Fujifilm X-T10 Review

Overview

From the Firmware Files: Stopped by our review to refamiliarize yourself with the X-T10 after a break, or just bought yourself a second-hand one? If so, you'll want to check to be sure that your firmware is up to date. There have been more than a few firmware updates since the Fuji X-T10 launched, the most recent of them (as of May 2017) taking place just last summer.

Want your whistle wetted with some of the new features you may find after upgrading? You can expect to gain access to a raft of brand-new functionality and tweaks, including improved manual focus accuracy, focus limiter support for the XF100-400mm lens, better EVF performance, Windows 10 support and more besides.

You'll find the full change log described in past Firmware Friday roundups, which you can find most easily by researching past Fuji X-T10 stories on Imaging Resource here. And be sure to watch our Firmware Friday series in future to keep up to date with all the latest firmware news!

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UPDATE: 02/09/2017:
Want the absolute latest and greatest? If so, you'll want to check out the Fujifilm X-T20, a successor to this camera which brings with it a huge raft of improvements, as you'll find out in our Fuji X-T20 preview!

If you prefer to spend a little less to get the previous generation, though, the Fujifilm X-T10 remains pretty readily available. And it's certainly one heck of a camera, as our 2015 Camera of the Year awards made clear. The Fuji X-T10 earned itself mention as a Camera of Distinction in the Intermediate Mirrorless category, drawing praise for its small, affordable body, approachable user interface, handy Film Simulation modes and excellent kit lens.

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The Fujifilm X-series family continues to expand, this time with their new premium interchangeable lens camera -- the Fujifilm X-T10. The X-T10 can be considered the younger sibling to the rugged, higher-end Fuji X-T1. Whereas the larger, weather-sealed X-T1 is aimed at advanced enthusiasts and professional photographers, the new lighter, sleeker X-T10 is focused on mid-range, intermediate-level photographers and enthusiasts.

Situated above or next to the X-E2 and below the X-T1 in Fuji's line-up, the Fuji X-T10 offers a lightweight, travel-friendly camera but with X-T1-like traditional viewfinder design rather than the off-center, rangefinder-esque design of X-E2.

Like the X-T1, the new X-T10 uses the same 16.3-megapixel APS-C X-Trans II CMOS chip with on-sensor phase-detect autofocus pixels and is powered by Fuji's latest EXR Processor II image processor. Combined, this gives the little X-T10 a sensitivity range of ISO 200 to 6400 equivalents, expandable to cover a much broader range from 100 to 51,200 equivalents. The pairing also provides swift autofocus that, in our testing, proved equal in performance to that of the X-T1, as well as reasonably fast startup (by mirrorless camera standards) and minimal shutter lag.

The Fuji X-T10's OLED electronic viewfinder takes a lot of its cues from the X-T1, offering the same 2.36-million dot resolution and 100% coverage. The display panel it's based around isn't quite as large, though, with a 0.39-inch diagonal versus 0.5-inches for the X-T1. And the magnification ratio of 0.62x is quite a bit lower compared to the XT-1's expansive 0.77x magnification (35mm equivalents). Eye-point has also been reduced, from the X-T1's generous 23mm from the eyepiece, to just 17.5mm in the X-T10.

Returning to autofocus for a moment, the Fuji X-T10 -- as with the recently-updated X-T1 -- features the company's new Zone and Wide/Tracking AF modes. In addition to the standard 49-point single-shot AF mode, the new Zone and Wide/Tracking modes make use of a larger, wider 77-point area for greater subject tracking across the frame.

Over the 77-point array, using Zone AF setting in either AF-S or AF-C modes gives photographers the choice of a 3x3, 5x3 or 5x5 AF-block section with which to focus. For the best AF speeds, particularly with faster moving subjects and with AF-C mode, using the 3x3 or 5x3 Zone on the central AF area will make use of the X-T10's on-sensor phase detect AF points. With the Wide/Tracking AF mode, which is great for unpredictable moving subjects, the camera will automatically select the AF point of all 77 AF points while in AF-S mode. In AF-C mode, the user is given a starting AF point, and the camera will continuously track the subject across the frame.

The X-T10 is well-equipped to capture fast action with burst speeds up to eight frames per second with continuous focus. Note, though, that in Continuous High (CH) burst mode, the focus area is restricted to the central phase-detect AF points -- a 3x3 block in Single point AF mode and a 5x3 grid in Zone and Wide/Tracking modes.

The X-T10 also includes a new Auto Macro AF mode, which will automatically detect close-up focusing and eliminate the need to press the Macro button -- which subsequently frees the Macro function button to be customized to another mode or function. Also, the AF algorithm has been improved in Movie mode for smoother full-time autofocus.

Full HD video recording is available up to 60fps with a bitrate of 36Mbps. Both 30fps and 24fps (50p/25p available for PAL regions) frame rates are also available. Continuous video recording tops out at about 14 minutes with 1080p, but if you drop down to 720p video, then recording time is extended to around 27 minutes. 720p video includes the same set of frame rates as Full HD.

Lastly, as with other recent Fujifilm cameras, the X-T10 includes a total of eleven film simulation image presets, including their most recent one: Classic Chrome. The X-T10 also includes various shooting effects and filters, such as Toy Camera, Dynamic Tone, and Soft Focus. The camera also features built-in Wi-Fi connectivity, which allows geotagging, image transfer, wireless Instax printing, and remote stills shooting capabilities with the companion smartphone app.

Optics

The Fujifilm X-T10 is available body-only, or bundled with either the XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4R OIS lens or the XC 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS II kit lens. See our full test of the Fuji 18-55mm on SLRgear.com. We haven't tested the 16-50mm II lens yet, but its optical formula is identical to the tested Fuji 16-50mm lens, so optical performance should be very similar.

See below for our Fuji X-T10 viewfinder accuracy test results.

Viewfinder Test Results

Accuracy
Good coverage accuracy from the electronic viewfinder and LCD monitor.

The Fuji X-T10's electronic viewfinder and LCD monitor both proved fairly accurate in record mode, showing just over 99% coverage. Good results here, though we're a little surprised it's not 100% given both previews are derived from the sensor.

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a collection of more pictorial photos, see our Fujifilm X-T10 Photo Gallery .

Exposure

Color

Saturation & Hue Accuracy
Fairly vibrant color with excellent hue accuracy.

ISO Sensitivity
100	200	400	800	1600
3200	6400	12800	25600	51200
In the diagram above, the squares show the original color, and the circles show the color that the camera captured. More saturated colors are located toward the periphery of the graph. Hue changes as you travel around the center. Thus, hue-accurate, highly saturated colors appear as lines radiating from the center. Mouse over the links to see results across the ISO range, and click on the links for larger images.

Saturation. The Fuji X-T10 produces images with fairly bright, pleasing color using the standard film simulation (Provia) at default settings. The camera pushes most colors by a small amount, dark red and dark green by a moderate amount, but undersaturates aqua, cyan and yellow by just a bit. Default mean saturation at the base ISO of 200 was 111.9% (11.9% oversaturated), which is just a little higher than average these days. You can of course tweak saturation and/or select a different film simulation mode. Mean saturation fell only slightly as ISO increased as it often does, ending up at 109% at maximum ISO. Most consumer digital cameras produce color that's more highly saturated (more intense) than found in the original subjects. This is simply because most people like their color a bit brighter than life.

Skin tones. The Fuji X-T10 rendered pleasant Caucasian skin tones that were just a touch on the pinkish side when white balance was adjusted to match the light source at base ISO, because of the moderate push in reds. Results were quite pleasing, though, with a healthy look. (Here, too, the X-T10's saturation and/or film mode adjustments may come into play for some users, letting them tweak the color on skin tones, if they find the default rendering a bit too saturated for their personal tastes. Note that Fujifilm claims their Astia film simulation produces "true-to-life" skin tones.) Where oversaturation is most problematic is on Caucasian skin tones, as it's very easy for these "memory colors" to be seen as too bright, too pink, too yellow, etc.

Hue. The Fuji X-T10 produced only a few color shifts relative to the mathematically precise translation of colors in its subjects, and has excellent hue accuracy overall. Noticeable shifts are in cyan toward blue and orange toward yellow, but most shifts are very minor or hue is dead on. (The cyan to blue shift is very common among the digital cameras we test; we think it's a deliberate choice by camera engineers to produce better-looking sky colors.) Average "delta-C" color error after correction for saturation at base ISO was only 3.72, which is excellent, and hue accuracy remained better than average across the ISO range. Hue is "what color" the color is.

Sensor

Exposure and White Balance

Indoors, incandescent lighting
Auto and Incandescent white balance were quite warm, but very good results with the Manual setting. Above average exposure compensation required.

Indoors, under typical incandescent lighting, color balance was quite warm using the Auto setting, with a fairly strong reddish cast. Results with the Incandescent white balance setting were also very warm, with a strong yellow/orange cast. The Manual white balance setting was quite accurate, though. The Fuji X-T10 required +0.7 EV exposure compensation here, while most cameras need about +0.3 EV for this scene. Our test lighting for this shot is a mixture of 60 and 100 watt household incandescent bulbs, a pretty yellow light source, but a very common one in typical home settings here in the U.S.

Outdoors, daylight
Very good color though slightly cool outdoors. Good exposure accuracy outdoors, just slightly overexposed.

