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Fuji X-T10
16MP,
1.5x sensor, OLED finder

Sample Images   Intro   Specs   Performance

Compared   Usage   Recommendations   More

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Fuji X-T10

Fujifilm X-T10 (13.1 oz./371g with battery and card, about $799) and XF 16mm f/1.4. enlarge. I got mine at Adorama; I'd just as well have gotten it at at Amazon or at B&H. It comes in black or silver, and as a body-only or as a kit with your choice of a couple of different zooms.

This all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. It helps me keep adding to this website when you get anything through these links — but I receive nothing for my efforts if you take the chance of buying elsewhere. Never buy at retail or places not on my approved list; Fuji doesn't seal its boxes so you'll have no way of knowing if you're missing anything. My approved sources ship from secure warehouses far away from other customers or shifty salespeople. Thanks for your support! Ken.

 

September 2015    Fuji Reviews   Fuji Lenses   LEICA Reviews   All Reviews

Mirrorless vs. DSLR cameras

 

Fuji X-T10

Top, Fujifilm X-T10. enlarge.

 

Fuji X-T10

Rear, Fujifilm X-T10. enlarge.

 

Sample Image Files        top

Sample Images   Intro   Specs   Performance

Compared   Usage   Recommendations   More

blue light in middle of dark park

Concert in the park, 24 July 2015. Fujifilm X-T10, XF 16-55mm f/2.8 WR at 20mm, f/2.8 at 1/13 hand-held at Auto ISO 6,400. bigger or Camera-original © file.

I love the square setting of the X-T10 and most Fujis. Ansel Adams preferred the square format for most of his career because it saved him the time of having to rotate the camera for horizontal or vertical; we simply crop as needed afterwards. It makes it even faster to shoot since we never have to jerk our camera around; we just shoot.

 

Five Crowns VIP Room, 30 August 2015

Five Crowns VIP Room, 30 August 2015. (Fuji X-T10, Flash ON, XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR at 16mm at f/6.4 at 1/150 at Auto ISO 800, Perfectly Clear V2.) Full resolution.

 

Five Crowns VIP Room, 30 August 2015

6172, 30 August 2015. (Fuji X-T10, XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR at 34.2mm at f/8 at 1/420 at Auto ISO 400, Perfectly Clear V2.) Camera-original @ file. Note that only the plant in the front is actually in focus.

 

The Fuji cameras are all about skin tones. Just look at how angelic my kids' skin looks under every kind of awful lighting imaginable This is why we shoot Fuji; it's not as good as Canon or Nikon for photos of places or things, but for photos of people, the images look great under every real-world condition, and all in Auto White Balance. This Fuji makes people look great under every real-world condition:

 

Mercury-Vapor Light (Auto WB, inside Costco):

Ryan shops for beef jerky.

Ryan shops for beef jerky. (Fujifilm X-T10, XF 16-55mm f/2.8 WR at 25.7mm, f/2.8 at 1/125 at Auto ISO 1,600, Perfectly Clear V2.) bigger.

 

Katie shops for beef jerky.

Katie shops for beef jerky. (Fujifilm X-T10, XF 16-55mm f/2.8 WR at 24.2mm, f/2.8 at 1/125 at Auto ISO 1,250, Perfectly Clear V2.) bigger.

 

Kids and beef jerky.

Kids and beef jerky. (Fujifilm X-T10, XF 16-55mm f/2.8 WR at 16mm, f/2.8 at 1/125 at Auto ISO 1,600, Perfectly Clear V2.) bigger.

 

Shade (Auto WB)

Kids at Sub Zero

Ryan licks an Alka Seltzer. (Fujifilm X-T10, XF 16-55mm f/2.8 WR at 22mm, f/2.8 at 1/125 at Auto ISO 640, Perfectly Clear V2.) bigger.

 

Indirect Indoor Light (Auto WB)

Kids at the drinking fountain.

Kids at the drinking fountain. (Fujifilm X-T10, XF 16-55mm f/2.8 WR at 16.5mm, f/2.8 at 1/125 at Auto ISO 1,250, Perfectly Clear V2.) bigger.

 

Katie at the drinking fountain

Katie at the drinking fountain. (Fujifilm X-T10, XF 16-55mm f/2.8 WR at 20mm, f/2.8 at 1/125 at Auto ISO 1,600, Perfectly Clear V2.) bigger.

 

Introduction         top

Sample Images   Intro   Specs   Performance

Compared   Usage   Recommendations   More

Adorama pays top dollar for your used gear.

