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  • Physical Tour

  • Components

  • Design / Layout

  • Modes

  • Control Options

  • Image Parameters

  • Connectivity / Extras

  • Overall Impressions

  • Conclusion

  • Physical Tour
  • Components
  • Design / Layout
  • Modes
  • Control Options
  • Image Parameters
  • Connectivity / Extras
  • Overall Impressions
  • Conclusion

Physical Tour

The Fujifilm FinePix V10 is very square-shaped and constructed of two different colors of silver metal. The main face plate on the front is a dark brushed silver. The framing plate is a lighter silver and the lens rims are a nicely polished silver. The 3.4x optical zoom lens is off-center to the right side. The labeled Fujinon lens extends outward in 3 segments. In the top right corner is the Fujifilm logo. The top left corner is a little folded backward and there is a self-timer lamp on that sloped surface. To the right of the LED on the flatter portion of the front is the built-in rectangular flash. Along the left side of the front is the FinePix logo, which is vertically printed. Below the left side of the lens barrel is the built-in microphone. To the right of this feature is a Super CCD logo and the words, "5.1 Mega" to indicate the number of pixels available on that CCD.

Back
**

**The 3-inch LCD screen takes up a huge portion of the back. There is a single row of buttons and controls that are lined up horizontally along the bottom edge of the digital camera. The Fujifilm V10 has a navigational control in the center of the bottom and is flanked by two oval-shaped buttons on each side. On the left side is a playback button with a tiny LED on its left. To the right of the playback button is a button with sun and trash can icons on it; this is used to delete photos in playback and to brighten the LCD screen in the recording mode. The navigational control is to the right of this feature. It consists of three buttons: a wide rectangle in the center that can be pushed up and down and a small half-oval-shaped button on each side for scrolling left and right. There are icons printed next to each button. The left side of the navigational control also accesses the macro mode. The middle button accesses the self-timer and the button on the right changes the flash modes. To the right of the flash button is the Menu/OK button and to its right is the Display/Back button. The LCD screen is flush with the rest of the camera body, making it extremely flat.

**Left Side
**The left side is almost featureless. At its bottom is a small, square rubber cover that hides the socket for the power adaptor.

**Right Side
**The right side of this FinePix has a mode switch at the top and a large eyelet in its middle. Below the eyelet is a rubber cover over the AV/USB jack.

**Top
**The top of the Fujifilm FinePix V10 has a few features on its right end. The shutter release button is on the far right. It is a smooth inverted bowl-shape surrounded by a zoom toggle that moves side to side with a tab at its front. To the left of the shutter button is the small power button, which is recessed slightly in the camera body. To its left is a button labeled ‘F’ for the Fujifilm Photo Mode; this accesses the image size, ISO, and color mode options.

**Bottom
**The bottom of the camera has a door to the battery and memory card compartment on its left, a tripod socket in the middle, and a speaker on the right.

Components

**Viewfinder
**This compact digital camera has such a large LCD screen that there is hardly room for the buttons, let alone an optical viewfinder. Therefore, Fujifilm completely omitted it. This is just fine because no one will miss the inaccurate optical viewfinder when there is a beautiful 3-inch LCD screen with a 100 percent accurate field of view. When in recording or standby mode, the live view is always there – except for a brief fourth-of-a-second period when the camera is recording an image. Users can change the display of the viewfinder with the touch of the Disp/Back button. This toggles through several display options: tic-tac-toe grid lines with the shooting information, exposure information only, and a live view on the right side of the screen and the last three shots captured on the left side of the screen. If for some reason users cannot see if the picture is focused on that large 3-inch screen, bifocals need to be purchased or users can opt to use the Image Display function that enlarges the center of the frame before snapping a shot. The Image Display function can be activated in the setup menu.