Outdoors, the Fuji X-T10 produced good color at default settings, just slightly on the cool side. The Fuji X-T10's default exposure was a bit too bright in our "Sunlit" Portrait shot. This is better than average, though, as most cameras need +0.7 EV to keep the face bright for this shot, but it did lead to a lot of blown highlights in the mannequin's shirt and flowers. Skin tones were pleasing, with a healthy-looking pinkish cast that's not too overdone with Manual white balance, and Auto wasn't much different (just a touch cooler though not quite as bright for some unknown reason). The Fuji X-T10 did a pretty good job exposing our Far-field shot, producing relatively few clipped highlights at default exposure, though some shadows are quite deep. Very deep shadows contain good detail, but are somewhat noisy and abruptly clipped, and some contain odd color casts. Again, color was just a touch cool with the Auto white balance setting. See the Extremes: Sunlit section below to see how the X-T10's Highlight/Shadow Tone and D-Range settings deal with harsh lighting like this.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Resolution
~2,300 lines of strong detail from JPEGs, about the same from ACR converted RAW.

Our laboratory resolution chart revealed sharp, distinct line patterns down to about 2,300 lines per picture height in the horizontal direction, and to about 2,300 lines per picture height in the vertical direction as well. Complete extinction of the pattern didn't occur before the 4,000 line limit of our chart in both directions. Adobe Camera Raw wasn't able to extract any additional resolution, however it did produce lower amounts of luma moiré near the limits of resolution. As expected, ACR produced very low amounts of chroma moiré even though it normally produces higher from Bayer-filtered cameras, because of the X-Trans sensor's irregular color filter pattern. Use these numbers to compare with other cameras of similar resolution, or use them to see just what higher resolution can mean in terms of potential detail.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Sharpness & Detail
Very good detail and sharpness overall, with only minor edge-enhancement artifacts appearing around some high-contrast subjects. Mild noise suppression is visible in the shadows at base ISO.

Sharpness. The Fuji X-T10 captures sharp, detailed images, with only minor edge enhancement artifacts visible on high-contrast subjects such as the relatively thin sharpening "haloes" around the lines and letters of the bottle label above left. Default sharpening seems to be a touch stronger than some prior X-Trans models, but still quite conservative. Edge enhancement creates the illusion of sharpness by enhancing colors and tones right at the edge of a rapid transition in color or tone.

Detail. The crop above right shows low levels of luminance noise suppression, as the darker areas of the model's hair still show a pretty good amount of detail. Some individual strands do merge together when local contrast is low and as shadows deepen, but performance here is very good for an APS-C sensor. The Fuji X-T10 does a great job at keeping chrominance noise low as well, better than most Bayer-filtered cameras, but it can struggle to resolve fine detail or accurate color with certain subject matter because of its unique color filter arrangement. Noise-suppression systems in digital cameras tend to flatten-out detail in areas of subtle contrast. The effects can often be seen in shots of human hair, where the individual strands are lost and an almost "watercolor" look appears.

RAW vs In-Camera JPEGs
As noted above, the Fuji X-T10 produces sharp JPEG images with very good detail at default settings. Let's see if we can extract better detail from RAW files with Adobe Camera Raw without introducing additional sharpening artifacts:

Base ISO (200)
Camera JPEG, defaults	RAW via Adobe Camera Raw

In the table above, we compare an in-camera JPEG taken at base ISO using default noise reduction and sharpening (on the left) to the matching RAW file converted with Adobe Camera Raw 9.1 using default noise reduction with some strong but tight unsharp masking applied in Photoshop (250%, radius of 0.3 pixels, and a threshold of 0).

Adobe Camera Raw does a pretty good job here, but doesn't extract significantly more detail than the camera does, though contrast in the our red-leaf fabric is higher. There is a touch more detail in the mosaic crop and perhaps more accurate colors in the monk's garment, but nothing really to write home about. Bottom line: Fuji's in-camera processing is excellent, and there's very little advantage to shooting RAW in terms of detail reproduction, at least at low ISOs.

ISO & Noise Performance
Excellent high ISO performance for an APS-C sensor.

Default High ISO Noise Reduction
ISO 100	ISO 200	ISO 400
ISO 800	ISO 1,600	ISO 3,200
ISO 6,400	ISO 12,800	ISO 25,600
ISO 51,200

Like the X-T1, the Fuji X-T10's images are very clean with good detail up to ISO 400. Luminance noise "grain" is quite fine and tight at ISO 800 so there's only a small drop in image quality, and there is very little sign of chrominance noise. At ISO 1,600, noise reduction efforts are little stronger as you'd expect, but fine detail is still very good. ISO 3,200 shows a stronger increase in noise and blurring, but fine detail remains pretty good. At ISO 6,400, luminance noise becomes much more noticeable, though it's still fairly fine-grained, and chrominance noise is still well controlled. Image quality drops off more rapidly at ISO 12,800 and above, with progressively more visible grain, blurring, noise reduction artifacts, and blotchy chroma noise in the shadows. Fine detail at ISOs 25,600 and 51,200 is quite soft with heavy luminance noise accentuated by sharpening artifacts, and chrominance noise in the form of large yellow and purple blotches. Still, noise performance in high ISO JPEGs is very good, among the best we've seen from a 16-megapixel APS-C sensor, and as expected, similar to the X-T1.

We're pixel-peeping to the extreme here though, which isn't always representative of what you see in prints. As always, see the Print Quality section below for maximum recommended print sizes at each ISO.

Extremes: Sunlit, dynamic range and low light tests
Very good overall detail, but mediocre dynamic range in JPEGs at default settings. Very good low-light performance.

Sunlight. The Fuji X-T10 struggled with the harsh lighting of this test at default settings at the base ISO of 200 (which should be best case). We preferred the default exposure overall, because the exposure at +0.3 EV exposure compensation was too bright with too many clipped highlights. Even at default exposure (0 EV), quite a few highlights were blown in the mannequin's shirt and flowers. There are quite a few dark shadows as well, and very deep shadows clip to black rather abruptly, likely in an attempt to hide noise. Overall, the Fuji X-T10's JPEGs performed below average here without any highlight and shadow adjustments, nor any dynamic range enhancement (see below).

Because digital cameras are more like slide film than negative film (in that they tend to have a more limited tonal range), we test them in the harshest situations to see how they handle scenes with bright highlights and dark shadows, as well as what kind of sensitivity they have in low light. The shot above is designed to mimic the very harsh, contrasty effect of direct noonday sunlight, a very tough challenge for most digital cameras. (You can read details of this test here.)

Contrast Adjustment
The Fuji X-T10 does not offer a traditional contrast adjustment. Instead, it offers Shadow and Highlight Tone settings, which let you adjust contrast in highlights and shadows independently. There are five settings each: "Soft", "Medium Soft", "Standard" (default), "Medium Hard", and "Hard."

"Sunlit" Portrait Highlight and Shadow Tone Comparison
	Highlight and Shadow Tone Settings: Highlight: Soft Highlight: Standard Highlight: Hard Shadow: Soft Shadow: Standard Shadow: Hard

Shadow and Highlight Tone. Above you can see the effects of three of the five settings for Highlight and Shadow Tone control on our high contrast "Sunlit" Portrait shot. Mouse over the links to load the associated thumbnail and histogram, and click on the links to visit the full resolution image.

Note how the Highlight settings mainly affect the brighter portions of the image, while the Shadow settings impact the darker areas. Both settings can be used simultaneously, giving more flexibility to tune the tone curve at both ends compared to a single contrast setting, though we wish the range of adjustment toward lower contrast was greater as highlights and particularly shadows are still clipped with the "softest" settings.

Far-field Highlight and Shadow Tone Comparison
Highlight: Soft	Highlight: Standard	Highlight: Hard
Shadow: Soft	Shadow: Standard	Shadow: Hard

Above, you can see the effect of the same Highlight and Shadow Tone settings on our Far-field shot.

"Sunlit" Portrait D-Range Comparison
	D-Range Settings: 100% (default) 200% 400% Auto

D-Range is Fuji's name for their dynamic range enhancement technology. D-Range designed to preserve hot highlights, by exposing for highlights and then boosting mid-tones and shadows. There are three levels: DR100 100% (default), DR200 200%, DR400 400%, as well as an Auto mode which can select DR100 or DR200. DR200 is available at ISO 400 and above, while DR400 is available at ISO 800 and above, so the 200% example above was taken at ISO 400, and the 400% and Auto examples were taken at ISO 800. Mouse over the links above to load the corresponding thumbnail image and histogram. Click on the links to get to the full resolution images.

As you can see the images above, the Fuji X-T10's manual D-Range settings were very effective at retaining clipped highlights in our "Sunlit" Portrait shot. As they say, though, there's no free lunch: if you look closely at the full resolution images, you'll see that improved highlight retention comes at a cost of increased noise. This is because the camera's sensitivity needs to be raised to take advantage of the D-Range feature, though that's not much of penalty because the X-T10's high ISO performance is so good. (Note that the Fuji X-T10 does not offer a multi-shot in-camera HDR mode.)

Far-field D-Range Comparison
DR 100%	DR 200%	DR 400%	DR Auto

Above, you can see how the various D-Range settings affect our Far-field shot. Here, 100% is ISO 200, 200% is ISO 400 and 400% is ISO 800.

Face Detection. The Fuji X-T10 offers face detection which optimizes both focus and exposure for faces. But as you can see above, enabling it only made a very subtle difference here.

Dynamic Range Analysis
A key parameter in a digital camera is its Dynamic Range, the range of brightness that can be faithfully recorded. At the upper end of the tonal scale, dynamic range is dictated by the point at which the RGB data "saturates" at values of 255, 255, 255. At the lower end of the tonal scale, dynamic range is determined by the point at which there ceases to be any useful difference between adjacent tonal steps. Note the use of the qualifier "useful" in there: While it's tempting to evaluate dynamic range as the maximum number of tonal steps that can be discerned at all, that measure of dynamic range has very little relevance to real-world photography. What we care about as photographers is how much detail we can pull out of the shadows before image noise becomes too objectionable. This, of course, is a very subjective matter, and will vary with the application and even the subject matter in question. (Noise will be much more visible in subjects with large areas of flat tints and subtle shading than it would in subjects with strong, highly contrasting surface texture.)

