Fujifilm X10 Review

Operation

We have already mentioned the complexity and limitations stemming from the many interrelated settings. This basically means that if you are a DSLR user and expect similar operation and ease of use, you will be disappointed. If you come from a point-and-shoot, you may not care and just use the EXR Auto mode which handles it all for you.

Exposure Modes

The exposure mode dial is conveniently located and clearly marked. It doesn't lend itself to one-handed operation so we got in the habit of supporting the camera with the left hand when operating the dial. The settings are:

• EXR: Fuji's version of auto picture mode. The camera analyzes the scene and selects what it determines to be the optimal shooting mode. It also decides whether to drop resolution and expand the dynamic range. We found that it worked well. The function of EXR mode can be changed from the default EXR Auto to one of three sub-modes that puts priority on resolution, dynamic range, or noise suppression, respectively.
• Camera symbol: Point and shoot mode. In this mode the camera does not analyze the scene and therefore this mode is much less power hungry than EXR Auto
• Adv: Advanced programmed expose modes. You set one of three modes in the custom menu: Blur Control (called Pro Focus), Low light HDR (takes and combines four shots into one), and Panorama
• SP: Scene modes (portrait, landscape, night, snow, beach etc.) - you pick the one you want on the monitor
• Movie: Movie clips
• C1 and C2: Memory positions where you store your preferred settings
• M: Metered manual exposure mode. The user sets shutter speed and aperture
• A: Aperture priority: The user sets the aperture with the  command dial, the camera sets a shutter speed to match (and ISO if auto-ISO is engaged). This is the mode we used the most
• S: Shutter priority: The user sets the shutter speed with the command dial. The camera sets a matching aperture (and ISO if auto-ISO is engaged)
• P: Program mode. The camera sets shutter speed and aperture (and ISO if auto-ISO is engaged). Turning the command dial will shift the exposure off the program line (but maintain the metered exposure)

Further detail on manual exposure mode:

Manual Exposure Mode

Setting of the shutter speed and aperture is assisted by an exposure bar on the left hand side of the LCD monitor. The exposure bar has 1/3-stop markings.

The shutter speed is set by turning the command dial. Press it in until it clicks and you can then set the aperture. This system works very well. Alternatively the aperture can be set via the (fiddly) second command dial.

Movie Mode

We are not big on using anything but a dedicated video camera for movies and have not tested the movie mode. From the specifications we see that the X10 includes some features over and beyond what is available on the Pentax DSLR cameras, including auto focus.  While the 30fps framerate at full resolution is good for a camera like this, more could be expected in 720p mode, as other (cheaper) point-and-shoots already support 60fps.

Available settings in movie mode:

• Full HD 1920 x 1080 px, 30 fps
• HD 1280 x 720 px, 30 fps
• VGA 640 x 480 px, 30 fps and 70 fps
• 320 x 240 px, 120 fps and 200 fps
• Auto focus (the AF assist light may engane in dim light unless disabled in the setup menu)
• Auto exposure
• Zoom can be adjusted
• Stereo sound
• Shake reduction
• File format is MOV (H.264)

Auto Focus

The focus mode (single shot auto focus, continuous auto focus or manual focus) is set on a dial on the front.

The camera uses the imaging sensor for the auto focus function (contrast detect). Auto focus is not as fast as we have seen on other cameras, but is silent and accurate, and there is no hunting for focus.

Changing the focus point or area is convenient: Press the AF button and use the four way controller to move the area around on the screen. This works very well.

The auto focus system has face detect and it supposedly can recognize individual faces so that you can tag the faces on an image and then use the search function to find other images with those people. We consider this a gimmick and are somewhat skeptical of its usability, as our X10 detected a face in a plant we used for testing the macro settings!  This might be of use for the Facebook crowd, however.

Manual Focus

Manual focus works "by wire": the user turns the secondary control dial and the camera adjust the lens's focus. A distance scale is shown on the LCD monitor and the area being focused on is magnified. It works quite well with the only caveat being that the secondary control dial is somewhat small and not that easy to use. We would have preferred a focus ring on the lens barrel.

Responsiveness

The responsiveness of the Fujifim X10 is good, but far from that of a DSLR. We used a class 10 SDHC card but even then the write speed was somewhat slow and we often had to wait before we could change settings after shooting. The menu system differs from that of the Pentax cameras in that you only have access to the menus pertinent to the mode the camera is currently in.