Good   Missing    Lens Compatibility

The X-T10 is Fujifilm's best interchangable-lens camera because it adds a built-in flash, 1/32,000 electronic shutter and a threaded cable-release socket to the previous top-of-the-line X-T1. The X-T1 is tougher, costs more and is still positioned by Fuji as the "top," but as you'll see, this new X-T10 is better.

The X-T10 has a big, bright, sharp and colorful live OLED finder. It's superb!

Fuji cameras are fantastic for people photos. Fujis make skin glow under any kind of lighting as I showed at the top, but Fuji's colors aren't that great for photos of places and things. For people photos, Fuji cameras are the pro's secret: they make people look fantastic under any kind of lighting. If portraits, events and weddings are your thing, get one!

See all those dials? They're real metal. It's trivially easy to set advance mode, aperture, shutter speed and exposure compensation directly, because each of these functions has its own dedicated, single-purpose dial — just like a real camera!

Most of the buttons are reprogrammable for a total of 7 programmable buttons.

The XT-10 works fast and easy, as a camera should. You don't need a manual to figure it out; it's all right in front of you. Everything just works as you'd expect it to.

Not only is it a top performer, it weighs almost nothing: 371 g (13.1 oz.) wet, less than a screw-mount LEICA. Great cameras haven't been this light since the 1950s, whoo hoo! The gotcha is that Fuji's lenses can weigh far more.

The XT-1 has a brilliant live electronic finder with eye control, about 15 years ahead of LEICA's plastic EVF on the M typ 240.

The X-T10 completely eclipses the old LEICA M240 by comparison. This Fuji is faster and cleaner, is at least as well made optically and mechanically, it has more and better external controls and ergonomics, has far superior autofocus, and has a decades-better viewfinder — oh, and the LEICA's EVF electronic finder is offshored to China and made out of plastic!

This Fuji X-system is the first serious system designed from the ground-up as digital camera system with no ties whatsoever to film. For instance, the lenses are designed knowing they'll be working with a digital system, and the system automatically works in concert with these lenses to correct lateral color, distortion, light falloff and even diffraction all automatically. There's no way to shoot these lenses off the camera to see how they work without correction; they are intended to work with the camera as a complete system.

Fuji is actually advancing the state-of-the-art in photography, while other brands are just sitting around selling the same old thing. This Fuji actually has dials and a control system that work together, not like the could-have-been-great dials on the Nikon Df.

The X-T10 focuses super fast, and it's super sharp, and unlike a real SLR or rangefinder camera, the XT-1's closed-loop mirrorless autofocus system ensures that focus is dead-nuts perfect every time, especially at f/1.2.

When you use the Fuji, you'll see how they've actually been thinking about how to rethink what a camera should be and add new features that help us get the shot, as opposed to throwing more junk features in our way to help sell more cameras.

The X-T10 has a very different sensor from other brands, and its images look very different. It has no anti-alias filter, so the results are much sharper than from most other cameras.

The X-T10 just shoots, and the results are always super-sharp and well exposed — better than I get from DSLRs, whose exposure and focus aren't always dead-on as they are with the X-T10.

The X-T10 has a wonderful OLED finder, which also doubles for through-the-finder menu setting and playback.

Far better than the defective fixed diopter of the X-Pro1, the X-T10 has a properly adjustable finder diopter.

The Fuji X-T10 is a real camera, made of metal, not plastic, for real photographers.

The X-T10 has shutter and aperture dials. Nikon and Canon don't any more.

The X-T10 has a real exposure compensation dial. LEICA and Nikon don't any more.

The X-T10 has real exposure mode switches. Nikon and Canon don't any more. Better yet, the Fuji, just like Contax, changes its exposure mode automatically as you turn the shutter and/or aperture rings to A when you want them to set themselves. Set both to A for Professional (formerly Program) exposure mode. Done.

The X-T10 makes movies too. The X-T10 has a built-in manual focus assist loupe.

It drives me nuts shooting a DSLR or LEICA when I can't see my image pop up instantly in the finder after I've shot it — as I do with my X-T10. Yes, there are plenty of plastic consumer Micro 4/3 cameras with LCD finders, but they are not professional grade. Photographers don't do menus. I need a camera with real dials like the X-T10 and fast metal lenses, not a plastic toy.

 

Good    top

Fantastic flash exposure with built-in flash.

Threaded cable release socket.

Fantastic ergonomics optimized for people who know how to shoot; a perfect shooter's camera with all the right knobs in the right places.

Exceptionally sharp and undistorted images, due to no anti-alias filter on the sensor and super-sharp lenses optimized for the Fuji sensors and the camera's DSP.