What makes most sense then, is to specify useful dynamic range in terms of the point at which image noise reaches some agreed-upon threshold. To this end, Imatest computes a number of different dynamic range measurements, based on a variety of image noise thresholds. The noise thresholds are specified in terms of f-stops of equivalent luminance variation in the final image file, and dynamic range is computed for noise thresholds of 1.0 (low image quality), 0.5 (medium image quality), 0.25 (medium-high image quality) and 0.1 (high image quality). For most photographers and most applications, the noise thresholds of 0.5 and 0.25 f-stops are probably the most relevant to the production of acceptable-quality finished images, but many noise-sensitive shooters will insist on the 0.1 f-stop limit for their most critical work. A full discussion of all the data Imatest produces is really beyond the scope of this review: Visit the Imatest website for details of what the program measures, how it performs its computations, and how to interpret its output.

Note: Recently, we've switched to using DxOMark's dynamic range results because some cameras were exceeding what could measured with a Stouffer T4110 step chart, but DxOMark does not publish results for Fuji X-Trans sensors, probably because they don't support RAW files from those sensors which require more complex demosaicing than standard Bayer-filtered models. So, here we're showing out Imatest results at base ISO. Note that Imatest's Quality Level threshold of Low corresponds to DxOMark's dynamic range signal-to-noise (SNR) threshold of 1.0.

JPEG. The graph at right (click for a larger version) was generated using Imatest's dynamic range analysis for an in-camera Fuji X-T10 JPEG file with a nominally-exposed density step target (Stouffer T4110). At default settings and native base ISO of 200, the results show 9.6 f-stops of total dynamic range, however the range at the "Low" quality threshold is still 9.6 stops and at the "High" threshold, it drops down to only 7.2 stops. Interestingly, that's a bit better than the X-T1 in terms of total dynamic range and also at the Low threshold (9.6 vs 8.8), but less at Medium-High and High quality thresholds. Overall, these scores are below average for an APS-C model, but keep in mind we didn't enable any of the Fuji X-T10's dynamic range enhancement features for this test. Note, that this measurement has a margin of error of about 1/3 f-stop, so differences of less than 0.33 can be ignored when comparing results to other models.

RAW. The graph at right is from the same Stouffer T4110 stepchart image captured as a raw (.RAF) file, processed with Adobe Camera Raw using the Auto setting, then tweaked from there for best results. As can be seen, the score at the highest quality level increased significantly compared to the in-camera JPEG, from 7.2 to 8.9 f-stops, and total dynamic range improved even more from 9.6 to 12.9 f-stops. At the "Low" quality level (matching DxOMark's threshold), total dynamic range is still available (12.9 f-stops). This is decent performance for an APS-C sensor, if not quite as good as the best which can approach 14 f-stops. It's worth noting here is that ACR's default noise reduction settings reduced overall noise somewhat (see the plot in the lower left-hand corner) relative to the levels in the in-camera JPEG, which would tend to boost the dynamic range numbers for the higher quality thresholds.

	1 fc 11 lux	1/16 fc 0.67 lux	1/16 fc No NR
ISO 200	1s, f2.8	15s, f2.8	15s, f2.8
ISO 3200	1/15s, f2.8	1s, f2.8	1s, f2.8
ISO 51200	1/250s, f2.8	1/15s, 1 f2.8	1/15s, f2.8

Low Light. The X-T10 performed well in our low light tests, able to capture bright images down to the lowest light level we test at. The darkest level equates to about 1/16 the brightness of average city street lighting at night, so the Fuji X-T10 should be able to take well-exposed photos in almost any environment in which you can see well enough to walk around in.

Using default noise reduction setting, noise is low at ISO 200 and well-controlled at ISO 3200, though as you'd expect, noise is quite high at the maximum ISO of 51,200 equivalent. We didn't notice any significant issues with hot pixels or heat blooming but some fixed pattern noise could be seen in darker areas at the highest ISO.

Automatic color balance performed well in low light, just a touch cool at one foot-candle shifting to a bit warmer at 1/16 foot-candle.

The camera's Hybrid autofocus system was able to focus on the subject down to just above the 1/16 foot-candle light level unassisted, which is quite good. With the AF assist lamp enabled, the Fuji X-T10 was able to focus in complete darkness (as long as the subject was in range of the focus assist lamp).

How bright is this? The one foot-candle light level that this test begins at roughly corresponds to the brightness of typical city street-lighting at night. Cameras performing well at that level should be able to snap good-looking photos of street-lit scenes.

NOTE: This low light test is conducted with a stationary subject, and the camera mounted on a sturdy tripod. Most digital cameras will fail miserably when faced with a moving subject in dim lighting. (For example, a child's ballet recital or a holiday pageant in a gymnasium.) Thanks to its larger sensor and Hybrid AF, compact system cameras like the Fuji X-T10 tend to do better than point & shoots, but you still shouldn't expect a quick autofocus lock with moving subjects.

Output Quality

Print Quality
Very good 24x36 inch prints at ISO 100/200, a nice 16 x 20 at ISO 3200, and a usable 5 x 7 at ISO 25,600.

A quick note before we get into the print size breakdown below: The Fujifilm X-T10's JPEG images have pretty well-controlled sharpening, using the default settings. This is a very good thing, in terms of ability to apply careful sharpening in Photoshop, post-capture, but also means that prints made without further sharpening don't have quite as much "pop" as ones from other cameras that, frankly, over-sharpen. While these print quality evaluations are based on default JPEGs without further processing applied, it should be noted that precisely because the X-T10's in-camera sharpening is restrained, careful manual sharpening on the computer could yield up to another full print size at low ISOs.

So with that note, let's take a look at the results...

ISO 100/200 images look good at 24 x 36 inches. They're more crisp-looking at 20 x 30 inches, but per the above note, we'll "call" these at 24x36, with the observation that you might be able to go all the way to 30 x 40 inches with careful sharpening in Photoshop.

ISO 400 prints also look very good at 24 x 36 inches, with just very slight noise when you get right up on the print and squint at it. At anything like normal viewing distances, though, the noise is essentially invisible.

ISO 800 hangs in there quite well at a print size of 20 x 30 inches. There's very slightly more visible noise at this size than ISO 400 at 24 x 36, but it's very well within the range of what we'd call acceptable.

ISO 1600 produces very usable 20 x 30 inch prints at normal viewing distances. 16 x 20 prints are excellent at any viewing distance, but we'll call this at 20 x 30 for actual use, hanging on a wall.

ISO 3200 is often a dividing line for sub-frame cameras, but the X-T10 delivers very good 16 x 20 prints; an excellent result.

IO 6400 performance is very much in line with the general trend for this camera, producing very nice-looking 13 x 19 inch prints. There's just a little noise to be seen here and there, but the images look great overall when printed at this size.

ISO 12,800 sees a more significant degradation in print size, with the X-T10 managing to produce very good-looking 8 x 10 prints, with just a little noise, and a bit more loss of detail in the infamous red fabric swatch.

ISO 25,600 holds up surprisingly well, producing very usable 5 x 7 inch prints; quite an accomplishment for such a high ISO on a camera with an APS-C sized sensor.

ISO 51,200, alas, is pretty marginal, even at a 4 x 6 inch print size. It might be usable if you're just looking for a small image to share on Facebook, but this ISO level is otherwise best avoided.

As time has marched on, Fujifilm has continued to advance the state of the art with their X-Trans sensor technology, as well as their image-processing chops. The X-T10 is quite a bit cheaper than the previous X-T1 which we reviewed two years ago, yet its print quality is a solid step up of a full print size at high ISOs. As noted above, Fujifilm's conservative approach to in-camera sharpening shows up as slightly less definition and pop, but the fact that it creates only minimal "halos" around high-contrast edges means you'll be able to do a lot in Photoshop to bring out crisp details. Overall, the X-T10's high-ISO results are pretty amazing. It delivers exceptionally clean, detailed images at very high ISO levels. If you're shooting in conditions that routinely require you to crank up the ISO to get the shots you want, the Fuji X-T10 might very well be the camera you need.

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a collection of more pictorial photos, see our Fujifilm X-T10 Photo Gallery .

Not sure which camera to buy? Let your eyes be the ultimate judge! Visit our Comparometer(tm) to compare images from the Fujifilm X-T10 with those from other cameras you may be considering. The proof is in the pictures, so let your own eyes decide which you like best!

Performance

Image Quality

Below are crops from our laboratory Still Life target comparing the Fuji X-T10's image quality to its more expensive sibling, the X-T1, as well as against several competing APS-C models -- and one Micro Four Thirds camera for good measure -- which all sit at similar price points or product categories: the Canon T6i, Nikon D5500, Panasonic G7 and Sony A6000.

NOTE: These images are from best quality JPEGs straight out of the camera, at default settings including noise reduction and using the camera's actual base ISO (not extended ISO settings). All cameras in this comparison were shot with our very sharp reference lenses. Clicking any crop will take you to a carrier page where you can click once again to access the full resolution image as delivered straight from the camera. For those interested in working with the RAW files involved: click these links to visit each camera's respective sample image thumbnail page: Fuji X-T10, Canon T6i, Nikon D5500, Panasonic G7 and Sony A6000 -- links to the RAW files appear beneath those for the JPEG images, wherever we have them. And remember, you can always go to our world-renowned Comparometer to compare the Fuji X-T10 to any camera we've ever tested!

Fujifilm X-T10 vs Fujifilm X-T1 at Base ISO

Fujifilm X-T10 at ISO 200	Fujifilm X-T1 at ISO 200
As expected, the X-T10's image quality at base ISO is very similar to the older and more expensive X-T1, though the latter does do a little better in the red-leaf fabric here. (That may just be due to slightly different lighting angles.) Interestingly, the X-T10's JPEG file is quite a bit larger at 8.3MB versus 5.1MB, even though both cameras are set to the best quality Fine setting.

