Life is all about tradeoffs. Take point and shoots for example. We all know that they don’t produce the same image quality as a
DSLR or a nice mirrorless camera, but when you’re out there in the elements, a
DSLR
can be highly impractical. If there’s any chance that you might drop
your camera in the drink or slam it against the cliff, you’d rather not
destroy your nice one or risk ruining your iPhone. That’s when a rugged
point and shoot really comes in handy.
Just about every manufacturer has one in their lineup these days, and
recently I got to try out the Fujifilm XP200 for about a month. Here’s
my analysis and some sample images.
Main Specs
The
Fujifilm XP200, (
compare prices) (
review)
is designed as an adventure camera. It’s waterproof to 15m, dustproof,
freezeproof to 14 degrees F, and shockproof enough to supposedly
withstand a fall onto rocks from 6-feet. It has a rugged plastic design,
with rubberized, extra grip, shock absorbing material on the sides and
bottom that supposedly let you operate it while wearing gloves, weather
sealing, a locking battery/memory card compartment and clear covers that
protect the lens and the flash.
All in all, it seems like this little camera is made to with stand
quite a bit of abuse. While I didn’t test the full capabilities of its
durability, I did bang it around quite a bit, drop it on my office floor
and run over it with my bike. It survived all of those, as well as a
month of rattling around in the bottom of my daypack and being used in a
variety of weather conditions in the outdoors.
Features
The main camera features are built around a 16MP 1/2.3-inch
CMOS sensor, a 3"
LCD screen, a 5x optical zoom lens that offers an effective 28mm-140mm view angle, Full 1080p HD video,
ISO
from 100-6400, Tracking Autofocus and a max continuous shooting rate of
10 frames per second at the highest resolution. That’s faster than any
DSLR
I own. Like many compacts these days, the XP200 also has built in
Wi-Fi, which allows you to pair it with the Fujifilm app and transfer
images directly from the camera to your mobile device.
It doesn’t shoot
RAW, but the XP does feature a number of different
JPEG
modes, including Standard, Chrome (instead of Velvia) Black & White
and Sepia. It has Macro, Panorama, and 14 scene modes (it lacks
aperture or shutter priority modes) and a number of special filters like
Toy Camera, Miniature, High Key, Partial Color and Soft Focus. Most of
these are the same filters that are found on the higher level X Cameras
like the XE-1, X100S and X20. You won’t find the wide array of film
simulations that the other X models have, but all in all, it has enough
versatility to keep you busy and spark your creativity with whatever
subject matter you’re shooting.
Ergonomics
I’ll admit, I’m not really a point and shoot guy. I’m so used to
bigger cameras, that something this small just feels a little weird in
my hands at first. That said, once I got a feel for how I was supposed
to hold it, I felt comfortable with the ergonomics of the XP200. The
control buttons on the back of the camera are laid out well and the
menus looks and feel similar to the other Fuji cameras that I’ve used.
The zoom lens is controlled by your thumb, and there’s also a record
button and a special “Burst mode” button which automatically puts the
camera into continuous mode. This is a really nice feature, because it
allows you to set yourself up for shooting fast breaking scenes without
having to go digging into the menu. One press and you’re ready to
capture those skiers or downhill mountain bikers in action.
The
LCD screen has an anti-reflective
coating which is designed to offer good visibility, even in bright
light. I used the camera in a variety of lighting conditions and in
super bright sunshine, it’s still a little hard to see the screen.
Quality
Keep in mind, the XP200 has a much smaller sensor than even the X20.
Still, I found that it did a pretty good job with everything that I
threw at it. Exposure was good in both sun and shade, and for a pocket
camera, it’s as sharp as anything else in it’s class. There’s definitely
some grain in the darker mid tones, even at low ISOs. It’s most
noticeable with out of focus subjects in the foreground. You know it’s
there, but it’s not obtrusive. The Fuji cameras seem to do a pretty good
job of making grain and noise look painterly and not ugly.
One thing to note, I was using the XP200, as well as the Fuji XE-1 and my Nikon
DSLR
to shoot road biking one day, and found that of all three cameras, the
little XP200 did the best job rendering the purple on one of the
FED
EX jerseys that a rider was wearing. Both the other two cameras had
trouble accurately reproducing the exact tone that I saw with my eye.
Sure, I was able to tweak the Nikon
RAW files in Lightroom, but for shooting straight
JPEGS, this is a testament to how good the XP200’s image processor is.
Overall
Bottom line is that the Fuji XP200 is lots of fun to use and it would
be an ideal camera for hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts. I enjoyed
my time with it and shot a variety of landscapes, nature and sports.
While Image quality is obviously not as sharp as something like the X20
(that camera costs over twice as much), the XP200 lens is decent and the
photos it produces are good enough for anything that you’d normally use
a point and shoot camera for. Again, tradeoffs.
It’s got some very
good features, like the Burst Mode button, AF tracking and face
recognition. In addition, all the different shooting modes give you
plenty of creative options. Autofocus is reasonably fast, and and for
most subjects, I found it to be pretty accurate, especially since you
can control the active AF zone with the thumb dial. Big plus here.Perhaps
the best part about the XP200 is the price. It costs quite a bit less
than the Nikon AW110 and most other cameras in its class. Overall, the
XP200 is an affordable little camera that can accompany you into the
dirty, rainy, dusty, muddy and rugged places in the outdoors, get the
shots and come back relatively unscathed. And even if you do destroy it,
at least you didn’t wreck your more expensive camera.
