Rangefinder Magazine
April 2002

Are Digital SLRs Ready for Prime Time? by Peter Kotsinadelis
Field-testing the Fujifilm Finepix S1 Digital SLR

All images from the Livermore, CA Rodeo June, 2001
Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S1 digital camera
Lens: Tamron 70–210mm f/2.8 LD lens

While proponents of digital photography are quick to announce the demise of film photography, these digital evangelists rarely speak of the disadvantages of the digital medium. It is true that digital photography will see very rapid growth in the next few years, but in the meantime to get higher resolution results often requires your camera to be tethered to a personal computer. Yes, there is a handful of high-end professional-level digital SLRs on the market that do not require a permanent tether, but can these new SLRs handle the fast-paced assignments once reserved for film? Well, to see if digital is ready for “prime time” we took a Fujifilm Finepix S1 digital SLR and a conventional film-based SLR to several action packed sporting events to see what we could and could not do. The results were surprising.

The Fujifilm Finepix S1 digital SLR uses a Super CCD layout capable of producing images up to 6.13 megapixels. Although the true size of the CCD is 3.4 megapixels, the Super CCD layout, which uses a honeycomb pixel arrangement, allows the image to be reprocessed to produce a higher pixel count. The proper term for this is interpolation, or resampling, and is similar to the way a Compact Disk is resampled. Basically, this mathematical formula creates a new image to fill in the gaps between CCD pixels to create an image with less of the “jaggies,” or squaring within the image. While some feel this is of great benefit to producing a better image, others feel otherwise. After using the camera for several weeks I can honestly say I am in complete agreement with the former.

Although based on Nikon’s N60 (F60 outside the U.S.), the Fujifilm Finepix S1 is about an inch larger. While the camera accepts Nikon F-Mount lenses with the N60 base system it does not allow AF when using Nikkor AF-S lenses—an interesting point as Nikon was unable to provide any AF-S lenses in time for testing.

The advantages of going digital are clear for photographers that can quickly adapt it to their style and/or business. For portrait and wedding photographers it could provide a competitive edge, allowing the display, printing and sale of images during the reception.

For many photojournalists 35mm SLRs are quickly being replaced with Digital SLRs. The reason here are the advantages that new state-of-the-art digital SLRs provide over their conventional siblings. You can instantly preview your images, delete those you don’t like and transmit the ones you like to the newspaper or magazine while still at the event, providing near real-time newsmaking.

Until recently these same digital SLRs based on 35mm SLR designs provided images that were of average quality. While the images were fine for newspaper and weekly publications they were not up to the standards required for better magazines or photographic display. Additionally, these digital SLRs were not able to rapidly capture successive images at high frames-per-second rates such as conventional SLRs. Rapid advances in technology changed this with new digital SLRs that yielded outstanding image quality and fast capture rates. Digital SLRs like the new Nikon D1X or Canon EOS 1D can capture as many as 40 successive frames at speeds as fast as 8 frames per second. The Fujifilm Finepix S1 used for the images shown here does yield outstanding image quality but it does have its limits. Whether you set the camera to acquire the highest or lowest quality it will accept a maximum of 5 sequential images before its buffer fills to capacity at a rate of 1.5 frames per second (fps). When you consider rodeo events often last only a few seconds, a fast fps rate is something worth considering, however, using this camera for action sports with its 1.5 fps simply requires a bit more thinking about when to shoot. The bull riding photos above show a two-image action sequence taken in succession. With the quality of images this camera delivers a little thinking can really pay off.

Trying to stay on a bucking Bronco is not easy. The objective is for the cowboy to stay atop the Bronco as long as possible. Some last but a few seconds. Image quality is excellent.	This is a vertical cropping of a horizontal image. The image still retains excellent overall sharpness.	This cowboy is about to get thrown from his horse. Image made at 1/750 second.

For several events I had a Fujifilm Finepix S1 supplied with Tamron SP AF28–105mm f/2.8 LD Aspherical (IF) and SP AF70–210mm f/2.8 LD (IF) lenses. Digital SLRs that use 35mm SLR lenses, such as this one, have a “focal length factor” that needs to be considered, since it changes the effective focal length of the lens you are using. Because the digital image sensor is smaller than the size of a regular 35mm frame, any lens originally designed for use with a 35mm SLR will effectively become longer. In the case of the Finepix S1 the factor is 1.5X, so a 50mm lens will effectively become a 75mm lens. The 28–105mm lens I was using becomes a 42–158mm lens. The benefit here is for the photographer that often uses long focal lengths since the 70–210mm f/2.8 lens I was provided now becomes a 105–315mm but still retains the very useful fast f/2.8 aperture.