**LCD Screen
**The Fujifilm FinePix V10 has a 3-inch low-temperature polysilicon TFT LCD screen. It is equipped with 230,000 pixels, which provides a smooth picture. This is the same amount of resolution on the Kodak EasyShare-one’s 3-inch LCD screen. The screen provides a 100 percent accurate view of the frame, which makes it an excellent viewfinder as well. A button below the screen has a sun icon on it and indicates the "gain up mode" for the LCD screen. This brightens the screen considerably for those moments when the sunlight is at your back and shining on the screen. The LCD should be just fine in those conditions, as it also has an anti-reflective coating. The V10’s screen has a wide viewing angle horizontally but solarizes easily vertically. Basically, if you are one to raise the camera over your head and take pictures from a bird’s eye view, it will be tough to see the LCD from below. After a few seconds of inactivity, the LCD screen will dim slightly to save power. This feature can be turned off in the setup menu, but is a good idea to preserve the battery power. Overall, the LCD is one of the best features on the V10. It is absolutely huge and has adequate resolution to match. It is bright and accurate as well, so its beauty is completely functional.

**Flash **
**

**The built-in flash is on the left side of the front. It isn’t directly over the lens and if users are sloppy when handling their camera, fingers can wander into its way. The rectangular flash is more advanced than those flashes on competing models. It has a farther reach and more modes. The flash can reach from 1-14.4 ft in wide and 2-7.5 ft in telephoto. The following modes are available: Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Forced On, Suppressed Flash, Slow Synchro, and Red-eye Reduction + Slow Synchro. The modes are scrolled through using the right button on the navigational control. The red-eye reduction modes send out 3 or 4 very fast pre-flashes before the big flash with the shutter. It seems to work quite well because the pictures I took of people were free from red eyes. The flash itself is a little spotty; it does not light the frame evenly. There is an off-center white spot in the frame. That spot won’t be horribly noticeable when shooting a group portrait, but could show its ugliness if photographing plain surfaces.

**Zoom Lens
**The Fujifilm FinePix V10 has a 3.4x optical zoom lens that extends from the front of the camera in three segments. The Fujinon lens zooms from 6.3-21.6 mm, which is equivalent to a 38-130 mm lens in 35 mm format. The lens retracts into the camera body and the lens cover snaps shut when the camera is turned off and when the playback mode is entered. The lens has a wide f/2.8 aperture at the 38 mm focal length, but loses much of the opening in telephoto, where its maximum aperture is f/5.5. The lens has a macro mode that can be activated by pushing on the right side of the navigational control. In the macro mode, the lens can focus as close as 1 cm. The zoom lens is controlled by a toggle that surrounds the shutter release button. When it is tapped, a horizontal bar appears across the top of the screen showing where users are within the zoom range. There are no numbers to go with it however. For example, a "2x" clue would help. The toggle is sensitive, but not too sensitive. If the toggle is lightly tapped, there are about nine stops in the zoom range. This is just above average as many compact models with 3x optical zoom lenses have about 6 stops. Overall, the lens does its job in providing a good clear picture and zooming in and out on subjects.

Design / Layout

Model Design / Appearance
**

**The V10 has all the brains of a great digital camera and the body of a sleek, modern video gaming device. This model comes in two colors, named gun-metal and orange by Fujifilm. The gun-metal color is actually a dark silver that still looks somewhat traditional. Perhaps the gun-metal name will attract video gamers? In whatever color, the Fujifilm FinePix V10 is very compact. It is almost square in shape and attractive with its flat features and large LCD screen. The camera has a lens that extends from it in three segments when powered on and not in playback mode. There are polished silver highlights around the rim of the lens and atop the camera. Constructed of a durable plastic with an outer metal plate, the V10 looks good – much better than the Fujifilm F10.

**Size / Portability **

With its 3.3 x 2.5 x 0.9-inch measurements, the Fujifilm FinePix V10 is a bit too square to fit into a skinny pocket, but it could definitely fit into a cargo pants pocket. It is certainly thin enough, but a bit wider than traditional models. The specifications indicate that this camera weighs 5.5 ounces without the card or battery. It seemed to be a little heftier than expected for the small size of camera. Still, the slight heft won’t damage any ligaments and makes the V10 feel like it’s a solid and durable chunk of metal. The wrist strap attaches to the large eyelet on the right side of the camera body for easier portability.

