looking at a Fuji FinePix S5700

[davethe11]

I have little to no experience in photography, digital or otherwise, but I've always appreciated photography, and was particularly inspired when I saw the Wildlife Photographer of the year exhibition in the Natural History Museum over christmas.

Now I've got a few pennies to rub together I've decided to invest. I understand the benefits of DSLR, but my budget wont strech and I'm happy to start off with a non-SLR. The Fuji FinePix S5700 has been recommended to me as a great budget camera by a friend of a friend, and I've found it at a great price too. I just wondered if anyone has this camera, and what they thought of it. Any alternative camera suggestions are welcomed, even DSLR suggestions, though my budget will not reach these cameras I'm afriad. My budget is £120 max by the way.

cheers

 

[TheAlex]

A few people on here would recommend that camera, though I didn't like the Fuji bridge camera I owned (high noise, no proper liveview or histogram and some other things I can't remember). For £120 I'm not sure you could do better than that though, unless you got a used Canon G series.

 

[davethe11]

many thanks for the info, I've been reading up a lot and I'm keen on the S5700, the only major criticism seems to be a purple tint on high contrast images which doesn't mean a great deal to me at the mo anyways. Think I'll get this camera and learn with it, then I can upgrade when money permits to a DSLR and then appreciate the benefits.

 

[knowledge123]

I have an S5800, a few updates from the s5700 below are some sample pics and a review, you can click my sig (the pic in the sig was taken with a S5800) too, to see my online gallery.
sample pics
review
I'm still learning from it and it has a great array of features, the only problem I have with it is that manual focus is rubbish, and the purplish tint (which can be removed with Photoshop Elements) other than that, it is pretty spot on. I need to update the online gallery as I haven't put some of my newer pics up.
Everything from image 14 onwards was taken with the s5800.

 

[Mr Jones]

I have little to no experience in photography, digital or otherwise, but I've always appreciated photography, and was particularly inspired when I saw the Wildlife Photographer of the year exhibition in the Natural History Museum over christmas.

Now I've got a few pennies to rub together I've decided to invest. I understand the benefits of DSLR, but my budget wont strech and I'm happy to start off with a non-SLR. The Fuji FinePix S5700 has been recommended to me as a great budget camera by a friend of a friend, and I've found it at a great price too. I just wondered if anyone has this camera, and what they thought of it. Any alternative camera suggestions are welcomed, even DSLR suggestions, though my budget will not reach these cameras I'm afriad. My budget is £120 max by the way.

cheers

If I am correct, the S5700 is basically a Fuji FinePix F30 housed in a Bridge Camera casing, with the same pros and flaws as the F30 (but apparently lower in image quality due to the lens) - the upside of that is the extra zoom you get.

If you need zoom and on tight budget, look for the S5700 (second hand even cheaper) or a F30 for it's compatibility but with only 3x zoom.

 

[davethe11]

I have an S5800, a few updates from the s5700 below are some sample pics and a review, you can click my sig (the pic in the sig was taken with a S5800) too, to see my online gallery.

great pics! I'm getting the bug already and I havn't decided on equipment yet! Thanks for the link to the review too, very informative and the more information I can gather the quicker I learn about the technology I did look at the S5800 and I could only find that it had a higher pixel count over the S5700 (8 instead of 7.1) and considering it is a little more expensive I decided to opt for the S5700 instead (if I chose a fuji camera that is). Is there anything more to the S5800 over the S5700 that could make the extra cost worth it at all?

If I am correct, the S5700 is basically a Fuji FinePix F30 housed in a Bridge Camera casing, with the same pros and flaws as the F30 (but apparently lower in image quality due to the lens) - the upside of that is the extra zoom you get.

The zoom is not high on my priority list at all, so isn't a major factor in me looking at the S5700. I see the F30 has the octagonal sensor cells (the Super CCD) which apparently gives better image quality in low light situations: I would be interested in connecting my camera to my telescope so this may factor into the equation, but I'm not sure if this is possible with fixed lense cameras. You refer to the compatibility of the F30 over the S5700, am I correct in assuming you mean compactability (I see from pics that the F30 is a compact camera rather than a bridge camera) or are you referring to image file types that the camera creates?

 

[waveydave79]

I have the 5600 version of this camera. I would recommend to go for this camera. I am also quite new to photography and getting into it as yourself, this was a good choice for me becuase it has plenty of manual adjustments, which is great for learning, plus there cheap, I also like the interface of the fujifilms.

