Fujifilm FinePix XP10 review

Innovations galore, but is that enough?

Marketed as an all-weather, all-terrain camera, the Fujifilm FinePix XP10 delves into the water-, shock- and dustproof market but adds a twist in terms of features. Boasting the ‘Facebook-friendly’ one-touch upload, this is a camera that’s clearly aimed at a new generation of photographers.

Design-wise the camera, whether in its silver, black or blue incarnation, boasts a smooth, two-tone finish, with a small grip at the front to keep it from slipping between wet fingers. The lens is located in the upper-left portion of the front to the camera, which means your finger can slip in front if you’re framing in conditions when the LCD is hard to view (overly bright days, for instance). On the very narrow (23mm) top plate, you’ll find just the On/Off and shutter release. Both are a little on the small side and it can be hard to know whether you’ve switched the XP10 on until the blue lamp underneath comes on.

Round the back, the 2.7" screen dominates. Although we’re becoming more used to 3" screens, this does still feel big within the compact dimensions of the camera. Also on the back is the usual d-pad, with access to macro, flash and self-timer functions, and some rubberised buttons that can be felt as bumps under the surface. These access the 5x zoom, movie recording, playback and display features.

Start up seems to take a little time, although this might be due to the small, stiff On/ Off button. Without the sound activated, it’s difficult to tell if you’ve switched the Fujifilm on or not. Once on, the camera is easy to navigate, with the menu system being divided into two main areas: Shooting and Setup. The menus are clear and easy to read, with small explanations of each scene mode appearing beneath them. With features like white balance, the Fujifilm allows you to see how each setting will effect the current composition – a nice training tool for those who are still getting used to each new feature.

Start shooting with the Fujifilm and it’s not the quickest to lock focus. However, a bit of practise with the crosshairs and you’re soon mastering that aspect. The tracking focus also works rather well. We tested it on a windy day with a close-up of a flower. With a half press the camera managed to stick with the flower, focus and shoot a crisp image.

Shots taken at night, especially portraits, seemed to cause a few problems when left on Auto. The noise was noticeable without zooming in at all, and even images close-up were a little unfocused and looked washed out in terms of colour.

Once you’ve taken your shots, hit the Menu button in Playback and you can start tinkering. Images can be tagged for Facebook or YouTube (for movies) and you can edit images in-camera. Crop, brightness, contrast, color, sepia, face mosaic (where faces can be blurred out) and aspect ratio can all be adjusted. Within this part of the menu you can also perform an image search – great if your memory card is packed full of images, as the feature can search your library by type of shot, by date or by numerous other data.

For £169 the Fujifilm FinePix XP10 offers a lot of features that younger users will particularly adore. The ability to edit, tag and upload your photos directly from the camera will appeal to those users who simply want to share their images with friends with as little hassle as possible.

Tracking focus and auto scene detection worked well most of the time and image quality was generally good, with landscapes boasting vivid hues and macro shots with a nice depth of field. Metering was hit and miss, with some loss of detail on bright days in highlight areas. However, for an all-round holiday camera that will upload your images to the web easily, you can’t go far wrong.