Fujifilm X-T10 vs Canon T6i at Base ISO

Fujifilm X-T10 at ISO 200	Canon T6i at ISO 100
The 24-megapixel Canon T6i does capture more detail than the 16-megapixel X-T10 at base ISO, which is evident in the mosaic and fabric crops (in addition to the larger "scale" in the T6i crops), however color, contrast and sharpening are very different than the Fuji. The Canon also does much better with the pink fabric swatch and produces higher contrast in the red-leaf fabric, although fine detail in the leaf pattern is actually a bit worse, likely due to how the Canon applies noise reduction to reds. Which is better is hard to say, as it's a personal preference. Both offer excellent image quality with low noise at base ISO.

Fujifilm X-T10 vs Nikon D5500 at Base ISO

Fujifilm X-T10 at ISO 200	Nikon D5500 at ISO 100
Here again it's a very similar story, with the 24-megapixel Nikon D5500 capturing noticeably more detail than the 16-megapixel X-T10 at base ISO. And again, color, contrast and sharpening are very different between the two companies. The Nikon image is also crisper-looking though with more aggressive sharpening, and it does much better with the pink fabric swatch as well. The D5500 even resolves some of the threads in the red-leaf fabric, though it tends to blur the leaf pattern a bit and also shows hints of moiré.

Fujifilm X-T10 vs Panasonic G7 at Base ISO

Fujifilm X-T10 at ISO 200	Panasonic G7 at ISO 200
Here we compare the X-T10 to the 16-megapixel Micro Four Thirds Panasonic G7 which employs a traditional Bayer color filter. The G7 does render fine detail a little better than the X-T10, particularly in the pink fabric, but it's also a touch noisier at base ISO, as can be seen in flatter areas. If you look very closely, the G7 has higher levels of both luminance and chrominance noise. Still, both cameras offer excellent image quality at base ISO.

Fujifilm X-T10 vs Sony A6000 at Base ISO

Fujifilm X-T10 at ISO 200	Sony A6000 at ISO 100
Once again, the 24-megapixel APS-C Sony A6000 out-resolves the X-T10, with better fine detail in most areas, and it does a much better job in the pink fabric. The Sony's image is also generally crisper, without the usual haloing we see around high-contrast edges, though the red-leaf fabric looks a touch soft. But the Sony exaggerates the coloration in the monk's clothes (some of which is real, a result of the offset printing process), while the Fuji's rendering looks more monochromatic and almost sterile in comparison.

Fujifilm X-T10 vs Fujifilm X-T1 at ISO 1600

Fujifilm X-T10 at ISO 1600	Fujifilm X-T1 at ISO 1600
Unsurprisingly, results here at ISO 1600 are again very similar for the two siblings, though the X-T10 shows perhaps a touch less noise in flatter areas while the X-T1 seems to pull just a bit more detail out of the fabrics. It's very close, though, and image quality is excellent for the sensitivity and size of sensor with very good detail, low luminance noise and almost no chrominance noise.

Fujifilm X-T10 vs Canon T6i at ISO 1600

Fujifilm X-T10 at ISO 1600	Canon T6i at ISO 1600
At ISO 1600, we start to see the advantages of Fuji's X-Trans II sensor and processing technology, with the X-T10 producing a cleaner image than the T6i that also manages to hold onto better detail. Although contrast is still good, some fine detail is blurred away by the Canon's default noise reduction, particularly in the red-leaf fabric. The Canon does however continue to do better than the Fuji in the pink fabric, but only marginally so.

Fujifilm X-T10 vs Nikon D5500 at ISO 1600

Fujifilm X-T10 at ISO 1600	Nikon D5500 at ISO 1600
It's a similar story here against the D5500, with the Fuji producing a cleaner image with very good detail, while the Nikon produces a noisier image with more noise reduction artifacts, but with perhaps just a touch better detail in most areas. Again, the Nikon does better in the pink fabric, but it really struggles with the red-leaf pattern.

Fujifilm X-T10 vs Panasonic G7 at ISO 1600

Fujifilm X-T10 at ISO 1600	Panasonic G7 at ISO 1600
The Fuji X-T10 does very well against the G7 here, producing a cleaner image with fewer noise reduction artifacts, although sharpening haloes are more evident than with the G7. The Panasonic doesn't do too badly, though, and continues to best the X-T10 in the pink fabric, but it really struggles to reproduce any fine detail in the red-leaf swatch.

Fujifilm X-T10 vs Sony A6000 at ISO 1600

Fujifilm X-T10 at ISO 1600	Sony A6000 at ISO 1600
Although the A6000's resolution advantage is still evident at ISO 1600-equivalent, Sony's noise reduction system starts to produce noticeable artifacts which make the image look more "processed" and less natural compared to the X-T10's. Again, the A6000 does better in the pink fabric, but while the red-leaf swatch has good contrast, fine detail is actually far from accurate.

Fujifilm X-T10 vs Fujifilm X-T1 at ISO 3200

Fujifilm X-T10 at ISO 3200	Fujifilm X-T1 at ISO 3200
Once again very similar performance from the two siblings at ISO 3200, with just very minor differences. Really excellent performance for an APS-C camera at ISO 3200 from both of them.

Fujifilm X-T10 vs Canon T6i at ISO 3200

Fujifilm X-T10 at ISO 3200	Canon T6i at ISO 3200
At ISO 3200, we have to give the edge to the Fuji for its cleaner, more detailed image all around. The Canon's image isn't bad for this sensitivity, but it contains both more noise, and more noticeable noise reduction artifacts.

Fujifilm X-T10 vs Nikon D5500 at ISO 3200

Fujifilm X-T10 at ISO 3200	Nikon D5500 at ISO 3200
Again, the Fuji X-T10 comes out ahead of another 24-megapixel APS-C contender at ISO 3200, with a cleaner, more detailed image.

Fujifilm X-T10 vs Panasonic G7 at ISO 3200

Fujifilm X-T10 at ISO 3200	Panasonic G7 at ISO 3200
At ISO 3200, the G7 really starts to struggle to produce a clean image without losing too much detail. It actually does pretty well for a Micro Four Thirds camera, though there is almost no detail left in the red leaf fabric.

Fujifilm X-T10 vs Sony A6000 at ISO 3200

Fujifilm X-T10 at ISO 3200	Sony A6000 at ISO 3200
Once again, the X-T10 comes out on top in this comparison, with a cleaner, more detailed and more natural-looking image overall. The Sony does manage a little more detail in the pink fabric, but its area-specific noise reduction makes it look a little artificial.

Fujifilm X-T10 vs. Fujifilm X-T1, Canon T6i, Nikon D5500, Panasonic G7, Sony A6000

Fujifilm X-T10 ISO 200 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Fujifilm X-T1 ISO 200 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Canon T6i ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Nikon D5500 ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Panasonic G7 ISO 200 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Sony A6000 ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400
Detail comparison. We also like to take a look at high-contrast detail, as results often differ from what we see in the tables above. Here, the Fuji X-T10 doesn't do as well as the 24-megapixel APS-C cameras in terms of resolution or contrast, but the former is to be expected. The X-T10 performs similarly to the G7 at ISO 200 and 3200 equivalents, but the G7 does a bit better at ISO 6400. The X-T10 also seems to trail the X-T1 in terms of contrast, but upon closer inspection, that's likely due to some glare from our studio lights which unfortunately extends into the crop area. It's therefore pretty safe to say performance here is once again very similar to the X-T1.

Very good 24x36 inch prints at ISO 100/200, a nice 16 x 20 at ISO 3200, and a usable 5 x 7 at ISO 25,600.

A quick note before we get into the print size breakdown below: The Fujifilm X-T10's JPEG images have pretty well-controlled sharpening, using the default settings. This is a very good thing, in terms of ability to apply careful sharpening in Photoshop, post-capture, but also means that prints made without further sharpening don't have quite as much "pop" as ones from other cameras that, frankly, over-sharpen. While these print quality evaluations are based on default JPEGs without further processing applied, it should be noted that precisely because the X-T10's in-camera sharpening is restrained, careful manual sharpening on the computer could yield up to another full print size at low ISOs.

So with that note, let's take a look at the results...

ISO 100/200 images look good at 24 x 36 inches. They're more crisp-looking at 20 x 30 inches, but per the above note, we'll "call" these at 24x36, with the observation that you might be able to go all the way to 30 x 40 inches with careful sharpening in Photoshop.

ISO 400 prints also look very good at 24 x 36 inches, with just very slight noise when you get right up on the print and squint at it. At anything like normal viewing distances, though, the noise is essentially invisible.

ISO 800 hangs in there quite well at a print size of 20 x 30 inches. There's very slightly more visible noise at this size than ISO 400 at 24 x 36, but it's very well within the range of what we'd call acceptable.

ISO 1600 produces very usable 20 x 30 inch prints at normal viewing distances. 16 x 20 prints are excellent at any viewing distance, but we'll call this at 20 x 30 for actual use, hanging on a wall.

ISO 3200 is often a dividing line for sub-frame cameras, but the X-T10 delivers very good 16 x 20 prints; an excellent result.

IO 6400 performance is very much in line with the general trend for this camera, producing very nice-looking 13 x 19 inch prints. There's just a little noise to be seen here and there, but the images look great overall when printed at this size.

ISO 12,800 sees a more significant degradation in print size, with the X-T10 managing to produce very good-looking 8 x 10 prints, with just a little noise, and a bit more loss of detail in the infamous red fabric swatch.

