Effective and recorded MP's???

[DarkAngel]

Hi everyone,

Narrowed my search for the new camera down to 2 candidates. Either the Nikon 5700 or the Fuji S5000. I was originally set on the 5700 but the cheaper price tag and better zoom drew me to the S5000. Just a few questions before I make a decision:

1) Has anyone used both cameras or heard of difference in photo quality?

2) Whats the deal with effective pixels? Aparently the S5000 has 3.2 effective megapixels but 6 recorded megapixels, is this just a marketing gimmick? It sounds like it would mean that the picture would be worse than just a straight 6 megapixel camera, and if so, would it be better to upgrade to the S7000?

Thanks a lot guys,
DarkAngel

[ratcheer]

I would probably go for the Nikon, but I will also state that I have been a Nikon user since the early 80's (i.e., full disclosure).

That said, if you read the full review of the Fuji on the dpreview site, it seems pretty clear that there is no advantage to the 6 MP mode. In fact, I think (but I may be mistaken) that the reviewer actually preferred the results of the 3.2 MP mode.

The 5700 is getting a little long in the tooth, but it is still a very capable camera. Maybe the street prices are even coming down, some.

Tim

[ratcheer]

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilms5000/