Introduction

To start; let me say that I like using my DSLRs. I especially enjoy the quality of the files from a bigger sensor. It's why I've hung on to my film scanner and gargantuan 6x7 medium format film system. Unfortunately, that's the trade-off. Presently, if you want big, beautiful files, you have to be ready to lug around some heavy gear.

However, a lot of the time, big, high-res files are overkill. So why carry 50 lbs of metal, electronics and glass if you don't really need to?

It's with that rationale that I chose to look for a versatile, fixed-lens camera that I could stick in my jacket pocket, carry everywhere, yet could also give me some options for pro-level control and quality.

Fortunately, these days, the market in this rapidly expanding camera niche seems to have no shortage of viable contenders. I tirelessly checked them all out. Among  them, the Canon G12, Nikon P7100 and Panasonic Lumix LX5 were the frontrunners. There were a few others, but somehow, I failed to find one that really stood out  - that I could pick up and fall in love with at first sight. Few had most of the features I was looking for. Some had the lens I wanted but no optical viewfinder (for me, essential). Others had no flash hotshoe (another must). A couple were "over designed," if not downright ugly, which, I hate to admit, is a consideration. All but one had a slow lens that further compounded the main problem of a small sensor: noise in low light.

Also, having owned a Leica M2 many years ago, I've long coveted a street camera with a similar form factor; the classic look and feel that only a Leica owner could possibly know.

Enter the Fujifilm X10. I saw one the very first day it arrived at Henry's Cameras in Toronto. Just like its big brother, the Fujifilm X100, the quality was evident even before I picked it up. The box had just been opened and three other customers, plus a few sales people, crowded around me while I played with the demo's dials and snapped a few test shots. Everyone was very vocal about how impressive the features, understated design and ergonomics were.

The X10 had everything I wanted - and more. And it felt comfortable in my hands too, with just the right weight and balance. This was it. I had to have one.

I'm now in my second week of putting the X10 through all kinds of shooting situations. In my personal work, I do a lot of HDR, and my biggest fear at first was that the small sensor wouldn't be able to handle the HDR processing without producing lots of noise.

HDR with the Fujifilm X10
Focal Length: 7.1mm Exposure: f8, 3-exposures (-2, N, +2)	Focal Length: 16.7mm Exposure: f8, 3-exposures (-2, N, +2)

My fear was unfounded. The larger sensor (for its class) works great and I've seen nothing in my results so far that indicates that HDR is (visually) any more difficult with this sensor than any DSLR.

Lens sharpness? On the X10, Fujinon 7.1 - 28.4 mm is a stellar performer. For proof, check out my shot of the 1950 Pontiac Silver Streak. The screws holding on the headlights and signal lights are tack sharp - and that's a compressed JPG. The TIF from the original RAW is amazing.

No surprise there: Since 2002, Fuji has been manufacturing the lenses for the professional Hasselblad H System of digital medium format cameras. I once had a Fujinon 150mm on a Toyo field camera that was every bit as sharp as my Rodenstocks.

No, this doesn't mean I've retired my other gear. However, it does mean I've got a great companion camera, only slightly limited by its smaller sensor, that goes with me everywhere. This means I can leave the heavier equipment for special situations where the bulk or weight isn't such a big deal. It's also faster to access when I need a camera quickly - and it's a lot less conspicuous than a big honking DSLR when doing street candids.

So for me, absolutely no regrets. Despite it being a tad pricier than the competition, and the presence of a few quirks and foibles, this camera's a winner. Not only does it push the boundaries of what you'd expect from a small-sensor rangefinder, it should easily hold its value for when it's time to upgrade to that X11 or X12 a few years from now.

Meanwhile, in the course of my many hours of experimenting and pouring through the manual, I've come to know this camera quite well. I know its strengths and yes, its weaknesses. Like all cameras, it has a few of the latter. For the benefit of anyone considering the purchase of an X10, here's my list of 'pros and cons:'

Pros

The Camera

  The build quality is excellent, with an all metal body and controls.

  Top dial click-stop detents are nice and stiff, so settings don't get accidentally changed. In particular, the Exposure Compensation dial is wisely even a little harder to turn due to its location next to your thumb.

