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(Review first posted 17 May, 1999) |
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810,000 pixel sensor |
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1024 x 768 resolution | |
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106x digital zoom | |
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Fixed-focus lens w/macro | |
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Built-in flash | |
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Flexible "manual" exposure mode |
Preface
Fuji is a longtime player in the digicam marketplace, having produced
some excellent units over time, and finding some unique market
niches. (For instance, their VGA-resolution DS-220 had a unique
macro attachment with built-in flash that made it a runaway favorite
for oral surgeons documenting patient treatments.) Recently, they've
been making significant inroads in the megapixel-plus market,
with the petite (may we say "sexy"?) MX-700, and the
1.5 megapixel MX-500, one of the true bargains in the megapixel-plus
market.
A number of manufacturers these days (May, 1999) are trying to
penetrate the mass consumer market with very low-priced 640x480
("VGA") resolution cameras. In our view, this is the
wrong approach, because the 640x480 resolution level just isn't
enough for quality printed output at anything more than perhaps
2x3 inches. Also, these very low-end cameras generally lack any
sort of exposure controls, making it difficult to obtain good
pictures in anything less than ideal conditions.
In the DX-10, Fuji is taking a higher road to the low-end market,
producing a surprisingly capable digicam, with enough resolution
(1024x768) to produce reasonable print quality. Despite the image
quality and feature set, the price is still low enough for it
to fit into many budgets. Very unusual in a camera this inexpensive
is the extensive control it provides over exposure conditions,
duplicating most of the controls of its "big brothers",
the MX-500 and MX-600 Zoom. Despite its expanded capabilities,
we found the DX-10 to also be an easy camera to use. Its ease
of use, combined with a very compact, portable form factor, should
encourage even reluctant digicam converts (spouses of digicam
fanatics?) to carry the camera along for casual snapshots.
High Points Overview
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"Executive Overview"
(We've recently begun creating "Executive Overviews"
for each camera, to give a concise synopsis of their capabilities,
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The Fuji DX-10 is a very compact 0.8 megapixel digital camera,
that's truly a "shirt pocket" design, at 4.3 x 3.0 x
1.3 inches (110 x 77 x 33 mm), and only 7.1 ounces (200g) without
batteries, easily fitting into even the smallest pocket, to take
along anywhere. (We're big believers in the idea that the surprising
and memorable moments of life aren't recorded by cameras sitting
in the drawer at home!)
Overall, we found the DX-10 to be a surprisingly capable camera,
particularly given the low price it's intended to sell at. (Rather
than list a price here that will constantly need to be changed,
we encourage you to just click on the advertiser's links in the
navigation bar, and see what it's currently selling for: Trust
us though, it's cheap...) The 0.8 megapixel resolution is enough
to produce good-looking prints up to about 5x7 inches, and color
and general image quality is quite good, certainly relative to
other cameras in its price range. It's basic image size is 1024x768
pixels, with a smaller 640x480 picture size available as a menu
option. Likewise, there are two image-compression options, depending
on how you want to trade-off image quality for storage capacity.
The lens is a fixed-focus, fixed focal-length design, with a focal
length corresponding to a 40mm lens on a 35mm camera, a slight
wide-angle. A 1.6x "digital zoom" crops down to the
central 640x480 pixels of the sensor array, producing an image
of that size, but taking in a correspondingly smaller portion
of the overall subject.
Normal focusing is from 28 inches (0.7 m) to infinity, while a
macro option allows focusing as close as 3.9 inches (0.1 m). Lens
apertures switch between f/4 and f/8, in response to the available
lighting, and shutter speed runs from 1/4 second to 1/5,000 of
a second. Equivalent ISO "film speed" is 150, and the
camera captures usable images down to about EV10. Five different
white-balance settings are provided to handle different lighting
conditions, and the exposure system is unusually flexible, allowing
variation of both ambient and flash exposures.
