Fujifilm FinePix J · announced January 2008

The Fujifilm FinePix J10: a $150 slim compact with an anti-blur mode instead of a stabiliser

We found no other regional name: Fujifilm's announcement, its own pages and both full reviews we read use FinePix J10.¹²⁵⁶

In January 2008 Fujifilm launched its J series with a slim, $149.95 compact. Reviewers liked how it looked and what it cost, then disagreed about almost everything else: the noise, the menus, even what the body was made of.

Launched

January 2008

Launch price

$149.95 (US)¹

Sensor

8.2 MP CCD

Lens

38–113 mm, 3×

Card

xD-Picture Card, SD, SDHC

Battery

NP-45

Specs and sources

Meet the camera

The J10 is a small slab: 91 by 55 millimetres, 22 deep and 19 at its slimmest point, Fujifilm said, with a listed weight of about 110 grams before the battery and card go in.² Trusted Reviews weighed 126 grams with both fitted and called it one of the lightest cameras the reviewer had tested.⁵ Fujifilm announced it on 24 January 2008 at the PMA show for $149.95, on sale from March in matte black or brushed silver.¹ The reviewers did not describe the body alike. Trusted Reviews called it all aluminium; ePHOTOzine called it a slim plastic body and expected buyers to replace it when something newer came along.⁵⁶ ePHOTOzine called it a solid little thing that does not feel like the weakling its price suggests; Trusted Reviews said it looks more expensive than it is, though it doubted the navigation pad's components would last.⁵⁶

The sensor is an 8.2-megapixel, 1/2.5-inch CCD, the lens a Fujinon 3x zoom from 38 to 113 millimetres equivalent, and the screen a 2.5-inch panel with 153,000 dots and no viewfinder beside it.¹² In Britain, Trusted Reviews found it selling for about £95 in May 2008, and ePHOTOzine priced it at £85 four months later.⁵⁶

Why this one was interesting

A late entry on a crowded shelf

Trusted Reviews said Fujifilm had been absent from budget ultra-compacts, a market it described as dominated by Pentax and Casio, and named the Pentax Optio M40 at £108, the Casio EX-Z80 at £97 and the Olympus FE-280 at £110 as the J10's closest rivals.⁵ ePHOTOzine set it beside a £82 Panasonic Lumix LS80 with an optical stabiliser.⁶ Both reviewers likened the shape to Pentax's slim S models, and ePHOTOzine added Casio's Exilim EX-S10.⁵⁶ For a Casio budget slim from a year earlier, see our EX-Z75 review.

An anti-blur mode, not a moving lens

Fujifilm's announcement promised Picture Stabilization Technology that reduces blur from camera shake or a moving subject by automatically choosing the light sensitivity and the best-matching shutter speed.¹ Its feature page said the Anti-blur mode corrects shake and subject blur, and paired it with ISO 1600.³ The mode sits on the dial.² Trusted Reviews said the J10 has no real image stabilisation, only an ISO-boost function that raises the shutter speed.⁵ ePHOTOzine listed "image stabilisers" among the J10's features, then contrasted it with the Panasonic's optical one, without saying how the two differ.⁶ Our reading is that the maker's own description names sensitivity and shutter speed, not a moving element.

Three kinds of card in one slot

Fujifilm said the J10 and J50 share an "xD/SD compatible" slot that accepts xD-Picture Cards, SD and SDHC.¹ Its specification page lists xD cards from 16 MB to 2 GB.² See our memory card guide for what that means today, and our F40fd review for Fujifilm's dual-slot F series.

What was lost

Trusted Reviews listed the omissions: no face detection, which the reviewer said few recent cameras lacked, no selectable autofocus modes or metering options, and no continuous mode beyond a slow "Top 3".⁵ The zoom moved in six broad steps, smooth going in and slow and jerky coming out, and could not be used while filming.⁵ ePHOTOzine found more than it expected on the other side: its text says the manual mode gives exposure compensation and ISO choice, which it called unusual at this price, though its own specification list says no exposure compensation.⁶

The dark: where the two reviews split

On noise the two reviewers contradict each other. Trusted Reviews found no real problems up to ISO 200, little noise at ISO 400 and good, printable quality, then a sudden increase at ISO 800 and much worse at ISO 1600, and called noise control very good for a budget camera.⁵ ePHOTOzine liked ISO 64 and 100, saw noise arrive at ISO 200, which it called not brilliant, and described purple and green blobs from there that grew more definite up the scale; its minus points include a "terrible noise result".⁶ ePHOTOzine also said its tripod noise frames came out blurred even on a third attempt with the self-timer, and concluded the camera was either not locking focus or deliberately letting the picture go soft to smooth the noise; it listed "sends camera out of focus at high ISO" as a fault.⁶ The captions to Trusted Reviews' own ISO series mention no focus problem.⁵

Trusted Reviews found a different low-light problem. Autofocus took under half a second in good light, slowed in poor light, and mostly failed at pub and club lighting levels, which the reviewer called a disappointment for what looked like a camera built for social snapshots.⁵

Real photographs taken with this camera. The sensitivity shown is recorded in each file's own EXIF data; the pictures may have been resized and edited by their authors.⁷

Like that look? See recent eBay sold listings for this camera ↗

Flash did not rescue it. ePHOTOzine's flash portrait came out badly overexposed with bleached cheeks and nose, and a large shadow on the wall behind; without flash the picture was a little dark but balanced.⁶

On eBay right now

Live listings for this camera, supplied by eBay and updated automatically. We earn a commission if you buy through them.

