I have never had to learn so much finesse of a camera as this one requires. It has a host of “gotchas” which require constant attention when shooting.

1) Watch the controls! As a people shooter, if I’m shooting auto mode, I shoot aperture-preferred. However, with this little one I found that not being able to see my shutter speeds in the viewfinder was leading me to blurry photos under lower light; I just wasn’t seeing my speeds drop below 1/60! I’ve since switched to shooting shutter preferred and that has helped!
2) Watch that Autofocus switch! The AF switch, while in the same location as on my Nikons, is very easy to flip to Manual Focus! Get used to checking the focusing “square” on the LCD screen and recognizing when it has been flipped to manual.
3) Lastly…and this is a biggy…this camera has what could be called Control Caveats galore! As in…”you can use this control….unless you have this or this set…if you have those set this control won’t function…” There are too many to go into…but you get the idea. An example is when and when NOT the flash will function.

I was shooting RAW files thinking Lightroom would be a great post-processor. What I found is pretty horrendous noise. I shot some side-by-side JPEG/RAW files and found the JPEGs come out of the camera looking fantastic. Let’s face it, do you really need to shoot RAW files out of your Happy Snaps camera? I don’t think so, anyway. I was taught a JPEG workflow back in ’03 with Will Crockett and Fuji. Before that, as a chrome shooter, I learned to nail my exposures in-camera. So, getting spot-on JPEG files is a standard for me!

Speaking to Fuji: In 2003, when I began shooting digital, Fuji had introduced the S2. It was essentially an N80 Nikon with a Fuji sensor, guts and software. And it Rocked! I was shooting at ISO 1600 allowing the photojournalist in me (yes, I was actually a photojournalist for many years) to shine through! My Nikon colleagues were blown away with the low-noise at 1600; they couldn’t go above 400 even with their $5,000 bodies! So, in a nutshell, I’ve been a Fuji fan for almost 10 years!

Finally, if you do buy this camera, you’re going to have to train with it and learn all it’s nuances! If you do, you’ll end up with a rocking little camera which you’ll carry everywhere. People will think it’s an old rangefinder film camera and you’ll look cool!

One last note: It’s ridiculously spendy and incredibly poorly designed but get the lenshade. I put a 52mm Nikon thin UV filter on for protection. The design itself is flawed (there are slots which are behind the filter rings which allows moisture, dirt, snow, etc. to end up behind the very filter put there for protection!) I’ve tried to discuss this with Fuji but they do not seem to get it.

Here’s my own little review along with sample images (and some pics I shot at my buddy’s wedding):

http://www.blog.litfoto.com/index.php/2011/12/camera-test-images-fujifilm-x10/
http://www.blog.litfoto.com/index.php/2012/09/spencer-jessica-with-fuji-x-10/

Regards from Colorado!

Matt Lit
photographer & photography educator (Colorado Mountain College)

Regards Alan.