wider exposure latitude than do the sensors on digital cameras. Exposure adjustments of 1/2 EV are thus fine for film work, but can make it difficult to set exposure precisely enough on a digital camera. I'd say if there was a single firmware enhancement I'd like to see Fuji make to the S2, it would be an option for 1/3 EV exposure compensation increments.

ISO sensitivity on the S2 Pro ranges from 100 to 1600, in steps of 100, 160, 200, 400, 800, and 1600. The user manual cautions about image noise at ISO settings higher than 400, but I thought the images were generally fairly clean. Looking at the numbers quantitatively and comparing between the S2 and Nikon's D100, I found that luminance noise between the two cameras was fairly close at ISO 200 (and the S2 slightly lower at its ISO 100 setting than the D100 at its minimum of ISO 200), but that the S2 showed 20-40% more noise in the individual red, green, and blue color channels. At ISO 1600, the results were odd, in that the S2 beat the D100 by about 5% in the luminance noise figure, but still had higher noise in the color channels by anywhere from 30-55%. So overall, the S2 and D100 are pretty close to each other in terms of luminance noise, but the S2 has somewhat higher chroma noise.

As mentioned earlier, an Auto-Exposure Lock function button lets you lock the camera's exposure settings for a certain area of your subject (instead of using a half-press of the shutter button to lock both exposure and focus). You simply point the camera at the part of the subject you want metered, hold down the AE-L/AF-L button and then recompose the shot. For the best/most predictable results, you should set the camera's metering mode to center-weighted or spot when using the AE lock function. (I'll discuss these metering modes in more detail in just a bit.) This decoupling of exposure and focus lock is a handy feature offered by most pro SLRs, but generally lacking in consumer-level digicams. By default, the AE-L/AF-L button locks both exposure and focus. CSM menu 9 offers a range of options relating to the AE-L/AF-L button. In addition to the default dual AE/AF lock, you can set it instead to lock just exposure, just focus, or to "latch" the exposure lock when it's pressed. When the AE button is set to latch exposure, you don't have to hold the button down to maintain the exposure setting: Press it once, and the exposure will remain locked until you either trip the shutter, or press the AE-L/AF-L button again. Finally, a fifth option lets you decouple the autofocus system from the shutter button. The "AF Operation" setting forces the camera's autofocus system to only operate when the AE-L/AF-L button is pressed.

Independent of the AE-L/AF-L button's functioning, you can separately control whether exposure locks when you half-press the shutter button. CSM menu screen 5 lets you disable the shutter-based AE lock. When this function is disabled, the camera will continue to adjust its exposure settings regardless of whether the shutter button is half-pressed or not. (The focus will still lock unless it also is decoupled by CSM option 9 as just described, but the exposure will be allowed to change.) With the function enabled, the exposure settings will be set whenever you half-press the shutter button, and will remain the same until the shutter is fired or the button released. NOTE that the S2's shutter button AE lock is disabled by default. (Most digicams lock exposure when the shutter is half-pressed, so you need to be aware of this when you first start shooting with the S2.)

The Self-Timer button on top of the camera activates the self-timer mode, which counts down from two, five, 10, or 20 seconds after the shutter button is pressed before firing the shutter. The AF Assist light on the front of the camera blinks during the countdown.

The Function Buttons
Many of the S2's exposure options are controlled through the series of function buttons on the camera's back panel, just beneath the small LCD display and above the larger LCD monitor. This is the same arrangement as appeared on the earlier S1 Pro, and I've found it to be one of the best camera interfaces I've yet encountered for setting common camera operating parameters. I really like the way the functions are immediately available, without having to delve into layers of menu structure to find the feature I'm looking for. The function buttons are "soft buttons", whose behavior are set by the contents of the LCD display above them. The FUNC button just to the left of the row of soft buttons controls which function menu is displayed in the LCD. The first press of the FUNC button displays the basic exposure function menu, featuring white balance, autofocus mode, image quality and size settings.

