Click to take a QTVR tour of the S1

Early in 2000 Nikon introduced the D1 digital camera and the world of professional digicams would never be the same. Before the D1 came on the scene only working photojournalists or the rich and famous could afford the benefits of a high performance SLR digital camera. What once cost $13,000 or more is now available for less, much less. The price of professional digicams is falling as each new generation is introduced.

Fuji Photo Film now makes it more affordable than ever to get into professional digital photography by merging Fujifilm's Super CCD image sensor technology with Nikon's N60 SLR camera to create the FinePix S1 Pro. This camera uses a Nikon F lens mount so photographers with a substantial investment in Nikkor lenses can make the move to digital as economically as possible.

The FinePix S1 Pro has a 1.1 inch Super CCD sensor that delivers ultra-high resolution 3042 x 2016-pixel images files. Other features include a 1.5 frames/second burst rate (up to five frames), adjustable ISO sensitivity of 320/400/800/1600, shutter speeds from 30 to 1/2000 seconds and both SmartMedia and CompactFlash Type II card slots.

Choose from a variety of exposure modes: General Purpose Program, Auto-Multi Program (Flexible Program possible), Shutter-priority, Aperture-priority, 5 Variable-program modes (portrait, landscape, close-up, sport, night scene) or full Manual.   3D Matrix exposure metering with D-type AF Nikkor lenses, 6-segment Matrix with non-D-type AF Nikkor or AI-P Nikkor lenses and Center-weighed in Manual exposure mode or with AE Lock. 3 EV range of exposure compensation in 1/3 EV increments. White Balance settings for Auto, Sunny, Shade, Incandescent, 3 modes for Fluorescent or Custom.

On the back is a 200,000 pixel 2-inch TFT color LCD. There's also an illuminated monochrome data LCD that allows you to change record and playback features without using the big color LCD. Image playback is available in fullscreen with zoom (up to 19x !), four or nine thumbnails plus a master histogram indication as well as histograms for each color channel.

Looking down on the top, the S1 Pro has all the same camera features as the Nikon N60. On the left is the Mode Dial (more on this on the next page) and selftimer button, Nikon-TTL flash hot shoe, shutter release (with threaded hole for cable release), power switch, exposure compensation, aperture and flash mode buttons plus the large data LCD for the camera settings.

As you'd expect from a professional camera, the S1 Pro has a wide and flat bottom and mounts securely on a tripod. The access door is for the camera batteries, not to be confused with the digital section's batteries.

Here's the left and right side views

The FinePix S1 Pro is available as a camera body only, camera + battery kit and camera + battery + Microdrive (340MB, 512MB or 1GB).

The FinePix S1 Pro (body only) kit includes:

FinePix S1 Pro body, 16 MB SmartMedia, USB and AV Cables, 2 x CR123A Lithium-Ion Batteries (for camera operation), 1 x CR2025 Lithium Ion Battery (for date etc.), 4 x AA Alkaline batteries (for LCD and electronics), Battery Adapter Shortcut Device, Software CD, PC & Mac: (Adobe Photoshop 5.0 LE, Exif Viewer, Camera Shooting Software, USB Drivers for Windows 98/2000) Manual, Neckstrap, Eyepiece Cap, Camera Body Cap.