FujiFilm FinePix S5000 3.1MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Zoom (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

I've got so many good things to say about this Camera, I really don't know where to start.I bought this camera 3 years ago. I hadn't really had any experience with any Fuji cameras before. I had played around with my friends' cameras before I bought this camera; they had Non-SLR Hi-Zoom cameras that were made for medium duty photography. Many of these cameras were Canons or Nikons with lots of zoom and nice features. So eventually I decided to buy a camera in this same class, just I didn't know which one. So rather than searching for a digital camera based solely on the popularity of the name, I decided to take a shot at this product based on the Specs and Features that it had. At the time this camera had more features, options, and abilities than other cameras in its class. So I decided to buy this Fujifilm S5200 right here on Amazon.3 years later... NO REGRETS. Ever since the first week I received this camera, I fell in love with it and all of the options it had in it. When I want a camera that I can just take some quick everyday pictures, it's GREAT. When I want a camera that I can take some technical, high-quality images, it's AWESOME! The S5200 can be simple and fun for you, BUT also complex and technical if you want it to be so. It is an EXREMELY versatile camera.It has TONS of Optical Zoom, as well as the Digital Zoom on top of that. I must say, if you choose to use the Digital Zoom (and zoom in even furthermore) you will NOT be disappointed. The Digital Zoom processor in these Fujifilm cameras is Excellent in my opinion. I have digitally zoomed into many objects and taken pictures of them that are still very clear and impressive. The S5200 has Digital Zoom with noticeably LESS graininess than its competitors. And of course its Fujinon 10X Optical Zoom lens has beautiful flawless clarity. NO SHORTCOMINGS with the S5200's zoom system.Many options to play with Exposure, ISO, shutter speeds, many flash options, etc. You can also choose to do sound recordings and video recordings! Single Shot, Multiple Shot, and Continuous Shot picture taking modes. The S5200 uses 4x AA batteries, alkaline OR rechargeable Nickel-Metal Hydride. And I can tell you from experience, that the power consumption of this camera is FAR more efficient than its Nikon and Canon competitors. I have gone through days where I took hundreds of pictures (some with flash, some without) and I still had a little battery power left.There are various Automatic Focus modes, as well as Manual Focus whenever you so desire. NOTE: Don't get confused with the Big Fat lens on this camera! The Manual Focus is adjusted electronically with 2 buttons, NOT ON A FOCUS RING (as there is none). Adjusting the Manual Focus with the 2 Buttons works just fine in my opinion.The camera is very sturdy and durable, though of course be gentle with it as you would with all electronics. Nothing loose or flimsy and cheap. Over my 3 years owning and using this, nothing has gone wrong. Nothing broken, nothing loose, nothing cracked. You can buy a nice black leather case made by Fujifilm specially to encase the Fuji S series cameras. Fuji also makes a Wide-Angle Lens adapter for the S5200, if you want to do wide shots of landscapes and such.The final thing I must comment on about this whole experience is VERY important. The camera Drivers and Fujifilm FinePix Software have both performed EXCELLENT. The drivers work great and they never glitched up or caused any problems with my PC. The computer reads the S5200 instantly and boom you're good to go. You can transfer the pictures via Windows reading the S5200 as removable storage OR you can have the awesome, straight-forward FinePix software move them over for you.At first I was somewhat skeptical about the FinePix software. But I ended up playing with the software eventually, messing around with its features and such. I end up finding out that it's actually a very GOOD and USEFULL piece of software. It's got options that let you manage the interfacing of the camera to your computer. The FinePix software also has a great set of features for adjusting and tweaking your photos to perfection. You can view all the technical details of a photo and adjust many qualities of photos easily and quickly right there in the software. What I like most about the FinePix software is the set of tools which greatly help me organize my photos. Rotation, File Numbering, Resolution Adjustments, etc. are as easy as 1-2-3 for just 1 file or multiple files. A surprisingly good piece of software from Fujifilm!5/5 STARS, no doubt in my mind!Thank you Fujifilm for this great product!Thank you Amazon for a great price!