  The retro rangefinder design is very cool, resembling a scaled-down Fujica G690.

  It's very compact, but not too small to hold with large hands. It could easily fit in a coat pocket.

  No logo present on the camera front and a very low-profile name on the strap is a very positive development. It's nice to see a camera-maker finally recognize that consumers don't necessarily want to be a walking billboard for their corporation - or scream "steal my gear!"

  The 28mm to 112mm (35mm equivalent) lens is quite good and the f2.max aperture lens is a welcome bonus. The sweet spot for sharpness is 35-50mm, f/4.- f/8.

  Auto focus is fast and reliable. Intelligent Face Detection makes focusing people much easier. Also, a depth of field scale on the LCD focus bar is a welcome addition. Even many advanced DSLRs, sadly, omit that essential feature for serious photographers.

  The very responsive manual zoom is much faster than electronic types, and quieter - a consideration while doing video.

  An innovative 'On-Off' switch on the lens base doubles as the method for retracting the lens, à la early Leica and Rollei 35 cameras.

  Several exposure modes and a well positioned Exposure Compensation dial give it pro capabilities.

  There's an adequate pop-up flash but it also has a hot-shoe, enabling the use of more versatile external flashes and studio lighting with a synch terminal adapter or remote triggers.

  The flash syncs at 1/4000 sec!

  The affordable NP-50 lithium battery is easy to find on eBay.

  A very large, bright, all-glass viewfinder is by far better than all its competitors.

  The 1/3" sensor serves up images of unprecedented quality. All the X10's close competitors use smaller
1/1.7" sensors.

  The very advanced EXR sensor does a superb job controlling noise. Options to shoot in high-res 12MP for maximum sharpness, wider dynamic range or a larger pixel but lower resolution "pixel-binning" 6MP mode for reduced noise in poor light are available in several modes.

  The Pro Low-light mode is particularly useful - combining four rapid-sequence frames into one for incredibly low noise. This type of in-camera "image-stacking" can allow for surprisingly low noise images at ISO3200.

  Two impressive macro modes make the X10 a genuine close-up performer.

  A voice memo option for attaching audio notes to image files, like pro DSLRs, is very handy.

  It has a programmable Function (Fn) button, again, like the higher end cameras.

  The silent shooting mode is very useful for operating in sensitive areas or stealthy photojournalism-type applications. It really is absolutely silent.

  The easy-to-use Motion Panorama mode does a great job with 360, 180 and 120 degree in-camera stitching.

  Film shooters familiar with Fujichrome slide films will love the Film Simulation option that allows color and contrast characteristics mimicing Provia, Velvia and Astia.

  A Pro Focus option offers the ability to soften backgrounds during portrait photography.

  Due to the standard threaded shutter release button, low-cost mechanical cable releases can be used, rather than ridiculously expensive electronic ones.

  Square shooters will appreciate the 1:1 square Aspect Ratio setting.

  The tool for attaching the strap D-rings is a nice touch - and should save your fingernails.

  Unusual for a newer generation sensor, infrared shooting is quite easy with the addition of an R72 infrared filter over the lens.

Video

  The very decent full HD video records in 30fps.

  Audio is recorded in stereo.

  The excellent low noise sensor means amazing low-light video.

 

Cons

The Camera

  The odd-size 40mm filter thread requires an expensive, optional lens shade to use standard filters. A 52mm step-up adapter is included. Other filter-related issues include:

1. 1) For those wanting a protective UV filter but don't want to invest in the optional shade, 40mm filters are scarce but can be found if you do an eBay search.
   2) Some 40.5mm filters do seem to work but it's probably not advisable to purchase them until you can try them on. There are reports that some only screw on part way before binding.
   3) Generic lens shades that include a 40-52mm step-up ring can also be found for around $30. If you use the optical viewfinder a lot, make sure it has the side vents that minimize obstruction in the lower right corner.
   4) IR shooters using a 52mm R72 filter will find the lens shade step up adapter leaks light through the vents. Covering the vents with black tape solves the problem.
   5) Again, because of the vents, using a UV filter with the pop-up flash will produce reflection off the back of the filter.
   6) When used with the lens shade, center pinch-style lens caps work well while squeeze-type with the releases on the outside of the cap are useless.

