What is sports mode? Fuji 5200 equiv?

On 20 Mar 2006 22:31:48 -0800, Chris wrote:

> I got a Fuji 5200 partly because I thought the high ISO/short exposure
> would be good for sports photography. But it doesn't have a "sports
> mode" per se that some cameras have. I assume the meaning of "sports
> mode" varies with the capabilties of a particular camera, but what is
> thistypically trying to accoplish? What would be the corresponding
> settings on a 5200?

Lack of a sports mode is no big deal. You should be able to dial
in more useful settings than the camera would have. The Fuji S5100
was replaced by the S5200 and is quite similar. It had a sports
mode. According to the manual, when sports mode is used:

> The priority to faster shutter speeds is given.

> The camera selects the "100" sensitivity setting. Choose the
> sensitivity setting that best suits the condition.

It's highly unlikely that anyone reading this will know what it
really means. In fact, the manual says the same thing when it
describes the other shooting modes. What the camera actually does
is this: It has an ISO AUTO setting. This is relatively worthless,
as it almost always uses ISO 100, no matter how dark or bright the
lighting is. If it's extremely dark the camera *might* use ISO 200,
but it never goes higher than that. This ISO AUTO setting is only
available in the AUTO shooting mode. If it is set to AUTO and the
shooting mode is changed to any other mode (P, A, S, M, sports,
landscape, etc) ISO 100 is used. You may take pictures, but as long
as the ISO wasn't actually modified in the menu, when you put the
camera back to AUTO mode, ISO AUTO is restored. If, however, you
manually changed the ISO in any mode, when the camera is returned to
AUTO mode the camera does not revert to AUTO ISO, but continues to
use whatever ISO value it was last set to.


According to the manual's tables of functions and menu options,
when using sports mode:

You can't use macro mode.
You can't use red-eye reduction.
You can't use slow synch flash.
You can't use auto bracketing.
You can't use long period (up to 40 frames) continuous shooting.
You can't use exposure compensation.

White Balance is not a menu option (AUTO is used).
AF mode is not a menu option (CENTER is used)
Photometry (metering) is not a menu option (MULTI is used)
Bracketing is not a menu option (+/- 1/3 EV is used)
Sharpness is not a menu option (NORMAL is used)
Flash adjustment is not a menu option (+/- 0 is used)

The S5100 doesn't have any C(ustom) settings capabilities, as
some other cameras do. If the S5200 has Custom settings, you could
create one that mimics the S5100's sports mode.