Fujifilm FinePix S2 Pro SLR Review

The Main Command Dial is easily activated with your thumb and works in conjunction with many of the other control buttons to quickly change camera options. The AE-L / AF-L button lock the exposure and focus settings when desired. Around it is the metering selection dial with positions for center-weighted (meters entire frame but assigns greatest weight to the center 12mm), 3D matrix (ten-segment matrix sensor sets exposure based on all areas of the frame) and spot (only the center 4mm of the frame is metered.)

Located on the front below the shutter release is the sub command dial, it's used to select various camera options. Around the shutter release is the power on/off switch. Behind are the flash mode and exposure compensation buttons. Note that shutter release is tapped and accepts standard cable releases.

Also seen here is the AF illuminator (aka focus assist lamp) and the DOF (depth of field) preview button.

The two buttons underneath of the mode dial on the back are used in conjunction with the Main Command Dial to enable Auto Exposure Bracketing and change the Flash Modes.

The green dot under the BKT button indicates that when this button and the Exposure Comp button (which also has a green dot) are pressed simultaneously it performs the "two button reset." The following settings are cancelled; flexible program, exposure comp., AE-L, AE bracketing, flash exposure comp., the focus area is reset to center and flash sync is reset to front curtain. If the mode dial is on CSM then all custom settings are reset and the ISO is set to 200.

On the side is where you'll find the S2 Pro's I/O ports. On top is the high speed IEEE 1394 FireWire port. Below is the 5V DC-IN port for the AC Adapter. The Video Out signal format is NTSC or PAL (depending on country of origin) and allows for connection to a TV or video monitor. The USB 1.1 port is helpful if you don't have FireWire but it's much slower.

It would have been nice if Fuji had used the faster USB 2.0 standard but kudos for including the FireWire port that is sorely missing on the D60 and D100 cameras.

The S2 Pro unlike all the other current crop of semi-pro SLR cameras does -not- use a proprietary lithium battery pack. Rather it uses four AA type batteries (high capacity NiMH recommended) as the main power supply. This was also the main power source of the S1 Pro but now the batteries fit into a holder that runs the length of the camera body.

A pair of CR123A lithium one-use batteries are used to power the internal flash and is a leftover from its N80 roots. The camera may be operated without the CR123A batteries but the internal flash cannot be used. Fuji calls this an "emergency measure" and does not recommend it as the standard operating method. They warn that focus speed and shutter operation may be affected if these batteries are not being used.

The S2 Pro is equipped with both a SmartMedia and CompactFlash Type II slot and is compatible with any capacity 3.3v SmartMedia card or any CompactFlash Type I or II solid state card. It's also fully IBM Microdrive compatible.

Plan on using a 512MB CF card or a 1GB Microdrive, the S2 Pro's images can consume a lot of memory space. Check out the following chart, those 12-megapixel TIFFs are 35.5 MEGABYTES each!