Very well built by any standards. Unlike most of the disposable plastic (but expensive) cameras I review today, the X-T10 is all-metal, and so are its lenses. It's better built than anything today from Nikon or Canon, and the same or better as LEICA — for a fraction of the price.

Extraordinarily good auto white balance in crummy light, much better than DSLRs.

Great highlight rendition; the Auto Dynamic Range feature really helps hold the highlights regardless of the conditions.

Superb color rendition for people, events and portraiture.

 

Missing    top

No Fuji yet has complete memory save and recall options. It's "Memory" presets only store image color and contrast options, and that's it. It also needs to present these memory recall options on a dial, not just in menus as it does now.

No positive zero detent on the compensation dial. It's easy to knock it away from zero, and impossible to reset it to zero by feel.

There's no RGB histogram, but the X-T10's fantastic highlight rendition means you don't need to watch for clipping individually in each channel as you do on other cameras.

There's usually no Program shift available most ways that you can set the camera, but that's not a problem, since all you need to do is flick the aperture or shutter dial instead.

There's just a battery icon, no percentage displayed.

No GPS.

No RGB histogram.

No second card slot.

No self-timer setting on advance-mode dial.

No auto-setting of slowest shutter speed in AUTO ISO based on lens focal length.

 

Lens Compatibility    top

Fuji X-T10

Fujifilm X-T10. bigger.

The X-T10 uses Fuji's X-mount lenses.

The X-T10 can use LEICA and other brands of lenses cave-manually with a Lens Adapter, but don't use anything other than Fuji's lenses if you want to get the performance of which this system is capable. Fuji's lenses are optimized to work with the camera's DSP to optimize them.

When used with random lenses on an adapter, the XT10 has manually-set controls to correct distortion, color edge shading and falloff correction. Each corner's color shift set can be set individually for use with lenses like the 12mm Voigtländer, but honestly, you're kidding yourself if you're using a $30 adapter to use a $500 lens on an $800 camera.

If you really want to shoot, use the right lenses. Fuji's lenses are extraordinary; LEICA's are no better optically, and tend to be worse because the camera's DSP can't optimize them further. Things only go downhill when you adapt less than LEICA lenses; stick with Fuji's lenses.

 

Specifications     top

Sample Images   Intro   Specs   Performance

Compared   Usage   Recommendations   More

 

Lens Mount

Stainless-steel Fuji X-Mount.

Flange focal distance: 17.7mm.

Electronic diaphragm control.

Electronic focus.

 

Sensor

Unique non-Bayer color array that eliminates the need for an anti-alias filter and yields much sharper images compared to other camera, but limits what software can open the RAF raw files.

23.6 mm x 15.6 mm DX.

1.5:1 aspect ratio.

16 MP.

4,896 x 3,264 pixels native.

Ultrasonic cleaner.

 

Image Sizes

L: (3:2, 16 MP) 4,896 x 3,264, (16:9) 4,896 x 2,760, (1:1) 3,264 x 3,264.

M: (3:2, 8 MP) 3,456 x 2,304, (16:9) 3,456 x 1,944, (1:1) 2,304 x 2,304.

S: (3:2, 4 MP) 2,496 x 1,664, (16:9) 2,496 x 1,408, (1:1) 1,664 x 1,664.

I love the square crop!

Not only do I love shooting in the square, square icons grow to be much larger than rectangular icons in most image sorting and Finder applications.

Automatic internally-stitched panorama: L : 9,600 x 1,440 (14 MP) and M 6,400 x 1,440 (9 MP).

 

ISO

ISO 200 ~ ISO 6,400.

Pull mode to ISO 100, push to ISO 12,800, 25,600 and 51,200.

AUTO ISO 200 ~ 6,400.

AUTO ISO sets the slowest shutter speed to your choice of fixed speed. Auto ISO is not smart enough to set itself by lens focal length.

Three AUTO ISO presets.

 

Dynamic Range Options

100%, 200%, 400%, or AUTO (100% ~ 200%).

 

Finders

 

No Optical viewfinder.

 

Electronic viewfinder

Eye-control activation.

0.39"

920,000-dot color OLED.

100% coverage.

0.62x magnification with 50mm lens rated, but I found it life-sized with a 44mm lens. I think Fuji is underrating themselves here.

30º apparent diagonal angle, 25º horizontal.

17.5 mm eye point.

 

Autofocus

TTL off-the-sensor autofocus for zero AF error.

Phase and contrast detection.

AF Illuminator.

 

Light Meter

TTL.

256-zone matrix, spot or average.

 

Shutter

Real threaded cable release socket.

Metal focal-plane AND electronic.

Multiple exposures.