With all the features packed into the Fujifilm Finepix S1 it would make for a long and boring article to cover all in detail. Instead it is better to describe the main features of the camera and the benefits they provide. If you have grown up using film like I have, using a digital camera can be a learning experience. One of the most useful features of digital cameras is automatic white balancing (AWB). Much like the same feature found on a video camera, AWB looks at the overall image colors and determines the best white balance. The result is beautiful color regardless of lighting conditions and without the need for color correction filters. For example, at an Oakland As night game, the FinePix S1 was able to automatically adjust colors to compensate for the artificial lighting as it gradually replaced the evening sunlight disappearing as night fell. Although these systems have gotten better over time and do an excellent job, they can be fooled when one color dominates the image. For those times you can manually set the white balance to sunny, shade, incandescent, three fluorescent options or a custom setting for your specific needs.

The camera has a very useful default ISO of 400, although I have to admit having the additional choices of 320, 800, or 1600 provided me with an extra stop or two when needed in dim light or for faster shutter speeds. Yes, they can introduce “noise” into the image but in my opinion, not enough to worry about. One bit of advice is to always carry a neutral density filter when are shooting in bright sunlight with fast lenses as the camera has a maximum shutter speed of 1/2000 second.

You can set image quality to Basic, Normal, Fine, and Hi, with only Hi quality yielding digital images stored in TIF format and all others in JPEG format. Additional settings include sharpness, color/B&W image capture, image tone (original/standard/hard), multiple exposure, and preview on/off that allows you to view your image on the camera’s LCD screen on the rear of the camera. Images will display when the camera is idle between shots. If you are taking the next image the image will not appear so it will not cause a delay in getting the next shot.

As you start to photograph with a digital camera one consideration is image storage. The Fuji Finepix S1 comes with a 1GB microdrive located behind the bottom rear door. The same slot can also accommodate a standard compact flash card with a secondary slot for use with SmartMedia cards. This 1GB Microdrive provided storage for up to 53 images at the camera’s highest resolution or more than 900 at the lowest resolution. The nice feature to a digital camera is that you are not locked into only one setting for all images, allowing you to change resolution for a specific image or series of images. This feature is especially useful when you are running low on storage space and getting the image is more important than having the best quality.

Although many digital cameras run on one set of batteries, this particular one uses 2 CR123 batteries for the camera operation, 4 AA batteries for the digital imaging portion, and a small button cell to maintain the date/time. After the first 30 or so images I found it better to turn the image preview off to conserve the AA batteries. While specifications would indicate the AA batteries should last a while, in reality if you are using the camera for a few hours straight always carry spares. By the end of afternoon, some 4–5 hours later I was on my third set of AA batteries. Yes, they are inexpensive but I would have much preferred a rechargeable battery system much like other cameras. I did find that a set of AA Lithium batteries were the best solution in order to limit battery changes, but this comes at an increase in operating costs.

Anyone who says digital photography is “Not Ready for Prime Time” is in denial. Digital SLRs like the Fujifilm FinePix S1, Canon EOS-1D, Kodak DCS series, and Nikon D1X and D1H will become more commonplace and in time more affordable as well. One point to note is that not all SLR manufacturers offer digital SLRs. Additionally, those from Fujifilm and Kodak use either Nikon or Canon EOS mounts so if you have an investment in either of these lenses it provides you considerable savings if you consider a digital SLR with compatible lens mount.

While this rapidly changing technology is improving our method of photography, understanding its advantages and disadvantages is the key to making it work for you and your business. Digital photography is clearly the forerunner in the future of photography and in time will be as universal as 35mm photography is today.

Shooting an event such as a rodeo you need to freeze the action so shutter speeds selected ranged from 1/250 to 1/750. The majority of the time the camera was set to aperture-priority mode but I did test the sports mode, which performed flawlessly as expected. Aperture selection ranged from f/5.6 to f/11, depending on lighting conditions. Since the image sensor is smaller than the standard size 35mm frame, there is an increase in depth of field. For example, in the steer roping shots above, where an f/8 aperture was used, subjects are in focus from front to rear—something that would have required f/11 or smaller aperture with a 35mm film-based SLR.

The coloring of the digital images was very much like that of Fuji’s own film products in that it has a tendency to shift a bit towards green. While all images had beautiful and well-saturated coloring, you could easily adjust colors to suit your needs in PhotoShop. I found the resolution setting of 2304x1536 that provides 3.5 megapixel images to be more than satisfactory for my needs. To show what I mean, if you examine the calf roping image on page 43, you will note that it is a vertical cropping of the 3.5 megapixel original yet it appears as sharp as the full frame shot above left.

So the question is, how far can you really go? Or how small of a portion of the digital image can you use with acceptable detail? The image above is a 50 percent enlargement of the full frame image that highlights the action and eliminates some of the background clutter. Reproduced here at 300dpi, there is no image deterioration whatsoever.

Peter Kotsinadelis is a freelance writer/photographer living in Pleasanton, California. A frequent contributor to photography related publications he may be reached at peterk@iname.com.