HIGH PERFORMANCE

While the S2 suffers a bit from its bland controls, it shines as a speedy performer in the studio. For our test, we spent two days at Jason's studio photographing portraits of one model using both natural light and a small strobe set-up; and a second day with another model in full studio lighting in a more active, lifestyle shoot.

Though it may not be as fast all-around as the leading pro DSLRs out there, the S2 is worlds faster than any of the medium-format cameras we've tried which is really a better comparison. Though the S2 may look and feel like a DSLR, with its jumbo sensor (50 percent bigger than 35mm full-frame chips) and a $22,295 price tag, it's a medium-format through and through.

We used the Summarit-S 70mm f/2.5 FPS lens ($4,500) and experienced some lens hunting with the S2's autofocus system but nothing distressing. (Most of it occurred when we deliberately tried it in low contrast shooting conditions not under studio lighting.)

In terms of performance, what I really wanted to look at with the S2 was how it handled a relatively fast moving fashion shoot. Certainly, with a pedestrian 1.5 frames per second shooting speed, it would not be the sort of camera you would take to shoot sports. (Maybe sports portraits but that's about it.)

So, for our second day of shooting we called on one of Jason's favorite models, Noam Harary, who is quite comfortable getting physical during a shoot. As Noam danced, jumped, karate-kicked and leaned back precariously, Jason fired away.

Though the frame speed and focus performance didn't reach the level of a DSLR such as, say, the Nikon D3x, it held up admirably. And image quality, as you'll see in the next section, blew the D3x away. With a new dual-core image processor design by Fujitsu called "Maestro," the S2 outpaced every medium-format model I've tested in the last two years, even those which purport to have a similar 1.5 frames per second shooting speed.