8 FPS (fast) and 3 FPS (slow), but no AF or exposure changes.

1/4,000 ~ 30 seconds mechanical.

To 1/32,000 electronic.

To one hour in Bulb (B) mode.

10 s or 2 s self timer (hidden inside the Q button)

Maximum speed with flash (sync): 1/180.

Intervalometer that actually works!

 

Flash

Built-in flash: GN 5 meters, 16 feet, at ISO 100. (7 meters, 23 feet, at ISO 200).

Dedicated hot shoe, 300 V maximum trigger voltage.

No PC sync terminal; use a hot-shoe adapter or the built-in flash as a trigger.

1/180 sync.

 

Audio

Stereo mic.

2.5mm stereo mic input.

Linear PCM stereo.

 

Video

1,920 x 1,080 @ 59.94p, 50p, 29.97p, 25p and 23.976p; up to 14 minutes per take.

1,280 x 720 @ 59.94p, 50p, 29.97p, 25p and 23.976p; up to 27 minutes per take.

H.264.

 

File Formats

Photos

JPEG

RAF raw.

RAF+JPEG

 

Video

.MOV files.

 

Storage

SD, SDHC or SDXC (UHS-1) slot.

 

Communication & Connectors

USB: Micro USB 2.0.

HDMI: micro D connector.

Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11b / g / n.

2.5mm stereo mic and remote jack.

 

Rear LCD

Flips up and down, but not sideways and can't fold over for its own protection.

3" LCD.

1,040,000 dots.

100% coverage.

 

Power

Battery

Fuji NP W126 Battery

Fuji NP W126 Battery.

NP-W126 Li-Ion battery (same as X-Pro2, X-T1, X-Pro1, X-E2 and X-E1).

Size: 36.4 mm × 47.1 mm × 15.7 mm/1.4 in. × 1.9 in. × 0.6 in.

Weight: 47 g/1.7 oz.

Rated about 350 shots without flash — or — 124 minutes of video recording.

 

Charger

Fuji BC-W126 Charger

Fuji BC-W126 Charger.

BC-W126 charger, (same as X-Pro2, X-T1, X-Pro1, X-E2 and X-E1).

Charge time: 2.5 hours.

Environment: 5° C to +40° C (41° F to 104° F).

Size: 65 mm × 91.5 mm × 28 mm/2.6 in. × 3.6 in. × 1.1 in., excluding projections.

Weight: 77 g/2.7 oz.

Corded, uses common "∞" shaped plug end.

100~240V, 50-60 Hz.

Made in China by JET.

Rated 13~21 VA input, 8.4VDC 0.6A output.

 

Quality

Fuji X-T10

Bottom, Fujifilm X-T10. enlarge.

Made in Thailand.

Metal knobs, top and bottom covers.

 

Environmental

32 ~ 104°F (0º ~ 40°C).

10 ~ 80% RH, no condensation.

 

Size

4.7 x 3.3 x 1.6 inches WHD.

118.4 x 82.8 x 40.8 millimeters WHD.

(Minimum depth: 31.9 mm/ 1.3 in.)

 

Weight

13.095 oz. (371.3g) measured with battery and card.

Fuji rates it as 13.4 oz. (381g) with battery and card, and 11.7 oz. (331g) stripped naked.

 

Colors

Black or Silver.

 

Includes

Fujifilm X-T10 Digital Camera Body.

Li-Ion Battery NP-W126.

Battery Charger BC-W126.

Shoulder Strap.

USB Cable.

Body Cap.

Metal Strap Clip.

Clip Attaching Tool.

Owners Manual.

Fuji Warranty.

 

Announced

18 May 2015.

 

Prices, USA      top

May~September 2015:

X-T10 body: $799; also comes with your choice of lenses.

 

Fuji X-T10 box

Fuji X-T10 box.

 

Performance         top

Sample Images   Intro   Specs   Performance

Compared   Usage   Recommendations   More

 

Overall

T-X10 combines great handling with great construction and image quality at a very reasonable price.

It can produce outstanding images if you're talented, and sometimes even if you're not, especially of people.

 

Autofocus

General

It's easy to move the AF sensor any place in the frame, far better than DSLRs which put all their AF sensors only in the middle of the frame.

Your chosen AF sensor position is saved and recalled with each focus mode. If you use the center sensor in AF-S, the left side sensor in AF-C and the upper right in Manual, each will still be there when you switch back.

AF is extremely accurate, since it works directly from the sensor and compensates for any mechanical or optical errors.

Face recognition usually works pretty well, automatically finding faces and focussing on them.

Autofocus works well in dim light.