Both optical and LCD viewfinders are provided, the LCD being the
more accurate of the two, with the optical finder providing a
nominally accurate view, but one that's subject to some interpretation
(see the main review, below). The built-in 4-mode flash has a
range of up to 9.8 feet (3 meters), and also has the added capability
for "slow-sync" operation. The unit ships with a 4 Meg
SmartMedia memory card, connects to the computer via an RS-232
serial interface, and has a video output as well.
We found the DX-10 to provide both an unusually flexible exposure
capability, as well as a completely "hands off" automatic
mode. Combined with its good image quality and low cost, we feel
it would make an ideal "first digital camera", allowing
easy operation with minimal manual-reading. As your comfort level
progresses though, the camera provides a range of exposure controls
not usually found in an entry-level product. Intrigued? - Read
on for full details!
Design
The first thing that struck us about the DX-10 was how compact
it is: At 4.3 x 3.0 x 1.3 inches (110 x 77 x 33 mm), and only
7.1 ounces (200g) without batteries, it's one of the smallest
digicams we've tested to date, very easy to slip into a purse
or pocket to bring along most anywhere. (We're a big fan of highly-portable
cameras, believing that a camera in the hand is worth several
in the drawer back home!) It's case is molded high-impact black
plastic, and we found it easy to hold despite its small size and
our rather large hands.
As with basically every digital camera we've tested, the DX-10
is "right-handed," with most of the controls set up
for use by the thumb and fingers of the right hand. Overall, we
found its design, ergonomics, and user interface to be very good:
The camera controls and menus are easy to navigate in normal shooting,
and even the complexity of "manual" mode was quite easy
to maneuver through. For the dexterous, the DX-10 can be operated
entirely with one hand (the right one), but most users will likely
adopt a two-fisted approach when navigating menus or operating
the function wheel.
Viewfinder
As with most digital cameras today, Fuji has chosen to provide
both optical and LCD viewfinders in the DX-10. The optical viewfinder
on the DX-10 is clear and bright, but we found it rather difficult
to use accurately. If you squint and look to the edges of the
viewfinder to see the maximum possible area, it actually takes
in about 20% MORE area than the CCD eventually captures, contrary
to most digicam viewfinders, which show less area than the CCD
records. The LCD viewfinder is much better, but still not perfect,
revealing about 89% of the final image area. (Surprisingly, it's
common for LCD viewfinders to crop the image as well, even though
you'd think they could easily show the full output of the CCD.)
The area shown by the LCD viewfinder is consistently well-centered
in the actual field of view of the sensor though, and it's very
predictable, making it easy to frame subjects accurately with
it, once you're used to its behavior.
In addition to the lack of precision in the optical viewfinder,
we also felt that it had a rather low "eyepoint", meaning
that your eyeball needs to be very close to the back element of
the finder in order to see the full viewfinder frame. Even with
our eye quite close though, we found that we could see more of
the subject area if we moved our eye from side to side or up and
down, contributing to some confusion as to just what would be
included in the final image. As eyeglass-wearers, the low eyepoint
made the optical 'finder somewhat difficult to use accurately.
Fortunately, the LCD finder is quite bright and sharp, with a
very high refresh rate that makes tracking even fast-moving objects
quite easy. It does, however, share the tendency to wash out badly
in direct sunlight that we've observed in all but a very few LCD
screens.
In addition to the "live" image itself, the LCD shows
a number of useful information displays when used as a viewfinder,
including date & time, current image quality and size settings,
digital zoom mode, and a "shake" warning when the camera
has selected a slow shutter speed, with the flash disabled. In
"manual" mode, the current status of essentially all
of the adjustable settings are shown on the LCD, including exposure
compensation, white balance setting, flash exposure setting, and
whether "synchro" mode is enabled or not (more on this
option later). We found the on-screen information and menu overlays
a particularly effective user-interface design, but also appreciated
that we could turn them off when we wanted an unobstructed view
of our subject in the LCD.
