This site I stumbled upon has an excellent detailed review.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/S5100/S51A.HTM

I ordered this camera, its the same one a friend of mine has and loved hers while I was on vacation so I decided to buy one of my very own, I ordered it on day 2 of my vacation and thought to save a little bit of money and go for he free shipping that is offered... it isn't that grand... I have yet to recieve my camera despite ordering it several weeks ago... I have never waited this long for anything from AMAZON before... good grief people are you making the darn thing from scratch or what????

Let's be completely honest about the downfalls of this camera...

1. It has slightly noticable vignetting (but nothing that can't be fixed easily with a few clicks of a photoshop brush.
2. It's zoom from about 8x-10x is almost useless (at least with my tests)
3. It's RAW format capability is almost useless.
4. It's high-rez video recording has too many artifacts (too compressed) for my tastes...

However, I still love the camera. It feels great in your hand, its manual mode is incredibly easy to use and gives you 5x the picture-taking capabilities of other cameras in its class(I took some amazing 15sec exposures of Paris at night you can check out --see bottom link) and the ability to attach standard lense filters is unheard of at this price.
I have taken some amazing close-up flower pictures as well with perfect color reproduction and focus. You're pratically stealing this camera with the mail-in rebate bringing the final cost to $200. If all you need is a max 8x10 enlargement, this is about the best buying decision you can make.

(...)

good luck

I was looking for a digital camera to replace a 2.1 megapixel camera with the features and feel of a film SLR without breaking my checkbook and I found what I was looking for in the S5100. I can get great pictures in auto mode and in auto even my wife (who is electronicaly challenged!) is able to use it with outstanding results (even on a moving motorcycle). The camera has a wide variety of features that I use to get the shots and quality I am looking for. The 10X optical zoom was a major feature that I was looking for and it provides closeups that are crisp and clear. Photo quality is excellent in all modes and I feet it is an excellent value in a camera that goes for under $300. It compares very favorably with cameras that a few of my friends, who are professional sports photographers, use and out shines or equals many cameras that cost twice as much.

It takes a bit of reading to fully understand the functionality of all the features but the menues and features follow a relatively simple logic and with a little practice, they are easy to use and master. The manual is clear and easy to follow.

This is not a beginners camera but Fuji has made it easy enough for the interested novice to get excellent results with a very small learning curve. While it is not a pocket camera, it is small and light enough to carry and not get in the way. The xD memory cards are a little expensive but you can get over 150 on a 256 card in the highest quality mode.

I obviously am very impressed.

I've recently purchased this camera to replace a canon S330 and Canon G5. This camera's highlight, also the reason why I bought this camers, is that it has 10x zoom. Other postive aspects, it does not drain battery and it uses AA batteries, which means when you run out, you can pretty much purchase them anywhere and get back into action. The negative side is that it does not take pictures as well compared with the Canons in darker areas. The LCD view finder is smaller and not as clear as the canons. When used all 10x, it has a problem with auto focusing. But with the price tag on its quality, one cannot really complain, compared with other cameras with 10x, you are really getting a good deal. Also, of course, quality compared to the G5 is lower, but the G5 still cost over 350 bucks while this guy cost is around 250. I purchased an adapter ring 55mm to 52mm and all my Canon lenses fit perfectly for this camera. Overall, I'm pretty impressed with this camera with its price vs value.

I read an article about this camera and the CEO of Fuji before I purchased this camera from AMAZON.COM. The CEO of FuJi said, "We wanted to make a Camera that would appeal to those consumers who wanted a great camera at an under $400.00 price" I believe his goal was met and by far surpassed his expectations. This camera is selling like hot cakes!!! I waited for over a month from Amazon to receive this camera.....it was worth the wait!!! I have a fuji 2 meg camera that took great pictures but did not come close to the features of THIS CAMERA. I doubt there are that many people who need a camera with more then 4 meg(larger then 8 1/2 by 11)and better detail then this camera can offer. If you're looking for a camera with great detail, self contained 10X zoom and can be used by anyone in your family, novice or not...for the price you can't beat it.

