the fuji x10 versus a smartphone so which one takes the better photos
welcome photographers around the globe to have a look
whether an old fuji x10 is a better option for photographs than one of these a modern smartphone,
now just before we dive in could you take one second to subscribe or hit the thumbs
up it would help me grow my channel and bring more photography content to youtube. so let's go a few
months ago i did a review of my favourite travel camera the fuji x10 i love this little camera it's
beautiful retro looks and magnificent fast lens it's a wide to medium tele lens two to two point
eight astounding at this price range and it's so cheap and did i mention it's beautiful looks
sorry one or two viewers have commented on its small sensor size hey small sensor that's just
rude no to be honest i think they've got a point it is, compared to a newer dslr,
a mirrorless system bridge camera or even new compact it's not the biggest sensor. The thing is,
in my humble opinion, people can get a little bit too preoccupied with sensor size and megapixels,
and sometimes undervalue cameras processors and it's lens and most important to me its usability
You see, i'm a pro photographer, I have been for 35 years and i know that people are really
really into cameras and a lot of people love the techie stuff of how one sensor's 0.5 pixels
more than another, which weighs 17 grams less, has a screen with more than a thousand dots,
look there are brilliant reviewers all over youtube that look into that stuff they'll
tell you exactly what specs the camera have inside and out but that's not me, no i'm a pro,
i know i'm only as good as my last picture and what i took it on doesn't really matter. My camera
views are based on usability and results i'll try and tell you what the camera feels like to use
and what it makes me feel like when i'm using it and i'll try and show you some results too, but
one comment i received recently made me think it was from edhblvd who said cameras like that have
inferior output to modern smartphones some of them even have smaller sensors than modern smartphones
the sensor in the x10 is the size of a dust mite. i know, that's some kind of dust mite!
x10 has got like a two-thirds of an inch sensor an iphone 8 i think has a one-third inch sensor
and i believe an iphone 11 has a half inch sensor i may be mistaken there but if that's right then
the fuji is definitely packing more sensor size but as i said the lens and usability far outweigh
pixels in my book there were more options on the fuji when it comes to shooting but i can't argue
that the comment may have a point the slimline smartphone is ultra convenient does that make
it a better option when you're off on your travels well in response to the smartphone comment another
viewer suggested that an x10 smartphone video would be a great idea well i thought it was a
great idea too so i've done it this is it today i took the fuji x10 out and i shot identical images
on an iphone 8. i didn't choose the latest model of iphone because the x10 is available now for
under a hundred dollars in fact one viewer ger commented they picked a
mint one up recently for just 75 euros so to make things fair i've used an iphone 8
even though it would still probably cost more than double the x10 on the second hand market
so what about the usability well the smartphone is super convenient we know that pull it out of
your pocket quick swipe and you're taking pictures the x10 is bigger you can't fit it in your pocket
and it's definitely going to make you know that you've got an extra bit of luggage on you
but the payoffs worth it from a photographer's point of view the lens the zoom capabilities white
balancing options colour modes the ability to change depth of field the super macro facility too
many things to mention really but what about the images well here they are along with my thoughts
and please let me know your thoughts in the comments section i'd love to know what you think
so first up we've got this poor old horse which i photographed in the rain for our old thing uh
the fuji's the one above and the smartphone is below i think you can see more mid-tones
in the fuji um you'll notice the smartphone's keeping everything in the background sharp um it's
starting to lose a bit of focus in the background which of course gives more focus onto the horse
and the food you picture so i think the fuji wins that one onto something a little more tricky for
the camera to deal with backlighting now we find ourselves in the pub no surprise there i hear you
say we look at the fuji picture it's dealt with the outside a lot better than the smartphone the
smartphone has bleached out uh but the food just kept a bit of detail in the uh in the
information in the street outside with regards to inside i think the highlights on the leather seat
have bleached out a little bit on the smartphone but i don't think it's done a bad job of recording
the the inside at all i don't think there's that much between them i think you could um you could
with a bit of post-production go get those quite similar but we have lost the detail in the outside
a little shot by the river now this is the river avon these pictures were taken in