Optics
The DX-10 sports a fixed-focus Fujinon lens, with a focal length
equivalent to a 40mm lens on a 35mm camera. (This translates to
a slightly wide-angle view.) A 1.6x "digital zoom" is
also available, that crops down to the central 640x480 portion
of the sensor array. The maximum lens aperture of f/4.0 (wide-angle
to telephoto) is a bit "slower" than most current digital
cameras, a fact compensated for somewhat by the slightly faster
ISO 150 rating of the image sensor. In operation, the lens aperture
switches automatically between the f/4.0 maximum opening and an
f/8.0 aperture as directed by the exposure system.
The focus range for the lens runs from 28 inches (0.7 m) to infinity
in normal mode, and down to 3.9 inches (10cm) in macro mode. (Note
that the fixed-focus lens design means that the focusing range
for macro work will be fairly limited.) In our tests, the minimum
area covered by the DX-10 in macro mode was 2.5 x 3.3 inches (6.3
x 8.4 cm).
The DX-10's construction is such that no threads are provided
on the lens assembly for attaching accessory filters and lenses.
While we normally strongly prefer filter threads on cameras, we
recognize that the DX-10's intended market does not consist of
people likely to be obsessed with adding front-of-lens optical
accessories. Thus, we reserve our normal harsh judgment against
non-threaded lenses in the case of the DX-10. We would like to
have seen some sort of lens cover on the DX-10 though: While the
lens itself is protected behind a glass cover, and the cover is
in turn protected somewhat within a slight recess in the camera's
front, it still strikes us as being a bit too easy to scratch
or smudge with a fingerprint. - Not a critical fault, but our
hope is that our repeated raising of the issue will help prod
manufacturers to pay more attention to lens caps in the future
Exposure
The DX-10's sensor is rated by Fuji at an official ISO equivalent
of 150, slightly faster than most of the current crop of digital
cameras. The combination of its slightly "slower" lens
though, and a maximum exposure time of 1/4 seconds translates
to fairly modest low-light performance: Taking the official ISO
rating, maximum aperture, and maximum exposure time produces a
minimum effective light level of about EV 10.5. This agrees fairly
well with our own testing, in which we were able to obtain usable
images down to EV 9 or 10, but found the best results at EV 10
and above. Not to despair though, as this light level roughly
corresponds to well-lit residential interiors: Don't expect to
use this camera for true night shooting, but it should work very
well in typical home and office environments.
The DX-10 uses a surprisingly sophisticated 64-segment matrix
metering algorithm that produced very good exposures under a range
of conditions, although we found it to be slightly less accurate
than the exposure of its "big brother, " the MX-600.
Nonetheless, we feel the camera fits the description of "point
and shoot" quite well in this respect.
As we mentioned at the outset, the DX-10 provides an unusual degree
of control over image exposure, in several ways: Most digital
cameras these days allow the user to adjust the camera's automatically-determined
exposure somewhat, to handle subjects with difficult lighting.
(Such as backlit subjects, which require more exposure than the
meter will indicate, since the exposure calculation is based in
part on the brighter background area.) The DX-10 goes most of
the competition a step or two better in this area though, by providing
not only a wide range of +1.5 to -0.9EV in 0.3 EV steps for ambient
lighting, but a range of +/- 0.6EV in 0.3 EV steps for flash exposure
as well! The ability to adjust flash exposure is very rare in
our experience, and is a feature we'd like to see more digicam
manufacturers incorporate in their products. (We've found that
reducing the flash exposure somewhat in indoor shots frequently
produces more-natural lighting overall.)
Another common exposure-control feature incorporated into the
DX-10 is an exposure lock function, when the shutter button is
half-pressed. This can be useful for situations where a subject
is off-center, or as a means to achieve more-accurate exposure
by excluding strong light sources near the subject from the exposure
determination. (With patience and a tripod, this can also be used
as a way to balance the exposure for multiple shots used as part
of a panorama.)
