Digital Home Thoughts: Fujifilm Announces the Finepix X10

Fujifilm has unveiled the Finepix X10, a sort of a companion to the X100, at least in terms of marketing. The camera is not so much a cheaper X100, than it is a premium point-and-shoot, dallying with the likes of the Canon G12 and Olympus XZ-1. The 12 megapixel EXR CMOS sensor is a 2/3" one, which means it is about a millimetre longer on each side compared to the 1/1.7" sensors found in other premium compact cameras. A small bonus, but not by much. Using a much smaller sensor however, allows the X10 to have a pretty fast zoom lens; it is an optically stabilised 4x 28-112mm equivalent f/2.0-2.8 lens. Like the X100, the X10 has a magnesium alloy body with a number of knobs and dials. However, the X10 loses the X100's unique hybrid viewfinder, settling for a standard optical tunnel instead. It comes with a 2.8" HVGA LCD, and has 1080p videos at 30 FPS. Fujifilm has not disclosed the price, but the camera will ship in November.