Fujifilm X10 Arrived! (Samples and S90 Comparison)

[dwarnecke11]

I just got my X10 in today and duplicated an ISO 3200 test shot I took with my S90 before I sold it. SOOC, ISO 3200, 12 MP (HR), NR set to Medium-Low. What an improvement - Bravo, Fujifilm!

Initial Impressions:

• Quite a bit smaller than expected.
• The build quality is the best I've seen. Compared to the S90, it's in another league altogether.
• Very deep menu system will take some getting used to. I've used Canon compacts since 2007. Interface is attractive and clean - very Japanese!
• Fast, fast fast. Even with my extremely slow 2 GB SD card (16 GB 30 MB/s card is on its way), it's faster than my S90. Focus speed is incredible.
• Lens cap doesn't have a tether like the one on my Fujifilm S5100 did. Keep a pocket free for this.
• Viewfinder is really nice. It's too bad it has zero shooting information.
• 360° Panorama - Wow, first try gave me perfect results. Even the skies show uniform exposure (no bands). Too bad vertical resolution is only 1080 pixels.
• Colors. Much more lively and accurate than my S90's harsh and "digital-looking" SOOC JPEGS.

Issues:

• No ND filter. This means you have to stop down shooting outside in bright light to avoid overexposure. The XZ-1, G12 and even the S100 have this.
• Highlights become sharp-edged "blobs" at lower ISOs. This kills me. I loved shooting long-exposure ISO 80 night shots on my S90 and until Fujifilm fixes this issue with a firmware update (hopefully), what should be little points/starbursts are perfectly circular white blobs. There are threads on the dpreview.com Fujifilm Talk forum about this.

That issue isn't really a deal-breaker. The rest of this camera is just too good. I'm glad to see Fujifilm back in the game!

More Samples:

X10 colors vs S90 colors (Base ISO)

X10 Super Macro

 

[baypharm]

Well I am so happy to see someone buy this new camera. It is on my want list. I've heard so many good things about it. My first Fuji digital was an MX2900 2.3mp way back in the late 90's. That thing was unreal. I carried it everywhere. I made some great pictures with that little camera.

Now jump ahead to 2011 and we have the X10. I really like the optical viewfinder - you can hold it up to your eye and frame like in the old days! I read somewhere it is only 85 per cent so you have to frame carefully.

I also like the large aperture - 2.0-2.8.

This camera has great appeal going for it. Photography the way it used to be.

Will the lens accept filters? I would recommend shooting outdoors with a polarizer - it would have really made a difference in your example above taken outdoors with the sky in the background.

ND filters are cheap to buy and I always carry a few around with me. They are a must have for outdoor photography.

Please keep us up to date on your use of this fine camera and come back and tell us how you like it?

I wish this camera had a "bulb" setting on it but most of the lower end digitals only go to 30 sec.