i gave this camera 4 stars because it did not allow me the opportunity to photograph things really close. i'm a total novice and i bought the camera after much research because let's face it,...it makes more economical sense to go digital when you have a family and 2 growing little children. the time and convienence of this camera are astounding and despite the way it looks it is increadibly lightweight. no more running to the store for 35mm film or to develop pictures,...it's all in the palm of your hand. it is sooo easy to use for those of you that are intimidated by the lengthy directions that you get with major electronics. there is a quick start sheet that shows you the basics. i've opted to purchase a seperate lense that will allow me closer shots as i am a tarantula hobbyist who likes to photograph my specimens. however for everything else this camera really does it all. the price for me was hefty but i do go by the saying that you get what you pay for. i got a nice $50 rebate through fuji. their website is not the greatest but overall i'm pretty pleased with this camera.

Pros:
*Excellent zoom for the price
*WILL work with 1gb xD cards, but not recommended with the movie recording feature (camera may overheat).
*Very light and easily fits in my small hands.
*Wannabe SLR means that you are actually seeing what the lens sees, even if it's not really an SLR.
*Excellent intermediate camera - enough adjustability for learning photography, not as spectacular as a more expensive model...definitely what I needed, since I wasn't really sure that I would really use the features.

Cons:
*Both viewing areas (large screen & eye piece) are digital. And both have a split second freeze-frame when you push the button. Ok for most circumstances, but miserable for action shots where you need to follow the target.

Recommendations:
*Get large xD cards. The 1gb card is the best deal, at about $90 right now.
*Get a strap pad of some sort if your neck chafes easily.
*Get rechargeable camera batteries...this camera uses remarkably little battery juice, but at 4AA a shot they can get expensive!

Acabo de comprar esta camara y la verdad que me gusto mucho, el zoom es muy bueno y las imagenes de una gran calidad, tiene sus detalles, como el que no puedas usar el zoom dutrante el modo de video y por otro lado es un poco complicado el uso del balanceo de blancos, pero la verdad es muy buena camara, eso si... No es la mejor (por esteprecio) acabo de encontrar la Canon Powershot S2, no no no, esta si no tiene madre, es de 12X optico, tiene estabilizador de imagen es estereo y mientras grabas video puedes usar el zoom y capturar imagenes, y la verdad por 200 dolares mas creo que mucho mejor compra, ya estoy pensando seriamente en vender la finepix y comprarme esta, algun interesado?

Saludos

[...]

Now the PROS:

Let me get to the point, the camera is good with a excellent feature of being able to take "RAW"(equivalent to Negative on regular FILM)images. In manual mode you can take indoor pictures without flash, so you will not that glar from Flash or red eye.

Now the cons:

The camera come with only xD card type. They are propritory to Fuji and Olympus Cameras, the xD cards are expensive like 3 times more than Compact Flash(example like we have Sony pushing you to use only memory stick)

The camera comes with 16mb, which can hold one picture of RAW type. So you have to get 512MB memory which cost around $65.

The camera uses regular 4 AA batteries and fuji gives you one set as starter later you have to buy a minimum of a 4 AA Nimh rechargable batteries and a charger.

The download of pictures using USB to PC drains your batteries. Then you will need to get a AC adapter for Download purposes.

Conclusion:

All the accessories & memory will cost you around $150. For this extra cost you could get a Canon 6.0MP wherein you get better value for the money

Do you research before you buy a xD type camera!!!

I've had my Fuji S5100 since the end of August. I actually got it for a grand total of $250 from another major online media store, and that cannot be beat! I love it so far, and yet I have not yet "scratched the surface" of what it can do, I'm sure. I am still learning how to use the various manual settings that are available, but I have already taken so many great macro pics as well as everyday pics. The color and details are excellent. The camera is so easy to use and is light but sturdy. If I had to make one criticism it would be that right off the bat you need to purchase a larger memory card, plus all the rechargeable batteries and something to transfer the pics with. Those items add up quickly to about another $100 on top of the camera price. I feel the camera should come with some if not all of those things. I bought the little Fuji USB reader though instead of an A/C adapter and it is the coolest thing I've ever seen. This camera is serving me VERY well and I highly recommend it.

