Fuji First Sample Shots With The S2 Pro

[gryphon1911]

*** I changed the title to remove JPG - now have some sample images from RAW ***

Only lens that I have that works with it is the Nikon 28-70/3.5-4.5D

Not bad for OOC JPG with a little Lightroom processing (basic adjustments and sharpening).
So far, love the feel of the camera body and the ergonomics. Got a newer/faster CF card and that makes a big difference on save and image review speed.
Might snag some more AF-D lenses to test with it as well.

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[MountainMan79]

I love my S2 pro. It’s a great camera. Enjoy!

 

[Roboticspro]

Only lens that I have that works with it is the Nikon 28-70/3.5-4.5D

Not bad for OOC JPG with a little Lightroom processing (basic adjustments and sharpening).
So far, love the feel of the camera body and the ergonomics. Got a newer/faster CF card and that makes a big difference on save and image review speed.
Might snag some more AF-D lenses to test with it as well.

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Wow...great rendering and color, almost "crispy" in a good way. Have fun with the new gear(s)!

 

[MiguelATF]

Very, very cool shots, Andrew!

Looking forwards to seeing some more

 

[gryphon1911]

Out today and shot the S2 Pro in High/RAW mode. Processed the images for exposure in Lightroom Classic and then sent them over to Topaz Sharpen AI for noise reduction and sharpening. I will say that I am rather impressed by the control over the ISO noise. Shot a few images at 1600 ISO and they still held together rather well.

I will say that the modern post processing tools provide me with a more satisfactory final output than the in camera JPG processing. Even with the legacy 28-70/3.5-4.5D lens, it does rather well. Will be shooting this camera in RAW from now on. May even try to find good deals on more modern AF-S optics to enhance the acuity...although I have had a lot of success with the 28-105 D, 28-85 D, and the 35-135 D lenses...so may look to get another one of those and perhaps a used 55-200.

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[MountainMan79]

Out today and shot the S2 Pro in High/RAW mode. Processed the images for exposure in Lightroom Classic and then sent them over to Topaz Sharpen AI for noise reduction and sharpening. I will say that I am rather impressed by the control over the ISO noise. Shot a few images at 1600 ISO and they still held together rather well.

I will say that the modern post processing tools provide me with a more satisfactory final output than the in camera JPG processing. Even with the legacy 28-70/3.5-4.5D lens, it does rather well. Will be shooting this camera in RAW from now on. May even try to find good deals on more modern AF-S optics to enhance the acuity...although I have had a lot of success with the 28-105 D, 28-85 D, and the 35-135 D lenses...so may look to get another one of those and perhaps a used 55-200.

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I have an 18-140 on mine most of the time and the two play well with each other. I’ll actually be taking it out some point shortly to give the 35mm I picked up a few months back a go on it.

 

[MiguelATF]

Very cool colors, Andrew.

 

[Irene McC]

Hang on ... this is a 20-year old camera with an F-mount, right?
Gosh; it really delivers impressive images. Which just goes to show: do we really need zillions of megapixels ... ?

 

[MountainMan79]

Hang on ... this is a 20-year old camera with an F-mount, right?
Gosh; it really delivers impressive images. Which just goes to show: do we really need zillions of megapixels ... ?

Totally agree! And yes, this is a 20 year old f mount camera. Well, maybe 19 years, I can’t remember. I actually started an image thread late last year for it over here…
Fuji Showcase - S1 Pro, S2 Pro, and S3 Pro Images

 

[gryphon1911]

I have an 18-140 on mine most of the time and the two play well with each other. I’ll actually be taking it out some point shortly to give the 35mm I picked up a few months back a go on it.

Used to have one of those years ago for a walk about lens for a Yellowstone trip. I have fond memories of it...but since I already had one of those, was thinking of maybe trying my hand at an 18-200 VR lens. I'm thinking the 18-140 might be better and it is a known quantity to me, but what is the fun in that! LOL

 

[Irene McC]

My experiences with the Nikon 18-200 were less than impressive. Unless you already own one, I'd caution you against raising your hopes

 

[gryphon1911]

Hang on ... this is a 20-year old camera with an F-mount, right?
Gosh; it really delivers impressive images. Which just goes to show: do we really need zillions of megapixels ... ?

And the 28-70/3.5-4.5D lens attached to it is a little bit older as well. Not sure when my copy was built, but that lens, I believe was built between 1991 and 1999. So possibly a 20-30 year old optic on it as well.
As far as megapixels go, I started a very good photography business with a Nikon D50 (also 6mp) and a Tamron 28-200/3.8-5.6 non VR FX lens...because it was all I could afford at the time after the purchase of the D50. I almost want to get another D50, just for the nostalgia.
If I can find a well prices Nikon 35/1.8 AF-S DX prime, I'd love to see what that would in front of this sensor. Plan on hitting the local shops this weekend and seeing what kind of money I can drop on some nice, vintage "legacy" lenses!

