This was THE compact digital camera for night photography when I bought this. But now its been succeeded by the fujifilm finepix f30 which boasts of iso speed double than this model i.e. 3200! But lets just stick to details of F10 from now on..
I had tried many other digital cameras of relatives and friends and was really frustrated by the kind of photos they took in low light conditions. they were either too noisy or too blurry with camera shake or motion blur(when taking pictures of moving subjects..like at partys or shaadi etc.) And I wanted a camera that could better them all. So, in march 2006, I asked a cousin to get me the camera from the us because it wasnt available here..
And I havent regretted the decision even once. The most unique feature(not really unique, just rare) of this camera is the long exposure mode. The shutter will remain open for 3-15 seconds and keep taking in light. Just about 10 hours after the camera was in my hands, I was "painting with light" (you can check out my photographs at https://flckr.com/photos/yashrg and do view the light play set) you have to see once to really appreciate how creative and fun and beautiful it is.
OK, on to the usual things everyone`s looking for... Its got a nice big lcd for composing your shots. A grid display mode helps you compose shots. There is no viewfinder on this but you wont need it at all. because the battery life is amazing, (upto 500 shots and I vouch for it) so you dont feel like you`ll have to use the viewfinder to save battery that the lcd consumes.. even in broad sunlight, you can increase the intensity so that the lcd is easily visible. Or you can lower the backlight intensity to further increase battery life. I mostly shoot in the 3:2 mode but its file is not the highest quality jpeg..
The macro capabilities of this camera are amazing! I`ve also taken quite a few macro shots which u can see on my flickr photostream https://flickr.com/photos/yashrg I`ve gotten comments as "what kind of macro lens did you use for this photo" The colours that the fujifilm f-chrome mode creates are just brilliant! but do make objects lok artificial in rare cases. Fujifilm is renowned for reproducing great greens which`ll inspire you to take photos of great green landscapes or plants etc..
The night shooting is helped by the high iso-1600 setting. It does produce noise at that high level but is not too much. Bearable and fairly low as compared to many other cameras. But still, the night mode on the camera slows down the shutter speed resulting in blurry photos..so I`d suggest taking night pictures using auto or manual mode and setting the iso to 800/1600. But if its gonna be a photo of city lights or landscapes in the night, you CAN keep the iso low and go to long exposure mode, keep the camera on a tripod and get nice well illuminated pictures that previously seemed impossible for a compact camera.
Just one glitch is the cable connecting system..you have to connect the camera to this little rectangular box and then the usb, power, and tv out cable connect to it. well, atleast its better than those bulky docks you have to lug around for some super slim/compact cameras(not that doesnt make any sense does it?) but I`ve learnt to deal with it. just hope that they make the next version directly connectable to the computer instead of having that attachment.