Short term backup to D300 - Fuji S3, S5 or somthing else?

[colda]

Ok, the plan is to buy a D700 but I'll wait a few months before doing so (never been an early adopter), assuming that

the current pre-order price is about ﾣ2k and once availabilty and street prices kick in I'm guessing at ﾣ1600 in a few

months (<6?) time.

 

I currently shoot with a D300 and my wife uses a D200 but there are going to be shoots where she's not around and

I'll not have access to the D200, so I would like to get a backup to see me through to when I get a D700

 

I've never used a Fuji S3 but have always been interested in them, so curiosity, and the fact that I do a bit of people

photography is tempting me into giving one a try. My thinking is a budget of ﾣ3-400 (based on difference of current

price of D700 and what it will be when I get one), I'm not planning to sell whatever backup I get so again it would be

useful to have something that has a specialist use (the skin tones and dynamic range of the Fuji sensor).

 

Looking at used prices my budget should get me an excellent example of a used S3.

 

However, I noticed that Fuji have dropped the price of the S5 and that can be purchased new for ﾣ480 so would I be

more sensible going down this route? I know that the S5 has a better body (but really like the look of the S3),

handling etc but as it's only going to get limited use is there any point in stretching the budget?

 

...or am I being silly even thinking about the Fujis and should just shoot the people/studio stuff with my D300 and

use RAW (will be the first time since 2004)

[colda]

*something even :)

[frank_skomial]

If you use Nikon iTTL/CLS flash, the S5 could be a better choice for you over the S3, and for other reasons...

[simon_hickie1]

Darren, I've recently been investigating the S5 Pro as a D80 'upgrade' for wedding / portrait work. As I see it, the main issues are battery compatibility (needs Fuji battery), RAW conversion software (lack of), slow shot to shot times & large file sizes. Against that is the better high ISO & highlight performance compared with the D200. Menu systems are different from D200 / D300 too. It's a tough call!

[elliot1]

The obvious backup, at least to me anyway, would be a D200 as there would be no learning curve.

 

If you get a reasonable deal on it, you would likely be able to sell it at close to what you paid for it.

 

The D300 and D3 have shown themselves to be quite reliable - I don't think you have to worry about a D700 purchase, and if you buy now, you will have 6 months enjoyment out of it. Image quality for everything but low light likely won't be much different from the D300 to the D700, especially for studio work.

[colda]

I do indeed use CLS - good point!

 

The battery compatibilty is a pain, although once I get the D700 then my backup will be the D200 so there is the option to get the vertical grip and use AA's rather than get a spare battery for the S5, I'll almost certainly shoot in jpeg (although am currently tempted to start using DXO), handling, menus etc. hopefully wont be a major issue as the D300 will be my main cam, the S3/S5 would only be used for specific stuff so all being well there should be little need to be active in the menus (unless the D300 fails of course) but on the other side how good is the colour rendition and how effective is the wide dynamic range?

[ShunCheung]

Most likely, Fuji is on its way out as a DSLR manufacturer. Each generation of their DSLR is getting further and further less popular because of some serious drawbacks. If you want an S5, I suggest you check out the reviews, especially about how slow that camera is.

 

Most of the D700's components have already been field tested in either the D3 or D300 or both. In my opinion it is very unlikely that the D700 will have major glitches. If you really want to wait, a used D200 is quite cheap now but another D300 will be very similar to the D700 in terms of controls.

[colda]

Having a D200 already means that we'll have 2 D200's, as backups (not a terrible thing of course), whereas getting a S3/S5 would (in theory) add another string to the bow as it were. Of course there is the fact that my wife will not need (and certainly won't carry) a backup body, so the additional unit will probably end up living in my day bag where it'll need to be a bit more versatile.

 

It'll be 2-3 months before I could raise the funds for the D700 and I'm currently taking on assignments without a backup being available

[simon_hickie1]

The D200 would offer superior 'plug-n-play' whereas the S5 would likely slow you down. This may or may not be important.

[dave_weber1]

You said - "I've never used a Fuji S3 but have always been interested in them, so curiosity, and the fact that I do a bit

of people photography is tempting me into giving one a try."

 

For the last 6 or 7 years I've been a Fuji guy. I currently own 2 S3s and previously owned two S2s. I never did buy

an S5 as they were the same size chip as the S3s and were still pretty slow. While the S5's had a larger buffer than

the S3s, you can find some used S3s with the same sized larger buffer that was added onto them well after they

were purchased new.

 

From what I've read and seen, the newer Nikon cameras have achieved better highlight performance and I don't

believe that the S3 or S5 have much over the D200, D300 or D3 in that area any longer.

 

You can buy good used S3s for $600 to $750 US dollars. At that price, most people can afford to buy one and try it

out. If it doesn't work out for you, you can probably resell it for close to what you bought it for. I don't see their value

going down much further any time soon, because this camera is known to be one that you can inexpensively convert

into a great infrared camera.

 

Shun, I am afraid you are probably correct about the demise of Fuji as a player in the pro/prosumer digital camera

arena. I regularly visit the Fuji blogs and find that even the most die hard Fuji supporters have all but given up on

their brand and are slowly migrating over to "big yellow".

[joshua daniels]

I beg to differ on the D200 as back up vs. Fuji. I have been using Fuji for the past 4-5 years and after awaiting a camera that would surpass the S2 I purchased a D200 - simply because I believed the differences had narrowed. How wrong I was! The D200 dynamic range is extremely limited compared to the Fuji--to the extent that highlight detail is often unrecoverable (and I shoot only RAW). I finally purchased an S5, and what a difference! Talk of the camera's slowness is mostly irrelevant unless you're shooting sports or fast-moving action. It has plenty of speed for what most of us do with a camera. The only complaint I have is that some of these cameras have focusing issues and require a return trip to Fuji. It is a great pity that Fuji has done such a poor job marketing these cameras and staying ahead of the curve, as nothing on the market can touch them for overall IQ.