Fujifilm X10 user reviews

dimiuk 27 March 2012

Good: Excellent bright 2.0 - 2.8 Lens. Retro looking camera. Edge technology loaded.

Bad: White orbs in some night scenes. Hoping that Fuji will soon resolve,

Comment: Highly portable DSLR capable retro looking Viewfinder camera.
High quality low light photos , excellent portrait - street photography camera due to the 28 - 112 mm f2.0 - f2.8 Fujinon Lens.
Not a starter's point and shoot camera though.
DSLR users will really love it.

charlesharley 23 February 2012

Good: Retro styling

Bad: Price

Comment: Great camera, a bit too price for me

Inigo_Questa 10 January 2012

Good: Size, photo quality, easy to access controls.

Bad: Not much, too many settingsmaybe - more than anybody will probably need.

Comment: Cool retro looks are a bonus.

Mala Mukherjee 30 December 2011

Comment: i lovd its feature n its clasical luk

Anonymous 30 December 2011

Good: Your review by Nik Rawlinson 16th December

Bad: Newsletter by Lori Grunin Senior Editor 19th December

Comment: I am so confused, Cnet seems to be contradicting itself. The review by Nik Rawlinson is glowing but the comment made by Lori Grunin has stopped me from buying the Fuji X10. Can you please tell me who is correct and what is cnet's actual view on this camera?

Lori's comments are as follows:

With a nice, fast lens, attractive retro design, and speedy performance, the Fujifilm FinePix X10 hits a lot of important high notes. But the camera has some image-quality weaknesses, not the least of which is that to get the best photos you have to shoot in auto at reduced resolutions. Advanced shooters may be frustrated by the trade-offs needed to get the best photos, especially since the FinePix X10 is more expensive than its competitors.

sgoldswo 24 December 2011

Good: High ISO Image Quality, Colour reproduction, Design, Number of buttons, Lens

Bad: Buttons, Size, overall presentation.

Comment: I'm in two minds about this camera. It's really very nice, looks great (from the front) and images aren't bad at all. It's low light performance is good too (certainly compared to the smeary cartoon like mess my TZ-10 produces in low light).

However, the price is very high when compared to the competition and (despite really very good images) the relatively smaller sensor means the camera can't compete with the M4/3 and Sony NEX alternatives. It isn't very small either (I bought this as a replacement for a panasonic TZ-10).

The way I would think about it is that the camera is a great replacement for your average travel camera with a super zoom and tiny sensor, and allows for an amazing degree of manual control. It can't compete with the compact camera systems currently available (it isn't a match for my Sony NEX-5N). Oddly enough, while the camera looks very smart from the front, the design of the buttons looks a bit cheap and nasty from the back. The brutal truth is that I would never choose this as my main camera.

Having said that, it is a very nice camera, and will give you better service than a travel compact (like a TZ-10 or TZ-20) at a smaller size (once you factor in the lenses) than most interchangeable lens compacts. I am planning to keep this with a view to it living in my bag as a relatively small walkaround camera.

sgoldswo 23 December 2011

Good: High ISO Image Quality, Image Colour repoDesign, Number of buttons, Lens

Bad: Buttons, Size, overall presentation.

Comment: I am very much in two minds

RyanKelly 21 December 2011

Good: Image quality is the best I've seen from a camera this size, Best build quality I've seen in a compact, Viewfinder is bright and big for a compact, High ISOs are very good, Fast focusing, 1080p 30 FPS video is pretty good, EXR function with increased DR mode works great

Bad: Not comfortable when holding it for a long time, Fonts are small

Comment: Two years ago, I upgraded from a Canon SD1000 to a Canon S90. The image quality was fantastic with great high ISO performance and sharp images, even wide-open in the corners. Other aspects of the camera bothered me though. It didn't feel expensive - the front control ring was loose and felt cheap when I used it to change aperture, the flash frequently jammed even when I'd never pushed it down or interfered with its motorized action, the buttons felt cheap, the LCD developed stuck pixels quickly and had an uneven backlight. This year, I felt I needed something new. Thanks to the popularity of the S90, even on the used market, I was able to recover about half what I paid for it new.
Enter the Fujifilm X10.
BUILD QUALITY & SIZE:
The best build quality I've seen in a compact, ever. Speaking as someone who cares perhaps a bit too much about aesthetics, I'm in heaven. Magnesium and aluminum everywhere. The dials are tight and the zoom ring has a lovely heavy, fluid action. It's simply a joy to use. It destroys the PowerShot S90. The viewfinder is bright and big for a compact but it's total lack of shooting information makes using it more of a novelty under all but the most predictable conditions. Size-wise, the X10 is a bit smaller than expected. Holding it was initially awkward with the neck strap lug attachment in the way of my right hand but I'm beginning to adjust to it. More than anything, I'll miss the pocketability of the S90. Even with its case I could slip it into my jeans pocket. The X10, with it's protruding lens, will never fit in any of my pockets. I'm awaiting the Fujifilm LC-X10 case to come down in price to sane levels before picking one up.
IMAGE QUALITY:
The first thing that struck me about the X10's images was the color. Compared to the S90 and other compacts I've used, the colors are more realistic, more lifelike, less harsh and digital. They resemble my Canon 30D DSLR's images more than anything. Fujifilm cameras have long been known for their lifelike color reproduction and the X10 has it in full force.
Dynamic range, even without using the EXR "DR" sensor-split expansion mode, is very good. Using DR400 at 6 MP gives it almost an HDR quality, but more realistic. Highlights are generally well-controlled although a phenomenon can occur at low ISOs with bright highlights like chrome: circular, hard-edged white orbs. I've seen these on a handful of shots and once you see them, you can't "unsee" them. I really hope Fujifilm can fix this with a firmware update. My S90 never had this issue, in fact, I loved using it to take 15 second night shots at ISO 80. Fujifilm has to address this. In my opinion, its the biggest flaw of the camera.
High ISOs are very good. Things fell apart for my S90 above ISO 800. The X10 holds strong up to and including ISO 3200. More detail is retained and noise is finely-grained, not the jaundiced yellow blotches the S90 produced at ISO 1600 and 3200. I'd like to use RAW but Adobe needs to update ACR to recognize X10 RAW files first.
Resolution is good but not appreciably better than the 10MP S90, particularly at low ISOs. The lens seems to be sharp in the corners, even wide open. There is some barrel distortion at 28mm but nothing too bad. The f/2-f/2.8 lens allows for much more depth-of-field control than what was possible with the S90. Will it replace my 30D and 60mm f/2.8 lens for portraits? Not quite, but it's darned good for a compact.
My favorite "special feature" is the 360° Panorama mode. It works surprisingly well. The only caveat is the vertical resolution is an unimpressive 1080 pixels.
Speaking of 1080 - the 1080p, 30 FPS video is pretty good. Autofocus and zooming are present and accounted for, unlike the S90. There is some of the dreaded CMOS "jellyvision" going on but only in certain circumstances.
WRAP-UP:
I'm sure you can tell that I really like this camera. Canon lost me with the S100, which I was eagerly waiting for - too much of a priority on compactness and lens range at the expense of control and image quality. Fujifilm built the X10 for photographers and its evident in how it looks, feels and operates. One thing to think about is this: Unlike Canon, Fujifilm doesn't have a low-end DSLR market to compete against. They went all-out with the X10 since that price bracket is totally empty for them. If you don't mind the relative bulk or price and you value a real "photographer's camera", the X10 is for you. Lastly, if you will buy the X10 I suggest you have to check for best deal before you decide at:
Good Luck!