Kyocera Finecam S5R Review

The Finecam S5R is equipped with an all-glass 3x optical zoom lens, f=7.3 mm - 21.9 mm (35mm equivalent 35mm - 105mm), F2.8-4.8. The lens combines a compact size and high performance through the use of special low-dispersion glass, four aspheric lenses and continuous AF. The focusing range in normal mode is about 60cm to infinity and in Macro mode from about 17cm - 60cm (at wide-angle setting). The 3x optical zoom lens provides a maximum of 11x when used with the newly developed 3.7x digital zoom.

As you can see, no lens cap is required as the lens retracts back into the body when powered down and is protected by a built in shield.

To help you get the best possible battery life the S5R has both an optical real image viewfinder and a high-resolution color LCD. The color LCD should be used when in Macro mode to avoid parallax problems.

The built-in flash automatically pops up when the camera is powered on and closes when it is turned off. It has a recycle time of about 8 seconds (on full battery charge), and a working range from about 60cm to 2.5 meters. User selectable modes are auto flash, red-eye reduction, forced flash, no flash, red-eye reduction forced flash in long exposure modes.

The 1.6-inch 70,000 pixel TFT color LCD can be used for preview, review and setting menu options. Controls across the top: Mode Dial (Setup, Play, Record, Continuous and Movie) and the zoom lens controls (function as the zoom and index buttons in playback.)

The 4-way selector is used to navigate menus and select images for playback. The center button accepts selections. The MENU button calls up the menu screens. The Flash button (lightning bolt icon) selects flash modes. The SCENE button enables Normal, Sports, Night, Night Portrait, Macro or Landscape modes. The DISPLAY button turns the LCD on or off and the amount of information shown.

On top is the Power on/off button and the shutter release (not shown).

On the side are the USB, Audio-Video Out and DC IN ports. The video out signal is user selectable for either NTSC or PAL format. The battery charger / AC power supply plugs into the DC IN port.

Images and movies are stored on tiny SD (Secure Digital) cards. These cards are barely larger than a postage stamp!  Kyocera supplies a 16MB card with the camera and we tested it with a 256MB card. Note that MMC type cards can be used but are not recommended because of their slow throughput.

The camera is powered by a proprietary BP-1000S rechargeable 3.6V 1000mAh lithium battery pack. It's about the same width and length as a stick of chewing gum and runs the entire length of the camera. The battery is charged in-camera. Kyocera includes an AC adapter/charger that requires approx. five hours to recharge a fully depleted pack.

A fully charged battery will yield approx. 160 pictures with the LCD monitor ON and approx. 200 pictures with the LCD monitor OFF. The continuous playback time is about 180 minutes