**Handling Ability
**The FinePix V10 is balanced enough so that when its lens extends it doesn’t plop forward and face-plant into the ground. Besides its lens, it is otherwise flat and free of ergonomic grips. This is great for portability, but not for handling. There are no rubber surfaces for the fingertips to grab or divots for the thumb to settle in, but the V10 wasn’t made for hour-long photo shoots. It is designed to be snatched out of a pocket for a few quick shots. The right fingers will probably settle on the front FinePix logo, which is slightly textured so there is some surface to hand onto. The right thumb does not have a comfortable bucket seat to chill in, but lands around the slightly protruding Menu/OK and Disp/Back buttons (ever so slightly, but enough to have some grip). Sloppy users may grab the flash with their front fingers because of its somewhat awkward placement. Users could take pictures using only one hand, but changing exposure settings or entering the menus will require two hands. The navigational control complicates the handling a bit. The control consists of three buttons that are all a bit small and not as easy to push as they should be. This will especially annoy those users who get blown up in the Shooting Game frequently because they couldn’t move their battleships fast enough. This will also annoy users who want to quickly access the white balance presets or the formatting option in the setup menu.

**Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size
**Because the 3-inch LCD monitor takes up so much space on the camera, the buttons are squashed into a narrow space along the bottom edge of the back. There are also a few buttons on top of the camera. The top buttons consist of the usual shutter release and power buttons. The shutter release button is large and smooth ad comfortable. The zoom toggle surrounds it and moves enough to be comfortable as well. To its left is the power button, which is smaller and more recessed into the camera body. There is also a ‘F’ Photo mode button that accesses the image size, ISO, and color mode options. All of the buttons on the top of the camera are properly sized, spaced, and labeled. The rest of the control buttons are located along the bottom of the LCD screen. The navigational control is located in the center. It consists of a long, skinny rectangular toggle that moves up and down. To its right and left are buttons that scroll to the sides; these buttons are a little too recessed for comfort and slightly difficult to push. There are buttons to the right and left sides of this feature. All are somewhat small, but not terribly so. To make their size bearable, they are spaced apart from each other just about the width of a fingertip. Fat fingertips may have some trouble, but the Average Joe should be able to operate the V10 just fine. One quirky fact about the FinePix V10’s control buttons is that the playback button only enters the playback mode – pressing it a second time does not make it exit the playback mode. To get out of the playback mode, users must push the shutter release button halfway down.

**Menu **

The menu system is typical of other Fuji models. Most options are found when the Menu button is pressed, but some appear only when the ‘F’ Photo mode button is pushed. The ‘F’ button has only three options: Quality, ISO, and FinePix Color. The font is large and readable, albeit a bit ancient looking. The menus appear as white text on a gray background; some of the menus have a live view behind the gray box as well. The selected option turns a different color other than gray. This color can be selected by the user in the setup menu. Pink, green, and blue are just a few of the available colors. The menu options are expressed in icons vertically and text across the top horizontally. There are tabs in some of the menus that allow for quicker navigation. The tabs are labeled only in numbers and not as groupings (eg. Card, Camera, etc.). Unfortunately, the navigational control isn’t as simple to use as other models’ controls; this is mainly because of the lack of space on the V10’s body. The following menu is available when the Manual mode is selected: Shooting Mode, Exposure Compensation, White Balance, High Speed Shooting, Continuous, AF Mode, and Setup. The Auto mode shortens the menu to Shooting Mode, High Speed Shooting, and Setup. There are live views in the white balance, exposure compensation and color mode options, but nowhere else. The Playback mode consists of the following options that are organized into two tabs: Erase, Image Rotate, Print Order (DPOF), Protect, Playback, Game, Voice Memo, Trimming, and Setup. The Playback option is vaguely titled, but is where the slide show is located. The Setup menu is insanely long and organized into three tabs: Image Display, Shutter Volume, Beep Volume, Playback Volume, Frame Number, LCD Brightness, Digital Zoom, Auto Power Off, LCD Power Save, Format, Date/Time, Time Difference, Language, Background Color, USB Mode, Video System, and Reset. The menus are thorough and the icons are intuitive, but the grouping of the options into tabs is beyond me.