I spent the weekend playing with my camera's features...doing my best to try them all..and taking over a hundred pictures in the process. Here are my results in no particular order:SUMMARY: What a camera for the price!! At just over $200, it does more than I'll ever need it to. And it's half the price I paid for my 4M Olympus Camedia C4000Z 3 years ago. I'm still getting used to which functions are available with buttons and which are in the menu. GREAT CAMERA that does almost everything you can with an SLR (except change lenses, which is a hassle I'd rather avoid). HIGHLY RECCOMMENDPROS:1. BATTERY LIFE: good to average2. FOCUS: Fast to focus, except at the outer edges of zoom in low light.3. ULTIMATE CONTROL: You can have as little or as much control over the image captured as you want. I took one (very dark) night shot of wet leaves lit by my porch light with a 15 second shutter speed. Of course, you can also intentionally take out of focus shots.4. HIGH ISO AVAILABLE: Good to have available when you need it. Took one night shot of the cityscape at ISO 800 and got a good 4" x 6".5. CONTINUOUS MODE: Comes in 4 varieties to help you get the shot when your own timing isn't so good. First 3 shots, last 3 shots, one I can't remember, and Long-period (shoots up to 40 consecutive shots). Long-period would seem to be an easy way to build a panorama photo series.6. RAW: Shoot in this format is good to have when you don't want pixels lost to compression. All editing must be done post-conversion. You can then edit the TIFF and re-save it either as a JPEG or TIFF.7. MANUAL FOCUS: In Manual mode you can change anything. I even intentionally took a picture out of focus just to prove I could. Manual focus is, of course, rather slow (as expected), but is effective as long as the subject isn't mobile. Easier to use with LCD screen. Even when auto focus failed (!AF displays), I could manually bring the subject into focus).8. WEIGHT: It is incredibly light, and seems lighter than my old Olympus Camedia 4000Z, even though its manual says it's heavier.9. FEATURES: All the features I can conceive of using with several that I've played with but don't think I'll ever use.10. ZOOM: Coming from 3x optical zoom to 10x...what can I say? WOW! Be cautious, however at the far end of that range in lower light. You'll need a steady hand, tripod or to switch to anti-shake mode.11. 2 SEC TIMER: Love that for the tripod/night shot. No long waiting for the shot.12. STARTUP TIME: Starts up almost instantly and is immediately ready to shoot.CONS:1. HIGH ISO: On full auto, camera will select above 400 ISO values. Above 400 pictures become more grainy and 4 x 6 is the largest higher quality print you can get. If you want a high quality night shot, you'll have to select ISO 400 or lower and set it on a tripod/shelf/whatever to get the shot.2. RAW CONVERSION: The provided program only converts the RAW to a TIFF without editing. Would have been nice if I could have "edited" the RAW version and then saved to TIFF just once. Also would have been nice to be able to save to more than just TIFF.3. SLOW MANUAL FOCUS: The pace at which manual focus changes is dreadfully slow. Don't even try using it on a moving target. Would be nice if it incremented faster when the button is held down for over a second and then you could slowly fine-tune the focus one button press at time. But not how they implemented it.4. LIMITED SAVE QUALITY CHOICES: My Olympus let me save to TIFF and about 10 different JPEG quality settings, varying pixel density and compression settings. I used to use the highest quality only for portraits or shot I knew I was likely to enlarge. This camera only offers 5 still settings, only one of which is a 3:2 aspect ratio.UPDATE ON DURABILITY: I have been using this camera for 6 years now and it still works just like new. I have taken it to Costa Rica and travelled cross country several times with it on camp across America trips. It still works just great. Hands down, the most reliable camera I have ever owned.

The camera case and all the extras were great. The camera was shipped fast. The camera worked for one day. The button to turn it on and off does not work. Wow. Great looking camera and takes good pics but again it does not work. Pervious owner had to have known this. WOW..... did I get the short end of this one.