warwick if anybody's ever been there and uh there's not much to choose between them
a bit of colour temperature difference and the smartphone below is a little bit more contrasty
one thing i didn't mention when we were talking about the cameras that the smartphone wins hands
down on is the ability to get those pictures out to social media very very quickly that's
something the x10 can't do you're going to need to download the images to a computer
to do that so the smartphone wins hands down if you're looking to get stuff on instagram
and and whatnot really quickly now i was forced to buy myself a little liquid refreshment just
for the photographs you understand and so here we've got a little picture of the uh
the beer in front of me on the table and i think you can see the the x10 has done a lot
better job of capturing more mid-tones the uh the smartphone's done a great job but um not quite so
many midterms but what about if we blow it up a little bit have a look in more detail
well there we go we're going into the glasses and i think you can see now the lettering on the fuji
is just that little bit crisper it's starting to go on the uh on the iphone image on the
right it's not quite as sharp let's just confirm that let's just zoom in a little tiny bit more
and there you have it zoomed all the way in and we can see the uh the the estrella uh star
and the cold water droplets around the bottom of the glass are definitely sharper on the fuji x10
and so the x10 takes that one although i am surprised i have to say at this stage
with how well the iphone camera is doing and back outside to a bench that was cut out of
a fallen tree a big old oak tree and somebody's carved a smiley face into the side the fuji
has captured a lot more detail uh in the the mid tones obviously they're warmer tones
there's a lot more contrast in the smartphone on the right and i think it's quite clear that uh
the highlights are just bleaching out a little bit maybe they could be bought back in post-production
maybe post-production work could actually fix a few of these issues uh but the fuji has that one
and now a little shot of some flower beds and i can't see too much between these i don't think
that one is really too much better than the other i think they've both done well let's have a look
at a tudor house here back in warwick i was wondering whether the reflection
in the glass was going to fool the auto mode. i've got these on program mode but both have coped
quite well actually i think the smartphone might have coped slightly better uh it's definitely a
warmer picture and the improved contrast the sky is definitely a little bit lighter so i think
the smartphone might have done a better job there if you've never been to warwick it's a beautiful
beautiful old town to visit and this doll's house houses in this street here you know these are all
really old houses from like 1200 and something all at the base of the castle uagain i think
both cameras are in black and white have coat amicably i don't think one's better than the other
a close-up of some old oak woodwork here and i think the smartphone has i think the increased
contrast that you get with the smartphone lens is probably making the oak look a little bit better
but it's not done very well on this one this is looking through one of the old gateways
into the city and it's not coped well the fuji has managed to
keep the the detail in the uh in the the darkness in the arch itself and some of the brickwork
but as you can see the um the smartphone has just had trouble
with the light coming from the other end and it's just just spreading right across the picture
well we know flash is not going to be strong for the smartphone
so i've just kept it to one fill in flash get the light behind me put affiliate flash in
quite close into me it's only a selfie but it's struggled the iphone has struggled it's just not
good at flash it's not one of its things the uh the fuji has done a reasonable job of balancing
the light on my face and the light behind but the smartphone is really struggling with the flash
and last but not least we've got this tudor manor house
in warwick again they've both done a great job of recording this their fuji and the
smartphone have done a very similar job the fuji's got a few more mid turns but
overall i can't tell much between them and i think that is my understanding of the differences
between these cameras if the lights good if you're outside and you've got lots of light
the uh smartphone can keep up with the fuji but as soon as the light goes low or the
lighting conditions become difficult or you need flash then the smartphone starts to struggle
so to sum up if you're off on vacation you want some snaps if point and press is what you're after
a decent image with minimal travel disruption then a smartphone is hard to beat but for photographers
photographers that want enough options to get creative with light especially if fill in flash is
important to you as well as slow sync flash if you want colour control of your images ridiculously
super macro this goes right up to 0.4 of an inch if you want aperture a priority great bucket
amazing zoom capabilities and a viewfinder great handling then take the x10 with you you won't be
disappointed