**Ease of Use **

The Fujifilm FinePix V10 is quite easy to use and mostly intuitive, but has a few quirks. The menu groupings into tabs is one quirk; who would remember which tab the Time Difference option is in? The other quirk is that the menu is broken up into two places: the Menu button and the ‘F’ Photo mode button. Still, the Fujifilm FinePix V10 has some helpful features like the large menu font and the live previews when scrolling through white balance, exposure compensation and color modes. Handling is a little odd because of the completely flat surfaces, but this complication is universal with flat, portable digital cameras. The FinePix V10’s auto mode overrides almost all control and is very easy to use.

Modes

**Auto Mode **

The auto mode is found along with all the other exposure modes in the menu system. Once activated, many options disappear. Surprisingly, the ‘F’ Photo mode menu does not change: the ISO range is still manually adjustable – although its Auto selection is the default.

**Movie Mode
**The movie mode cannot be found with the other exposure modes. Instead, there is a tiny switch on the right side of the V10 that switches from the still to the movie mode. The menu system is quite truncated in the movie mode. Users can choose from 640 x 480 and 320 x 240 size options. The frame rate is not selectable; it always operates at 30 frames per second. Users cannot zoom in and movie mode; that goes for digital as well as optical. The viewfinder shows how much time is left on the card. That’s about 9 seconds at the highest resolution with the included 16 MB memory card, so purchasing a larger card would be wise. The movie mode’s focus mechanism worked very well. Oftentimes, compact cameras will have an auto focus in movie mode that gets thrown off by objects or people moving quickly toward or away from the lens. The FinePix V10 did not blur the image and the auto focus system didn’t "breathe" in and out trying to focus on it. The image was sharp and clear. The audio in the movie mode was also very clear. This Fujifilm records monaural audio with a microphone on the front of the camera. The audio was clear, but it also clearly picked up every conversation within 10 feet. The V10 will work great for shooting clips at the school play, but don’t try to get a great audio clip at a football game.

**Drive / Burst Mode **

The central navigational button doubles as a quick link to the self-timer. Pushing it scrolls through a 2-second and 10-second timer. Once pushed, the camera’s red LED flashes on the front to indicate when the picture is being taken. There are two functions that make the Fujifilm V10 take pictures faster. The first is the High Speed Shooting mode. It has On and Off options. This function shuts off some of the focus zones so that the pictures can be captured faster. I tried the High Speed Shooting on and off and couldn’t tell a difference, so the camera is quite fast either way. The official burst mode is found in the Continuous option though. There are three burst modes: Top 3, Final 3, and 40 Frames. The first two modes shoot 2 frames per second and only capture 3 pictures at a time. The 40 Frames burst mode lengthens the burst, but slows down considerably. It takes a picture about every second, but it seems to stutter a bit. The Top 3 and Final 3 modes shoot evenly spaced photos, but the longer burst seems to capture somewhat erratically.

**Playback Mode **

The playback mode is quite thorough with plenty of ways to view pictures. Users can look at images individually with all of the available shooting information. The info disappears after a few seconds and cannot be recalled unless it is freshly scrolled through again. Pictures can be trimmed using the zoom and the navigational arrows. Pictures can also be rotated and up to 30 seconds of a voice memo can be added. The view changes to allow 30 images on a single frame. The LCD screen is so large that fitting 30 images on a single frame isn’t a stretch. Images and movies can be sorted by the date, which is helpful only if users have a larger memory card (organizing 16 MB of photos by date isn’t that exciting). Slide shows can be played with different transitions and photos can be viewed right after taking them by turning on the Auto Playback option. The pictures in the slide show move slowly and there’s no way to adjust the timing. Getting into the playback mode isn’t a problem; there is a designated button for it. Pushing that same button again won’t exit the playback mode. The only way to dig out of the hole is to lightly push the shutter release button. In the playback menu, the highly marketed Game option is buried. It offers four easy games that can keep the kids busy on long car trips (just pack the AC adaptor).