I originally bought this camera for the 10x optical zoom as I do alot of range shots, and the assortment of features was very appealing.

Since its purchase the camera has been superb in many aspects, great color with out much fuzzyness, decent to good battery life (I think I took 2 days of heavy use hmmmm maybe around 40-50 shots before the batteries got to low to function), and it was light weight.

The only thing I might say that could possibly be taken as a negative is that you should get a tripod if you do not have a very steady hand. Although the camera does has a moderate anti-shake feature if you are not good at staying steady.... you can get some fuzzy shots but not many.

I would difinately recommend this camera to my friends and others looking for a good camera.

I'm uneasy about having to provide my personal information to register myself before I can use a CAMERA (specifically its RAW function). Even everyone's favorite villain, Microsoft, allows their products to be used whether or not you are willing to enroll yourself in their databanks.

Also, even bad-guys Microsoft allows the use of a telephone to complete their "anti piracy procedure" for those whose computers are not hooked up to the internet. This upsets me because I like to use one computer for "important" stuff and a different computer for internet stuff. However, Fuji camera software will not work on internet-free computers. Obviously if all software applications follow this trend, the idea of keeping an "internet free" computer will be impossible, so I am hoping Fuji will repeal this consumer-unfriendly policy.

On the bright side, the jpeg photos (the photos I can actually access on my computer-with-no-modem) seem nice.

My last camera is a 35mm point & shoot auto-focus, auto-everything. That's great for me, because I don't want to have to work at taking pictures. My wife, however, has taken classes and wanted a full-featured camera when we went digital. On the other hand, I'm an almost-expert at digital image editing, while she wants a simple "Download" and "Print" buttons.

This camera gives us the best of both worlds. I can set it in full-auto and take great (albeit simple) pictures. She can set settings to her heart's delight and take more artsy style pictures. The pictures are great either way, and the camera is easy and fun to use.

The downside is the software. I wasn't expecting anything like the full version of Photoshop, but I did expect something easy to use. I don't think it should be hard to take a picture at 4MP, download it to my computer, then resample it down to a much smaller file size to email it. This is entirely too cumbersome, anti-intuitive, and downright painful to do with the Fuji software.

The camera itself is great, but plan on lots of time and aspirin when you go to download the pictures to your computer, and even more if you want to do anything more with the pictures.

I have had this camera for about a year now. It was the best purchase ever! The zoom is incredible, and 4.0 megapixels is just perfect. The distance of the flash is great too! This is an incredible camera and is WELL worth the money! I have had no problems, or anything that has been negative about it whatsoever!

I purchased this camera a year ago and have loved it. I don't know a lot about cameras and I mainly wanted something that would be easy to use with a decent zoom. I have been able to take great photos with it and virtually everyone I come into contact with loves how the camera works and wishes they had one of their own. The camera was very easy to learn how to use and the photo quality has been excellent.

Takes good photos except in odd or low light conditions - then they are very grainy. Good camera to familiarize yourself with f-stop and aperture settings. I wished I'd purchased a digital SLR though.

I received this camera for my birthday to replace my Sony Mavica (RIP). I really don't care for it. The picture quality is average considering the price and Fuji has still not sent me my $50 rebate ( 12 weeks out...) I'm just not very pleased overall.

I bought this item for my Wife for her birthday in March 2005, the camera responds slowly and 3 months after we bought it the only movable item which is the right in front with the little silver push button on it Fell out. This made the camera virually unusable and sitting on my desk until we found out that to get this part fixed and installed would be another 100 dollars. Getting a receipt from my credit card company took 2 weeks and any response from Amazon and JR music world was fruitless.

I am now waiting for 3 different companies to respond so that i can get this thing fixed under warranty.

To be Continued...