 

AF-S (single shots)

AF is super-fast for still shots.

AF is not quite as fast as DSLR, but it's very close. It's more than fast enough for most shots in AF-S (focus and lock) mode.

 

AF-C

AF-C (continuous) actually works, which is a huge improvement over earlier models.

The AF system can't track between sensors as a subject moves around the frame.

A trick is that the finder image continuously wanders in and out of focus as it "tracks," but all the photos are surprisingly in perfect focus. Just don't let the fuzzy finder displays discourage you.

 

Finder

The OLED EVF finder is fantastic. It's big, bright, sharp, colorful and clear — and it has no visible delay! It's image appears to be in real time, so no need for an optical finder anymore.

It's bright enough for use in direct sunlight, and always sets itself to exactly the right brightness for use under any light from daylight to moonlight. Bravo!

It's life-sized with about a 44mm lens.

Its colors are a little more vivid than you'll actually see on a calibrated monitor. The rear LCD is closer to correct.

Playback doesn't rotate as you turn the camera, but the finder's data rotates as you're shooting verticals.

The X-T10 has an adjustable finder diopter control, and it tends to stay put. The optics are very sharp, sharper than most finders.

The X-T10 has marvelous automatic eye-control, so the rear LCD or electronic finder come up automatically depending on how you're holding the camera.

The only defect in this otherwise perfect finder is that it sets its brightness based on the brightness coming into the lens from the front, not on the ambient light at the back of the camera where you are. Therefore if you're in a dark area pointed into daylight it can be too bright, and if you're outside pointed into a dark hole it will be too dark. No worries: just point the camera someplace else and hold the shutter to lock.

The X-T1 finder is supposedly bigger, but so what; this finder is superb.

 

Flash

Fill-flash with the built-in works great, hooray!

There is nearly no shutter delay; it's the same as a DSLR.

 

Metering and Exposure

It's always perfect, better than DSLRs.

There is no RGB histogram.

 

Image Quality

See the images above? Like the skin tones? The X-T10 is fantastic for skin, and it balances so well with the included flash it's unreal; as good as the world-leading X100T, just with less range due to the slower sync speed of the X-T10.

The images are also sharper than with most DSLRs since the magic Fuji sensor needs no anti-alias filtering.

It's all about people; people look fantastic when photographed with the X-T10.

 

High ISOs

blue light in middle of dark park

Concert in the park, 24 July 2015. Fujifilm X-T10, XF 16-55mm f/2.8 WR at 20mm, f/2.8 at 1/13 hand-held at Auto ISO 6,400. bigger or Camera-original © file.

ISO 6,400 obviously looks fantastic.

ISO 12,800 looks great if you need it, although it is starting to get rough:

Katie shops for necklaces in the park

Katie shops for necklaces in the park. Lit by one cell phone, Fujifilm X-T10, XF 16-55mm f/2.8 WR at 40.1mm, f/2.8 at 1/85 hand-held at ISO 12,800. bigger or Camera-original © file.

 

ISO 51,200 is purely for reconnaissance and surveillance use. At ISO 51,200 there are hard details, but most of the rest of the image looks like it's been blurred like chalk with a wet sponge by the noise reduction:

Katie looks at the table selling kid-made pillows and necklaces in the park

Katie looks at the table selling kid-made pillows and necklaces in the park. Lit by one cell phone, Fujifilm X-T10, XF 16-55mm f/2.8 WR at 16mm, f/3.6 at 1/125 hand-held at ISO 51,200, bigger or Camera-original © file.

 

ISO 6,400 looks marvelous, while of course ISO 51,200 looks awful:

Food truck at the park, 24 July 2015.

Food truck at the park, 24 July 2015. Fujifilm X-T10, XF 16-55mm f/2.8 WR at 18.7mm, f/2.8 at 1/30 hand-held at Auto ISO 6,400. bigger or Camera-original © file.

Food truck at the park, 24 July 2015.

Food truck at the park, 24 July 2015. Fujifilm X-T10, XF 16-55mm f/2.8 WR at 18.7mm, f/4.5 at 1/140 hand-held at Auto ISO 51,200. bigger or Camera-original © file.

 

Shutter

It's oddly delayed for a second shot; shooting in the single frame mode is slower than with a DSLR.

The shutter is reasonably quiet. It's completely silent in its electronic mode, but you can't use flash with the electronic mode.

M+E (mechanical + electronic) mode just works, using the silent E shutter as needed for ultrahigh speeds.

The electronic shutter's ultrahigh speeds are for shooting at large apertures in daylight; they aren't for action since they work as a rolling shutter and will distort motion. The exposed area appears to move downwards across a frame as seen in the a print.

