My Fuji X10 Review

General
Overall build quality of the X10 seems very good. The faux leather and black finish looks great and appears solid. The only problem I have is with the AV access door - instead of using a real hinge like the X100, the X10 has a cast-in tab that attaches the door to the camera body.

Lens
The Fuji X10 uses a F2.0-2.8 Fujinon Optical 4x Zoom Lens (28-112mm equivalent), giving a lot more versatility than the fixed lens on the X100. This is a new lens developed specifically for the X10 and features 11 elements (3 aspherical) in 9 groups. Two of the lenses are made from Extra Low Dispertion (ED) glass to prevent color fringing and help reduce contrast. The lens barrel is all metal with a manual zoom ring. One very cool feature of this camera is the power switch is built-in to the zoom ring - the camera turns on "naturally" as you raise it to your eye and begin to frame your shot.

Sensor
The X10 uses a 12 megapixel, 2/3 inch EXR-CMOS sensor. While this is smaller than the APS-C sensor used in the X100, it's larger than sensors used in other high-end point and shoot cameras (including the Leica D-Kux 5). The sensor is combined with Fuji's dual CPU EXR image processor, and the combination can give you up to 10 FPS continuous shooting. For shooting in low light, the X10 lets you switch to a special 6 megapixel mode which gives you great low light performance without noise.

Optical Viewfinder
I really don't like cameras that don't have a viewfinder. Thankfully, the Fuji X10 has a nice optical viewfinder (unlike the D-Lux 5:) ). Nice for people who wear glasses is the built-in diopter adjustment (-3.5 to +1.5). The viewfinder on the X10 is useful but not perfect - it only offers about 85% coverage and displays no information (metering info, focus indication, etc). With a little practice you can see the focus indicator out of the corner of your viewing eye. Even though it's not perfect, the optical viewfinder is much better than an LCD for framing shots in bright sunlight.

LCD
Of course if you like to compose with an LCD, the X10 also has a nice, bright LCD screen with 460K pixel resolution. When using the LCD, you can easily check exposure, distance to subject, shooting mode, shutter speed, number of available frames, image size/quality, histogram, ISO sensitivity, aperture, and focus frame. The coolest feature of the X10 LCD display is the Electronic Horizon Leveling Gauge which makes it easy to align the image with the true horizon.

Judging from Fuji's sample images, image quality from the X10 is outstanding - they look even better than the X100 sample images. Lucky for me, the X10 seems to excel at the types of pictures that are my favorites: portraits, close-ups, sunrises and sunsets (high contrast), and low light.

It's hard to get a nice blurred background with a small sensor (the depth of field is too deep), but the Fuji X10 does pretty well thanks to its wide (f/2.0 lens) if you don't mind getting close enough to your subject. Combined with a 7-blade aperture diaphragm, the X10 gives a beautiful bokeh effect in portraits and close up shots. When you can't get close enough for natural bokeh, the Pro Focus mode uses in-camera software to blur the background for you.

Sample close-up shots from the X10 are outstanding. In Macro mode the focus range is 0.3 to 9.8 feet, and Super Macro mode lets you focus as close as 0.4 inch. The deep depth of field from the 2/3 inch sensor and f/11 aperture (when stepped down) should make the Fuji X10 ideal for model railroad photography.

If you love taking pictures of sunrises and sunsets (or other high contrast subjects) you'll love the high dynamic range of the X10. This lets you capture shots that have good shadow detail without blowing out the highlights. The X10 also lets you shoot auto bracketed pictures based on dynamic range (100%, 200%, and 400%). The dynamic range bracketing makes the X10 ideal for use with HDR software.

The f/2.0 lens and EXR CMOS sensor combine to give the X10 great low light performance. At high resolution, the X10 is capable of ISO 3200 with low noise. In "S" mode, the sensor is used at 6 million pixels to boost ISO up to 12,800. One of the most useful settings on this camera (like the X100) is the Auto ISO setting:).

The Fuji X10 is a great looking, well built camera with design features that make it easy and fun to use. The top and base of the camera are made from cast magnesium and the body is aluminum. This makes the X10 a very strong but light camera with a nice solid feel when you hold it. The body is covered with imitation leather that looks great and should be more durable than natural leather. The Mode and Exposure Compensation dials are also made of metal, and overall the X10 has a very solid, high quality look and feel.

The X10 comes with a metal lens cap, shoulder strap, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, battery charger, software disc (more on that later), and owner's manual. Unlike the X100's battery charger, the X10's charger doesn't require a separate, dumb, easily lost plastic insert to work.

Amazon has the Fuji X10 in stock with free Super Saver shipping. They are also only charging MSRP, unlike some of the online price gougers.

If the Fuji X10 is anything like the X100, you can expect to pay $100 or more above the $599 MSRP. The X10 will probably be just as popular as the X100 with demand exceeding supply. If you want one of these, pre-ordering now from a reputable dealerwill let you buy at retail price (MSRP) and avoid long waits and/or jacked up prices.