I am a travel photographer. I fell in love with nature first, then with photography. I started taking photos with my phone during my travels. Then I bought a GoPro. I even won a local travel photography contest with a photo I captured with the GoPro. Soon, however, I began to feel that these devices were not enough to take the photos I wanted to take. I know these days, phone cameras are getting so much better, but still, they are far behind the real cameras with bigger sensors. So I decided to buy a camera.
At that time, with my budget, I found the Fuji X-S10 to be the right match for me. It came out recently, had good reviews about color range and, as an added benefit, had better video features than its peers. The lightweight body and the Vari-Angle LCD display are perfect for my travel photography. Var-Angle means a 360-degree tiltable screen. This comes in very handy for my travel photography. As I can position my camera at extreme angles without worrying about how I will see my frame. With the flexible LCD screen, I can rotate it any way I want and not worry about the camera position.
I bought the camera with an 18-55 mm kit lens and later, a 35mm prime lens. However, as a travel photographer now, I feel that I need a better zoom lens. The prime lens serves its purpose all right. As I am still not comfortable doing street photography, the one prime lens feels sufficient.
The ease of handling the camera is what I love most about the Fuji X-S10. It is so lightweight that it does not feel like an extra weight I am carrying. Their website claims it weighs exactly 465 g with battery and SD card. One thing you need to be careful about this camera is its battery life. With heavy usage, the battery lasts a little over an hour. I carry two extra batteries and a power bank when I go out on a daylong trip. I do not know if it will help anyone, but I faced another weird problem. That was opening the the LCD monitor. The monitor has 2 grooves to assist you in bringing it out. One at the side and another at the bottom. At first, I was using the side groove. However, after a day of heavy use, I found one nail hurting because of the constant pressure I had to use to handle the LCD. Now I use the bottom groove, and it does not hurt anymore.
The mobile App for the Fuji ecosystem is called the X app now (previously was called Camera Remote). It is also easy to use. But can be a bit slow while connecting with your phone. I use it to instantly download the photos on my phone and take a closer look. They provide regular firmware updates for the camera through the app. Which you should not ignore for long. If you do, then you will have trouble connecting your camera very soon.
The image quality is as good as it gets with an APS-C sensor. Do not expect the quality of a full-frame camera from it. If you are not shooting to make big billboards or sell your photos as printables, you can ignore the allure of a more pricy full-frame camera.
My final verdict for the Fuji X-S10 is going to be biased. Because this camera has been with me on some of my most memorable travels. If anyone asks me if they should buy it in 2024, I would always say yes, given you do not have enough budget for a fancier camera.