Trigger pull is as expected, with the usual slight detents. There's some horizontal play in the button; this is no LEICA M3 but better than an M240.

 

Auto ISO

You can set minimum and maximum ISO and the slowest shutter speed.

There is no automatic slowest-speed setting dependant on focal length.

Auto ISO only goes to ISO 6,400, not high as I'd like the option to set.

 

Auto DR (dynamic range)

Oddly mine never goes beyond DR 200%.

Many other Fujis go to DR 400% whenever they need to; while on the X-T10 I need to set DR 400% manually if needed.

 

Ergonomics

It has a great grip and thumb rest built-in.

As covered at the top, ergonomics are superb. Just pick it up and go! Having real metal dials for everything puts this Fuji a class far above today's slop from Nikon, Canon, LEICA and everyone else.

It takes a second or two to wake up, and you're ready to go. It also takes a second longer than I'd like for it to wake from sleep when I hold the shutter button; this is no DSLR that wakes instantly.

The OK button is also the MENU button/

The PLAY button is on the wrong side, requiring a second hand.

The self-timer is hidden inside the Q button's menu. It inexplicably was left off the advance mode dial.

The rear quad controller is unmarked because you can program each of those four buttons to do what you want!

You also can program other Fn and the movie buttons to do what you want.

There's no deeper detent at zero on the compensation dial; you have to stop and look at the display to reset to zero.

The lens release button is hidden near the bottom of the lens on the grip side. This makes it harder to find instinctively, and also means that it's less likely some miscreant will steal your lens when you're distracted.

The status LED is invisible on the right side of the camera away from the finder; you won't see it if your eye is on the finder.

The shutter-speed knob doesn't lock at A.

The X-T10 works fine with the card and battery door open.

There's a rear LED whose color tries to tell you things, but it's invisible when the camera is held to your eye.

 

Intervalometer (Time Lapse)

This is the first camera whose intervalometer actually works.

It's trivially easy to set it to run, and it had no problem running for 24 hours and snapping away outdoors without running down the battery.

It flawlessly set exposure correctly for each image as the light changed from moonlight to daylight, and the battery has plenty of juice to shoot every 5 minutes for over 24 hours straight.

It gives you a set of still images; it's up to you to assemble them into a movie file later if you wish.

 

Data

Files are set to 72 DPI.

The card is formatted improperly as "Untitled." It should be titled FUJIXT10.

Rotation flags are set accurately.

Automatically-selected Auto ISOs read properly in Media Pro, my favorite sorting tool.

 

LCD

It's uncoated.

It tilts vertically, but won't swivel and can't flip over for its own protection.

 

Playback

As you select an image, it's fuzzy at first and take a moment to read all the data and redraw it sharply. The way it reads data means it scrolls ultra-fast through multiple images.

Zoom doesn't fill the bottom of the 4:3 finder, but does fill the 3:2 rear LCD.

Zooming from the data screen just zooms; there is no zoom and no RGB histogram.

There's no diagonal scrolling, just left/right/up/down.

It needs an option to hold Image Review if you keep the shutter held down.

 

Power and Battery

There's an orange dot on the battery, so it's easy to put it in the right way even in dim light.

It's got enough power for me to shoot all day without needing to carry a backup.

It still read full after 320 shots on my first charge.

There's just a battery icon, no percentage displayed.

The battery icon (meter) is very "loose," meaning that it's simply measuring voltage and not counting the actual charge in and out. This means that if you see a lower indication and turn the camera off for a while, some charge may appear to grow back temporarily. Moral: always carry a charged spare.

 

Compared         top

Sample Images   Intro   Specs   Performance

Compared   Usage   Recommendations   More

 

See also All Fuji Cameras Compared (table).

 

The X-T10 is the first Fuji X-camera made in Thailand. The rest are made in Japan. No worries; Thailand is a free country where everyone has a good time; it's not China.

 

Fuji X-T10 versus the X-T1

Both use the same 16MP sensor, XF lens mount, slow shutter speed ranges and battery.

This X-T10 is newer than the more expensive X-T1, and better because this X-T10 adds a built-in flash, 1/32,000 electronic shutter and a real threaded cable-release socket, both sorely lacking in the X-T1.

We can reprogram the Movie button as a custom function button on the X-T10, but not the X-T1, but the X-T10 lacks the front focus assist button (reprogram another button, or just press the rear dial instead).

The only advantage of the older X-T1 is that it adds ISO and meter-mode dials and a PC flash sync socket — but the X-T1's ISO dial only has one Auto ISO position while the X-T10 has three Auto ISO settings in its ISO menu.