Your welcome to look at my photo gallery at

eited.myphotoalbum.com

some of these photos are bad, there are 1 or 2 which are ok. But I am positive its me and not the camera. Now the weather is nicer, I plan to try some landscapes. and other types of shots.

Good luck. and please post some of your work.
D:

 

[knowledge123]

great pics! I'm getting the bug already and I havn't decided on equipment yet!

Thanks! The winter months are difficult because there are hardly any bugs around. I'm very passionate about macro photography.

Thanks for the link to the review too, very informative and the more information I can gather the quicker I learn about the technology I did look at the S5800 and I could only find that it had a higher pixel count over the S5700 (8 instead of 7.1) and considering it is a little more expensive I decided to opt for the S5700 instead (if I chose a fuji camera that is). Is there anything more to the S5800 over the S5700 that could make the extra cost worth it at all?

SDHC card compatibility is a great plus, in my book. Higher Digital zoom (5.1x vs 4.8x) and Histogram/Highlight warning are all good features.

 

[Mr Jones]

The zoom is not high on my priority list at all, so isn't a major factor in me looking at the S5700. I see the F30 has the octagonal sensor cells (the Super CCD) which apparently gives better image quality in low light situations: I would be interested in connecting my camera to my telescope so this may factor into the equation, but I'm not sure if this is possible with fixed lense cameras. You refer to the compatibility of the F30 over the S5700, am I correct in assuming you mean compactability (I see from pics that the F30 is a compact camera rather than a bridge camera) or are you referring to image file types that the camera creates?

Sorry, I meant Compatibility - stupid spell check made me say otherwise.
I'm not sure how you can attach your telescope to the camera, sorry but usually, these involves either a DSLR or a pro-consumer camera like the Fuji S9600?

 

[davethe11]

Your welcome to look at my photo gallery at

eited.myphotoalbum.com

Good luck. and please post some of your work.
D:

very nice pics, Jack is too cute!

I look forward to posting some pics of my own too

SDHC card compatibility is a great plus, in my book. Higher Digital zoom (5.1x vs 4.8x) and Histogram/Highlight warning are all good features.

had a quick read up on them, I'm familiar with histograms but not in photography so look forward to applying my knowledge there I checked the S5700 spec and it also features the Histogram warning so thats cool, and as far as I can tell the SDHC card gives better video performance (which I'm not too bothered about) and fat32 formatted memory 2 gigs and upwards, so this may be the only thing to consider between the S5700 and S5800 for me.

Sorry, I meant Compatibility - stupid spell check made me say otherwise.
I'm not sure how you can attach your telescope to the camera, sorry but usually, these involves either a DSLR or a pro-consumer camera like the Fuji S9600?

no probs, I'm guessing it's is the firefox 3 spell checker

I thought it may be problematic to connect a non-DSLR to my telescope, and astrophotography wasn't really my aim for now, so no probs there. But it wont stop me trying

thanks for all the help, advice and information everyone, it's much appreciated. The cost of the S5700 and its features are appealing, so I'm gonna have a think on it and make my decision. I'm always grateful for any further suggestions or help too.

 

[a1ex2001]

have a look at the fuji s500fd, you should definately be able to pick one up for your budget. It got excellent reviews and it's SLR like handling should set you in good stead for a future upgrade.

 

[davethe11]

I couldn't find an s500fd, would it be an s6500fd? If so, I found it more expensive I'm afraid with delivery (in the region of 165+). Many thanks for the suggestion though, and it seems a fine camera all the same.

But, I did order (and received today!) an S5700, a 2gig SD card, and a suitable case for 130ish all in, so I'm a happy bunny

Regrading the SDHC support, it does actually support it which is great news if I find I want +2gb storage, the faster access time is negligable for this camera though (for video purposes I assume) as it is the camera that limits the speed (or so I have read). The SDHC support is available with the latest firmware (1.02) which was already on my camera, so I'm glad I didn't spend the extra on the S5800 as the saving enabled me to get a 2gig stick and a nice tailor made fuji case, over a 1gig stick and a generic case.

I'm one of those types that likes to read the manual and experiment with technology before jumping in and just using it, so I'm currently doing that and learning about f-stops, ISO, exposure, and the electrical trickery that the camera can do to assist in these settings (I'm not an automan I'm afraid).

First impressions (remember I'm completely new to this) are that the camera is built well, is comfortable to hold (even in my big clumsy hands), the GUI is easy to use, and I've got to learn to keep my hands off the pop-up flash I will take some pics soon with different settings and request your feedback soon!