Custom Image Presets

There are six scene modes located in the same menu with the rest of the shooting modes. Natural Light, Natural Light & With Flash, Portrait, Landscape, Sport, and Night scene modes are available. The first two modes use the high ISO settings to avoid the flash (remember the bright white spot?). The Natural Light & With Flash mode is made for users who just can’t decide which to use. Flash or no flash? The Fujifilm FinePix V10 takes two pictures: the first without the flash and the second with it. It’s almost like a burst mode, but the second picture is almost always blown out. The scene mode selection covers the basics and doesn’t go any further. It doesn’t have any elaborate Pet modes or anything.

Control Options

**Manual Control Options
**There aren’t too many manual control options despite the Manual Mode listed in the shooting modes. There is an ISO option in the ‘F’ Photo mode. Users can choose white balance presets, but there is no true manual mode. Users can also select the auto focus mode. The traditional shutter speed and aperture settings are not manually controllable on the Fujifilm FinePix V10. This digital camera is automatically oriented for those point-and-shoot users.

**Focus **
Auto Focus 

The auto focus mode is selectable in the menu between Multi AF and Center AF options. The Center AF remains just where it says it does, but the Multi AF seems to favor the center as well. Yellow brackets indicate where the camera is currently focused. The V10’s focus ranges from 2 feet to infinity in the normal mode and from much closer in the macro mode. In the wide angle of the macro mode, the camera focuses from 3.5 inches to 2.6 feet. The telephoto macro mode focuses from 1.3 to 2.6 feet. Overall, the auto focus worked quite well, especially in the movie mode. The V10 did have a hard time focusing in low contrast situations, but did fine otherwise.

Manual Focus 

The Fujifilm FinePix V10 does not have manual focus.

**ISO
**Fujifilm highly markets the low light capabilities of the V10 because it is able to perform well without use of the flash; this is due in large part to the high ISO sensitivities. The V10’s ISO settings are the following: Auto, 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1600. Most compact models have a 50-400 range, so to see two higher sensitivities is a nice upgrade. Higher ISOs normally bring more noise. And while this camera’s ISO 1600 probably has more than the ISO 64, its ISO 1600 noise is probably still considerably less than competing cameras’ equivalent ISOs. We can’t test the noise output of the Fujifilm V10 at the convention center, but because it has the same Super CCD-HR technology that the Fujifilm FinePix F10 has (we did test this one for noise output and it did very well) we can speculate that the V10 will also do well. Stay tuned for a full review when the camera comes out in March, but we expect good things from the V10.

**White Balance **

The white balance presets are found in the shooting menu. Auto, Fine (daylight), Shade, Fluorescent Daylight, Fluorescent Warm White, Fluorescent Cool White, and Incandescent options are available. Scrolling through the options yields a live view behind the menu; this is handy in selecting the proper setting. This camera wasn’t made for studio lighting because it doesn’t have a Tungsten light setting. The most missed mode will be the manual mode though.

**Exposure
**There are six scene modes, a manual mode, an automatic mode, and a movie mode. The shutter speed and aperture are automatically controlled, but there is exposure compensation that can be tweaked +/- 2 exposure values in the typical 1/3 increments. There is a live view as users scroll up and down the exposure values.

**Metering
**The Fujifilm FinePix V10 employs a 256-zone metering mode that cannot be changed. There are no center-weighted or spot modes, so backlit subjects will look darkened. If shooting in extremely high contrast, pictures may take a turn for the worse. The camera meters in those 256 points and adjusts the frame accordingly, which isn’t always good for every part of the picture.

**Shutter Speed **

The shutter speed ranges from 4 seconds to 1/2000th of a second, although it cannot be manually adjusted. Users can choose the shooting mode, which has some indirect control over choosing the shutter speed. The Sport scene mode certainly uses faster shutter speeds than the Landscape or Night modes. Overall, the camera must choose appropriate shutter speeds because it stopped action quite well. When taking pictures of people walking by, some of the legs were slightly blurred but most of the picture was quite crisp. So while the V10 won’t produce magazine-quality action shots, it will stop most of the action which is better than most compacts.

