Fujifilm FinePix Z · on sale autumn 2007

The Fujifilm FinePix Z10fd: the $199.95 fashion compact that looked for ten faces

We found no other regional name for it: Fujifilm's own pages and the 2007 and 2008 reviews we read all call it the Z10fd. Its colour range did differ by market, five in the US press release and seven on Fujifilm's global page.³²

In July 2007 Fujifilm aimed a slim, curved, brightly coloured compact at young buyers for about $200. Reviewers liked how easy it was and how it looked, then split over the build, the speed, the noise and the sharpness.

Launched

July 2007

Launch price

$199.95 (US)³

Sensor

7.2 MP CCD

Lens

38–114 mm, 3×

Card

xD-Picture Card, SD, SDHC

Battery

NP-45

Specs and sources

Meet the camera

Fujifilm USA announced it on 26 July 2007 for $199.95, due in late September.³ It measures 91.2 by 56.6 by 18.8 millimetres, and Fujifilm gave its weight as about 110 grams without battery and card, where Imaging Resource's table says 120 grams.¹³ The body tapers towards one end, less than the Z5fd's did, and ePHOTOzine disliked the longer feet that shape needs to stand up.⁶ A sliding cover over the lens switches the camera on.⁵⁹

The reviewers could not agree on what it is made of. ePHOTOzine called the casing metal and singled out the battery door as the only flimsy part. What Digital Camera also called it all-metal. Absolute Gadget said it is all-plastic and that the construction feels a little lacking next to the best budget rivals, though it judged fears of it breaking unfounded. Gadizmo, for its part, found the candy-coated casing sturdy and the cover catch secure.⁶¹⁰⁸⁹ The colour list differs by source too: the US press release names Wave Blue, Wasabi Green, Hot Pink, Sunset Orange and Midnight Black, where Photo Review lists red, orange, olive green, Prussian blue and black.³⁵ Photo Review said it was aimed at 18 to 35 year olds, while Imaging Resource's preview put the target at 13 to 26.⁵⁴

Why this one was interesting

It looked for faces before it focused

Fujifilm's press release said the camera finds up to ten faces, focuses on one chosen face, and sets exposure for all of them; Fujifilm's specification page lists red-eye removal alongside it.³¹ ePHOTOzine described the result on screen: a green box on the face nearest the centre, white boxes round the others.⁶ Photo Review passed on the user manual's list of what confuses it: pets, upside-down faces, faces behind glasses, hats or hair, profiles and distant people.⁵ What Digital Camera was blunter, saying the system does not always find its target.¹⁰ For the other FinePix cameras with the same feature, see our F30, F31fd and F40fd reviews.

Two pictures from one press

A Natural Light and Flash mode takes one frame without flash and one with it, and shows them side by side so you keep the better one.⁵⁶ Fujifilm's overview page describes the first frame as shot at high sensitivity in natural light.²

Sharing, 2007 style

The Z10fd could beam pictures to another IrSimple device by infrared. Photo Review said the two devices must be within about 20 centimetres and that a high-resolution file takes roughly three minutes, but it was unable to test the feature.⁵ ePHOTOzine likened it to the Wi-Fi on a Nikon Coolpix S52c, minus the range, and noted that USB and infrared were the only ways to move pictures off the camera.⁶⁷ A blog mode shrank pictures to 640 by 480 for the web, and an auction mode joined up to four shots into one frame.⁵⁹

Two kinds of card

Imaging Resource's preview listed the changes from the Z5fd: a plain CCD in place of the Super CCD HR with one more megapixel, a slot that took SD and SDHC as well as xD, 54 megabytes of built-in memory where the Z5fd had 26, and a lower-resolution screen.⁴ Photo Review added that SD adapters for smaller formats do not work.⁵ Our memory card guide covers what that means when you shop for cards today.

What was lost

Against the Z5fd, Imaging Resource counted a screen that dropped from 230,000 to 150,000 pixels and a movie mode that, in its reading, lost VGA.⁴ Fujifilm's own specification page lists 640 by 480 video, and Photo Review's and Absolute Gadget's specification lists agree, so the preview looks wrong on that point.¹⁵⁸ Imaging Resource's table and ABC News both mention stabilisation, but Photo Review said none is provided and What Digital Camera said the anti-blur mode simply raises the ISO.³¹¹⁵¹⁰ Fujifilm's press release explains why: its Picture Stabilization uses higher sensitivities, up to ISO 1600, and faster shutter speeds, which makes it a shooting mode and not a lens or sensor mechanism.³¹

The dark: where the noise began

ePHOTOzine ran a noise test and found ISO 64 and 100 really nice, ISO 200 showing mild noise only at full magnification, and detail in the petals falling away at ISO 800. At ISO 1600 it described a haze-like cast over the picture and blobs of colour on the grey tiles.⁶ Photo Review put the line earlier, at ISO 400 and above, where it saw visible loss of sharpness and noise, and Absolute Gadget found noise noticeable at ISO 800 and 1600 but acceptable below.⁵⁸ Gadizmo said the pictures get noisy at higher ISO and in low light, especially without flash.⁹

Real photographs taken with this camera at ISO 1600. The sensitivity shown is recorded in each file's own EXIF data; the pictures may have been resized and edited by their authors.

