The Fuji Finepix S5100 turns out to be a decent ultra-zoom camera which can produce high-quality images except at wide-angle where vignetting is noticeable. Vignetting appears to be the compromise Fuji has taken to achieve such a zoom range with the bright lens used on the Fuji S5100. Note that the majority of ultra-zoom cameras have also somewhat compromised on image quality, most commonly with image softness.

Surprisingly for an ultra-zoom, except for a few Olympus models such as the C765, the Fuji S5100 actually produces sharp images. On the other hand, this camera and the C765 lack image stabilization which is now common with ultra-zoom cameras such as the Panasonic FZ5 and Konica-Minolta Z5. Another downside of the S5100 is that, despite feeling comfortably solid, its manual controls are notoriously difficult to use.