**Aperture
**The Fujinon 3.4x optical zoom lens ha a maximum aperture of f/2.8 when it is at its widest focal length. This is excellent, as it allows a lot of light through the lens to hit the imaging sensor. The aperture closes considerably when in telephoto though. The maximum aperture there is f/5.5. The aperture cannot be controlled manually.

Image Parameters

**Picture Quality / Size Options **

Pressing the ‘F’ Photo mode button calls up a short list of options including Quality. The following image sizes are available: 2592 x 1944, 2736 x 1824, 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, and 640 x 480. The highest resolution is available in both Fine and Normal JPEG compression settings, but the rest of the image sizes do not have this option. The 2736 x 1824-pixel size is 3:2 formatted for better 4 x 6-inch prints. When this is selected, a black frame appears around the LCD screen to crop it tighter.

**Picture Effects Mode
**There are a few color modes available when the ‘F’ Photo mode button is pushed. Black & White, Chrome, and Standard are the available options. Chrome and Standard look very similar, but the Chrome is slightly over-saturated. The Black & White mode has decent contrast and isn’t washed out. Standard is the default on the Fujifilm FinePix V10. These modes can be utilized only in recording mode; they cannot be added later in the playback mode.

Connectivity / Extras

**Connectivity
***Software
*Fujifilm FinePix Viewer software comes packaged with the FinePix V10.

*Jacks, ports, plugs
*The Fujifilm FinePix V10 has covered sockets on each of its sides. The power adaptor hooks into the left side while the A/V and USB 2.0 cables connect into a multi-port on the right side. The A/V jack is NTSC and PAL selectable from the setup menu.

*Direct Print Options
*This digital camera is PictBridge compatible and uses the DPOF system to create print orders. When users are scrolling through pictures, they can push the ‘F’ button to add pictures to the print order. Users can select which prints and how many copies of each print to make. In the playback mode, users can trim and rotate pictures before selecting them for printing. Those are the only in-camera editing options available though.

*Battery
*The V10 comes with a Fujifilm NP-40 rechargeable battery that is very skinny and doesn’t add much weight to the camera. There is a power adaptor included with this model and it charges the battery within the camera body. The battery life on the V10 isn’t anything to dance and sing about; it lasts 170 shots. At a time when many compacts are getting 400 shots out of their batteries, 170 doesn’t look very good. That is the price to be paid for the bright 3-inch LCD screen.

*Memory
*There is no internal memory on the Fujifilm FinePix V10, but there is a slot by the battery compartment for xD-Picture cards. The camera comes packaged with a 16 MB card, but this is only enough to hold 5 or 6 full resolution shots. The V10 accepts xD cards up to 1 GB.

**Other features
***Games * - The Fujifilm FinePix V10’s slogan is, "The Game Just Changed." Its gaming features are highly marketed, but the actual games are buried within the playback menu. There are four games available. The Photo Puzzle game takes the picture that was last shot and divides it into about 20 squares and scatters it about. Users must scroll around and press the Menu/OK button to move the pieces into their proper places. The Block Buster game turns you into a tennis ball machine that shoots out tiny yellow balls. These yellow balls shoot outward and bounce on blocks in front of you. When the balls bounce on these blocks, they reveal the last exposure beneath them. The Maze game is fairly selfexplanatory. You are turned into a tiny chick and you must go through the maze to the mother chicken while avoiding a single slow-moving ghost. This wasn’t very challenging, even for me (I’ve never really played video games). Oh yes, and the picture that was last taken randomly sits in the corner of a puzzle. A Shooting game is available for those more violent users. Users are transformed into a spaceship that battles other spaceships with its wimpy gunfire. It would make sense that there are levels of difficulty to this game, but I kept getting blown up before I could figure that out. The navigational control was definitely not designed for the games; it was designed to fit in a very tight spot. The four games are fun, but the concept of merging video games with digital cameras is still a little foreign. It almost turns the digital camera into an entertainment device instead of an imaging technology. Still, desperate parents will love handing the V10 to their kids in the doctor’s office or wherever silence is preferred.

