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Reviewed by UK Guest, 7th Jul 2006. |
| Review Summary: Best digital compact by Fuji? Most likely....! |
Overall Score: 5/5
 
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Review: I took delivery of my Fuji FinePix F10 earlier today, and I can't stop taking photos! The first thing that struck me about this camera is it's looks - it is beautiful, and very well made, with it's aluminium body. To look at the photos of it online is not good enough really - you need to see this machine and handle it, for it feels so robust and well layed out. It might look chunky, but that is deception - besides, it's mainly due to the battery pack and zoom lens tucked neatly inside!
I see that several people grumble about the menu system. However, if you have the time to sit down and fiddle, taking pointless shots and changing settings, you will very soon get to know the layout. It is really very user friendly - it gives a clear warning of battery status and indication of settings, but these displays can be turned off if you prefer. Playback mode has some neat tricks too, with the addition of a fade in/out slideshow, and options to review and shoot at the same time.
I have previously used a Sony Cybershot camera at times, but I now find that the Fuji is far superior. There is, despite what people say, a decent range of manual settings to this camera, more so than any other I have used. You have to remember that this is no SLR, although if you are not satisfied with an image from the Auto mode it is possible to customise the setup enough. The zoom on the F10 is actually very good - 3x optical is decent enough, and surprisingly, the digital zoom can give some well defined shots too.
To conclude, I really do recommend this camera for anyone! For this price (Amazon really is the cheapest!) you get a lot of camera. It is very well equipped for a compact, and has a very good quality movie mode (the precision of the microphone is noteable). I am upgrading from an ancient camera, but I have no worries about the life of the Fuji - I hope it will last another 5 years before it looks as dated!
A digital compact will never match the results of a film SLR (such as my Nikon F4), but for a pocket sized device that starts up in a few seconds, it is great to carry a compact camera with you! You WILL NEED a bigger XD card - 16MB supplied is next to useless, so I have a 512MB now - and a good case! |
Ratings
| Value For Money: |
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5 |
| Review Score: |
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5 |
| Recommended? | |
Yes |
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Digital Cameras