We particularly liked the DX-10's automatic image "preview"
in manual mode: After each picture is captured, it is displayed
on the LCD screen, giving you the option to either save it to
the memory card, or discard it. The image remains more or less
indefinitely, but if you take no action, it will be lost when
the camera powers-down automatically to save power. (We'd probably
prefer it if the camera defaulted to saving the image after some
reasonable time, perhaps 15 seconds or so.)
Special Exposure Mode: "Synchro" Mode
As part of its unusually-sophisticated exposure-control capability,
the DX-10 provides a special "Synchro" exposure mode,
which combines use of the flash (see below) with a longer shutter
speed, to allow more of the ambient light to enter the camera
during flash exposures. It's useful for shots under artificial
light (particularly fluorescent lamps, as the longer exposure
time tends to prevent problems caused by the fluorescents' flicker).
It also is handy for fill-flash work in dimly-lit conditions,
when you want the ambient light to contribute as much as possible
to the exposure.
Special Exposure Mode: "Consecutive Shots"
Another feature we didn't expect to find in such an inexpensive
digicam, was the special "Burst" mode, in which the
DX-10 splits a single frame into 9 smaller ones, and grabs 9 successive
shots in about 2 seconds. In practice, we're not sure how many
people would actually use this function (the manual suggests it
as a tool for studying a golf swing), but it's a fun feature.
The 9 sub-frames can be individually viewed by using the 3x zoom
playback function (see the user-interface section below for a
fuller explanation of how this works). A nice touch is that if
you hold down the left or right arrow on the 4-way rocker control,
it will cycle through the 9 images at roughly "real time"
relative to their initial recording (that is, taking about two
seconds to cycle through the full set of nine).
Flash
We found the on-board flash of the DX-10 worked very well, offering
4 different exposure modes. Its official range is from 2.3 to
9.8 feet (0.7 to 3.0 meters), although we found that it worked
surprisingly well in macro mode, with the intensity turned down
as far as it would go. Available modes are on, off, auto, and
auto red-eye reduction. In our tests, we were surprised to find
how well the built-in flash's illumination blended with the tungsten
room lighting in our indoor portrait shot. This is an unusual
and highly desirable capability: Many cameras produce unnatural
bluish highlights under these conditions. We at first were disappointed
in that it appeared that the DX-10 disabled the onboard flash
when in macro mode. (This is a somewhat problematic use of flash
anyway, since the lighting tends to be so uneven when you get
the onboard flash that close to the subject.) We were pleased
to discover then, that this only occurs when the flash is set
to "Auto" mode: Other modes do indeed fire the flash
for macro shots, and it does a reasonable job of throttling-back
its output to produce decent exposures at macro distances. (For
even better results, we found that a slip of white bond paper
taped over the flash tube's window provided both a reduction in
light output, and a diffusion of the light, producing a much more
natural final result.)
We described the "Synchro" feature earlier, but will
mention it again briefly here, as it relates to flash exposure:
In the Synchro mode, the flash always fires, even if it is disabled
on the Setup screen. We found an error in the DX-10's manual regarding
Synchro mode, though: It stated that if Synchro mode was enabled,
all flash options except red-eye reduction would be disabled.
In fact, we found that all flash options remained available, the
only override being that it would fire in normal "auto"
mode even if it was turned off in Setup.
White Balance
The DX-10 provides five different white-balance settings, including
auto, sunny, cloudy, warm fluorescent, cool fluorescent, and incandescent.
The white-balance settings are available in the "Manual"
record mode, accessible via the 4-way rocker control on the camera's
back panel. We found the DX-10's automatic white balance operated
rather subtly, relative to those of most other cameras we've tested.
