FP S2 vis a vis Nikon D100

[Jimbo]

Have been reading many Digital Camera mags as well as surfing the net trying to get a handle on a new Digital Camera. Found out today (at a camera store) that the Fugi and Nikon are both owned by the same company and are very similar in design and function. I've been handling the Nikon for several days but not the Fugi. Question is: Has anybody had experience with both cameras and what feedback can you offer regarding pro's and con's of the two!

According to the store guy, he says the fugi is much easier to learn as far as the various functions. Met a gal in the store today and she is a professional wedding shooter and she said when her D100 got a spot in the lens she bought an S2 and is retiring her Nikon in favor of the Fugi.

Any comments appreciated.

[lightwrangler]

The S2 and the D100 are based on the same camera body, the N80 which is made by Nikon. Fuji and Nikon are two completely separate companies and are most definitely NOT owned by the same corporation (the camera store is badly misinformed). Fuji buys the N80 from Nikon and attaches it's digital parts (mostly a back) to the camera. The chips used in the cameras are different but are roughly around the same pixel size.

I have used both before settling on the Fuji. The colour rendition looked better to me and I just liked the controls better. The files looked sharper and in the end the larger file size (interpolated) was another draw. There was considerably less post processing needed with the Fuji, which is a big savings in time. I also liked the fact that I could reuse my old Nikon Sb28 flash on the Fuji. The Nikon shoots slightly faster (3 fps vrs 2 fps) and uses only one battery system, which is a minor irritant with the Fuji, which uses two battery systems. No big deal, I just leave out the CR123 batteries which only power the on-board flash, since I don't need that anyway.

I'm not sure what you mean about " her D100 got a spot in the lens". This would have nothing to do with the camera, since the lens is a separate item. However as a wedding shooter I could see her preferring the Fuji for it's better skin tones.

Bottom line, for my purposes the Fuji was a better choice. This in no way means that the D100 is a crappy camera, it works quite well too. I have a couple of friends who use theirs everyday and just love them. I prefered the Fuji and find it holds up well and delivers the shots that satisfy my client's needs.

[Tim]

This topic has been covered literally hundreds or thousands of times in nearly every forum on the planet. Since this is an S2 forum, I hope you realize which way the response will lean.

MANY folks on this forum either owned or came close to owning the D100- myself included. I decided the S2 was worth a try in spite of a 30 year association with Nikon products. The main reasons usually discussed are:

The S2 has a better user interface and is easier to control on the go.

The S2 has better skin tones. The D100 is more neutral and more "sterile"- almost analytical.

The S2 requires much less post processing for acceptable images.

The S2 has higher resolution- it measures in the 9MP range after the camera does it's interpolation from 6 to 12MP.


I think that's the normal rundown- I'm sure others will add anything I overlooked. For a LOT of discussion on this topic try the Fuji SLR and Nikon SLR forums at DPReview.com.


Tim

[Duck]

Thom Hogan's comparison sold me on the S2... after days of research between the two cameras, I went with the S2 and love it.

Thom Hogan's S2vsD100 Review (http://www.bythom.com/s2d100.htm)

[steve bingham]

One point not mentioned above, it has less noise, especially at higher ISOs. Go to dpreview.com and spent a dozen hours of studying and you will see what we are talking about. 1- Sharper image, 2- Less noise, 3- Easier controls, 4- Better color. Keep in mind, the average amateur would never see or care about slight differences in noise and sharpness. Pros do.

[bjnicholls]

Leave it to me to crash a love fest. I'm happy with my S2, but there are some things I don't like that the D100 does better:

The textured plastic makes the S2 feel like the cheapest camera I've owned. The D100 has the same grippy surface that my N80 body provides. Obviously not a major issue.

I'd prefer a lithium-ion battery system to the S2's clunky dual battery design. Li-ions offer much lower self-discharge rates. Yes, AA NiMH batteries are cheaper, but I'd gladly pay more to cut down on the hassles of battery managment. The more AA rechargeables you use, the more headache it is to keep track of the charge status. Yes, I leave some cells in the smart chargers, but a power hit will knock them out and leave me wondering how discharged the cells really are.

Track noise is a problem Fuji has that I haven't seen in any D100 image. Some S2 images really suffer from it and it's impossible (for me) to predict, let alone avoid. The new Adobe converter helps with track noise but it doesn't eliminate it (unless you ramp up the smoothness enough to kill the image detail). Prints don't show it unless they're quite large, but that's not much consolation when you want to crop an image and make a good size print.

The D100's histogram is bigger and easier to read, the abiltiy to highlight blown-out areas in the image is something the S2 could really use. The S2 forces you to rely on the histogram because the display is too bright even at its lowest setting.

A DSLR needs 1/3 stop exposure system increments. If you shoot raw, you can make up for the Fuji's 1/2 stop limitation, but not if you're shooting jpegs and want to use them without underexposing to hedge your bets.

The software is mediocre at best, but I don't have experience with Nikon Capture to know if it's any better. I suspect they'd equal out with pros and cons. Now that the Adobe capture plugin is on the market, Fuji should quit trying to milk extra cash from some S2 buyers and bundle the EX converter in every package. The LE converter is really no converter at all since you can't modify settings. Fuji should deliver raw image capability to every S2 owner and do some work making the browser and converter work seamlessly.

One S2 advantage that I didn't see mentioned is the camera's ability to provide TTL flash control without requring Nikon's bogus DX speedlights. Nikon's "solution" is a step backward in TTL performance (no real time metering) and the Nikon DSLRs can't deliver TTL operation with ringlights, underwater speedlights, and an extensive range of Nikon and Nikon-compatible flash units. This was a tipping factor in my choice of the S2 over the D100.

The two cameras are quite close in performance and the choice depends on which of the plusses and minuses make the most difference to you.


Fujifilm isn't a Mitsubishi company as Nikon is, but then neither is Kodak and they also base DSLRs on Nikon bodies:

http://www.mitsubishi.or.jp/e/contents/contents_2.html

[steve bingham]

Track noise??? What is it? I have only shot about 1700+ images to date and I haven't seen it. A half dozen of my images have gone 2' x 3' with no sign. A hundred plus have been highly manipulated and inspected in Photoshop. Strange I haven't seen it. What do I look for and where do I find it? Are all S2s supposed to have it?

[steve bingham]

Also, make sure whatever you get uses firewire or USB 2 - otherwise you will be hating life with raw or tiff files.

[fberg]

I agree with the Steve'comment.

To today, the S2 is the digital srl with less noise.