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Review by Gadgester for Fujifilm FinePix XP10 12 MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Black)
Rating:
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1FQWZWZXWCPXX The Fujifilm Finepix XP10, newly available in April 2010, is a stylish little ultra-compact camera that invites you to have fun outdoors while taking pictures. It:

- is waterproof to 10 ft. under water, perfect for swimming pools, beach, snorkeling (note: do not use in hot water!)

- is shockproof up to 3 ft., great for jogging, cycling, or even letting your baby learn to take pictures

- is freezeproof down to 14 degrees Fahrenheit (-10 Celsius)

- is dustproof

- is weatherproof except in very hot climates

- has 12.2 effective megapixels

- has 5x optical zoom and features a Fujinon lens for great clarity; lens focal length is 36-180mm in 35mm film camera terms

- takes 720p widescreen, VGA or QVGA video

- can zoom optically in video mode (but see note on audio recording below)

- is really small and weighs just a little over 5 oz. with battery and SDHC card

- uses SDHC memory card, no more xD that was championed by Fuji and Olympus

I bought a green XP10 because I love spending time in the water — and the green body looks really nice (and works whether you are a guy or gal)! I find that, outdoors during the day, the XP10 takes pictures with excellent clarity and excellent color saturation and contrast. Using fill-in flash in daylight truly enhances the picture. Indoors, because the XP10 lacks Fuji’s legendary SuperCCD technology, picture quality is average for a compact or super-compact camera. It does have two natural-scene modes where it boosts the ISO (light sensitivity of the image sensor) at the expense of increased noise. I bought my XP10 to be used outdoors, in the pool and at the beach, so I haven’t taken many indoor pics.

Video shooting at 720p yields smooth, clear HD video clips. BTW, video size is limited only by the 2GB FAT32 file size limit — this means even if you pop in a 16GB SDHC card, the longest video clip can only go up to 2GB in file size, due to the limit imposed by the FAT32 file system. Video is recorded as motion JPEG in an AVI container, so it can be played on many, many devices, at the expense of slightly larger file sizes than a more compact format like MPEG-2 or MPEG-4.

While you can zoom optically — a feature that every digital camera should have — audio recording’s volume level is lowered during zooming. Instead, the camera picks up some noise from the lens mechanism and that noise overwhelms the ambient sounds you want to record, which can be annoying when played back on a large TV. My advise is to use zooming sparingly during video mode. If you want great video recording on a compact digital camera, you should get a Sony or Canon or Panasonic camera (be prepared to pay a lot more for the waterproof feature, though).

Battery life is on the short side, rated at 165 shots per charge with flash on 50% of the time. This is not surprising given the ultra-compact form factor. It’s not an issue for me because I only use it at the pool (i.e., I have other cameras for other occasions); but if you plan to take it on a day trip to the beach, a spare battery is a probably a must, especially if you use the flash a lot or take a lot of HD video. BTW, regardless of the digital camera you buy, I think a spare battery is pretty much always a necessity. Fuji deserves kudos for including a very compact 100-240V wall charger.

Anyway, my sample video clip shows how the camera works under water. The video resolution was set to QVGA (320×240) for easy upload to Amazon, but you should be able to see the amazing clarity both in and out of water (allowing for artifacts introduced by Amazon’s video compression).

In summary, the XP10 is a great waterproof, shockproof camera that every water enthusiast should bring along to record fun memories.

Review by M. Kwak for Fujifilm FinePix XP10 12 MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Black)
Rating:
i would have given it 1 star because the audio quality of video was shockingly poor but i gave it 2 because i loved everything else about the camera. i’m no expert but have been a fujifilm user for many, many years. had to replace my f20 only because i dropped it…and so i waited and waited for the release of the xp10. it was a happy day indeed when i finally got my hand on the xp10. camera felt great to the touch, ease of use (buttons & menu), picture quality outdoors & indoors (low lighting) more than decent for my uses (don’t really print out large prints, mainly share online & view on-screen). then i decided to record video. i could not believe how bad the sound quality was. i recorded several types of videos and made sure to keep the microphone unobstructed and still the audio was unacceptable. i even went so far as to get my hands on another xp10…and, nope, it wasn’t me, it’s the camera. basically the audio is great for the first second or two of video playback and then it becomes muffled as if the microphone was blocked. it gives you the feeling of having clogged ears. i am very sad to have to return this camera…but for the price i should be able to record videos i can hear.