Fujifilm XF10
With budget compact cameras having largely ceded their ground to smartphones, many have suspected that enthusiast compacts would soon be the next casualty. And yet, even with the growing additional threat from affordable mirrorless systems, the format has proved to be remarkably resilient.
Indeed, in some ways it's in better shape than ever. In just this past year, Sony's 1in sensor-toting RX100 line has now ventured towards superzoom territory, with its latest RX100 VI built with an optic equivalent to 24-200mm. Panasonic has finally updated its much-loved four-year-old LX100 with a Mark II model, once again with a Four Thirds sensor at its heart. Fujifilm's most recent contribution was last year's X100F, a model whose stellar performance is equalled only by its handsomeness.
As capable as these three are, not one can be said to be both affordable and pocketable. So it's refreshing to see Fujifilm introduce the XF10: a camera that manages to satisfy both goals while finding enough space for an APS-C sensor.
Features
Officially, the XF10 does not appear to be a direct replacement for anything we've seen before, but it sticks to a similar formula as the almost three-year-old X70. While it eschews some of the features that made that model desirable, it offers fresh options and inherits a handful of others from the company's most recent X-series cameras.
Perhaps the biggest internal change from the X70 concerns the sensor. In place of the16.2MP sensor, which was designed with the same X-Trans architecture as those inside many other Fujifilm cameras, the XF10 has been furnished with a more conventional 24.2MP sensor with a Bayer RGB colour filter array. From its specs alone, it appears to be the same sensor as the ones inside the recent X-T100 and X-A5 mirrorless cameras, or a close relation at the very least.
