Fuji FinePix Z10fd Digital Camera: Sometimes Average is Good Enough

Once my daughter Jenna spotted my new Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 digital camera, I could literally count the moments before I would hear her negotiating for a camera of her own. Ten, nine, eight,… I think we got that far. Yes, eight as I recall.

She wanted her own digital camera and with her birthday fast approaching it certainly seemed like a reasonable request.
I had considered buying her one of the more basic Canon Powershot SD or A series camera, but then she threw in the non-negotiable requirement that the camera be pink as well. Good-bye Canon.

She, of course wanted a real camera. Pink, hi megapixel, capable of taking movies, mostly automatic, optical zoom and very easy to carry. A search of one of my favorite web-sites for electronics, newegg.com, turned up the Fuji FinePix Z10fd Digital Camera for the lovely price of $109.00. The more I looked at this camera the more I thought it was the right choice for her.

Fuji FinePix Z10fd
About the identical size of a Motr Razr Cell Phone, this Fuji is an attractive package for those who want a small, versatile, easy to use shooter. Having owned Fuji cameras in the past I liked the rich, saturated photos they produced and knew that my daughter would too. Having most recently owned the Fuji 6900Z my only gripe with Fuji has been their choice of memory media. In the day of the 6900, it had been SmartMedia, more recently the xD Picture card they shared with Olympus.

But with some of their newer cameras, the Z10fd included they have wisely decided to accommodate the common Secure Digital (SD) card and the performance enhancing SDHC card.

Being Realistic
The Fuji Z10fd is not a great camera from any measure of photographic excellence. It is a good choice for digital camera “newbies” that are looking for a small easy to carry camera that will give them their share of fun. Knowing my daughter as I do I also wanted a camera that had as few moving parts as well. The internal 3X Optical Zoom was a real plus to me as well as to her.

Some Specs
7.2 megapixels
3X Optical Zoom
30 FPS QuickTime Movie
Accepts xD, SD and SDHC Memory Cards
Sliding Lens Cover serving as on/off Switch
Blog and EBay Modes
Fully automatic with scene mode capabilities
2.5 “ LCD – 150K Pixels
Proprietary Lithium Battery

Most often in the past, when my daughter had an event that she wanted to save on photograph, her choice (or maybe the choice of my wife) has been to supply her with a Kodak (or Fuji) Disposable 35mm camera. It has always seemed to be a safe choice. The moments were caught on film and with a trip to Wal-Mart or CVS could be developed and printed for about $5 -$7. But when factoring in the initial cost of the camera itself I found we were spending about $12 for 27 exposures. And, if you have any experience with these disposables I’m sure you’ll agree that if you get 4 or 5 exposures worthy of saving, you’re doing pretty well.

My wife, as a pre-school teacher often goes through 20 – 30 disposable cameras taking pictures of her students for the annual yearbook. At $12 each, we can be talking about spending upward of $360 annually for some acceptable yet mediocre photographs.

More Realism
This low cost, ultra compact Fuji is not going to prove to be a really great shooter. But for what it is, it is a vast improvement for the casual snap-shooter. With virtually no practice at all, on fully automatic it will produce vivid, nicely saturated photos for almost anyone. I have to say that I’ve been amazed at how well movies come out, particularly those taken by an 11 yr-old that is not given to reading instruction manuals. This is particularly the case when the camera is equipped with a high-speed SDHC card.

As with most ultra-compacts, the flash being as close to the lens as it is will result in a fair amount of red-eye that can be reduced somewhat with flash options. In low light situations, being a little too close to your subject blow out highlights, while being a tad too far will leave you with a dull dimly lit image.

While the camera has image stabilization, it is digital as opposed to optical. It pushes the ASA rating higher often at the expense of fine detail. On the other hand, except under extreme conditions it seems to do its job adequately. The battery is reasonably long lasting. One reservation however is that it is easy to insert the battery backwards, but not nearly as easy to remove it. For young would-be photographers (as well as my wife) this can be problematic.

Final Thoughts
There are indeed better ultra-compacts available for the discerning photographer. But at prices just exceeding $100, this camera will produce reasonably high quality images and is ideal for the young, inexperienced, or for those that just want to capture the moment.

Other Digital Camera links:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3

Regards,
Rudi