It would correct for relatively minor color casts fairly well,
but had little effect on the strong yellow cast of our "indoor
portrait" test shot. By contrast though, the "incandescent"
manual white-balance setting worked quite well with this scene,
producing a surprisingly well-balanced image. This is almost the
opposite of what we've found with other cameras, which oddly tend
to do better with the heavy incandescent lighting in their "auto"
modes than in their "incandescent" ones. Overall, while
we'd like a little more aggressive auto white balance on the DX-10,
we prefer an "incandescent" setting balanced for household
lighting (as the DX-10's appears to be), rather than professional
studio lights (which is what most digicams seem to be set up for).
Other manual white balance options on the DX-10 include daylight,
and two flavors of fluorescent, to accommodate both warm- and
cool-white bulbs.
Shutter lag and cycle times
When you press the shutter release on a camera, there's usually
a lag time before the shutter actually fires. This time is to
allow the autofocus and autoexposure mechanisms time to do their
work, and can amount to a fairly long delay in some situations.
Since this number is almost never reported on, and can significantly
affect the picture-taking experience, we now routinely measure
it, using a little Windows utility developed by Digital Eyes.
We found the DX-10 to a bit faster than most cameras we've tested,
requiring about 0.8 seconds for a full autoexposure cycle before
the shutter tripped. (Not needing to wait for an autofocus mechanism
undoubtedly contributes to this improved speed.) Presetting exposure
by half-pressing the shutter release in advance of the exposure
itself reduced the lag time to about 0.2 seconds, fairly typical
of the current range of cameras shooting under that condition.
Shot-to-shot cycle times range from 8 seconds in large/fine mode
with the display enabled, to 4.7 seconds in 640x480 mode with
"Basic" image quality selected, neither the slowest
nor the fastest camera we've tested to date. Interestingly, in
common with the MX-600, we found that turning the display off
improved cycle time performance by about 1.4 seconds.
Camera startup is quite fast, at just under 3 seconds if the flash
is disabled, or about 6 seconds with the flash turned on (the
additional time is that required for the flash circuitry to charge),
and shutdown occurs almost instantly. Switching from record to
playback mode (with a large/fine resolution image to be displayed)
requires about 5 seconds, while the change back to record mode
is almost instantaneous. (You can take a new picture pretty much
as soon as you rotate the function dial back to either the manual
or auto record position.)
Operation and User Interface
As we noted earlier, we found the user interface of the DX-10
very easy to navigate, despite the range of functions and picture-taking
controls it offers. Major operating modes are selected via the
large function wheel in the upper right-hand corner of the camera's
back, as shown at right. (We generally like function-wheel user
interfaces, feeling that they make for easier, faster operation,
with less-crowded on-screen menus.) Although much of the DX-10's
user interface is similar to that of the MX-500 and MX-600, there
are some differences. While largely cosmetic, these differences
do impact the user interaction, sometimes adversely, in our view.
(We suspect that some of the negative impact is deliberate, to
create a stronger differentiation between the DX-10 and it's higher-priced
companions. On the other hand, it's possible that Fuji sought
to remove some of the complexity from the camera's "auto"
mode of operation, which makes sense given the camera's price
point and intended market.)
Our specific gripe with the DX-10's user interface is that several
functions we find ourselves using quite frequently are located
on the "setup" menu, rather than being accessible from
an LCD menu within one of the capture modes directly. Specifically,
flash mode, image compression (fine/normal) and image size (1024x768,
640x480) settings require rotating the function dial to the setup
position to make your choices, rather than simply being menu entries
on the LCD screen. This may be an area where our mode of using
the cameras is biasing us unfairly against a user interface design
that actually makes more sense for the typical user: In the course
of testing cameras, we VERY frequently change image resolution
and compression settings. By comparison, the typical user will
most likely pick a particular resolution/compression combination
they're comfortable with, and do all their shooting at that setting.
For such folks, having these settings on the "setup"
menu makes eminent good sense, as it relieves them from having
to confront this infrequent choice every time they enter the camera's
menu system.
