Camera Review: Fujifilm X-T10

I recently attended a convention here in Atlanta called Dragon Con. Dragon Con is a 4+ day gathering of fans for pretty much any media genre you can think of — from anime to cosplay to television series. If you are a fan of some media format, then you will find someone – a lot of someone’s – that share your joy. Dragon Con has the distinction of being one of the largest, if not the largest fan driven convention in the United States and probably the world. People come in from literally all over the world to attend, and the volunteers that run the various tracks workhundreds of (unpaid) hours each year – not including the time spent at the con working – to make each year come together. This year, somewhere between 80,000 and 85,000 people attended the convention, and I was one of those thousands.

This is my 15th year in attending the con, and for the past 5 or 6 years I’ve not had a lot of time to spend at the con (due to work or money reasons), so I’ve not taken a camera with me, just my phone to take a few candid and spur of the moment photographs. I know, I hear the booing, I wasn’t happy about it either.

The camera I took with me this year was the Fujifilm X-T10 mirrorless camera along with the Fuji 18-135mm f/2.8-4 lens. Thinking I might need a little assistance when shooting in the hotels, I also brought along the Nissin i40 flash, but never really found myself wanting to use it. The camera was so tuned in to the available light, and the lens was so good at pulling in every bit that was there, that I didn’t really feel the need to use it. If  I had a good diffuser of some sort, I may have used it to put some indirect light on my subjects, but I was happy with the way the pictures came out.

I really liked this camera over all. The ease of use, the speed at which it focused and fired, the easily understood menu, and the way it just made capturing images so effortless were all wonderful features. In many ways, this is the best camera I’ve ever used.

My only issue with the camera, and this is probably something I’ll run into with most all the mirrorless camera systems, is how small it is. I have above average sized hands, not enormous, but not very small either, and this led to me constantly hitting the menu button on the back of the camera with my thumb as I brought the camera up to my eye. It wasn’t a huge issue, as I had set the camera to only display via the viewfinder, but if I had been shooting via live view it might have caused an issue. I think that if I had more time to get used to the camera I would’ve likely figured out how to maneuver the body around without hitting that button in a short period, but as I only had the camera for a few days, I never really gave myself the time to get used to it.

All in all, I would have to give this camera a big thumbs up! The ease of use, the fast autofocus, and the tremendous light gathering capability of the sensor (even when used inside!), make this camera a fantastic camera for any user. The lens was just about perfect for every situation I put it in, and it pulled lots of light under the most adverse of situations. My giant hands notwithstanding, I think that this is a great system and would not hesitate to use this gear again. Finding a way to handle this camera without issue wouldn’t take me long at all!

Credit: Sean McCreery, KEH Sales Representative