Fujifilm FinePix S5200 Zoom Review

The S5200 employs a powerful Fujinon f3.2-f3.5, 6.4-64.0mm 10x optical zoom lens, it's equivalent to 38-380mm on a 35mm camera. The all-glass lens is constructed of 11 elements in 8 groups with 2 aspherical elements and 2 anomalous dispersion elements. This is a non-extending type lens and is threaded for 55mm filters and conversion lenses like Fujifilm's WL-FX9 wide angle.

The TTL contrast-type auto focus system features Single AF, Continuous AF and Manual focus modes with your choice of AF frame selection: AF (Center) or AF(Multi). The focusing range in wide angle is from 3.0 ft. (0.9m) to infinity, in telephoto from 6.6 ft. (2.0m) to infinity. The Macro mode covers from 0.3 to 6.6 ft (0.1-2m) in Wide and 3.0 to 6.6 ft (0.9-2m) in Tele. The aperture range is f/2.8-8.0 in wide angle and f/3.2-9.0 in telephoto, both in 9 steps.

The S5200 is equipped with a low-light focus assist illuminator. This blue-green lamp will illuminate your subject when the ambient lighting gets too low, the effective range is up to 2.4m (wide) depending on subject. The AF assist is not effective when the zoom is set beyond the 6x telephoto position, it works best in wide angle focal lengths.

The focus mode is selected by a button on the top-left side of the camera. Press the button to select Single-AF, Continuous-AF or Manual focus. Flip the switch to the LOCK position to prevent accidentally changing focus modes.

The manual popup flash has an effective range in wide angle of 1.0 ft to 13.1 ft (0.3 m to 4.0 m) and 2.6 ft to 13.1 ft (0.8 m to 4.0 m) in telephoto. Flash modes available are: Auto, Red-eye reduction, Forced flash, Suppressed flash, Slow Syncro and Red-eye reduction + Slow Synchro.

The eyelevel finder is a tiny, high-resolution (115,000 pixels) 0.33-inch color LCD with a magnified eyepiece. It is called an Electronic ViewFinder or EVF for short. It has dioptric adjustment and displays all the same information and menus as the large color LCD display. The EVF/LCD button toggles between the two displays.

On the back is a 1.8-inch color TFT LCD monitor for image preview, review and accessing the camera's menus. In the upper right corner is the zoom lens buttons. The EVF/LCD button toggles the display screens. The 4-way controller lets you navigate menus and select images in playback mode. The "Left" button toggles the Macro focus on and off and the Flash modes are controlled with the "Right" button. In the center is the MENU/OK button which toggles the Menu on/off . While ON, the menu selections are navigated with the 4-way and the OK button makes selections. The DISP/BACK button is used to escape from menu operations, in Record selects the LCD monitor information ON/OFF or selects the four framing grid lines, and in Playback toggles between Text display ON/OFF and Index of last nine images in tiny thumbnails. The blue "F" (Photo Mode) button is for changing image size/quality, ISO speed and color mode.

On top of the handgrip is the Power / Record / Play switch and shutter release.

Drive mode and Exposure compensation buttons

The Mode Dial allowing you to quickly select from: Auto, Program AE, Shutter priority, Aperture priority, full Manual, Movie, Night, Landscape, Portrait, Natural Light and Anti-Blur.

On the side is the speaker, USB 1.1 port, the DC INput jack for an optional AC power adapter and an Audio-Video Out port allows connection to a TV for playback, the signal format is selectable for NTSC or PAL standard.

The S5200 is equipped with a xD-Picture Card slot and is supplied with a 16MB xD card. It's compatible with any xD card from 16MB to 1GB.

Power is supplied by four standard AA type batteries, alkaline or NiMH. Using alkaline type Fuji claims you can capture 250 frames with LCD/270 frames with the EVF. Using 2500mAh NiMH type you can capture 500 frames with LCD/540 frames with the EVF. CIPA standard testing.

We highly recommend the use of NiMH rechargeable batteries - they're reusable, more powerful and will save you money and keeps old batteries out of your local landfill.