The net of this interface design is that there are no menu
options available in Auto capture mode, with all of the options
that would otherwise be present there having been moved to the
Setup menu. Thus, in Auto" mode, the camera is truly a "point
and shoot", as there are essentially no adjustments to be
made there. (Strictly speaking, you can still take Macro-mode
shots while in Auto mode, simply by sliding the switch on the
left-hand side of the camera to the "macro" position.
Likewise, you can also enable the 1.6x digital zoom in Auto mode,
but again that is accomplished without requiring any menu activity.)
In Manual capture mode, functions are selected from an LCD menu
system, using the two controls just above and to the left of the
rear-panel LCD screen, as shown at left. The manual-mode menu
system controls white balance settings, exposure compensation
for both ambient and flash illumination, "synchro" mode
for slow shutter speeds in conjunction with flash exposure, and
the Continuous Shooting function. In manual mode, you can immediately
select any of the 5 menus by pressing the left or right arrows
on the 4-way rocker control, and then using the up/down arrows
to choose the desired option. You save your choices by pressing
the "Menu/Exe" button, upon which the up/down arrows
on the 4-way control return to their normal function of controlling
the 1.6x digital zoom option.
We found the combination of function wheel and LCD menu system
very easy to navigate: We generally like "function wheels",
because they separate major camera operating modes, and reduce
the "overloading" of functions on the various control
buttons. In our opinion, this usually produces an operating interface
that is easier for novices to learn quickly, and which is quick
to navigate in actual use. As noted, we had a minor quibble with
the extent to which Fuji has moved functions off the main menu
structure in Auto mode, but recognize that this may reflect our
personal biases more than the needs of the DX-10's likely users.
Control Enumeration
With the preceding as an overview, we'll now delve into our standard
enumeration of camera functions, stepping through the major operating
modes one at a time.
Setup
Setup mode produces the LCD menu shown at right. Options available
here are as follows:
Self-Timer
The self-timer option has its own position on the function dial,
which unfortunately means you can't use it with any of the special
options from the manual-record mode. In self-timer mode though,
all of the normal automatic-mode options are available, including
flash mode settings, image compression, file size, and the macro
option. While we'd really prefer a self-timer that permitted use
of the camera's advanced exposure features, we appreciate being
able to use it in conjunction with the macro function.(We frequently
find ourselves using self-timers in macro mode, to avoid camera
shake on the rickety copy stand we use for our macro shots.)
Manual
Record Mode
The level of exposure control the DX-10 provides in Manual capture
mode is unusual even in high-end digicams, and unprecedented in
units selling at the low price point of the DX-10! Five menus
are available here, directly from the LCD viewfinder display:
Auto Record Mode
In Auto record mode, the LCD display screen doesn't illuminate
unless you press the "Disp" button just above it. The
Auto capture mode has no LCD menu associated with it, as the only
options available in it are set either by explicit switch actuations
(for Macro and Digital Tele), or via the Setup menu described
earlier.
Playback
Mode
The DX-10 provides several unusual in-camera effects in playback
mode, that may be applied to pictures without resorting to the
use of a host computer. Applying a special effect to an image
leaves the original untouched, producing a new image in the camera's
memory.
Erase Mode
Image deletion is handled in the MX-600Z through a separate setting
of the function wheel. Three options are provided, to erase either
one frame at a time, all frames in the camera, or to reformat
the memory card. In single-frame erase mode, you can either step
through full-size images, or switch to the 9-up "thumbnail"
display mentioned earlier, by pressing the "Disp" button.
Protect Mode
As you take pictures with a larger memory card, you'll sometimes
want to snap a number of exposures quickly, then "weed out"
the ones you don't want to keep. One way of doing this is to use
the "protect" mode to lock the images you want to keep,
then go back to the Erase mode screen and use the "erase
all" option to delete all the unprotected pictures in one
fell swoop. Regardless of how you use it, the DX-10's ability
to protect selected images against accidental erasure is a useful
option.
Computer Connect Mode
The DX-10 has a built-in serial interface port that can be used
to connect it to a host computer for image downloading. To use
this interface, set the function wheel to the "Connect"
icon shown above.