The second press of the Function button displays the next menu, which adjusts color, tone, and sharpness, and also lets you lock the function buttons so you won't inadvertently change a setting if you happen to bump the button panel while carrying the camera.

White Balance Options
The S2 Pro offers a wider than average range of white balance settings. Options include Auto, two separate Custom ("manual") settings, Sunny, Shade, three Fluorescent settings (Daylight, Warm White, Cool White), and Incandescent. The Incandescent option seems to be adjusted for 3200K studio lights (as you'd expect on a pro-oriented camera), so it doesn't fully compensate for the very warm cast of typical household incandescent bulbs. The Custom settings adjust the white balance to match specific lighting, based on a reference white card. To balance the color for a new light source, each Custom setting must be changed through the Record settings menu. I'd prefer to change the setting just by selecting the Custom white balance option, instead of having to access the LCD menu, but it's nice that the camera remembers the setting for you, without forcing you to choose a new setting every time you enter Custom white balance mode.

Tone, Color, and Sharpness Options
The S2's tone and color saturation variations are nicely balanced to give a useful range of control. (That is, the "high" color option isn't overly garish, and the "org" (original) setting gives nicely understated colors that aren't too flat. Options for tone (contrast) are STD (standard), HARD (high contrast), or ORG (original (?) - a lower contrast setting). Color options are STD (standard), HIGH (high contrast), ORG (original - a slightly lower saturation), and B/W (black and white). Sharpness options are STD (standard), HARD (higher in-camera sharpening) and OFF (no in-camera sharpening). As with color and tone, the sharpness options seem to cover a good range of variation. In particular, the OFF position produces files that respond beautifully to unsharp masking in Photoshop. (I found that setting Photoshop's unsharp masking operator to 300% and 0.4 pixel radius (on the 6 megapixel file size) produced astonishing amounts of very finely rendered detail.)

Flash

The S2offers both a built-in, pop-up flash and a hot shoe for connecting an external flash unit when more flash power is needed. (The external flash option seems to be able to work with a majority of Nikon dedicated flash units (unlike Nikon's own D-series cameras, which require special models of the SB-28 or SB-80). It isn't clear though, how well they'd work in TTL (through the lens) metering mode, given the different reflectance of the CCD than the conventional films that the N80 body's flash sensor is calibrated for. I found no problems in my own limited testing of the flash function, but my tests were far from comprehensive. The built-in flash has seven operating modes: Auto, On, Off, Anti Red-Eye, Slow Synchronization with Anti Redeye, Slow Synchronization, and Rear-Curtain Sync. All of the flash modes are controlled by the Flash button at the top of the camera's rear panel, and each is pretty self-explanatory. The Auto setting lets the camera judge when to use the flash, while the On setting fires the flash with every exposure and the Off setting disables the flash entirely (you can also close the flash compartment to disable the flash). Anti Redeye (equivalent to Redeye Reduction mode on other digicams) fires a small pre-flash before firing the full flash, to avoid the annoying Redeye Effect. Slow Synchronization works with a slower shutter speed to illuminate the subject and also allow more ambient light into the image. Likewise, Slow Synchronization with Anti Redeye just combines the two modes for night portraits. Finally, Rear-Curtain Sync fires the flash at the end of long exposures, so any "motion trails" will appear behind moving subjects, rather than seeming to proceed in front of them. The top mounted hot shoe should accommodate most Nikon Speedlights, as well as other third party flash units designed for Nikon compatibility. Check the manual for more specific information.

Effective Flash Range (from S2 Manual):

ISO	100	400
Guide Number (feet)	39	78
f-stop (aperture)	Flash control range	Flash control range
2.8	1.0-3.3m (3.3 - 10.7 ft.)	3.0-6.0m (9.8 - 19.9 ft.)
4	0.7-2.5m (2.3 - 8.1 ft.)	2.3-5.0m (7.5 - 16.3 ft.)
5.6	0.6-1.7m (2.0 - 5.5 ft.)	2.0-3.5m (6.5 - 11.4 ft.)
8	0.6-1.0m (2.0 - 14.1 ft.)	0.8-2.3m (2.6 - 7.5 ft.)
11	-	0.6-1.6m (2.0 - 5.2 ft.)