I had an S5000 but it dropped it and broke. So I decided to buy this model since I loved the S5000 so much. They took away so many of the great options and quality that the S5000 had...so now I just use a small Fuji pocket digital camera and this one sits on the shelf. It is very blurry in low light and has very little shake control. I would suggest going with the S5000 even with lower Megapixels it is much better quality.

Having been engaged in 35mm photography for 32 years, I approached digital photography with great reluctance. I knew there would be an essential learning phase with less than ideal pictures, like my playing with a brownie for a few years as a kid -- this further delayed my plunge. Finally, an upcoming trip to Rome compounded with the knowledge of what airport metal detectors do to film forced the issue.

My choice was cinched by some pictures we acquired from a friend of papal conclave 2006. We ran them as a screen saver, and I was much impressed by the sharpness, color tonality, and depth of field -- especially in cloudy day pictures from St. Peters' Square. Faces far into the background were discernable. I asked what was used and it was this camera. At the camera store I was heartened to see it felt like a mini SLR in the hand, had a nice big viewer and uncomplicated, straightforward controls.

The learning phase in the backyard and around town gave me some doubts. Lack of no-shake feature is the model's biggest downside; a lot got blurred especially using the zoom feature on moving subjects. Some of this you learn to shake out using point focus, but you still are going to lose a few precious moments despite your best efforts. Nor with the limited equivalent ASA range are you going to be able to get the sort of pics in museums or dark old cathedrals you are used to with a good SLR and high speed film -- but remember, this one is a starter. This thing is a monster battery eater, too: always carry 2 fully charged replacement sets with you. On the plus side, choice of black and white and chrome mode is very nice feature, and the built-in zoom has a very decent range and performance on stationary subjects. Speed of use may or may not compare well to other digitals, I don't know, but its a whole world superior to my old world. There is a rather steely patina to even the best color images, I see now after viewing hundreds, but that's a decent trade-off for the general ease of use and clarity. Incidentally, the lens on this camera gives you a lot more than what you would expect from a 4 megapixel rating.

Back from Rome this week, I have 2000+ jpegs (the keepers) all of very high quality, an achievement I could not have come close to, I am sure, either with old film camera or with most other starter level digitals. The continuing issue of shake and blur I surmounted by simply multiple shooting a lot (sometimes 5-7 images); you can erase them almost as quickly as you shoot them, and come to see this as a small nuisance in the bigger trade-off.

I do not plan to spend the rest of my life with this level digital camera, but even after I move up I think I will keep it around for sheer utilty and ease of use in the general every day world. For the price, this is about as good a deal as one can hope for.

The flaws with this camera may irritate more seasoned and adept photographers than I. However, for the amateur looking for room to grow, this camera is a great value for the money. I was drawn to the S5100 because of its automatic and manual settings. I figured that I could slowly learn how to use the more advanced functions while still being able to take photos. The 10x optical zoom is a major bonus. The colors fade a bit at full zoom, so you won't get the same terrific, sharp images at lower magnifications, but it still beats the heck out of the point-and-shoot 3x optical zoom cameras.

I've owned the S5100 for over a year, and during that time, have noticed that it has a couple of significant flaws.

1. While it takes beautiful pictures in bright sunlight, indoor non-flash pictures taken without the aid of a tripod are often blurry. The S5100 takes some beautiful night shots (with tripod), however.

2. Shutter speed on automatic settings is slow, and start-up once you turn it on takes too long. Also, if you turn the camera off, and then immediately turn it on again, it often won't turn on. You need to wait a beat after turning it off before turning it on again. It's not that annoying because you don't often need to immediately turn it back on after turning it off.

3. The view-finder is digital, not optical. When you look through it, you're seeing a digital image, and not actually looking through a lens. I find it difficult to see the image in the viewfinder, so I only use the LCD screen. Unfortunately, the LCD screen is hard to see when it's very sunny.

4. It's hard to take incognito shots, because the camera makes a lot of noise (beeping when it turns on, and an artificial film-camera-type "click" when it takes a photo).

That said, I love this camera and would buy it again. I live overseas and often post photos of my travels online to send to friends and relatives back home. They always ooh and ah over my photos and frequently ask what sort of camera I have. The S5100 offers a lot of bang for the buck.

