Fujifilm FinePix F10 Digital Camera Review

Viewfinder (0.0)
There is no optical viewfinder on the Fujifilm FinePix F10, possibly to make room for the large LCD screen. Users must rely solely on the LCD for viewing, which has its pros and cons. Pros: With a 100 percent field of view, you’ll always get the shot you framed. On compact models, optical viewfinders are often uncomfortable or poorly placed. Cons: If battery power runs low, there is no optical viewfinder to use as an alternative. Also, if users move the camera quickly, the view looks choppy. Some digital camera consumers have complained that LCDs are difficult to view in bright sunlight, but the F10 fares well in many types of lighting.

LCD Screen (7.5)
The large 2.5-inch LCD screen has just 115,000 pixels on its 4:3 formatted display. The amorphous silicon TFT color LCD has 100 percent coverage of the view through the lens, so users can always frame their pictures just right. Because the screen is used as the viewfinder, it cannot be turned off. The Disp/Back button to the right of the screen simply changes the display setting on the screen from the view to the view with file info, to 3 x 3 grid with info, to real-time view on the right side of the screen and the last 3 shots taken aligned vertically on the left side.

 After a picture is captured, it can be displayed on the screen for a few seconds. Users can opt for 1.5 or 3 seconds, or turn the function off completely in the Set-up menu. The screen handles well in bright light and under normal lighting conditions. I never had to adjust the brightness, but it is available in the Set-up menu in a +/- 5 range. There is a sun icon on the top of the navigational dial that works as a quick LCD brightness function. One touch will brighten the screen; another touch will bring it back to normal. The angle of the screen affects viewing. When the display is pushed more than 10-20 degrees off-center, there is a significant amount of solarization and visibility is compromised. Overall, the screen is decently constructed and seems sturdy enough to survive a few falls.

Flash (8.0)
The F10’s built-in flash is located in the top right corner of the camera when viewed from the front; unfortunately, this is often where user’s left-hand fingers occasionally rest and they may therefore occasionally obscure the flash. When the flash was accidentally blocked, the picture took on a reddish hue — I assume from the blood in my finger. That’s right: this camera can flash through a finger. It is quite powerful for a compact model's flash; it can reach from 2-21.3 ft in the wide angle setting and 2-13.1 ft in the telephoto setting. The flash also functions in macro shooting, but not very well. It centers all its light and leaves a halo around the edge. There is no flash compensation; that would have come in handy with such a powerful flash! The flash looks fairly even, unless attempting to take a picture of a shiny surface in dark lighting (opt for that awesome ISO 1600 setting in that case). The following modes are available: Auto, Red-Eye Reduction, Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Slow Synchro, and Red-Eye Reduction + Slow Synchro.

Zoom Lens (6.5)
The Fujifilm FinePix F10 has a Fujinon 3x optical zoom lens that reaches from 8-24mm. This is equivalent to a 36-108mm lens on a 35mm camera. If this does not provide enough zoom, there is an additional 6.2x digital zoom, although it is not recommended to use this as digital zoom will only degrade picture quality. The lens boasts apertures from f/2.8-f/8, with the maximum aperture of f/2.8 in wide and f/5 in telephoto. The lens can focus from 2 ft to infinity in normal and 3 inches to 2.6 ft in macro. Surprisingly, the focus mechanism on the camera is louder than the zooming mechanism.