Digital Camera Review

I love my Pentax K100D SLR. But it can't go everywhere - it's big and I'm hesitant to abuse it. Sometimes, a compact point-and-shoot is the ticket. After some online research and a trip to Best Buy, I picked a Fuji FinePix XP10.

Why I Chose It

The XP series is supposed to be resistant to mean, rough treatment like water, cold temperatures and being used as a lacrosse ball. It uses the same type of SD media cards as my Pentax. It was also just $150. Finally, it didn't have a retractable lens. This is a huge point to me: I have broken every single camera I've owned that had a retractable lens, from Canon to Sanyo. Salespeople will tell you they've "gotten better." Well, better than what? I'm also happy the Fuji has a video mode.

What I Don't Love

The Fuji takes a proprietary battery. You recharge the battery by removing it form the camera and plugging it into a wall wart-style charger for a few hours. I hate proprietary batteries - I love AA and AAA batteries that I can replace at will even in the most remote places I'd travel. I'm also not a big fan of the way the XP 10 mounts on a tripod: the tripod mounts on the far-left side of the camera. Mounting it to a contraption on my bike's handlebar was dicey at best because of that placement.

Oh, and too many megapixels. Really, no point-and-shoot camera needs more than 5 MP. But I get it - Fuji doesn't want to get lost in the "megapixels as marketing" game. I realized that, with a camera in this class, I'd have to give up some control; I can't carp too much about that since I knew what I was getting into. Finally, I'd like a nice visual cue that the camera is on and recording, even when I can see the screen.

Mean Stuff I Did to It

My first real test of the XP 10 was nearly eight miles of riding during the 2011 Kona Bikes 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo race. I took a dicey opening lap, with the camera recording many of the sketchy moments. I lost confidence in my homemade camera mount and stuffed the camera safely in my jersey pocket.

Weeks later, I re-worked the mount, to no avail: Riding on rough trails destroyed it, dropping the XP 20 harshly onto some rocks. But guess what? It survived with full functionality and only a few cosmetic scratches.

I also used it to take videos while simultaneously shooting stills with my big Pentax. It was easy to operate, even one-handed.

Important Specs

12 MP sensor, 5X optical zoom, 2.7-inch LCD. Advertised as water-, dust-, shock- and freeze-proof. Smart customers will read "proof" as "resistant."

The Verdict

Would I buy the same camera again? Probably. It's definitely rugged and easy to use. I'm very nonplussed about the proprietary battery, but I'll just have to be careful with it while traveling. At home, it's not a big deal. It doesn't have the image quality of an SLR, but it's good enough for Web photos and video.