Fujifilm X-T10 Field Test

Fujifilm X-T10 Field Test

Classic Style. Modern Features.

by Jeremy Gray | Posted 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

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.

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.