electronics Fujifilm Finepix F10 Zoom opinions and reviews

Fujifilm Finepix F10 Zoom

A 6-megapixel camera, Finepix F10 Zoom is a very compact point-and-shoot camera enclosing a 3x optical zoom, an impressive 2.5-inch LCD but is a disappointment in terms of image quality.

With an attractive aluminum body, F10 weighs 155 g and has dimensions of 92.0 x 58.2 x 27.3 mm. Gripping the camera is also very comfy.

A dial on top of the camera allows you to access the Auto, Manual and scene modes. On the back plate, you’ll find the LCD, zoom rocker, a four-way keypad and some other crucial controls. More useful features like exposure-compensation, white-balance settings, metering options and autofocus functions can be exploited through the menus.

While there are no manual focus options, you won’t find any manual, shutter-priority, or aperture-priority modes either. Scene settings too are very few. (Natural Light, Sports, Night Scene, Portrait, and Landscape)

Moving on, you’ll find the continuous-shooting modes in which you can capture 3 back to back shots in 90 seconds. Further, it is also possible to take 40 full-resolution images in 60 seconds at the rate of 1.2fps. Here, you can save the last three shots taken from the 40. This feature is especially handy when you are not sure about when the zenith of the action will take place.

Movie capabilities include recording 640 x 480 and 320 x 240 pixel video clips at 30 fps inclusive of audio. F10 ships with a 16MB xD card but purchasing the 1GB card, you can record 15 minute videos.

Using the FinePix F10 gives mixed results. Boot-up time of the camera is 2.3 seconds and reprocessing takes 1.4 seconds (3 sec with flash). When not making use of the autofocus system, there is almost no shutter lag at 0.1 seconds.

F10’s NP-120 lithium-ion battery will give you 1,480 shots when fully charged, even when using the flash prominently. The giant 2.5-inch LCD is highly comprehensive even in bright light.

You can capture 8x10 sized prints with images looking pretty nice. SuperCCD sensor is responsible for sharp snaps while colour interpretation is decent at best. There is no noise disturbance at low ISO’s and even at the maximum 1,600 range; it doesn’t mar the image quality to a great extent. However, fringing is a bit too apparent for one’s liking.

The bottom line remains that the camera has some great point and shoot features but still cannot produce the desired image quality.