First Impressions: Fujifilm X10

The Fujifilm X10; The Digital Rangefinder has Arrived.

The packaging was not exactly the velour-lined variety you’d find in a Leica, but it was still definitely upscale (and environmentally friendly) nonetheless. The camera comes in a bag with a foil factory seal that cannot be removed and replaced without visible evidence.
This is a real camera; solid, metal; very little plastic is used. No detail has been overlooked to bring the rangefinder experience to a compact digital camera. Even Leica’s recent trend to omit their logo from the front of the camera for a clean appearance has been followed.

The first step with any camera, before you even power it on, is to install the neck strap. Fiddling with a new camera and dropping it on the floor is not a path to happiness. The X10 is a “real” camera in the sense that it has traditional lugs for the strap, just like you’d find on all classic cameras, and current “pro” models. I’ve always had a little trepidation about installing the split rings on these lugs, but Fujifilm has provided a small plastic tool to facilitate this operation without scratching either the lugs or the camera. Once the triangular-shaped split ring is on the lug, it’s a simple matter to insert a business card or similar thickness material between the ring and the lug as you rotate it around and into final position. The leather-like protector and strap go on easily from this point.

The size and weight of this camera are simply perfect, it being a tad smaller that an average rangefinder, which is a desirable thing. The viewfinder is left of center, making right-eye viewing, possible, which keeps your nose off the LCDand allows you to perform traditional both-eyes-open rangefinder composition. And its huge; about the same size as the Nikon D90, which is considerably larger than the Nikon D3100 DSLR.

At my first opportunity I pitted it against the Nikon D90 under the worst conditions; ISO 3200, f/2.8, 28mm. ISO 3200 is my benchmark for low-light performance. Anything beyond that I don’t expect much, even from cameras that are rated to ISO 25,600. I hope if I ever get my hands on a D800, I’m proven wrong. I had to stop down on the X10, because it’s one stop faster than the AF NIKKOR 20mm f/2.8D lens I’m using to test the Nikon (so technically I would have had to use only ISO 1600 anyway) and on the Nikon, I had to shoot at 30mm, the full-frame equivalent of the lens used.

Yes, the Nikon won. But, that win was very subjective. First, I had to focus manually, because the D90’s autofocus was inconsistent. The X10 nailed it first time. Second, the Nikon had so much contrast, that shadow detail was obscured in comparison with the Fujfilm. On the other hand, the X10 seemed a little flat. As far as sharpness, it’s kind of a draw; some areas of the X10 were sharper than the D90, and vice versa. The noise “grain” was very similar, although the X10’s was mottled; the D90’s was much cleaner.

But all in all the differences were not that great considering the size difference in the sensors:

Nikon D90

Fujifilm X10

But then I decided to compare it with the Nikon D5100. Any reservations I had about this camera, that it might be redundant with the P5100 in terms of sensor size and image quality, were immediately dispelled. This camera is so superior to the D5100 at high ISO that the differences in sensor size will leave you wondering, How’d they do that?

Nikon P5100

There’s far less noise and better color saturation at ISO 3200 on the X10 that there is on the P5100 at only ISO 1600. The difference is like night and day. The X10 has far more in common with the D90 than it does with the P5100 at high ISO.

At ISO 200 however, the differences become less. The P5100 holds its own, in many instances producing images that are just as sharp, or slight sharper. But, the caveat to that is that Nikon’s noise reduction renders images that have a somewhat pointillist, painterly quality, while the Fuji’s look much more natural and D90-like. Fuji’s images respond quite well to sharpening; Nikon’s do not.

Dedicated controls and a vast feature set put this camera in a whole new class.

The X10 makes a bold departure from other cameras in its class by offering a mechanical zoom lens (vs. a motorized one) and an actual slip-on lens cap, as opposed to an integral shutter. The feature set is enormous. Everything I’ve been missing in my venerable Nikon P5100 is here, and more. Camera Raw, which can also be used on-demand with a dedicated button. Manual focus. White balance trim with Kelvin mode. Diopter viewfinder adjustment. Image preview. Lightning-fast response time. Low-light performance. The list goes on. Overall, it has much more in common with the D90 than it does with the P5100, and has officially displaced that camera as my backup. I will now officially dub my P5100 my “Digital Holga”. It still has much creative potential (just try finding a circular and full-frame fisheye lens for the X10). But it’s way out-classed by the X10, as are its successors, the P6000, 7000 and 7100.

There are a few gripes. Conspicuously missing was a cover for the hot shoe. I’ve never purchased a camera without one. I have a spare Nikon cover I can use, but that’s not the point. The battery life seems to be on short side. And then there’s the non-existent filter thread size issue. But if that’s the worst of it, I truly am in digital rangefinder nirvana