Image Storage and Interface
The DX-10 stores its images on the tiny SmartMedia removable memory
cards. It ships with a 4MB card, and supports cards as large as
32MB, the largest currently manufactured. SmartMedia cards are
slated to grow as large as 128MB over the next year, and we don't
know whether existing cameras will be compatible with those larger
sizes or not. Regardless, 32MB is a LOT of image storage, corresponding
to probably 100-110 pictures at the DX-10's maximum image size
and quality setting. (The furnished 4MB card stores anywhere from
13 to 61 images, depending on the image size and quality setting.)
As noted earlier, the DX-10 connects to host computers via a standard
"RS-232" serial connection. While entirely functional,
like all such interfaces, it's slow. We clocked a data-transfer
time of about a minute for a 307K maximum-resolution file, a transfer
rate of roughly 20KBytes/second. This actually isn't at all bad
as serial connections go, but is still far slower than other methods
available. The optional FlashPath floppy-disk adapter (typically
available for about $80 or so, as of this writing in May of 1999)
can move the same file in only 10-12 seconds. Card readers that
attach to your PC's parallel or USB port work much faster yet.
Of course, for the casual, get-your-feet-wet user, serial is just
fine, and has the advantage of low cost, and essentially universal
availability on both Mac and Windows computers. (Some of the newest
Macs lack a serial connection, but accessory cards are available
to let them work with devices like the DX-10.)
Video Out
As mentioned earlier, the DX-10 has a jack for a video-out cable.
When plugged in, it turns off the internal LCD monitor, and routes
all signals out through the video port. We've found this a very
handy function for grabbing screen shots of whatever would normally
appear on the LCD screen, and it makes for a great way to share
images with friends or colleagues. US and Canadian models of the
DX-10 will support the NTSC standard, while European models presumably
will support PAL.
Power
Like the majority of digicams these days, the DX-10 uses four
standard AA-size batteries for its power source. Although the
DX-10 appears to be fairly thrifty in its power consumption, we
still strongly advise that you purchase a few sets of good-quality
NiMH rechargeable batteries and a charger to go with them: Standard
alkaline cells are little more than a bad joke in most digicams,
and NiMH rechargeables are now widely available for very reasonable
prices. (~$10 for a set of four, and anywhere from $10 to $40
for a charger.) Fuji also offers an optional external AC adapter
for the DX-10, which could be useful for extended downloads to
the computer, or for long working sessions in a studio. We doubt
the latter will be a common usage, and since you could probably
buy another 4 or 5 full sets of NiMH batteries for the cost of
the adapter, we recommend that most users stick with rechargeable
batteries.
The battery compartment was the source of a minor beef
we had with the camera, although we suspect this would only affect
fussy camera-testers, and not the typical users the camera was
designed for: When we mount cameras on our tripod, we commonly
twist them slightly once mounted to align them to be square with
the tripod's movements. When we did this with the DX-10, the friction
against the tripod's mounting plate would frequently cause the
battery-compartment door to unlatch. Not a big deal by a long
shot, we offer the comment here more as feedback to Fuji for future
models than as any sort of consumer-level criticism of the design...
Included Software
The DX-10 Zoom ships with a basic software package, allowing image
acquisition and manipulation, on both Windows and Macintosh platforms.
Software on both platforms includes an application called "Picture
Shuttle" that handles communications with the camera, for
downloading images. Picture Shuttle maintains a "desktop"
metaphor, showing the camera and any "albums" it knows
about as icons in a desktop-looking window, as seen in the screen
shot below. (We say "desktop-looking" because it actually
is a separate window, and not part of your computer's normal desktop,
although you can drag & drop items to the desktop or Windows
Explorer.)
When the camera is "opened" in Picture Shuttle, you
see an index display of the pictures it contains, as shown below.
(You can choose to see thumbnails of the pictures as shown, or
turn the thumbnails off to speed up the initial display of the
camera's contents.)