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

Photo Review added that the flash needed at least ISO 400 to light an average-sized room, and that low-light photography was limited by an inability to set the slowest shutter speed, three seconds.⁵

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

Photo Review was hardest on the files. Its Imatest charts showed resolution well below expectations, with severe barrel distortion from wide angle to mid-zoom, purple fringing in bright outdoor shots and colour that drifted in reds, blues and olive greens. It called the JPEG compression quite severe, at about 3.5 MB for a 7-megapixel Fine file.⁵ The other reviewers were kinder. ePHOTOzine reported punchy blues, natural earth tones and decent foreground detail, with a thin purple fringe where contrast was low.⁶ Absolute Gadget called colour vibrant and smooth, and the quality reasonable for the money.⁸ What Digital Camera summed it up as punchy on a nice day and average when gloomy.¹⁰

Photos taken with this camera, from Wikimedia Commons, credited under each picture.

Where it let you down

Speed was the sore point. ePHOTOzine's burst test managed seven pictures in ten seconds, and listed slow continuous shooting among its minus points.⁶ Absolute Gadget reached the same seven pictures and found that a tad disappointing.⁸ Fujifilm's own page rates the long-period continuous mode at 0.6 frames per second.¹ Photo Review put shot-to-shot time at about 2.5 seconds without flash and about 5 seconds with it, and noticed that the lens sits so close to the body's corner that a fingertip can stray into the frame.⁵ Absolute Gadget added a soft screen that was hard to read in bright sun, with no viewfinder to fall back on, and Gadizmo found the screen's colours did not match the downloaded files.⁸⁹ Both quoted 25 MB of built-in memory, where Fujifilm's table says about 54 MB.⁸⁹¹

What reviewers said

Photo Review (Imatest charts) and ePHOTOzine (a noise test) ran the most detailed tests we found;⁵⁶ Absolute Gadget's review is shorter, and the ABC News, Gadizmo and What Digital Camera pieces are shorter still. Imaging Resource's page is a preview built from manufacturer data and PhotographyBLOG's page is a short excerpt, so neither is counted as a review.⁴¹²

The timeline

• 26 July 2007Fujifilm USA announces the Z10fd at $199.95, due in late September.³
• 22 December 2007Gadizmo's review lists the camera at $149.99 at one retailer.⁹
• 7 January 2008ePHOTOzine's snap shot review gives a UK price of £119.⁷
• 24 January 2008DPReview reports the successor, the 10-megapixel Z20fd.¹³
• 15 October 2008ePHOTOzine's full review puts the price at about £74.⁶

Should you buy one now?

Buy one if you want a very small, brightly coloured 2007 CCD compact with face detection that is easy to hand to someone else, and you accept modest resolution, fringing and noise at higher ISO settings. It launched at $199.95;³ 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 Z10fd. The Z5fd came before it and the Z20fd (10 megapixels) after it.⁴¹³
• The battery. It uses an NP-45;¹ a fresh one is on Amazon ↗. ePHOTOzine noted that you cannot simply buy spare batteries from the shop, and that the battery door is the fragile part.⁶
• The card. It takes xD-Picture Cards up to 2 GB, SD and SDHC;¹ see our memory card guide.
• The slider. The sliding lens cover is the power switch;⁵ check that it slides smoothly and the catch holds.⁹
• The screen and lens. The screen is the only viewfinder, so look for scratches and dead pixels; check that the lens extends and retracts cleanly.

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. Fujifilm Global, FinePix Z10fd specifications page (archived 20 Dec 2008, Wayback Machine)
2. Fujifilm Global, FinePix Z10fd overview page (archived 2008, Wayback Machine)
3. Imaging Resource, Fujifilm FinePix Z10fd announcement, reprinting Fujifilm USA's press release (26 Jul 2007: $199.95, late September)
4. Imaging Resource, Fujifilm Z10fd preview and specification table (manufacturer data, not lab-tested; lists changes from the Z5fd)
5. Photo Review (Australia), Fujifilm FinePix Z10fd review (undated page; scores 7.5/10; Imatest results)
6. ePHOTOzine, Fujifilm FinePix Z10fd review by Matt Grayson (15 Oct 2008; handling, speed, noise test, verdict)
7. ePHOTOzine, Fujifilm Finepix Z10fd snap shot review by Matt Grayson (7 Jan 2008; short, £119)
8. Absolute Gadget, Fujifilm FinePix Z10fd review (1 Sep 2008; 8/10)
9. Gadizmo, Fujifilm FinePix Z10fd review by Meghan Scott (22 Dec 2007; short hands-on)
10. What Digital Camera, Fujifilm Finepix Z10fd review (short; page dated 31 Oct 2014, original date not shown)
11. ABC News, Review: Fuji FinePix Z10fd by Brian Lee (14 Aug 2007; short back-to-school piece)
12. PhotographyBLOG, Fujifilm Z10fd page (3 Mar 2008; one-paragraph excerpt quoting Steves Digicams, street price $199 or less)
13. DPReview, Fujifilm updates Z10fd to Z20fd (24 Jan 2008)

Photographs are credited under each one, all via Wikimedia Commons. Links to eBay and Amazon are affiliate links.