Review: Fujifilm X10

The Fujifilm X10 is midway between a point-and-shoot camera and a professional camera, offering users great deal of customisation, but coming with a fixed lens.

However, the camera's ease of use and generous amount of manual control makes it well-suited to both amateur and advanced photographers.

I loved the design of the X10 - it comes with a textured front that has a funky faux leather look. The boxy shape of the camera also gives it a retro feel, so it's sure to be a hit among many hipsters able to drag themselves off Instagram. Even as a non-hipster, I felt the X10 added significantly to my swag. Seriously though, this camera is beautiful and it blows all of the point-and-shoot cameras I have had out of the water.

The function and shutter buttons are located at the top of the camera, along with the pop-up flash and mode dial, making for easy access. The focus dial is at the back of the camera. The display offers users an optical viewfinder, and there is also an eye hole for advanced users. Personally, I find it much easier to focus if I look at the image on the display.

I wouldn't describe the X10 as petite, but then that is the price paid for performance. The X10 weighs approximately 350 grammes. While this may sound light, I found the camera got a little heavy after taking a lot of pictures.

The camera comes with a strap, which also makes it that bit easier to carry along.

It took me a bit of time to get used to the Fujifilm X10 because the focus dial is located at the back of the camera. This is something I haven't encountered before; but then, I've only used one other professional camera.

After pressing the capture button a few times with no response, I found that rotating the lens turns the camera off and on. Once the camera is on, it's fairly easy to zoom in and out by rotating it further.

The focus dial is located at the back of the camera, which also threw me initially because I'm used to focusing with the lens by rotating it. Of course, users can always put the camera in auto mode and happily snap away. I found that worked wonderfully, apart from a few focus issues. I found that in auto mode, the X10 battled to hold focus, and definitely didn't always focus on the right object.

The mode dial follows fairly standard labelling, so only a complete newbie would battle figuring it out.

The Fujifilm X10 ships with a battery and charger as well as a micro USB, so users can transfer their photos to their PCs even if they don't have an in-built card reader.

The X10 has a wide lens, which makes it great for taking landscapes and pictures of wildlife. The camera's ability to capture sharp images and soft backgrounds in one shot also makes it perfect for portrait photography.

The camera comes with a small built-in flash, but users are able to buy an additional flash for the camera.

Unfortunately, it is not capable of great shots in low light conditions, unless if it uses the flash. Users won't be able to use the X10 to capture starry night because the lens is simply not capable of it without the flash, and the flash is pretty small.

However, users will probably be happy using the X10 at night to take snaps of their friends. The flash is more than capable of lighting up a few faces at night.

The X10 produces great images under most conditions. I found it delivered great colours and was capable of taking incredibly sharp images. In high light conditions, I found the camera captured vivid colours that were true to life.

The camera also lets users adjust the white balance, which should allow users to get true to life colours in low light conditions, if they manage to get it right (which I never have on this or any other camera). That said, the camera can still produce some great sunsets, which will satisfy most users.

The X10 also comes with a great panoramic feature that lets users take 160 degree panoramic photos.

The fact that the X10 does not allow users to change lenses probably means it won't find much use among professionals.

However, the camera is great for budding photographers because of the great deal of manual control it offers plus the gorgeous photos it takes.