ISO 25,600 holds up surprisingly well, producing very usable 5 x 7 inch prints; quite an accomplishment for such a high ISO on a camera with an APS-C sized sensor.

ISO 51,200, alas, is pretty marginal, even at a 4 x 6 inch print size. It might be usable if you're just looking for a small image to share on Facebook, but this ISO level is otherwise best avoided.

As time has marched on, Fujifilm has continued to advance the state of the art with their X-Trans sensor technology, as well as their image-processing chops. The X-T10 is quite a bit cheaper than the previous X-T1 which we reviewed two years ago, yet its print quality is a solid step up of a full print size at high ISOs. As noted above, Fujifilm's conservative approach to in-camera sharpening shows up as slightly less definition and pop, but the fact that it creates only minimal "halos" around high-contrast edges means you'll be able to do a lot in Photoshop to bring out crisp details. Overall, the X-T10's high-ISO results are pretty amazing. It delivers exceptionally clean, detailed images at very high ISO levels. If you're shooting in conditions that routinely require you to crank up the ISO to get the shots you want, the Fuji X-T10 might very well be the camera you need.

Field Test

Classic Style. Modern Features.

By Jeremy Gray · 07/30/2015

Introduction

The Fujifilm X-T10 takes many of the features that made the Fujifilm X-T1 a favorite among photographers and puts them into a smaller, lighter, and more affordable camera body. The overall results are excellent, and the X-T10 is an enjoyable camera to use. With retro styling, numerous physical controls, a great 16 megapixel X-Trans sensor, and impressive good performance, the X-T10 taps into the past while still moving forward.

Key Features

The Fujifilm X-T10 has a 16 megapixel X-Trans CMOS II APS-C sensor. The X-Trans color-filter pattern is designed to reduce moiré and false color and eliminate the need for the sensor to have an optical low-pass filter. The sensor is designed to produce sharper images than a sensor that has an optical low-pass filter. With a RAW ISO range of 200-6400 and a JPEG ISO range of 100-51,200, the X-T10 can capture excellent images across a wide variety of shooting conditions. The X-T10's 2.36 million dot OLED electronic viewfinder has only 0.005s lag, which is currently the world's shortest lag time for an OLED electronic viewfinder, according to Fuji. The AF sensor is fast as well, capable of acquiring focus in as little as 0.06s, and is upgraded with new "AF Zone" and "wide tracking" modes.  

Camera Body and Handling

The X-T10 looks fantastic with nice, sharp lines and a classic appearance. I tested a black X-T10, although it is also available with a silver finish. The first thing I noticed when I held the X-T10 for the first time is just how small and lightweight it is. The X-T10 weighs in at only 381 grams. Despite being small, it is generally comfortable to hold and there are a lot of physical controls on the camera body. The front grip is quite small, however, and that made it difficult for me to get a good grip on the camera when using a heavier lens. The thumb grip on the rear of the camera is fairly large and does help to compensate for the small front grip.

Despite its rather small and lightweight design, the X-T10 is full of dials, buttons, and switches, which is great for fans of manual controls. Unlike its larger sibling, the X-T10 features a built-in pop-up flash, and yet the mechanism for the built-in flash is well-designed and takes up only a small amount of space so that the camera maintains a small profile. The X-T10's selection of large, engraved dials are not locking, however they click into place very well, making them unlike to get rotated by accident. My one small gripe regarding the top deck of the camera is the small movie-record button on the top right corner of the camera body, which I found difficult to press.

On the front of the camera, the small command dial doubles as pressable function button, which is a neat two-in-one feature. In fact, there are a total of seven programmable or dedicated function buttons on the camera: the movie-record button, the front command dial, the four selector buttons on the back of the camera, and the 'Fn' button on the back of the camera. These function buttons can be customized to offer quick access to such options as bracketing, depth of field preview, ISO sensitivity, image quality, film simulation, AF mode, movie recording, and more.

The back of the camera has a 3" 920k dot LCD display and a selection of buttons. The display tilts, although it only tilts up and down with a fairly limited range. The display is sharp, vibrant, and bright. It would have been nice to have a touchscreen display, I feel, particularly for use with the X-T10's Quick Menu. Nonetheless, the display does its job well despite minor quibbles.

Between the AE-L and AF-L buttons on the rear of the camera is the second command dial up near the thumbrest, which can be pressed just like the front command dial. Both front and rear command dials rotate very smoothly, which actually can make it more difficult to adjust settings accurately because it is easy to go beyond the desired setting when rotating the dials. All of the buttons on the back of the camera are small but easy to press. The selector buttons are close to the edge of the camera body, and I regularly pressed them accidentally when using the X-T10 with the moderately heavy 50-140mm f/2.8 lens. The X-T10 has a fair amount of external buttons and dials, though perhaps not as many as an advanced DSLR, but nevertheless, the positioning and customizability of the function buttons along with the Q button makes it easy to access and change settings quickly.
 
The X-T10's OLED electronic viewfinder has 2.36M dots and is very sharp, bright and adjusts automatically to ambient light. There is minimal lag as well, as Fujifilm claims that the viewfinder currently has the shortest lag in the world at 0.005s. In practice, if there is any lag, I wasn't able to tell, and the end result is a practically real-time view that combines the best characteristics of optical and electronic viewfinders. I really like being able to see the result of settings adjustments in real-time through the viewfinder. However, if a neutral look is desired through the viewfinder, it is possible to turn off the real-time preview of settings. There is an eye sensor below the viewfinder that determines when you are looking through the viewfinder and turns the viewfinder and display on and off as necessary. The eye sensor worked pretty well in my experience, struggling only when there was a lot of light hitting the back of the camera. When the sensor isn't working as well as I'd like, hitting the view mode button to the right of the viewfinder toggles the camera between eye sensor, viewfinder only, and LCD-only display modes manually. Overall, I found the viewfinder works very well. The only main downside to the X-T10's viewfinder is that it has only 0.62x magnification.

Image Quality

The X-T10 shares the same 16 megapixel X-Trans CMOS II APS-C sensor as in the X-T1, and as such, produces nice, sharp images. The X-Trans color-filter pattern is designed to reduce moiré and false color without the need for an optical low-pass filter. The resulting images have a lot of fine details and smooth tonal transitions.

I found JPEG files from the X-T10 are fantastic. They are some of the best looking straight-from-the-camera files I've seen. The colors are rich, and the details are sharp. Using the Velvia in-camera film simulation, images are especially vibrant. With the ability to quickly adjust dynamic range in-camera up to 400% (at ISO 800 or higher), adjust shadow and highlight tones, color, and sharpening, it is possible to capture files with just the look you desire right in the camera. When viewing files on my computer, I often preferred the look of the JPEG files even after going through my standard processing routine with the RAW files. RAW files do contain a lot of data, but they are slightly soft and washed out straight from the camera compared to the JPEG files. With that said, I was impressed with how well RAW files handled exposure adjustments, particularly when increasing exposure in shadow areas.

Out in the Field

The X-T10 is a very fun camera to use. With its extensive physical controls, I felt like I was an active part of the photographic process rather than relying on the camera to do everything. That isn't to say that the X-T10 is incapable of delivering great images in fully-automatic shooting modes, because it is, but there is something that is especially enjoyable about setting the shutter speed using a dedicated dial on the top of the camera and adjusting the aperture on the lens itself. With that said, the X-T10 fortunately allows many settings to be quickly changed using the front and rear command dials and the Quick Menu. The Quick Menu is customizable and can allow for 16 settings to be quickly adjusted by using the selector buttons and/or command dials. When I wanted to slow down, be more deliberate, and make manual adjustments using the top dials and lens ring, I could. When I wanted to quickly capture an image and make adjustments on the fly out in the field, like when photographing wildlife for example, I could do that as well.

Depending on which dials are adjusted to different settings, the camera changes its exposure mode -- there is no typical PASM mode dial like other modern cameras. To photograph in aperture priority mode, I set the aperture to a specific f/stop on the lens and then set the shutter speed dial to 'A' (automatic). To capture images in shutter speed priority, I set the lens' aperture to 'A' and selected a specific shutter speed on the camera. Further, by setting the Shutter Speed dial to 'T,' the shutter speed can be adjusted from 30" to 1/4000s in 1/3 EV increments using the rear command dial.

When shooting in various automatic modes, including the fully automatic shooting mode, I found the X-T10 meters consistently well. The X-T10 offers multi, spot, and average metering options and utilizes a 256-zone metering system. The spot metering option can be linked to the focus point when using single point AF as well, which is very useful. I found that Auto white balance generally delivers nice, accurate results, too, though our lab testing revealed the X-T10's Auto WB struggles indoors, producing a fairly strong reddish cast under incandescent lighting. However in the outdoor lighting conditions I primarily shot in with the Fuji X-T10, I was pleased with the automatic white balance results. The X-T10 has Auto ISO capabilities, including Auto ISO 800, 1600, and 3200 options. Auto ISO is customizable as well as default sensitivity, max sensitivity (up to 6400), and minimum shutter speed (up to 1/500) can be manually selected through the shooting menu.

The X-T10's full auto mode, which is selected using the toggle switch around the shutter speed dial, offers a quick way for users to jump into a simpler, automatic shooting mode for quick snapshots, though it does offer some customizability. Unfortunately, when using the camera in its fully-automatic mode, RAW images cannot be captured. However, the film simulation mode can still be controlled.

By using the front command dial or using the camera's menu, you can manually select the most appropriate scene from a list of options including portrait, landscape, sport, night, and more. When in the "Advanced SR+" Auto mode, the camera recognizes the scene that you are photographing and adjusts settings accordingly to best suit the scene. When in these automatic modes, the X-T10 selects autofocus points from the central 15 autofocus points rather than the entire autofocus sensor. If your subject is not in the central portion of the frame, AF-L will have to be utilized as there is no manual control over autofocus when in automatic mode.

