Digi4Ever
July 31st, 2002, 03:03 PM
The Fuji S2 Pro - The Best Digital SLR? One person's opinion.
We could talk all day (and we probably will on this forum!) about the features of all the various new digital SLR's out there, but the real test is in the pictures they take. We also own the S1 and a Canon D30 (now on sale!) and I took all 3 cameras, plus a borrowed D60, out for a "field test" around my house.
All cameras were set to their highest (non-interpolated) resolution in Fine quality with the images saved as Jpegs.
I took a bunch of pictures, printed them out on my Epson 2000P at 8x10 with no post-adjustments to them other than resizing and setting to 300dpi.
I'll rate them as 1,2,3,4
The output results (IMHO) were as follows:
Best Color (read, most accurate)
1. S2 - The color (after printing and comparing to "reality") of the S2 is as close to dead-on as my eyes can see. Quite fantastic really.
2. D30 - Great color, close match to reality just a bit oversaturated
3. S1 - Also great color, but slightly oversaturated Blues and Greens and a bit of a "blotchy" affect in the sky.
4. D60 - Very surprisingly, the D60 looked great on the screen, but upon printing and comparing to "reality", the colors were WAY oversaturated. I went back and reduced the color level by 25% and the pictures were better, but the S2 was still more accurate by far.
If color accuracy is your thing, the S2 appears to be best. (IMHO)
Sharpness of image (Best, not "the sharpest image")
1. S2
2. D60
3. D30
4. S1
Now the debate. I am saying here that the Sharpness of the S2 is set at an ideal level in the camera for the shots I took. I thought the D60 was over-sharp. I like to have more control over the sharpness. Yes, I can turn this down on the D60 to make it virtually the same, but why should I have to do this?
I will say, however, that when taking pictures in B&W mode, the D60 pics were the best. I live in the Rocky Mountains so I picked out a nice Peak, put on a 300mm telephoto lens on both the S100 & D60 and took a few shots. The images from the D60 were so sharp and crystal-clear they looked like you could touch them and cut yourself on the edges. The S2 images were great too, but a slight edge to the D60. (All you Ansel Adams wanabe's take note)
Image Flaws (Problems noticed in the images) at 200, 400 & 800 ISO
1. & 2. Tie. S2 & D60 - I frankly did not notice any noise, moire, or other such flaws in any of the test shots I took with either at 200 or 400. Even at ISO800 the noise level was very low, much better than any other D-SLR I have used (Including the D1).
3. D30 - Some color shifting in Sky-blue (not much, but there) especially where the blue starts getting whiter at the horizon. At ISO800, I began to see enough noise that I would not use it unless I had to.
4. S1 - Solid colors are a problem. Noise at higher ISO's makes them unusable (ISO400 is usable, but not 800). Noise even at 400 is noticeable if you zoom into an area where there is a great deal of contrast.
The S2 & D60 really shine here. I took a few pictures of my front porch, half in light, half not, with all 4 cameras at ISO200 (ISO320 on the S1) and then cropped out a small section, about 800x800 pixels square, and blew this up to an 8x10 with Photoshop. The S1 looked truly awful. The solid blue of the trim was so badly dotted that I would not even know it was blue to begin with. The D30 was a bit better, but not great. The S2 & D60 were both very clean with almost no blotching or noise in the color at all. The whites remained clear and consistent as well.
I have not noticed any of the problems in my pictures that I have seen reported on other sites. Hopefully it stays that way.
I am still debating in my head about whether I should have tried the D100 first, but I have made my choice and think it was a good one.
More (including links to some of our pictures) to follow.
Will
We could talk all day (and we probably will on this forum!) about the features of all the various new digital SLR's out there, but the real test is in the pictures they take. We also own the S1 and a Canon D30 (now on sale!) and I took all 3 cameras, plus a borrowed D60, out for a "field test" around my house.
All cameras were set to their highest (non-interpolated) resolution in Fine quality with the images saved as Jpegs.
I took a bunch of pictures, printed them out on my Epson 2000P at 8x10 with no post-adjustments to them other than resizing and setting to 300dpi.
I'll rate them as 1,2,3,4
The output results (IMHO) were as follows:
Best Color (read, most accurate)
1. S2 - The color (after printing and comparing to "reality") of the S2 is as close to dead-on as my eyes can see. Quite fantastic really.
2. D30 - Great color, close match to reality just a bit oversaturated
3. S1 - Also great color, but slightly oversaturated Blues and Greens and a bit of a "blotchy" affect in the sky.
4. D60 - Very surprisingly, the D60 looked great on the screen, but upon printing and comparing to "reality", the colors were WAY oversaturated. I went back and reduced the color level by 25% and the pictures were better, but the S2 was still more accurate by far.
If color accuracy is your thing, the S2 appears to be best. (IMHO)
Sharpness of image (Best, not "the sharpest image")
1. S2
2. D60
3. D30
4. S1
Now the debate. I am saying here that the Sharpness of the S2 is set at an ideal level in the camera for the shots I took. I thought the D60 was over-sharp. I like to have more control over the sharpness. Yes, I can turn this down on the D60 to make it virtually the same, but why should I have to do this?
I will say, however, that when taking pictures in B&W mode, the D60 pics were the best. I live in the Rocky Mountains so I picked out a nice Peak, put on a 300mm telephoto lens on both the S100 & D60 and took a few shots. The images from the D60 were so sharp and crystal-clear they looked like you could touch them and cut yourself on the edges. The S2 images were great too, but a slight edge to the D60. (All you Ansel Adams wanabe's take note)
Image Flaws (Problems noticed in the images) at 200, 400 & 800 ISO
1. & 2. Tie. S2 & D60 - I frankly did not notice any noise, moire, or other such flaws in any of the test shots I took with either at 200 or 400. Even at ISO800 the noise level was very low, much better than any other D-SLR I have used (Including the D1).
3. D30 - Some color shifting in Sky-blue (not much, but there) especially where the blue starts getting whiter at the horizon. At ISO800, I began to see enough noise that I would not use it unless I had to.
4. S1 - Solid colors are a problem. Noise at higher ISO's makes them unusable (ISO400 is usable, but not 800). Noise even at 400 is noticeable if you zoom into an area where there is a great deal of contrast.
The S2 & D60 really shine here. I took a few pictures of my front porch, half in light, half not, with all 4 cameras at ISO200 (ISO320 on the S1) and then cropped out a small section, about 800x800 pixels square, and blew this up to an 8x10 with Photoshop. The S1 looked truly awful. The solid blue of the trim was so badly dotted that I would not even know it was blue to begin with. The D30 was a bit better, but not great. The S2 & D60 were both very clean with almost no blotching or noise in the color at all. The whites remained clear and consistent as well.
I have not noticed any of the problems in my pictures that I have seen reported on other sites. Hopefully it stays that way.
I am still debating in my head about whether I should have tried the D100 first, but I have made my choice and think it was a good one.
More (including links to some of our pictures) to follow.
Will