Fuji Fine Pix S2 Pro

I am looking to go digital and currently have Nikon lenses so I am interested in the Fine Pix S2 Pro. Is anyone out there using one? I would be interested in any comments about this camera pro and con.
Also, any thoughts on the Fine Pix vs. D100?
Thanks

Don,

In case you haven't already seen this, Nikon guru Thom Hogan has a side-by-side report comparing the S2Pro and D100 which is worth reading:

http://www.bythom.com/s2d100.htm

Also, click on the "Nikon" tab at the top of that page after you finish the report - he has various other pages that comment on the two cameras individually.

Cheers,
Mark

Don, I have used both, and it is my opinion that the D100 is more applicable for the nature photographer. The image from the S2 is wonderful, as is the D100 image, but Nikon's software is vastly superior, with the ease of workflow playing a major role in my decision. AF seemed faster with the D100, and the ability to use 1/3 comp. and a slightly faster shutter sync with flash puts the D100 over the top for the nature photog.

Best,

Chas

While I certainly do not claim to be as accomplished as a photographer as Chas. I do have the Fuji S2 Pro and also an older Nikon D1. I gave the D100 a whirl and surprisingly since I really wanted the Nikon, I chose Fuji.

Why?

1. Better out of the camera files. My wife works with all kinds of digital files, Canon, Nikon, Fuji and all the rest and she is the one who switched from Canon to Fuji after working with the files. Granted the RAF file needs a good converter and Fuji's software is not state of the art in my opinion. Since I do most of my real work in Photoshop, I use Fuji for the RAF conversion and Photoshop for the rest. If I shoot in fine jpeg, I use Nikon Capture 3.5.

2. Use of all my Nikon flash units for TTL---this was a big one for me since I own 2 SB-25s, SB-20, SB-15 and all the TTL cords. Fuji has at least given me the right not to upgrade to the SB-80DX etc. All work fine.

3. Strangely enough, I liked the battery situation of the Fuji better---my wife and I just came back a few months ago from Germany and although we rented a car and had an inverter and converters for the all the chargers, batteries seemed to not charge nearly as easily as here and we were forever getting caught with batteries on the blink. It was not easy to find batteries to replace except in major cities but AAs and AA NiMh were everywhere. I bought a bunch of AAs, a couple of Maha chargers and can go to town on rechargeable batteries and in a pinch, drug stores sell AAs. CR123a batteries were bought at about $1.30 each and we store them in our backpacks. On November 1, we depart for Romania and the Carpathian mountains and I feel better knowing that Romania has AAs if we get into a mess with the 40 rechargeables I have. Oh yes, I will carry two multi current rechargers but the size of two is less than one Nikon charger. Number of shots per battery change is not that important to me as long as I can hold 12 or so in my pocket fully charged.

3. The Fuji S2 has a nice display for the functions and I like it better than the D100. This is not to say that the D100 is not nice because it is but I personally like the S2 better.

There are things I miss in the S2 such as 1/2 stop compensation instead of 1/3 stop that the D100 has.

I also like the covering of the D100 better but like the S2s size out of the box better. Of course, the optional grip of the D100 negates that. I agree on the flash synch speed but I find the auto focus to be dead even and I did compare the two on some moving egrets.

If I was buying again today, I still would buy the S2 even though technically, I did not buy the one I now have. My wife came home one day with two that her Fuji Rep had brought for her---now how is that for a good wife? Which camera do I use the most----strangely enough, my D1 and I can not wait for an affordable D2H or D2X.

Mel