Fujifilm's film simulation modes are excellent. There are 11 film simulation presets, including Provia (standard), Velvia (vivid), and Classic Chrome, as well as various black and white options such as monochrome (+ yellow filter), monochrome (+ red filter), monochrome (+ green filter). Choosing a film simulation mode is a situation of personal preference, but I found myself most often using Provia and Velvia. I like that the various black and white options include color filters, this opens up more black and white shooting opportunities without having to rely on post-processing.

Along with its numerous physical controls that allow full creative control, the X-T10 has features that make manually focusing easier. Being able to manually focus first requires switching the focus mode selector on the front of the camera to 'M.' When manually focusing, the camera offers focus peaking as well as unique digital split image manual focus assist. Focus peaking has options to adjust intensity and the color of the highlights. The digital split image assist creates a black and white rectangle in the center of the image and you adjust the focus until everything is aligned. When manually focusing, there is a focus scale seen through the viewfinder (or on the rear display) that moves in real-time with the focus ring, since the Fuji X-mount lenses use electronic manual focusing. Additionally, there is an on-screen depth of field indicator that changes depending on focal length and aperture.

Fujifilm Camera Remote Application

As with many modern cameras, the X-T10 includes built-in Wi-Fi connectivity. Using the Fujifilm Camera Remote application, you can transfer and geotag images, as well as remotely control the camera. To connect the camera to my iOS device, I had to turn on wireless communications on the X-T10 and then go to my iOS device's wireless settings. After connecting my device to the camera, I opened the Camera Remote application and the camera connected quickly after I confirmed my device in the X-T10's shooting menu. The application shows the live view of the camera, various camera settings such as focus mode, film simulation, the number of images that can be captured on the memory card, image recording settings, and battery life. The live view performance is quite smooth, and there is minimal delay.

The application itself offers an impressive level of control. You can control focus point, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, film simulation, white balance, flash mode (when the flash is up on the camera), and self-timer. Whichever setting was changed last becomes quickly accessible via a button to the right of the on-screen shutter release, with the others available through a menu to the left. You get a real-time view of the settings changes on the mobile device display, too. Additionally, you can switch the camera to record movies via a toggle on the bottom of the screen.

When the camera is set to Auto mode before connecting the mobile device, there are similar control options presented on the mobile app, although shutter speed and aperture controls are removed in favor of an exposure compensation control. Changing the exposure mode on the camera itself is not reflected in the application until the camera is reconnected. I was impressed with the level of control that the application provides and its overall performance.

There is also a playback button which allows you to view all of the images and videos on the camera's memory card and select various ones to import over to your mobile device. Importing a full-size image file is relatively quick, but you can have the camera send smaller files to a mobile device through the X-T10's menu for even quicker transfers.

Autofocus Performance

The X-T10's autofocus performance is good overall. When using single autofocus (AF-S) mode, focus acquisition is quick and accurate across the AF sensor. On the other hand, continuous autofocus is occasionally slow depending on which focus points are active. The X-T10 features Fujifilm's Intelligent Hybrid Autofocus system, which means that the central 15 AF points (central 9 AF points when using single point autofocus) use phase-detection, and the rest of the AF sensor features contrast-detect AF points. The phase-detect AF points work very quickly, including when using continuous autofocus, whereas the contrast-detect AF points struggle when continuously autofocusing. The X-T10 also includes an auto macro feature that allows the camera to automatically close-focus lenses without needing to set the camera to a macro mode.

AF-S performance with the X-T10 is impressive. The camera is quick and accurate in various lighting conditions and handled complex scenes quite well in general. There are single point, zone, and wide/tracking AF settings for both AF-S and AF-C modes. Single point allows for the use of any of the 49 AF points/areas across the sensor, with the central nine being phase-detect AF points. You can adjust the size of the points as well. Zone AF offers 3 x 3, 5 x 3, and 5 x 5 zones from 77 total AF points, with the central 15 being phase-detect AF points.

Utilizing either single point or zone AF with AF-S mode led to consistently good AF performance, in my experience. The only issue I had was that when attempting to focus on a relatively small subject in the frame; even when it filled the AF point on the display, the camera would occasionally focus to infinity and get stuck on something in the background rather than focusing on the small, close-up subject. When this happened, the camera would sometimes struggle to refocus on the desired subject. In all other situations, the X-T10's single shot autofocus performance was very quick and accurate.

When using continuous autofocus, the choice of autofocus point has an impact on performance. When using one of the central phase-detect AF points, the continuous autofocus works quickly and accurately. However, when using a contrast-detect AF point, continuous autofocus slows down, particularly in scenes with lower levels of contrast. Further, when trying to continuously autofocus using a contrast-detect AF point or zone, the camera was constantly shifting in and out of focus (hunting), which made it more difficult to compose images and determine if captured images were going to be in focus or not. I found myself having to trust the camera when continuously autofocusing with contrast AF points active because the autofocus system was constantly adjusting. The camera often captured sharp images, however, which was a relief, but the effect of the continuous autofocus hunting is disorienting.

The X-T10 features Fujifilm's new wide/tracking autofocus option. Wide/tracking autofocus utilizes 77 AF points across the AF sensor rather than the 49 AF points that the camera uses with single point AF. When using wide/tracking autofocus, the camera determines the subject across essentially the entire frame. This feature works well, and the camera most often correctly determines the subject and acquires accurate autofocus. While not as quick as single point or zone autofocus in my experience, wide/tracking autofocus works well when subjects move throughout the frame and you don't necessarily want to move the camera to keep the subject in the exact same spot or area of the frame. When using wide/tracking autofocus with AF-C, the X-T10 can track your subject throughout the frame. Subject tracking performance is good when the subject contrasts the scene well. It should be noted that this is one of Fujifilm's first attempts at subject tracking autofocus for their X-mount ILCs (the X-T1 gained this capability with a recent firmware update). With that said, the feature is impressive and should continue to improve over time with firmware updates.

Photographing in Low Light

Fujifilm X-T10 Noise Reduction Comparison: ISO 6,400 (Click images for full-res)
NR -2
NR -1	NR 0 (default)
NR +1	NR +2

The ISO range of the X-T10 expands to 100-51200 when recording JPEG image files and using the mechanical shutter., thought it limits the ISO between ISO 200-6400 for RAW files. Images remain detailed and mostly noise-free up through ISO 800. At ISO 1600, images remain detailed but the amount of noise starts to become more noticeable when viewing the image files at less than 100%. At ISO 3200, fine details noticeably diminish with default noise reduction enabled. At ISO 6400, the maximum allowable ISO for RAW images, luminance noise is high but color noise remains impressively low. At ISO speeds higher than 6400, I don't consider images to be usable. Default noise reduction works pretty well at balancing the reduction of noise while maintaining sharpness and details in the image, but I personally like the -1 noise reduction setting more. Noise reduction above default reduces details in image files too much, in my opinion. The high ISO capabilities of the X-T10 are impressive, particularly for an APS-C sensor. I felt comfortable using the X-T10 throughout its Auto ISO range of 200-3200 and consider ISO 6400 to be usable in certain situations as well, particularly if images will be printed or viewed at less than maximum size.

Fujifilm X-T10 Noise Comparison (Click images for full-res)
ISO 200 (Lowest Native ISO)
ISO 100 (JPEG expandable)	ISO 400	ISO 800
ISO 1600	ISO 3200	ISO 6400
ISO 12800 (JPEG expandable)	ISO 25600 (JPEG expandable)	ISO 51200 (JPEG expandable)

The X-T10 has a built-in flash unlike its bigger brother, the X-T1. The flash has a 5m range at ISO 100 and X sync speed of 1/180s. The design of the flash mechanism is quite nice as it manages to fit everything into a small area inside the viewfinder housing without a noticeable increase in bulk or changing the overall shape of the camera. The flash will not automatically pop up in any shooting mode, so be sure to flick the small lever under the drive mode dial to the left of the EVF. When using the flash, there are auto flash, forced flash, slow synchro, second curtain sync, commander, and suppressed flash mode options. There is also a hot shoe on the top of the camera to use an external flash on the camera. I found that the flash provided plenty of power to use as a fill flash when photographing backlit subjects.

In dark conditions, the X-T10's AF system is rated down to 0.5 EV when using the phase-detect AF points. I was impressed with the low light autofocus performance of the X-T10, particularly when using the phase-detect AF points. That said, the contrast-detect AF points worked fairly well also, although certainly not as quickly in low light. Overall, the X-T10 works well in most conditions and generally autofocuses when you expect it to. When the conditions are too dark, the excellent manual focus features should provide a solution. The X-T10's electronic viewfinder worked well in low light, providing a better image in dim conditions than I have experienced with other electronic viewfinders I have tested.

Speed

With its EXR Processor II, the X-T10 is a quick and responsive camera. The camera can capture images at up to eight frames per second. When shooting at 8fps, the X-T10 can only capture seven-eight RAW images in a burst, though. When the buffer is full in continuous high drive mode, the camera slows down to capturing RAW images at roughly 0.5fps. When shooing in continuous low drive mode, which is 3fps, the X-T10 still maxes out at eight RAW frames, but can shoot an unlimited number JPEG files basically until the card is full. Additionally, when shooting in continuous high drive mode, autofocus performance changes. At 8fps, the camera only uses its phase-detect AF points (9 in single point AF mode and 15 in zone and wide/tracking AF mode).