A little background first...

This was an upgrade camera for me, just over a year ago. I was in 35mm format for over 20 years. I used a Pentax K1000 body and several different lenses, tele-converters and filters. At work, I've had 4 years experience with a Fuji Fine Pix 2MP "point-and-shoot". It was provided by my work and was very durable (it had to be, as I am in Construction Engineering). When I decided to switch "personally" to all digital I was very cautious.

I first looked for pic quality and durability. From an "advanced-amature" photographer's point of view, this camera is great !!!

This camera never leaves my side.
It travels with me everywhere I go.
It is extremely durable as it is mounted to an "Ultra-Pod II" and I carry it over my shoulder (I don't keep it in a bag).
It provides me OUTSTANDING QUALITY POHOTGRAPHS (close, far or fast: work or play) at a very reasonable price.
It takes reasonable video (considering my 35mm took none at all).
It is easy to use and learn (even for an old 35mm guy).
It is lightweight and power usage is not an issue (NiMH is the way to go).

I take close to 20,000 pics a year for work and play. I am always experimenting with this camera and it's limits. I am so pleased with this camera (and the previous Fuji I used) that my next upgrade will be a Fuji as well (looking to 10MP).

For the $$$ you can't go wrong!

Had the Fuji S5100 exactly one year now. Meant to write a review after our Hawaii trip last year. Just back from second annual trip and remembered that I hadn't entered a review yet.

First - you'll be more satisfied the more you use it. This is my 5th digital camera and first Fuji. It's really grown on me.

My wife rarely uses it since I take virtually every photo. But when she does, I just set it to AUTO, remind her how to zoom, and find that the pic's are just fine.

I use a 512mb xD. I routinely fill up a card on one set of batteries (almost all of my shots are at the 2mp setting which are just fine for most any purpose). But beware - use only high quality digital batteries. If you are on a budget, here's a surprising find. Buy the Kirkland 40 count box at Costco. It's only about $11 and they are conveniently shrinkwrapped in 4-ct bundles - great for packing an extra set. These are far better than any other generic or store brand versions and rival the special batteries for digital products.

With a 512MB card, I never deplete batteries by reviewing/deleting photos in camera. Download using an inexpensive card reader and do your purging on the PC instead. And, unless you really have to use the LCD, learn to use the viewfinder.

Here's another tip to insure a good shot. Use fast shutter mode. There's a special button for this on the top of the camera. This allows 3 shots at a time in rapid succession. You can select first 3, last 3 or bracketing mode. I use last 3 for almost every photo. Just depress the shutter and the camera starts shooting. When you release, the last 3 shots are saved. I always find at least one keeper. (bonus tip - only in AUTO mode, you can squeeze off up to 40 in a row - try it at knee level while following your toddler or during the last 10 yards before a finish line).

And for incredible indoor shots without a flash, I found Sports mode with fast shutter while increasing the exposure does the trick. Oh, and be sure to resist the urge to zoom too far, the shots get darker and fuzzier. Use widest mode and move yourself closer. Great for photos of the talent show without distracting the performers with a flash.

I recently discovered a cool new technique using Center AF and Aperture mode. Open up the Aperture to the highest level, set your ISO to 64, and find a still subject with an interesting background. You'll get an ultra crisp detailed view of your subject with the background blurred slightly. Very professional!

I use a tiny 6 inch tripod for night shots. There are two timer modes. One for 10 seconds and one for 2 seconds. Use the 2 second mode when you are not in the shot. Be sure to use fast shutter bracket mode to squeeze off 3 shots in a row. You'll get one regular, one brighter, and one darker shot to choose from later.

One technique I started using is utilizing more candid shots with less posing. Even when getting the family to line up for a group shot, try squeezing off a few fast-shutter shots as they are moving around. You can quietly zoom in on a smaller group and get some very interesting and touching photos and they'll never know.

