Life with the Fujifilm X10

The more I use this camera, the more I learn about the amazing things it can do. None the least of which is fooling passers by into thinking it’s a Leica.

For a while, I thought bracketing may not be part of its feature set. But I found it, hidden in plain sight, under the drive button where it logically belongs. With this button, the top selection on the multi-selector/sub-command dial, you can choose from single or multiple frames (with frame rate selection), best shot selector, or AE, ISO, film simulation and dynamic range bracketing. Wow!

Each mode has its own settings. So if you want to shoot Aperture Priority at low ISO, and Shutter Priority at high ISO, and Program Mode with auto white balance, you can set them each up that way.

Then there’s the C1 and C2 custom user settings. Say that you want to set one up for infrared with a custom white balance. You can do that. Or the other one with a custom white balance for redscale. You can do that too, because each custom white balance you set up can be saved under a different mode, includind C1 and C2. And they’re right there on the mode dial, no menus to dig through.

They’re best used to choose from amongst the extensive RAW processing options. That’s right, I can use the camera itself to process its own RAW files adjusting their exposure, white balance, WB trim, film simulation, dynamic range, color saturation, hue, highlight contrast, shadow contrast, sharpening and noise reduction. It gives new meaning to shooting RAW, especially with the “RAW on Demand” button, which is sheer genius. Wish my Nikon D90 had that.

This camera has so much to offer, and it’s truly a pleasure to use. Even the leather case is easy to live with.