The X-T10 has both mechanical and electronic shutter options. The mechanical shutter has a range of 30s to 1/4000s, while the electronic shutter has a range of 1s to 1/32000s. When using the electronic shutter, the X-T10 cannot use its built-in flash, and the ISO range is restricted to 200-6400. The electronic shutter is a nice addition for silent shooting and also for the ability to use large aperture lenses, such as f/1.4 lenses, in very bright light without having to stop down the aperture. There is an option to have the camera utilize both mechanical and electronic shutters depending on the shooting conditions and desired shutter speed. The mechanical shutter is not loud by any means, but the electronic shutter is completely silent, which is great for sound-sensitive subjects and environments, such as certain wildlife and weddings, for example.

Using the Fujifilm Fujinon XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 R LM OIS Kit Lens

The Fujifilm X-T10 can be purchased with two different kit lenses. I used the X-T10 with Fujinon XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 R LM OIS kit lens. The other kit lens is the Fujifilm XC 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 lens. The 18-55mm f/2.8-4 lens weighs 310 grams and balances very nicely with the X-T10 body. The lens itself is quite small and has a 58mm filter thread. Autofocus and optical performance of the 18-55mm f/2.8-4 lens is excellent. Autofocus is quick, accurate, and quiet. The lens is sharp across the focal length range. The lens can close focus to 30cm and 40cm at the wide and telephoto ends respectively. The built-in image stabilization provides 4 stops of image stabilization and worked well during my testing. The only issue I have with the lens is that the aperture ring does not have any markings on it. As far as kit lenses are concerned, the 18-55mm f/2.8-4 is one of the best I've used.

Using the Fujifilm Fujinon XF 50-140mm f/2.8 R LM OIS WR Lens

The Fujifilm XF 50-140mm f/2.8 R LM OIS WR lens is an excellent, high-quality, weather-sealed telephoto zoom (though the X-T10 is not weather-sealed like the X-T1, so be mindful in bad weather). The lens' optical performance is very good. It's is sharp even at f/2.8 throughout the focal length range. The lens is fairly heavy, weighing 995g. Combined with a length of 175.9mm long and a diameter of 82.9mm, the 50-140mm f/2.8 lens feels unbalanced when using the smaller X-T10 and the combination feels particularly front-heavy.

Video

The X-T10 can record video at up to 1080p resolution and 60fps. The X-T10 has a built-in stereo mic and can accept 2.5mm microphones. The camera is always ready to record video. To start recording video, you press the movie-record button on the top of the camera (Fn1 button). The camera does not need to be set to a special mode to be ready to record video. I found the movie-record button to be small and difficult to press. I often had trouble starting and stopping video recordings, but I expect that this is something that would not be an issue after having spent more time using the camera.

Video image quality is okay, though the picture still suffers from strange moiré and aliasing issues that's been observed on other Fuji X-Trans-based cameras. For example, in the first sample video below, note the magenta and green moiré visible on the water and on the sand, as well as the shimmering aliasing artifacts on the fine detail of the sand and rocks.

When the camera is set to continuous autofocus mode via the focus mode selector on the front of the camera body, the camera will continually autofocus during video recording. Autofocus performance when recording video is quite good and accurate, although sometimes the camera does not focus on the correct subject when recording video. Changes in focus are smooth and the camera also maintains focus on moving subjects well. Automatic exposure works well when shooting video as well. The X-T10 is quick to adjust exposure and meters well. Additionally, exposure compensation of +/- 2 EV can be used while recording video. The built-in stereo mic does a good job of recording detailed audio as well.

Despite the shortcomings, I enjoyed shooting video on the X-T10. The camera offers a lot of control over the look of the final video, including the ability to have manual exposure controls when recording video and use film simulation presets.

Field Test Summary

What I like:

• Numerous physical controls, including 7 function buttons
• Customizability of function buttons and Quick Menu
• Small and light without sacrificing usability
• 16 megapixel X-Trans CMOS APS-C sensor produces excellent images
• Fantastic JPEG quality

What I dislike:

• A touchscreen would have been an excellent addition, especially given the usefulness of the Quick Menu
• Continuous autofocus performance is slightly underwhelming
• Small buffer when recording images at 8fps

The Fujifilm X-T10 is a great camera. It does well at many of the things that I expect from a camera in 2015, but it also manages to feel different from its contemporaries in its style and spirit. The X-Trans image sensor is excellent and captures great colors and details. The autofocus performance is good, especially when using the phase-detect AF points. The amount of customizable function buttons makes the camera handle well and very adjustable to individual shooting preferences. Most importantly, the X-T10 is fun to use. While the camera can be operated quickly, the camera feels designed to be used more purposefully and deliberately. That is not a knock on the X-T10 at all, but rather one of its best aspects. While the X-T10 performs well in automatic shooting modes, the camera is especially enjoyable to use when taking creative control.

Flash

Fuji X-T10 Flash

Built-in Flash Test Results

Coverage and Range
A weak flash with narrow coverage. Above average positive exposure compensation required.

Coverage

18mm, f/2.8, ISO 200

Coverage. Flash coverage is rather uneven at wide angle, leaving the corners of our flash target image quite dark at 18mm (27mm eq.), though that's not unusual. Some of the corner shading can also attributable to the lens itself. We no longer test flash coverage at telephoto, as it is invariably better.

Exposure. Indoors under incandescent background lighting, the Fuji X-T10's flash underexposed our indoor portrait scene at ISO 200 and f/4, despite the +1.0 EV flash exposure compensation used. (An average of +0.7 EV is normally needed for this shot.) You'll likely need to boost ISO (or enable Auto ISO) for typical indoor shots. The camera's slow-sync flash mode required no compensation to produce a reasonably bright shot, though the longer shutter time (1/17s vs 1/125s) resulted in a strong orange cast from the ambient background lighting.

Manufacturer-Specified Flash Range

6.6 feet, f/3.6, ISO 200

Manufacturer-Specified Flash Range Test. The Fuji X-T10's built-in flash has a Guide Number of only 5m at ISO 100, or 7m at ISO 200. That's quite weak and works out to a range of only about 6.6 feet at f/3.5 and ISO 200. As you can see above, the Fuji X-T10 produced a well-exposed flash target using roughly those parameters which means Fuji's flash range spec is credible.

Our standard test method for flash range uses a fixed setting of ISO 200 when a Guide Number is provided, to provide a fair basis of comparison between cameras, or uses manufacturer-specified camera settings, at the range the company claims for the camera (at Auto ISO if so specified), to assess the validity of the specific claims.

High ISO Noise Reduction

Fuji X-T10 Noise Reduction

The Fuji X-T10's five noise reduction settings provide some flexibility in choosing how you want to make the trade-off between subject detail and noise levels in JPEGs. The Fuji X-T10 user manual doesn't say at what ISO noise reduction kicks in, so we've included crops from the base ISO on up in the tables below.

The crops below show the effects of the default and lowest of the Fuji X-T10's five levels of noise reduction available, under the studio HMI lighting we use to simulate daylight. We've also included RAW crops converted using Adobe Camera Raw with noise reduction minimized and sharpening disabled to show what the sensor output is like. (Please be aware that Adobe Camera Raw still applies noise reduction to the X-T10's RAW images even with the noise reduction sliders turned all the way down.) See for yourself how the noise reduction works under daylight-balanced lighting. Click on any of the crops below to see the corresponding full-sized image.

Noise Reduction Comparison Daylight-balanced illumination
	NR = Standard	NR = Low	RAW (Min. NR)
I S O 1 0 0			N/A RAW not supported
	NR = Standard	NR = Low	RAW (Min. NR)
I S O 2 0 0
	NR = Standard	NR = Low	RAW (Min. NR)
I S O 4 0 0
	NR = Standard	NR = Low	RAW (Min. NR)
I S O 8 0 0
	NR = Standard	NR = Low	RAW (Min. NR)
I S O 1 6 0 0
	NR = Standard	NR = Low	RAW (Min. NR)
I S O 3 2 0 0
	NR = Standard	NR = Low	RAW (Min. NR)
I S O 6 4 0 0
I S O 1 2 8 0 0			N/A RAW not supported
I S O 2 5 6 0 0			N/A RAW not supported
I S O 5 1 2 0 0			N/A RAW not supported

The Fuji X-T10 appears to start applying noise reduction at ISO 200, as we can see slight differences in luma noise between the default and lowest setting. The camera's noise reduction is fairly aggressive in the red channel as can be seen by the loss of definition in our red leaf swatch, though even the converted RAW files have less contrast than most Bayer sensor cameras so perhaps it has a lot to do with the more complex demosaicing required. (As previously mentioned, though, please be aware that Adobe Camera Raw still applies noise reduction to the X-T10's RAW images even with NR sliders turned all the way down.) Both the default and lowest available settings do a good job at removing most chroma noise, with differences mainly in the amount of luma noise.

Walkaround

by William Brawley | Posted: 05/18/2015

The Fujifilm X-T10's design borrows heavily from the X-T1 with its deeply retro-inspired aesthetic complete with sharp lines and angles as well as numerous controls and dials. The body construction is compact and lightweight with both the top and bottom plates made from die-cast magnesium, and the three main dials along the top plate are made from milled aluminum. Although unspecified, presumably the middle body section is polycarbonate.

Starting with the top deck of the camera, on the right hand side, you have the main control cluster. The large shutter speed adjustment dial provides a range from 1/4,000s down to one second, plus Time, Bulb and Auto. As on the X-T1, there's also a specific marking for the 1/180s second flash sync speed. Apart from the manual shutter speed dial, you can adjust the shutter speed down to 30s, and up to a whopping 1/32,000s if you enable the electronic shutter, by using one of the command dials.

You'll notice a new lever jutting out next to the shutter speed dial. The X-T10 features a one-flick shortcut switch to Advanced SR Auto Mode. In this fully automatic mode, the camera will automatically choose the optimal exposure and autofocus settings for a particular scene. Using the rear command dial, users can scroll through the 58 different scene presets to pick the most appropriate one for the moment. This new switch makes it very convenient to switch back and forth quickly between the standard PASM shooting modes and an easy automatic shooting mode that's great for beginner photographers or when you just want some quick snapshots.