The little wins

How it drew the picture

Trusted Reviews' detailed scores read value 7, image quality 6 and build quality 8; it found the corners of the frame weaker than the centre, with blurring, purple fringing and a hint of chromatic aberration.⁵ Highlights tended to burn out so that shadow detail survived.⁵ Its largest complaint was vignetting: at wide angle the corners come out much darker than the centre, which the reviewer thought was probably the very compact lens sitting too close to the sensor, and which cannot be fixed without redesigning the camera.⁵ ePHOTOzine did not mention vignetting. It tested a grey, wet landscape and found good colour, balanced exposure and nice detail, and in flower mode a colour boost it called subtle.⁶ The nine sample photos on this page come from eight Commons authors; their EXIF data names this camera model and dates them between 2008 and 2010.⁷

Photos taken with this camera, from Wikimedia Commons, credited under each picture. We did not measure vignetting in them.

Where it let you down

Speed was the first fault ePHOTOzine's verdict named. It measured shutter lag at about 0.20 seconds, twice as slow as other compacts on the market, it said, and a burst that records only three frames and then spends about ten seconds saving them, which works out at 0.3 frames per second over its ten-second test.⁶ Trusted Reviews measured the same Top 3 mode at a little over one frame per second.⁵ ePHOTOzine called deleting a picture sloth-like.⁶ Macro focus reaches 15 centimetres, which ePHOTOzine mocked as hardly worth switching on.⁶² Build lapses came up too: a battery door ePHOTOzine said could be sturdier, a plastic tripod bush and an exposed USB port that could collect dust or sand.⁶ ePHOTOzine also reported that its computer would not recognise the camera until drivers were loaded.⁶

What the reviewers said in 2008

Imaging Resource's overview page lists a rating of 3.5 out of 5, but we found no review text behind it, so it is not listed as a review.⁴

The timeline

• 24 January 2008Fujifilm U.S.A. announces the J10 and J50 at PMA: $149.95 and $179.95, on sale in March.¹
• March 2008Planned US availability.¹⁴
• 23 May 2008Trusted Reviews publishes its review, with the camera at about £95.⁵
• 19 September 2008ePHOTOzine publishes its review, with the camera at £85.⁶

Should you buy one now?

Buy one if you want a tiny, light CCD camera with punchy colour that takes xD or SD cards and asks for no manual fuss, and you accept dark corners at wide angle and a slow response. It launched at $149.95;¹ what it sells for now is a question for the sold listings, not for us. Before you bid, check these:

• The name. Search the FinePix J10. The J50 beside it had a 5x zoom and a 2.7-inch screen.¹
• The navigation pad. Trusted Reviews found it fiddly when new; test that every direction registers.⁵
• The USB port. ePHOTOzine noted the port is not covered, so look inside it for grit and bent contacts.⁶
• The battery. It uses an NP-45;² a fresh one is on Amazon ↗, and ePHOTOzine said the battery door could be sturdier, so check it closes.⁶
• The card. It takes xD-Picture Cards, SD and SDHC;² the 8 MB of built-in memory holds one or two full-size pictures, by Fujifilm's table.² See our memory card guide.
• The dark corners. Trusted Reviews put the wide-angle vignetting down to the lens design, so it is not a fault in one unit.⁵
• The lens. Check that it extends and retracts cleanly and that the glass is free of scratches.

If you are wondering why cameras like this are being hunted down again, we tell that story once, in Pictures that never left the card.

See recent sold prices on eBay ↗Shop on eBay ↗NP-45 battery ↗

Sources

1. Imaging Resource, Fuji launches FinePix J-series by Mike Tomkins (24 Jan 2008): reproduces Fujifilm U.S.A.'s press release and carries Imaging Resource's specification table
2. Fujifilm Global, FinePix J10 specifications page (Wayback Machine copy, 2009)
3. Fujifilm Global, FinePix J10 features page, ISO 1600 and Picture Stabilization Mode (Wayback Machine copy, 10 Oct 2008)
4. Imaging Resource, Fujifilm J10 overview page (lists MSRP $150, availability 03/2008 and a rating of 3.5 out of 5; no review text found)
5. Trusted Reviews, Fujifilm FinePix J10 review by Cliff Smith (23 May 2008)
6. ePHOTOzine, Fujifilm FinePix J10 digital camera review by Matt Grayson (19 Sep 2008)
7. Wikimedia Commons, Category: Taken with Fujifilm FinePix J10 (file metadata: camera model, ISO, flash)

Photographs are credited under each one, all via Wikimedia Commons. Links to eBay and Amazon are affiliate links. Coverage is thin: we found two full contemporary reviews, and the two disagree on several points, which the page shows.