 

[gryphon1911]

Totally agree! And yes, this is a 20 year old f mount camera. Well, maybe 19 years, I can’t remember. I actually started an image thread late last year for it over here…
Fuji Showcase - S1 Pro, S2 Pro, and S3 Pro Images

From my research, it was stated as a 2002 release.

 

[gryphon1911]

My experiences with the Nikon 18-200 were less than impressive. Unless you already own one, I'd caution you against raising your hopes

Perhaps, based on your suggestion, I'll spend that money elsewhere!

 

[MountainMan79]

Used to have one of those years ago for a walk about lens for a Yellowstone trip. I have fond memories of it...but since I already had one of those, was thinking of maybe trying my hand at an 18-200 VR lens. I'm thinking the 18-140 might be better and it is a known quantity to me, but what is the fun in that! LOL

I actually repurchased the 18-140, because like you I had it prior, but on my d7100. It was a known quantity, and although I remembered it having issues with vignetting, it’s so much easier nowadays to fix that. Anyways, long story long, I’m happy I bought it again. Greatly useful focal range.

 

[MountainMan79]

If I can find a well prices Nikon 35/1.8 AF-S DX prime, I'd love to see what that would in front of this sensor. Plan on hitting the local shops this weekend and seeing what kind of money I can drop on some nice, vintage "legacy" lenses!

I’ll let you know how it goes. This is what’s currently in front of the sensor on mine, but I haven’t gotten out with it yet!

 

[gryphon1911]

OK, so the next experiment with the S2 Pro - Monochrome!

Settings are as follows:
Fine file size and 4256 resolution
Color mode = B/W
Tone = Hard
Sharpening = Hard

To my surprise, tone at the hard setting actually pulled the black and white point in the histogram more toward the middle. I thought it might push those points and the outer parts of the histogram more toward the edges.
The matrix metering actually handled the brightness of the scenes rather well. Places where I thought it might struggle, it actually metered correctly and I did have some images that I over exposed and did not need to do so.

I did pull them into Lightroom and did some exposure adjustments, straightening, cropping and added a +40 grain value.

I'm still not 100% sure I like the way that the JPG come out...but this was the first go and more experimentation is needed.
I will say that I think that the images from the JPG do seem to have a rather film like look to them.

There were some images at 4256 resolution that had some weird artifacting to them in places, so will do another set of tests in similar conditions at 3024 resolution and see if the 12mp upresing is to blame (I think it is). Honestly, though for this process to be as good as it is in 2002 is rather shocking. I tried using the 2x digital teleconverter on my Olympus cameras and could never accept it. Fuji also has digital teleconverter options in their X100 series cameras and those actually work rather well.

Anyway - enough with my oration - on to the pictures!

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3 - this was backlit and I overexposed by 1 stop, but then needed to bring the exposure back from the JPG in Lightroom.

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12 - this one I went heavier on the grain. Instead of +40, I went +60

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[jhawk1000]

For some time my wife was a Fujifilm distributor through her lab. She started out with Canon as a newspaper photog but when I married her, she adopted my system Nikon and with it came all my lenses. I was once a Nikon sales rep while in law school so I had the equipment. Fuji kept after my wife to try their brand new Fuji S2 Pro so we each got a deal we could not refuse and we ended up with an S2 Pro each. Loved the color, did not like the battery issue with AAs. We did upgrade to S3 Pro and later each of us got an S5Pro. Wonderful color and a great camera but the writing time to CF card were too long when we were shooting wildlife. My wife used it in the studio for the color. The S5Pro was so in demand that a pro-photographer traded me his almost new Nikon D2X straight across for the S5 Pro.

Fortuitously, one of my wife's former lab customers contacted her and asked if she would like a free Fuji camera. He did not say what model nor did he ever respond with the model. He wanted to be reimbursed for shipping charges ($20.00) only so we sent the $20.00 and we got a Fuji S3Pro in great condition which we still have and use. Excellent images if you don't expect speed.

 

[MountainMan79]

I got out with the 35mm today actually, and it was enjoyable. Feels great on the camera and takes a good shot. If you find one for the right price, I’d recommend it. And this is an equivalent focal length that I’m really not a fan of, so I was out of my element with it today, but that was half the fun.

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[John King]

Andrew, a friend had an 18-200. He asked me why his photos with his D300 were so crappy compared with his wife's D90 + 18-105 kit lens.

I showed him some lens tests on the 18-200, and told him I would not recommend it to someone I hated ...

He bought a 16-85 on my advice, and was delighted. He could never bring himself to sell the 18-200 on ethical grounds ...

BTW, IME wedding photographers preferred the Fuji S series to Nikons (on which they were based) because of better skin tones, in particular.

There's nothing quite like a car bonnet emblem for testing a sensor and lens IMO. Sharp edges, effectively a Pantone colour as the background. Lots of detail.

Lots of nice shots with your new (old) camera. Enjoy.