The Fuji Finepix S5000 is my second digi cam and cost twice the amount of the first but was money well spent. This little baby does everything a novice like myself could ever want. The auto settings are great, but for the expert it has all the manual stuff too. Great zoom(10x optical---2x digital). This camera is so easy to use so you can concentrate on what's in front of you. The photos are clear, sharp and have great colour. You should consider putting a bigger memory card in it. I upgraded to 128mb which holds about 270 pics on the lowest setting. There is talk of a 1gb card coming out next year....go buy it, you won't regret it.

A delight to handle and use the S5000 is the only digicam (apart from the 602) which I could use just like my SLR Nikon, felt comfortable right from day one.

I am very impressed with the 10x zoom which operates smoothly and the autofocus remains sharp throughout the range. At, or close to maximum zoom camera shake can become a problem so an eye must be kept on the warning indicator, I do not consider this a fault as a conventional camera with a long zoom would perform identically. I can see how this would give rise to some complaints I have seen relating to the S5000, nothing wrong with the focus, it would be easy for the digicam owner used to 3x zoom to forget to monitor the shutter speed.

The 2.8 lens is fast enough for available light work in conditions where other digicams need the flash. Image quality is very good for a 3.2 MP camera, I regularly print A4s straight off the card with no other enhancement and the results are superb. JPEG compression is quite severe and the onboard image processing (sharpening) will often leave discernable artifacts in images (though not usually noticeable unless you crop/enlarge) however changing the sharpening setting to 'soft' seems to reduce the effect.

Like most of the Finepix range the S5000 accentuates reds noticeably, but renders skin tones beautifully so this is an acceptable tradeoff. Fuji's system of arranging the imager elements diagonally seems to produce even, sharp images but it is very difficult to discern any image improvement at the 6MP setting, however even at 3MP images are ahead of other cameras of the same resolution.

The range of manual settings is excellent, shutter and aperture priority along with program and manual modes render top quality images in almost every situation, with plenty of scope for individual expression. The exception being the manual focus which is next door to useless as there is no way to determine sharp focus either in the EVF or LCD, however the auto focus gets it right 99% of the time so again not a biggie.

The pop-up flash is grunty and far enough away from the lens so as to minimise red-eye, no need to dive into the setup menu to disable the flash, if you dont need it, don't pop it and you will get those available light pics perfectly exposed almost every time.

IMHO no manufacturer has yet produced the perfect digital camera but until that happens the S5000 will be the best feature set for dollars alternative in its price range, sure its not a pro digital SLR but it is aimed specifically at the enthusiast market, as a semi-pro I find it does all my work with ease and my photographically challenged family can take great shots using the auto setting.

I bought this Fuji Finepix S5000 digital camera after using a sony mavica fd-91, was very impressed, has good zoom and as i do lots of aviation photography it comes in very handy for close ups. I invested in the 1.5x converter and that improves photos no end with no loss of quality.
It cost me 250 pound after seeing it in store and I have not regretted buying it, battery life could be better though as it soon drains AA batteries if you use the lcd a lot.
I have 4 xd picture cards and it is simple to upload to a laptop or pc. If ever bring a bigger brother out to the s5000 then i will invest again as fuji have it just right.

I have had this Fuji Finepix S5000 digital camera for a few days and am very impressed! It is very similar to the options on my very expensive proffesional quality SLR, film camera, but is a bit smaller which I find to be a plus!! ISO speed selection is a very handy tool for taking shots at different times and events. I love the speed in which you can take pictures, which is pretty much as fast as you can press the button, most digital cameras take time to save the pic. you can snap off 3-4 even 6 or 7 pics very quickly. Overall I am 100% pleased with this cam! and I think it is perfect for the beginner looking to enhance there ability and skill in digital picture taking.

The Fuji Finepix S5000 is a very very good camera. It's my first Digital Camera but it took me three or four attempts with other models before I exchanged them for this little beauty. I feel it has everything most people would want and need unless your a pro.