The X-T1 has a slightly bigger finder than the X-T10; both are superb.

The X-T1 is heavier and tougher, the X-T10 is lighter.

I'll trade ISO and meter dials for a built-in flash every time; a flash is mandatory for daylight people photos and the Fuji cameras are optimized for people pictures.

The X-T1 is sold as the "tough" and "pro" model; it's heavier, tougher, smoother, quieter and more expensive — but has no flash. As usual for camera companies, they reserve a feature we need (the built-in flash in a compact camera), and don't include it until they come out with it in the less expensive model the next year. This X-T10 is that new model with everything we need.

 

Fuji X-T10 versus the X-Pro1

The XPro-1 is a dinosaur. It's way behind the X-T10 in overall speed and the quality of the finder. The X-T10's EVF is so good it eliminates any need or advantage of an optical finder.

Both use the same 16MP sensor, XF lens mount, slow shutter speed ranges and battery.

The X-Pro also had a big problem with the finder, needing you to buy a fixed diopter just to make it visible.

Forget the old X-Pro. It was Fuji's first X-mount experiment.

 

Fuji X-T10 versus the Fuji X100S

The Fuji X100S is functionally about the same as the X-T10, but smaller and lighter with a better shutter, a dual optical/electronic finder and fantastic fixed 23mm f/2 ASPH (35mm equiv.) lens.

To be perfectly honest, the only reason to buy the X-T10 is if you need to swap lenses. If you're happy with the one lens of the X100S (I am), there's no need for the X-T10. The X-T10 is for people who want a bigger camera onto which they can attach more lenses.

The leaf shutter of the X100S lets its built-in flash synchronize to about 1/2,000, letting it work great in daylight, while the focal plane shutter of the X-T10 is over ten times slower (1/180), so it has much less fill-flash range.

 

Fuji X-T10 versus Sony RX100 IV

The Sony RX100 IV has a much smaller lens and sensor, so it can autofocus much more quickly.

The color rendition of this Fuji is superior for people, while the Sony is better for places and things.

 

Usage         top

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See also Fujifilm's Fuji X-T10 owner's manual.

 

Flash

Pull the little lever on the left towards you to pop-up the built-in flash, which is hidden as what surrounds the hot shoe.

Set and leave the flash mode in the menus to FORCED ON, otherwise it can be up and not fire. Leave it set to ON and it will just work whenever it's up.

Fuji X-T10

Control dials, Fujifilm X-T10. enlarge.

Advance Modes

CH (continuous high) and CL (continuous low) shoot only as a bursts with locked focus ad exposure; they don't run like an SLR with focus and exposure updates.

Adv1 and Adv2 are special effects filters best ignored. If you insist, you can preset each one to your choice of many different but mostly useless image tricks.

 

Self Timer

Tap the rear Q button and look in the lower left.

The self-timer inexplicably isn't on the drive mode dial where it belongs.

 

Panoramas

Panorama mode is on the drive mode dial on the top left.

 

Video

Movie shooting starts and stops by hitting the red button next to the shutter button.

 

Auto - • Lever   (under shutter dial)

Leave it at the dot for P, S, A and M modes, which are magically set as you select either a set value or the A on a shutter or aperture dial.

Select AUTO for the silly scene modes.

 

Time Lapse

You set this in the menu system.

I left mine on Manual Focus, otherwise it sometimes tried to defocus itself.

You can tap the shutter while it's in the middle of a series. It will wake and show the time counting-down to the next image, and go back to sleep until that time.

 

Strap

I use the LEICA strap for this lightweight camera.

 

Power

You have to remove the battery to charge it in its charger.

It won't charge via USB.

 

Focus

To move a focus point, hold the AF button (probably the bottom button of the quad controller depending on how you program it) and press the four rear directional buttons. Press DISPLAY for the center AF point after pressing the (programmed) AF Select button. Then press OK to use the selected point.

To change the AF spot size, hold the AF button and rotate the rear dial.

Press-in the rear dial to zoom into the selected AF point, either while shooting or on playback. When playing, it's smart enough to swap among different AF points as you swap images!

You can't zoom-in while shooting if you have other than SINGLE POINT selected at MENU > AUTOFOCUS SETTING.

 

Manual Focus

The focus ring push-pulls on some lenses to select Auto or Manual focus, otherwise, move the lever on the front of the camera.

Forget the manual focus ring. To focus in Manual mode, tap the AF-L button for spot manual focus. It will focus immediately on the subject, and hold it indefinitely. Cool, huh?