Overall Impressions

**Value **

The Fujifilm FinePix V10 creates a new genre for itself with its gaming feature. So if consumers are looking for a great compact digital camera with video game features, this is the only one out there. The 5.1-megapixel digital camera costs $349. This is a bit much for an automatically oriented camera, but users are also paying for the sleek, portable design, the interesting features, and the Super CCD-HR technology. There are cheaper models that have 5.1 megapixels, but most ultra-slim stylish digital cameras are in the $349 price range.

Comparison to the Fujifilm FinePix F10
**

The Fujifilm FinePix F10 was released last year with the same 5th generation Super CCD-HR and Real Photo Processor. The difference is that the F10 has 6.3 megapixels on that CCD and the V10 fit 5.1 megapixels on it. The V10 has a longer zoom lens, as the older F10 has a more traditional 3x optical zoom lens. The F10 had more traditional looks as well. Instead of the square shape, the F10 had a boring rectangular metal housing that wasn’t distinctive at all. It did have a 2.5-inch LCD screen, but the screen had an inadequate 115,000 pixels on it. The V10 made a vast improvement on the LCD, but because of that its battery life suffered greatly. The FinePix F10 **is very efficient with a 500-shot battery life. The F10 and V10 have the same large ISO range. The ****Fujifilm F10 performed very well when tested for noise and accurate colors. It also proved to be ************very speedy. Its startup time is about the same as the V10 at a second and a half. Its burst mode ****is faster than the V10 at 2.2 frames per second. The shutter lag is about the same for both cameras: hardly there at all. The F10 had similar exposure modes with a few more options (like the sorely missed manual white balance mod), but the new V10 adds a scene mode to the list: Natural Light & With Flash. The Fujifilm FinePix F10 can be found for about the same $350 price online now.

**Who It’s For **
Point-and-Shooters – With an auto mode that overpowers all controls and a decent zoom lens, point-and-shooters will appreciate the V10. It is fairly easy to use and has perks like a huge 3-inch LCD screen to attract the masses. Above all else, even its auto mode takes great pictures.

Budget Consumers – If consumers are on a tight budget, they may have to forego the luxury of having video games on their digital camera. There are plenty of other 5-megapixel digital cameras that sell for less than $349.

Gadget Freaks – The Fujifilm V10 could be the next big thing for gadget freaks. It has video games on it and although they are quite primitive, they will keep gadget freaks busy at a bus terminal.

*Manual Control Freaks – *There are some pros and cons to this camera’s manual controls, but overall freaks may have to look elsewhere. The most manual mode on the camera allows access to the white balance presets, but there is no true manual setting. Still, users can control the ISO from 64-1600 in any mode – this is much farther than most compact models.

*Pros / Serious Hobbyists – *This segment of the market tends to be mainly comprised of purists who will probably snub their noses at the concept of converging video games with digital cameras.

Conclusion

**Conclusion **

With 5.1 megapixels, the Fujifilm FinePix V10 has just an average amount of resolution. Its 3.4x optical zoom lens has just enough focal length to be above average. The V10’s 3-inch LCD screen is excellent and its metal body is slim and stylish. It gets better. The camera has a gaming feature that can occupy kids for hours – or at least until the battery dies. The FinePix V10 definitely has a few quirks. Its playback mode button is a black hole, the navigation controls are tiny and not as comfortable as more traditional multi-selectors, and the highly touted games are buried in the playback menu. Nevertheless, the Fujifilm FinePix V10 has some very lucrative features: 64-1600 ISO sensitivities, good solid imaging guts, and a huge screen to view and capture pictures on. Overall, the V10 is simple to figure out. Users won’t have to wrestle it to get great pictures. The Fujifilm FinePix V10 will retail for $349 when it begins selling in stores in March.

Meet the tester

Emily Raymond

Emily Raymond

Editor

Emily Raymond is a valued contributor to the Reviewed.com family of sites.

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