Another plus is the relatively fast response time. It helps a lot if you can frame your shot before hand but it's not really necessary. Just squeeze half-way down so that all you need to do is squeeze all the way at the right moment. When I can't frame the exact shot, just pick a spot approximately the same distance and frame that as a substitute. This works well when there's lots of light.

Why not give this 5 stars? It's a bit too big to match the portability of my other cameras of comparable quality. But it's still my favorite one.

I have had both the S5000 and the S5100 I was disapointed when my S5000 power switch stopped working after 18 months, but I was happy with the picture quality. I replaced it with the S5100, it has a slightly better feature set over the S5000 (in particular shutter speed choices) while on a trip to Niagara Falls, I was unfortunate to give my camera a slight jolt (and I mean slight) after that it wouldn't power up. I am now looking for something a liitle more robust and reliable.

I purchased this camera 2 or 3 years ago, and still use it as if brand new today. This camera is excellent for amateur hobby photographers like myself, as it has a lot of functions that can be accessed by the click of a dial, such as shutter speed, aperture priority, manual function, etc. To be honest, the camera has so many functions that I don't even understand how to utilize it to its full potential. If you are well versed in photography, this camera is for you. If you are just a point and shoot kind of person, this camera has too many functions that it wouldn't be worth it. I purchased a 1G memory card that will store over 1000 pictures (the camera comes with one that only saves like 20 photos). The software is easy to use and has nice photo viewing and editing capability. The only caveat is that the size makes it too bulky to take along everywhere so it can only be used in planned outings, not something you carry around with you daily, thus stripping you of your random photo op. One other thing that I have trouble with is that if the settings are not perfectly adjusted in some low light situations, the pictures come out blurry. But it does take really great flash photos and some settings make the night look like daytime. You really just have to play around with the settings if you are an amateur like me, but once you get the hang of it, it's awesome. I love this camera and the quality of the photos is near professional.

Yes, I am slow to make this review, maybe because I spend a great deal of time using this camera.
The ONLY thing I would like to have changed, is a rechargable pack. At first I burned thru many batteries. I switched to rechargables, and find that I still use a great deal of power, (I shoot often with the flash,) but now I can recharge the spent batteries after each session. I use the charge of 12 AA's in a 3 hour shoot.
I use this camera for studio work and it has served me well for a good number of years already!

The camera itself if fine but please beware. They show the product weight at 20lbs meaning you will be charged over $40 to ship when the box it arrived in shows 3 lbs.

That said, I really like the camera, it is going to take a while to get through all the features but seems to be far superior to the standard point and clicks I have been using.

I love this camera so much, I purchased it three times.
It has great zoom, nice clear pics on 4MB selection, nice video too. It comes with a 16MB card, which, now that the hi def pics arent 2MB each (about 800k), you can fit more than 8. I purchased a 1 GB card that can hold several hundred pics, as well as decent, good quality video. It comes with FinePix software which allows you to make a Video CD, DVD, etc.. which is nice for special occassions. I purchased a USB XD reader with this to take the card out, and connect directly into my laptop, rather than physically connecting the camera to the laptop. The downside is the long startup time, and its hunger for batteries. Use Energize Lithum batteries. They last at least 50 times longer than regular batteries. Long distance inside pics with ok or dark light dont come out very well, unless you set it for nightpics, and have a tripod. The manual settings are good if you know what they mean. I like the shutter delay while photographing fireworks with a tripod.

The camera is fine as long as nothing goes wrong. Fuji has the worst customer service I have ever delt with. They pass you from one person to another and do everything they can not to help you. Be prepared to deal with the worst customer service in the business. I really hope this helps you.

I love the size, features and cost of this camera. It make it so much easier for me to enjoy taking pictures and knowing that it is helping me get the correct focus and obtaining pictures I am shooting for one reason and seeing other reasons I would have taken the same shot had I seen it originally.

Great price!

As an owner of a Pentax K-1000, I really like this Fuji S5100. Its simple to use, and the prints come out very nice. I like the feel of this camera because it feels like my SLR. I find the little pocket digitals no different that the old Kodak pocket camera. I like the S5100 for its options and ease of use.

Congratulations!