Normal HD recording is at 1920 x 1080 and, with the HDMI port on the side, it can be played back directly into your TV. Alas, no audio input for microphones, the HS10 relies on its built-in mic, which is certainly good enough for home recording. Alkaline battery life sees you through a week of casual use, however using the flash, screen and video for long stretches is going to eat them up. You get plenty of warning before it does finally shut down.
Not the cheapest bridge camera, but currently one of the best
The range of the HS10’s lens enables it work well within earshot of groups of folks posing for you, while also being able to zoom to places that professional cameras don't attempt. Unfortunately, it needs a fair bit of light to operate in, which is par for the course with superzooms.
As long as you are sensible with the ceiling on the ISO (make it 800), you can be sure of sharp, useable images. Moreover, when using any of the program modes, the chances that the HS10 will give you a decent result are high, higher than most other superzooms. Indeed, the confidence it gives you, to just get out and shoot, is admirable.
Verdict
The Fujifilm Finepix HS10 has enough photo features to keep you occupied, but not so many that you have to pick up the manual to understand why you might like to try them. The slow motion feature alone might be enough to tempt more creative users. While it does run on an unfashionable power source, and the sharpening could come down a little, you do get a huge, go-anywhere zoom and some fun film features. Overall, there's little to complain about. It’s a decent, solid photo performer that consistently delivers good quality images – considering the price, you get a pretty good deal. ®
James Cumpsty is a professional photographer and videographer working in the music industry.
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Fujifilm Finepix HS10 bridge camera
COMMENTS
Nobody knows yet
But it has switched from CCD on all current models to backside illuminated CMOS, and physically increased the size of the sensor in proportion to an increase in pixels.
Humbug
>Up top is smaller viewfinder than previous versions, undoubtedly not a major feature on these cameras, as everyone seems to use the rear screen nowadays.
Everyone except me it seems. Rear screens are awful in anything other than subdued lighting, Viewfinders allow far more accurate focussing/composition in most 'normal' situations.
Why worry about the batteries?
Finepix's have used AA for years. They are cheap, have great capacity, and if you run flat in the field you can go and buy some replacements. Or use them in the R/C car in emergencies....
£5 at the most gets you four 2700mAh AA's - not exactly going to break the bank! Three sets plus a charger still comes in less than one replacement Canon battery.
High speed recording duration
The maximum high-speed recording duration for a single clip varies a lot between cameras using this type of sensor, e.g. 10 minutes for Casio EX-FH20 and 10 seconds for Sanyo VPC-FH1. It's normally hidden in the specs somewhere, and for this camera it looks like 30 seconds. It makes a big difference if you're recording sports. I've found that sometimes high resolution 60fps recording and postprocessing with e.g. Twixtor is a better bet - there are examples of both at spannerspotter.com.
Zooooooooooooom
All this high level zoom sounds good but the reality is anything much over 10x is unusable unless you're using a tripod or have perfect daylight conditions. Even with image stabilisation the smallest hand shake is converted into a nice fuzzy blur.