The large exposure compensation dial sits off in the far right corner of the top plate and offers +/-3EV adjustments. Sandwiched between this and shutter speed dial are the on/off switch and shutter release button, as well as a single programmable Function button, which by default initializes the camera's Wi-Fi connection capabilities. Also, above the exposure compensation dial is the small video recording start/stop button.

Moving further left on the top deck, the X-T10 has a standard hot-shoe mount for external flashes and other accessories, however, unlike the big brother X-T1, the X-T10 includes a pop-up flash built into the top of the EVF housing.

And finally, on the left hand side of the top plate, the X-T10 does away with the ISO adjustment dial altogether -- that's adjusted via the menus -- and instead, presents a single a drive mode dial for quick adjustments between single-shot, continuous burst shooting, bracketing and more, including a sweep panorama mode. The pop-up flash lever is located next to this drive mode dial.

Moving to the rear face of the camera, there are again a lot of similarities to the X-T1. With its four-way control pad with central menu/OK button and small thumb-rest protrusion, the basic button and control layout is practically identical to the earlier X-T1 apart from the slight sizing differences between the two cameras. The only omission on the X-T10 is the Focus Assist button near the top right corner of the LCD screen. Also, the View Mode button is moved next to the EVF eyepiece instead of on the right side of the EVF housing as on the X-T1.

As for the rear LCD screen itself, the X-T10 features a 3.0-inch, 920K-dot LCD display with tilt articulation. The X-T10's LCD has a slightly lower resolution than the 1,040K-dot screen on the X-T1, but both cameras offer a full 100% coverage of the frame.

Flipping over to the front face of the camera, we can see a very clean, simplified design. Like the X-T1, the camera's middle section is covered in a leather-like textured coating for some grip and added style. In terms of buttons and dials, the X-T10 is notably cleaner with only a single front forefinger command dial and a focus mode selector dial on the lower corner (at about the 4 o'clock position next to the lens mount). There is a subtle forward-facing ridge along the front right face of the camera that provides a simple handgrip contour.

The X-T10 does not have a programmable front-facing function button between the "hand grip" area and the lens mount, nor does it have the flash sync socket on the opposite side like the X-T1 does. Below the "FUJIFILM" logo, on either side of the lens mount, are two small holes which house left and right microphones for stereo audio recording. And finally, to the right of the front command dial is the AF-assist lamp.

The left-hand side has a small door covering the Type-D Micro HDMI port, Micro USB 2.0 port (also compatible with the optional RR-90 remote release cable), and a 2.5mm stereo microphone jack (which unfortunately means you'll need a 2.5-3.5mm adapter to connect standard microphones). The mic jack also acts as a shutter release input.

The right side of the Fuji X-T10 is devoid of any ports, controls or a card slot, unlike the X-T1 which has its memory card slot behind a door here. Also notice the exposed screws on the left and right of the X-T10, unlike the fully weather-sealed X-T1.

The Fuji X-T10's combined battery/memory card compartment door is on the bottom right (when viewed from the back), right next to the metal tripod socket. The off-center tripod socket can make it difficult to change batteries or cards when the camera is mounted on a tripod, and isn't ideal for panorama shooting on a tripod either. A grill for the speaker can be seen at the other end of the otherwise featureless bottom, as the X-T10 lacks the X-T1's vertical battery grip connector.

The Fuji X-T10 is powered by a rechargeable NP-W126 lithium-ion battery, the same battery pack as the X-T1. The camera is CIPA-rated for 350 shots per charge (tested using the 35mm f/1.4R with LCD monitor on). Though individual movie clips are limited to 14min. and 27min., depending on Full or HD resolution, respectively, the battery pack should be able to handle up to 124 total minutes of video recording per charge.

The X-T10's battery/card compartment door has a little cable channel cover to connect an AC adapter via a DC coupler (dummy battery).

The Fuji X-T10 supports a single SD, SDHC, or SDXC memory card, and although it doesn't support UHS-II like the X-T1, it can take advantage of UHS-I-type memory cards.

Conclusion

by Mike Tomkins

Back in early 2014, Fujifilm launched the X-T1, a flagship for its mirrorless camera line. It was a heck of a camera, but it also came with a pricetag that put it firmly in enthusiast territory, and beyond the reach of many consumers.

Not everybody really needs that much camera, though. Arguably, entry-level shooters would do better to spend a bit less on their camera body, and a bit more on the lenses they'll be using with it instead. (Far too many are content to stick with just the kit lens, an optic their camera likely far outperforms. In the process, they rather defeat the purpose of buying an interchangeable-lens camera.)

That's where the Fuji X-T10 comes in. With the X-T10, Fujifilm takes the basic concept of the X-T1, then pares it down a bit in favor of a more affordable pricetag and a more approachable interface. If you want features like weather sealing, a deep buffer, or a really large electronic viewfinder image, you'll still want to look to the X-T1 instead, but if you need to balance budget against features as many of us do, the X-T10 gives you a lot for your money.

Small size, big advantage

And it's not just the financial savings that make the X-T10 better-suited to entry-level photographers, either. Another result of paring off some features and simplifying the control layout is that the Fuji X-T10 is a fair bit smaller and lighter than its flagship sibling. That's important, because if you decide your camera is too bulky and leave it sitting on the shelf at home, you're not going to get good photos from it no matter how feature-rich it is, nor how high its image quality.

Don't take this to suggest that the X-T10 lacks for external controls, though. Far from it: Its body is still packed with buttons and dials that will, after a little while, become second nature, and they'll help keep you out of the menu system so you don't miss the shot. And although the handgrip is a little shallow, and the movie button tough to reach, for the most part ergonomics are very good.

Features consumers actually want

In place of features like weather sealing, which most consumers likely wouldn't take much advantage of -- bearing in mind that you'd also need to spend the money for weather-sealed lenses to match -- the Fuji X-T10 gives you features you're more likely to actually need. A popup flash, for example, which means that you don't need to carry an external strobe everywhere you go, just in case. And a full automatic shooting mode, handy if your camera will be shared with family members who don't want to learn how to use the camera, but still want to be able to shoot with it.

Same great image quality

What thankfully doesn't stray from the X-T1 formula is the image pipeline. The Fuji X-T10 sports the exact same image sensor and processor, and together they provide great image quality and generous print sizes. That's not to say they're absolutely perfect, by any means: Default JPEG dynamic range isn't the best, and white balance tends to be rather warm under typical indoor lighting. Overall, though, image quality of the Fuji X-T10 is more than good enough to satisfy most consumers, and likely many enthusiast shooters as well.

Superb performance, but limited buffer depths

Performance is for the most part very good, as well. With eight frames-per-second shooting on tap, you often don't have to worry about your reflexes when you're trying to get the crucial moment -- just rattle off a burst of frames, and you can throw away all but the best one.

With that said, though, you're still going to need to come fairly close in anticipating that moment, because the Fuji X-T10's buffer is rather limited. Raw shooters will manage just seven frames before the camera slows down, and even JPEG shooters are limited to a 10-frame burst. Sports shooters will want to consider the X-T1 instead, with a much more generous buffer that provides roughly triple the capacity.

Raw file capture is also rather limited

Raw shooters are also at a disadvantage in a couple of other areas. For one thing, the full auto mode doesn't allow use of the raw file format. You can't hand your camera off to a friend or family member, let them shoot in full auto mode with raw+JPEG file format, and then give them the JPEGs while hanging onto raws for your own digital darkroom. Instead, they'll need to shoot in program mode -- that is to say, the 'A' position on the shutter dial and aperture ring -- rather than full auto.

Perhaps more importantly, though, raw files are only available within the standard ISO sensitivity range. Enabling ISO expansion disables raw shooting once you stray into expanded ISO territory. And given that the default range of ISO 200 to 6400 equivalents is rather narrow, and that one of the key arguments for shooting raw is that it gives you access to much better noise reduction algorithms that could help give better results at high sensitivities, that's something of a shame.

Of course, if you're only planning to shoot JPEGs and perhaps the occasional raw, as most consumers will do, that's not really a big problem. It's something which will help push enthusiasts towards the X-T1, though, for a better raw shooting experience.

Video is also a weak point

One final concern we had with the Fuji X-T10 is its video image quality. This is something we've noted in the past with X-Trans cameras, and its unfortunate given that the X-T10 has what could otherwise be considered a pretty generous video feature set, including external mic connectivity, manual exposure controls, and fairly responsive full-time autofocus.

Unfortunately, the complexity of demosaicing X-Trans sensor data in real time shows its head once more, leaving Fuji X-T10 video prone to artifacts and an occasional rainbow shimmering on edges or in areas packed with fine detail. If you only want occasional family videos, you probably won't mind. If high-quality, artifact-free video is a key goal in your camera purchase, you'll want to consider another camera.

A great interchangeable-lens camera for consumers; an affordable second body for enthusiasts

You'll note a common trend in most of these concerns, however: They're largely issues which won't affect consumer shooters. This isn't a camera aimed at pros or enthusiasts, which makes it pretty easy to understand these occasional shortcomings, and to see that you're getting a whole lot of camera for the money.

If you're looking to step up to an entry-level mirrorless camera, the Fuji X-T10 comes highly recommended at its price point. It's compact, comfortable and fun to shoot with, and for still images at least will yield impressively high-quality results, especially when paired with a good lens. And if you're already an X-mount shooter looking for a second body, the X-T10 would make a good choice that won't blow the budget -- just don't expect it to do everything your X-T1 can, and you'll be fine!

No question about it: The Fuji X-T10 is a clear Dave's Pick, and would be a great camera for an entry-level shooter looking to step up their game!