  The included felt-lined exterior-style lens cap, although nicely made, is too thick to fit comfortably in a pants pocket when the camera is in use. If lost, replacing it is likely to be expensivel. Again, check eBay for cheaper snap-on alternatives.

  An off-center tripod socket means axis alignment problems when using a VR or panoramic tripod head. An off-axis adapter is required.

  The menu is a bit cumbersome and takes some time to get used to.

  There's no AF area indicator (or any info at all) visible in the optical viewfinder. You have to take your eye away from the viewfinder and check the LCD for that information. However, an indicator lamp located on the camera back glows green when focus has locked on to the subject. If your eye isn't too close the viewfinder, this can be seen peripherally to the right of your eye.

  A quirky manual focus mode requires tedious rotating of the Command Dial. Enabling Focus Check provides what appears to be 100% magnification of the focus area, helping the MF process somewhat. Also, underscoring the degree of difficulty in applying MF mode, as a back-up, AF can instantly be activated in MF mode by pressing the AEL/AFL button. As the manual points out, MF is a feature better suited to tripod-shooting than handheld. Good advice.

  The 7.1-28.4mm focal length is properly shown in the camera EXIF but doesn't match the archaic 28-112mm 35mm equivalent shown on the lens zoom ring. Note to Fujifilm: Why not keep it simple and use one or the other?

  Bad news for HDR photographers: the auto-bracketing only allows 3 exposures in 1 stop increments, even though the manual compensation dial offers +/- 2 stops, limiting wider range HDR auto-bracketing to tripod only. Maybe this will be corrected in a future firmware upgrade? Until then, if you need to use auto-bracketing for HDR, one trick is to under-expose your -1 and over-expose your +1 one more stop later in RAW conversion to give you your -2 and +2 with little to no cost in IQ. 

  There's no large image size option in Pro Focus, Panorama or other advanced modes.

  The optical viewfinder only offers a very poor 85% coverage. Minimizing the negative effects of parallax, where what you see through the optical viewfinder differs from what the lens sees when shooting at close distances, could be the motivation for this huge coverage discrepancy. Older film shooters know the problem well, but newer digital photographers may be less forgiving when they see the sides of their off-center photos cropped off. A good suggestion to avoid parallax and obtaining more accurate framing would be to stick to using the viewfinder for landscapes or subjects 20 or more feet away.

  The RAW mode button activates RAW for only one exposure at a time when RAW is turned off in the menu. It would be nice if the RAW button stayed on until pressed again to shut it off.

  Custom settings C1 and C2 don't allow separate RAW or JPG settings. They must be set globally for all or the RAW button must be used for each exposure.

  The processor is quite slow when saving RAW files. Make sure you have a fast SD card. Class 8 or 10 will speed up writing.

  Shutter lag, the time between pressing the shutter and exposure, could use improvement.

  Less-than-stellar battery life means keeping a spare handy is essential. And because they're very thin, they freeze up quickly in below zero weather. And, video, flash, IS and RAW suck the life out of these tiny batteries pretty quickly. I've been stuck twice in a week with a dead camera because I've assumed there was more juice left than there really was. The good news: They're cheap on eBay and also include an AC/DC charger.

  The programmable Function (Fn) button could be more useful if more options were offered, such as the viewfinder grid, spot metering and horizon level.

  There doesn't appear to be any way to remove the annoying Blur Warning symbol from display on the LCD when in A, P. EXR, Auto and SP modes. It goes away when a suitable hand-holdable shutter speed is available but obviously isn't needed when using a tripod. There should be an option to remove it in Disp. Custom Setting.

  There's a spelling error in Disp. Custom Setting. "Framing Guidline" should be "Framing Guideline." OK, I admit, that's a bit harsh :)

  Some users have discovered a hard-edged "disc" or "orb" that appears in place of burned out specular highlights in some scenes with bright lights or direct reflections. This "sensor blooming" is generally only noticeable if you're purposely looking for it - and at 100% magnification - so I hesitate to suggest it's a major issue. The vast majority of users wouldn't even notice it. This characteristic isn't a defect but rather one side effect of the low noise technology of the camera.