 

When I tested the original S1, I found that its flash didn't throttle down very well for nearby subjects. By comparison, the S2 did quite well in this regard at lower ISO settings, and only began to have problems throttling down at ISOs of 800 and above. The S2's internal flash has a guide number of 12 meters at ISO 100, and a maximum flash sync speed of 1/125 second. (The latter is somewhat slow by modern standards.)

I confess to being somewhat surprised by how well the S2 did with flash exposures, given the significant difference in reflectivity of CCDs as compared to film. Many SLRs offering TTL (through the lens) flash metering rely on the light reflected from the film surface to gauge the flash exposure while the shutter is open. Because CCD sensors have very different reflectance characteristics than photo film, these cameras tend to overexpose flash pictures by 1 to 1.5 f-stops. I was therefore somewhat surprised when I discovered that the S1's flash actually did a pretty good job of getting the exposure right, as long as I was within the acceptable working distance. (As noted above though, my testing of the S2's flash operation was far from comprehensive.)

As noted, the S2 also has an external flash hot shoe, just behind the pop-up flash compartment. The hot shoe accommodates Nikon accessory strobes, as well as a wide range of third party flashes. The range of flash sync modes remains available for compatible flash units. Different Nikon speedlights offer different features when used on the S2 with different lenses. Rather than try to reproduce the large table from the S2's manual here, I'll just note again that the S2 doesn't seem to need the special "DX" flash types required by Nikon's own digital SLRs. Chances therefore are good that whatever Nikon speedlight you happen to already own should work on the S2 much as it does on your film-based SLRs.

Metering
The S2 offers three separate metering modes, selected via a small ring surrounding the AE-L/AF-L button on the camera's rear panel. The 10-zone multi-pattern metering divides the image into ten zones, which are then measured and analyzed to determine the best exposure for the full image. Alternatively, the S2's center-weighted metering system averages values from a broad area in the center of the image to determine the exposure. Finally, the Spot Metering option determines the exposure by metering a roughly 4mm diameter area in the viewfinder (approximately 2% of the image area). The spot metering area shifts to follow the selected focus area. (When the camera is in closest-subject priority dynamic autofocus mode though, the spot metering area always remains in the center of the shot.)

Multiple Exposure Mode
You can enable multiple exposures on the S2, through the Release Mode switch on the left side of the its top panel. This lets you make multiple exposures on one frame. It's just like exposing the same frame of 35mm film without advancing the film, either to brighten the exposure or to create the effect of a multiple exposure. This is a little surprising to find on a digital camera (although it was also present on the S1), and I suspect that any serious work of this sort would be better done in the computer, rather than in the camera itself. It does have a huge advantage over similar modes in film-based cameras, in that you can immediately see the results of your multi-exposure on the LCD screen, rather than waiting for the film to come back from developing. Overall, an entertaining option, but one I don't think will find a lot of application.

Preview Mode
Through the Record settings menu, you can enable a Preview mode which provides a powerful tool for checking your exposure. When set to Auto Record, the image is previewed but automatically recorded. However, under the Manual Record setting, the image is still previewed, but must be confirmed before saving to memory. Once in Preview mode, the function menu (smaller rear LCD display) allows you to save or delete the image, as well as display a histogram or check the color. The histogram function button actually toggles between the Master histogram (showing the distribution of brightness values in the image) and the individual histograms for the red, green, and blue channels. This gives you a good idea of the distribution of tonal values across the image and whether it's under or over exposed. In Preview Mode, the Color function displays two reference bars, one of gray tones and the other of the standard color range, which help you evaluate the color and tonal values of your image for proper exposure.