The hang-up? The Fujifilm X-T1 can run about $1,500 with a good kit lens. That’s not an easy investment for a photography enthusiast, and you can buy refurb full frame DSLRs for that price. To tackle this quandary, Fujifilm introduced the Fujifilm X-T10. For all intents and purposes, it’s the same camera as the X-T1 but its price has been slashed. Down to $799 for the body only. With a kit lens, it’s available for about 60% of the price of its big brother, but it delivers nearly every other thing a photographer could want. In short, it’s kind of a big deal. The awesome Fujifilm X-T1 had just one big drawback — it’s price. The Fujifilm X-T10 is the perfect answer. And it makes me want to go back and re-write that guide to travel cameras I mentioned above… The Fujifilm X-T10 is a smaller, lighter, cheaper version of the X-T1 that provides exactly the same kind of firepower. It sports the same 16MP sensor and the same image processor as the X-T1. From the front element of the kit lens to the contacts of the memory card, you’re getting the same image quality of the X-T1 in the new X-T10. What’s different? The size. It’s a fraction of an inch smaller on all sides, and it weighs a little less in the hand. Fujifilm shaved some unnecessary bits off of the X-T1 for this design, and gave up a few things that aren’t going to matter to too many photographers. Things like weather sealing, which will matter if you’re white water rafting or doing war correspondence. Very few of us do that. If you’re shooting street food in Bangkok, architecture in Copenhagen or candid portraits in New York, you’re good to go with one of these. Fujifilm also baked in a few new details to the X-T10. It features a new 77-point autofocus system to analyze the frame and determine what should be in focus. That’s probably not a big selling point for a pro, but it can make the transition a lot easier for someone upgrading from a mobile phone. Speaking of the mobile photographer, there’s also a “Classic Chrome” series of film emulation filters built in to this camera. Instagrammers will feel right at home with this functionality. [speaking of Instagram, say hello to us @instacoolist!] Want a pro tip? If you can swing it, buy the body-only version for $799, then try to find a used Fujinon XF35mm F1.4 lens. You might be able to find one for as low as $350. It’ll blow away the kit lens, and it’s a great focal length that will cover most shooting scenarios. The new Fujifilm X-T10 will ship soon starting at $799. We’ll be changing the guard next year when we write our travel camera guide, and you can bet the X-T10 will be near the top of the list. The challenge will be talking up our friends at Nikon and Canon. They still own the DSLR market, but they just can’t touch Fujilm or Sony when it comes to compacts like these. [fujifilm press release]
Fujifilm X-T10 Professional Compact Camera | Gallery