When a picture is selected and downloaded, PictureShuttle automatically
opens the "EZtouch" application, which provides for
rudimentary image manipulation. The EZtouch screen is shown below.
Besides the PictureShuttle application, two TWAIN drivers are
provided, which allow image acquisition directly into applications
supporting the TWAIN interface (which include most applications
on the Windows platform, and a few on the Mac). The normal TWAIN
driver functions much like Picture Shuttle, allowing downloading
of already-captured images. In addition to this, the SNAP TWAIN
driver allows you to "snap" (capture) pictures with
the camera while it is tethered to the computer. In our own testing,
our Windows machine had reached a rather delicate state of too-many-drivers,
and so we weren't able to successfully test the TWAIN software.
(For those lucky enough to be unfamiliar with Windows, it periodically
is necessary to completely "wipe" the hard drive and
re-install Windows, if you're in the habit of installing and removing
software applications on a regular basis. - We really needed to
do this on our main Windows box, but couldn't afford the time
out of our schedule to do so in time for this review.) We did
however, find Picture Shuttle to be a very functional downloading
application, although it was rather slow, as reported earlier.
(We strongly recommend the optional FlashPath adapter for any
serious users of the DX-10: The difference in speed relative to
the serial port is dramatic, and ultimately makes the camera much
more usable.)
The final software package included with the DX-10 is Adobe's
ever-popular PhotoDeluxe. This program provides a broad range
of image-manipulation and "project"-oriented capabilities,
and has versions for both the Mac and Windows platforms.
Test Results
In keeping with our standard policy, our comments here are rather
condensed, summarizing our key findings: For a full commentary
on each of the test images, see the DX-10's
"pictures" page.
As with all Imaging Resource camera tests, we encourage you to
let your own eyes be the judge of how well the devices performed:
Explore the images on the pictures page,
to see how well the DX-10 performed, and how its images compare
to other cameras you may be considering buying.
Overall, we felt the DX-10 did very well in the picture department
for a camera in it's price range. It's exposures were quite accurate,
and color and tonal rendition were very good as well. The single
fault we found in the images was a noticeable "checkerboard"
artifact pattern visible around strong horizontal lines in the
subjects. This was apparently largely the result of the in-camera
image-sharpening algorithm employed, as it almost entirely disappeared
when the camera was used with sharpness set to "Soft"
in the Setup menu.
Color rendition was quite accurate, with good saturation in the
strong primaries, yet no over-saturation evident in either the
primaries or the difficult pastel colors and flesh tones. Overall,
the DX-10's automatic white-balance circuitry produced the same
results in our tests as the manually-set "daylight"
option. On the difficult, incandescent-lit "indoor portrait"
shot, the DX-10 did very well, both using the "incandescent"
manual white-balance setting, and in matching the color balance
of its on-board flash unit with the ambient light. Outdoors, colors
were clean and bright, yet natural and not over-saturated.
Resolution was very much in line with the 0.8 megapixel sensor
size, producing a visual resolution of 575 lines per picture height
in both horizontal and vertical directions.
Macro performance was also quite good for a fixed focal-length
lens, covering a minimum area of 2.5 x 3.3 inches (6.3x8.4 cm).
Conclusion/Bottom Line
We feel that the DX-10 would make an excellent "first camera"
for people just entering the digital realm, or for that matter,
just entering photography via the digital route. It not only functions
very well in the fully-automatic point & shoot mode, but provides
an unusual level of exposure control, easily accessible as your
picture-taking skills and interests grow. (Its small size and
flexible exposure control would also suit it for use as a "take
anywhere" camera for a more advanced user.) Its resolution
is adequate for printing images as large as roughly 5x7 inches
on high-quality inkjet printers, yet it enters the market at a
very low price point relative to other units of similar capability.
Overall, hard to beat as a "first" camera!
Reader Comments!
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other Imaging Resource readers have had to say about the DX-10, or add
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