On December 6, Fujifilm made this announcement regarding the issue:

"Fujifilm engineers have examined a number of sample shots and have concluded that the camera is working within prescribed tolerances. The blooming issue is something not uncommon to many types of digital camera. It is possible to reduce the effects of blooming either by increasing the ISO or widening the dynamic range on the camera. However, after receiving a number of comments from users, we can understand their concern and plan a firmware upgrade to lessen the effects of blooming. We will announce in due course when the upgrade will be available."

In the meantime, if anyone would like to know how to fix it in 5 minutes in Photoshop, click here.

  No built-in Neutral Density filter. Competitors, like the Olympus XZ-1, have an optional 3-stop (3EV) ND filter accessible
via the menu. This allows you to keep the lens aperture as wide open as you want, even in bright light, without being  limited to fast shutter speeds. This is quite useful with portraits where you want a softer background. It can also be used to keep the shutter speed long in bright light - often used to give waterfalls that silky smooth look. The X10 has a "bokeh" simulation feature that mimics the portrait effect so perhaps that's behind Fuji's omission of the filter.

  The X10 has no option to turn off noise reduction. Other cameras almost always provide an option to turn NR off completely so maximum detail can be obtained during exposure and noise reduction added selectively later during editing.

  Neither built-in or external flash can be used in Super Macro mode, which limits the user to only existing light shooting. Perhaps disabling the built-in flash makes sense due to the shadow cast on the subject, but not allowing the flash shoe to function doesn't make sense. The close-up photography possiblities in Super Macro mode could be amazing if external flashes or remotes could function with it.

  No Bulb setting. The longest the shutter can stay open during time exposures is 30 seconds, limiting night photography applications.

The Software and Manual

  'My Finepix Studio' software only permits viewing of panorama movies. Unlike with other cameras, a separate (optional) program is required to export to MOV or FLA.

  The SilkyPix RAW processor is unimpressive. The bland results can be corrected by lots of fiddling with the program's ample controls, so if you have the time, one can get good conversions from Fujifilm's proprietary RAF files. Although some third party software developers are beginning to offer alternatives, it's been slow progress. Here's a list of other RAW conversion programs that can also open and edit RAF files.

  There's no support for even basic movie editing - not even a third-party 30-day trial on the disk. Sadly, this trend is becoming increasingly common. Is it too much to ask for consumers to be able to fully use a product straight out of the box without having to go out and buy software?

  No HDMI cable. With CRT TVs expected to be at about 10% of all TV sales in North America in 2012 and three quarters of households already using HD flatscreens, isn't it time to include this basic accessory in the box?

  There's no index in the printed instruction manual for finding specific items or features quickly. You're forced to scan through 3 pages of the Table of Contents in the printed version or do a keyword search in the PDF.

  In the RAW File Converter EX, individual JPG and RAF thumbnails in a folder cannot be viewed from the Open File command without opening the entire folder in the Open Folder option. Unless you know which file you want to open in advance by the ID number, all images have to be imported.

Video

  There's no video 'ON' light in front of the camera, meaning you're not sure it's recording when including yourself in videos. Granted, it's nice not having it when you're behind the camera but it would be nice if there was an option to turn it on when you want it.

  There's no video mic input socket. It's not uncommon for this type of camera but including it would have further cemented the X10's status as a big notch above its competitors.

  Oddly, the speaker is placed on the bottom of the camera instead of the back, impeding playback sound quality when it's placed on a table or stored in the case.

  No manual controls for video recording.

Comments? Contact me at photos (at) tomfreda.com

 

More photos taken with my Fuji X10

This is no snapshot camera. These examples show the range of handheld photography the X10 is capable of:

Focal Length: 11.7mm Mode: M/4:3, A Exposure: ISO800, f2.2, 1/20 sec Lighting: Existing	Focal Length: 28mm Mode: L/4:3, A Exposure: ISO100, f/5.6, 1/60 sec Filtration: Polarizer Lighting: Existing
Focal Length: 7mm (Macro mode) Mode: M/4:3, A Exposure: ISO100, f/2, 1/60 sec Lighting: Existing	Focal Length: 11.3mm Mode: M/3:2, A Exposure: ISO100, f/8, 1/80 sec Lighting: Existing