Fujifilm FinePix HS10

NOTE: Our full review of this camera is now live here.

Auto Mode

Twisting the mode dial on the top of the camera to the camera icon puts the camera into full auto mode, where the camera makes all of the decisions. The user gets a bit more control with the program mode, which allows for tweaking of many of the settings.

Movie Mode

Fuji is using the movie mode of the HS10 as one of the main selling points of the camera, and it's easy to see why; the camera shoots Full HD video at a 1920 by 1080 pixel resolution at 30 progressive frames a second. Of course, higher resolution video doesn't always mean better quality: we'll have to wait until we get one of these cameras into our labs to see if this high resolution translates into high quality.

A high speed capture mode is also offered, which can capture videos at 1000 frames per second, providing extreme slow motion. The price you pay for this is resolution, though; the resolution of the captured video falls to 224 by 64 pixels. 

The shooting screen of the HS10

UPDATE: this section was edited on 26/4/2010 to clarify the video features of this camera.

Drive/Burst Mode

The HS10 offers a burst mode that can captured a burst of 7 frames at a claimed 10 frames a second at the full 10 megapixel resolution of the camera. That's an ambitious claim, but other cameras that we have seen using similar sensors have managed to achieve this, so it is possible. The camera also includes a number of new modes that use this fast capture, such as a Best Shot mode that captures a group of frames and then picks the sharpest one and a wide selection of self-timer features, including the standard 2 and 10 second delay, but there is no interval delay. 

Playback Mode

The HS10 has a good selection of playback features, including the ability to sort images by date, time and facial recognition. Slideshows can also be produced within the camera and played back on a HDTV through the HDMI port.

Scene Modes

There are a wide range of scene modes on offer; Portrait, Portrait Enhancer, Landscape, Sport, Night, Night (Tripod), Fireworks, Sunset, Snow, Beach, Flower, Text, Natural Light, Natural Light & with Flash and Party are all options. These modes are controlled in a slightly unusual way: there are two scene mode spots on the mode dial (labeled SP1 and SP2) which can be programmed with any of the scene mode options, giving you two modes that can be quickly accessed. If you want to use another mode, you hit the menu button and scroll through the list. This is an interesting approach; it would allow you to have a mode for indoor and outdoor shooting quickly accessible, but also to quickly duck in and go to another mode if required.

Other Modes

The HS10 offers a number of new shooting modes when you turn the mode dial to the Adv. (for advanced) spot on the mode dial. These include:

Motion Panorama - In this mode, you press the shutter and pan the camera, and the camera creates a wide panorama as it pans.

Motion remover - The camera takes 5 successive shots, then processes them to remove any moving objects. The idea is that this can remove annoying tourists from a shot.

Multi Motion Capture - This takes 5 successive shots, but rather than removing the moving objects, it composites them together, so you can capture an entire football play in one shot, or get a photo of your pet streaking across the lawn to bite the postman.

Pro low light mode - This takes 4 images at moderate shutter speeds and processes them together, producing a  photo that is sharper than an image taken with a long shutter speed.

We were not able to test these modes, but they do look promising.