 

Depth of Field Preview

Hold the shutter halfway down to preview depth of field.

Otherwise the X-T10 uses whatever aperture it feels like to give you the best display when your finger is off the shutter. It flawlessly swaps between these apertures without calling attention to itself or changing finder brightness.

By presetting the diaphragm as you half-press the shutter it also saves a few milliseconds of shutter delay.

 

Image and File settings

I prefer to set JPG NORMAL, not HIGH. The images look the same, and take up half the space on my card and computer.

Try the square mode, set under Image Size. I find it works great with the Fuji cameras.

I set Color +2 High, which is still pretty tame.

I set AUTO ISO to go as high as 6,400; even at ISO 6,400 if needed, the X-T10 looks fine.

I set Auto Dynamic Range (AUTO DR). Set this way, the X-T10 increases ISO as needed (to ISO 400 even in daylight) to retain highlight detail, all automatically as needed. it's a huge benefit; be sure to turn it on to AUTO.

 

Custom Settings

These are in the top left when you tap the rear Q button.

These save and recall only the image settings like color and shadows. They don't save anything about how the camera shoots or even the image size. All they do is save what's similar to what kind of film you're shooting.

You can program BASE and C1 - C7 in the menu system, or just change them from the Q screen.

Once programmed, you can recall them by tapping Q, be sure to select the upper left with the four-way buttons, and then turning either dial until your choice (BASE or C1 through C7) is displayed.

 

Controls

To check or reset what any of the unmarked (Fn) buttons do, hold it down for a few seconds.

"Custom Settings" just save and recall image settings, not camera settings.

To find or set the PLAY menu, you have to be playing an image when you press MENU.

 

Playback, Image Review & Rotation Options

Playback, rotation, LCD, EVF and other display options are hidden in MENU > WRENCH 1 > SCREEN SET UP.

Once here, selecting the Focus Check option auto-zooms the finder in manual focus mode.

 

Lens Adapters

Forget Lens Adapters.

Fuji's lenses are superior both optically and ergonomically to adapting LEICA or other lenses with adapters.

The Fuji lenses are extraordinary, and they also have full focus and exposure and diaphragm automation, all lost if you waste time adapting LEICA lenses or others to the X-T10 — and no adapted lens will work in concert with the camera's image-processing DSP for optimum results.

You can't get better than Fuji's lenses, and other lenses, even awesome LEICA lenses, won't autofocus or open and close their diaphragms for you as you shoot and focus.

With other lenses, manual focus might not be that much of a problem, but you'll have to open and close the aperture by hand every time you want to focus or shoot or focus. LEICA's 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE isn't any better optically than Fuji's 35mm f/1.4, for instance.

 

Stuck?

Hold MENU to lock all the buttons, and hold MENU again to unlock them.

Want free live help? Call Fuji at (800) 659-FUJI (3854) and press the options for professional camera help. You'll probably get Steve Pulhamus who is an expert on these cameras.

 

Recommendations         top

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I can't stress how well this Fuji renders skin tones. If people are your thing, Fujis look better than any other brand of camera, however for nature and landscapes, stick with Nikon or Canon.

The X-T10 is a fraction the price, size and weight of a Canon 5DS or Nikon D810, and it's a very serious camera. This Fuji is much better than any of my digital LEICAs.

The X-T10 is the same as the more expensive X-T1, and adds a flash. Get one! After shooting with the X-T10, there is nothing lacking, while the X-T1's lack of flash is inexcusable.

The Fuji X100T is functionally the same thing with a fixed lens. If you're not wanting to schlep a bunch of lenses around, just take your X100T with you instead.

The X-T10 doesn't replace a DSLR for sports and action. Likewise, for my most serious nature and landscape work, I prefer the color palettes from my Nikon and Canon DSLRs. For everything else, the X-T10 is a blast, especially for people pictures.

If you've found the significant time and expense I've incurred to research and share all this information for free, this website's biggest source of support is when you use these links to it at Adorama, at Amazon or at B&H. It comes in black or silver, and as a body-only or as a kit with a couple of different zooms. Using these links or or any of these links to approved sources when you get anything is what helps me keep adding to this free website for everyone's benefit — but I receive nothing for my efforts if you take the chance of buying elsewhere.

Thanks for helping me help you!

Ken.

 

More Information         top

Sample Images   Intro   Specs   Performance

Compared   Usage   Recommendations   More

Fujifilm's Fuji X-T10 pages.

Fujifilm's Fuji X-T10 owner's manual.

Fuji X-T10 Press Release.

 

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Mr. & Mrs. Ken Rockwell, Ryan and Katie.

 

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July-September 2015