Fuji FinePix F10 Digital Camera: Reviewed by Peter Faulks

Do you want to take photos like those you see in National Geographic? Well if so this camera will not do it and neither will anything else at this price-level! But if you want an easy to use camera to take a photo of the kids that captures the moment, and is good enough for your wall/photo album/web page then this is a fantastic option.

The criteria I was most concerned about when buying a camera was firstly taking good pictures indoors because most of the photos of the family are unfortunately inside. With an (automatic) ISO 1600 setting, the F10 takes good photos (slightly noisy) in low light that other cameras couldn’t without the flash (which ruins the colours). At mid level light where most cameras would take reasonable (if noisy) photos, the F10 is crisp. Picture quality in good light really shows how good Fuji are in colour accuracy – read the professional reviews to see this.

Secondly I want to keep taking photos or movies, and with a battery that lasts about 500 shots I actually keep loosing the charger – I don’t need it very often. With a 1Gb card I can take 340 photos or 15 minutes of video both at highest quality.

Talking of video, this is also very good (640x480) quality although the zoom does not work while recording (unlike my older Fuji camera). In some ways it is better than a video camera because people don’t realise you are recording video.

The camera also has plenty of manual controls although I have not delved into them too much so far. It is just too easy to let it figure it out for itself because it is very good at that.

The start up time is very quick, far faster than most equivalents so it helps to capture the moment. In addition the lag between pressing the butt on and the picture being taken is immeasurable although sometimes in low light the focus can take a second. There is a weird green light that comes on in low light, I presume to help it focus, but it goes off before taking the picture. Be prepared to answer questions on your green light.

The cables are a little odd - there is only one socket on the camera. This connects to an adaptor at the end of a short cable. This in turn connects your USB, power and video connections to the camera. This is okay unless you don’t want to charge the camera where you download your photos and where you connect it to the TV. So I guess you have to keep the short cable adaptor with the camera. It would be nice if they included a bag to keep them together but you can buy it separately.

The controls are very simple and the large 2.5-inch screen is clear. The metal construction is of a high quality. I've had it for 6 months and it has withstood many trips in my pockets and in bags without protection. It is a reasonably compact package, there are slimmer cameras, but the other features outweigh the saving of a few millimetres. Despite my large hands the camera is comfortable to hold and it feels reassuringly solid with all the controls where I need them. For some of the features you need to go through the menu system, by which time your subject may have moved on, but the commonly used ones are near at hand.

Buy a F10, a 1Gb xD card and a bigger hard drive while you are at it – you’ll need it.