Review Date: December 3, 2012
Category: Point-and-Shoot to Serious Amateur
Photoxels Gold Award – Point-and-Shoot Camera
HANDLING & FEEL
Compact powerhouse. The Fujifilm XF1 is a beautiful compact digital camera. It has a sleek and ultra-compact design with a retracting lens. It is sleek enough to slip into a coat or trousers pocket and has an unmistakable feeling of quality. Yet, packed inside this clean and retro design is Fujifilm’s latest technology that has come to characterize its ‘X’ series of digital cameras. Serious photographers will find powerful features and full manual control at their fingertips.
On the front of the camera, there is the AF-assist Illuminator/Self-timer Lamp to the top left of the lens. The 4x optical zoom lens smartly retracts into the body. To turn the camera on and use the lens, twist, pull and further twist to extend the lens and turn on the camera at the same time. As such, there is no Power switch. Barely visible lower down are the twin holes of the stereo microphone, one on either side of the lens. The pop-up flash extends only a short distance upward from the body.
The Fujifilm XF1 does not have a handgrip but the synthetic leather textured surface provides some grip and there is a thumbgrip at the back. Though the camera is not particularly slippery, use of the wrist strap is recommended. Since the zoom is manual, chances are you will be using both hands to hold and operate the camera anyway.
The top of the camera is refreshingly clean. Viewing from the back, from right to left, there’s the Mode Dial, Shutter Release button, Fn button, Indicator Lamp, Flash and Flash pop-up Switch. The lens has been extended and you can clearly see the six [35mm equivalent] focal length markings from 25mm to 100mm (25, 35, 50, 60, 80, 100). In other words, zooming is manual. A manual zoom means you can zoom as slow or as fast as you want, as precisely as you want, and you can zoom during a slow shutter speed photo for special effect. You can zoom during movie recording also though the sensitive microphone will record the noise as you rotate the lens barrel.
The lens has a bright aperture of F1.8 at wide-angle. You simply won’t get that in most point-and-shoot digicams. The large aperture means that the XF1 is a better low light digital camera than most P&S cameras.
The Mode Dial freely and conveniently rotates clockwise and anti-clockwise. Besides the all-encompassing EXR mode, you can select PASM modes for greater control, Advanced mode (filters, Panorama, soft background, Low-Light, Multiple Exposure, 3D), Scene Modes, and two Custom modes.
TIP: Program Shift is available in P mode, but you must not select an AUTO ISO or AUTO Dynamic Range
The Fn button is flush with the top plate and can be customized (ISO, Image Size, Image Quality, RAW, Dynamic Range, Film Simulation, Photometry, Focus Mode, Face Recognition, Face Detection, Intelligent Digital Zoom). It’s defaulted to ISO and that’s fine with us.
TIP: Press and hold the Fn button for about 2 seconds to immediately enter the Customize Fn Button screen.
There is no hot shoe, so the XF1 will not accept an external flash.
On the back we have the 3.0-in. LCD with 460k-dot resolution that gains up very well in low light. Above it is the Flash pop-up switch. On the right side of the LCD are the Main Command Dial, Playback, dedicated Movie button, Sub Command Dial and Selector buttons, Disp/Back/Silent Mode button, E-Fn (Extended Function) button.
The Main Command Dial does Program Shift in P mode, changes shutter speed in S mode, changes aperture in A mode and clicks to change shutter speed and aperture in M mode.
TIP: Press and hold the DISP/BACK button for about 2-3 seconds to immediately switch to SILENT MODE. Press and hold again to toggle back to Sound mode.
TIP: You don’t have to turn on the camera to view the photos you’ve captured. Press and hold the Playback button for about 2 seconds to go into Playback. Press again to switch the display off.
TIP: Press and hold the E-Fn button for about 2-3 seconds to brighten the display when viewing in bright sunlight. Press and hold again to toggle back.
The tripod mount at the bottom of the camera is way to a corner and you may be able to change battery/SD card with the camera mounted on a tripod.
Included in the box is a rechargeable Li-ion battery NP-50A that can take about 300 shots (CIPA standard) on a fresh charge. A Battery Charger BC-50B with wall plug adapter recharges a depleted battery in approx. 110 min.
The Fujifilm XF1 uses the SD / SDHC / SDXC memory card.
The Fujifilm XF1 is a serious but fun retro designed compact digital camera. Though it might attract the point-and-shoot crowd, there are powerful features packed in there that are practical and easily accessible for the serious photographer.
Next: Fujifilm XF1 User’s Experience
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