Fujifilm FinePix XP120 Review

May 30, 2017 | Amy Davies | Rating star Rating star Rating star Rating star

Introduction

Fujifilm’s latest rugged compact camera, the FinePix XP120, has been designed with families in mind, and offers a 16.4 million pixel 1/2.3-inch sensor, along with a 5x optical zoom (28-140mm equivalent). It is waterproof down to 20 metres, shockproof from a height of 1.75 metres, freeze-proof down to minus 10 degrees Celsius and dustproof. Other interesting features include a three-inch 920k-dot LCD screen, inbuilt WiFi and Full HD video recording. The Fujifilm FinePix XP120 retails for £149 / $199.

Ease of Use

One of the best things about the Fujifilm FinePix XP120 is that its small and light, making it easy to slip in a pocket or bag ready for your travels. It’s got a reasonably attractive rounded edge design, and is available in a range of colours. We were supplied with a bright yellow option, which is great for spotting the camera if you’re using it in typical tough conditions, such as underwater or in the snow.

A 5x optical zoom is housed inside the camera, with no protrusions from the camera even when zooming. This is to make sure that the camera is safe from drops and sealed from water and dust from entering it.

The battery and memory card compartment can be found on the side of the Fujifilm FinePix XP120, and are protected by a locking mechanism which you need to push in and twist to open. This prevents the door from opening when underwater and letting water into the camera. When you switch on the camera, it will prompt you to make sure that the door is fully closed and locked before you use it.

Fujifilm FinePix XP120
Front of the Fujifilm FinePix XP120

Although the buttons are a little on the small side, they are all well pronounced from the body of the XP120, making them easy to find and push when using the camera in difficult conditions, such as when wearing gloves or underwater. Furthermore, all of the buttons are grouped on the right hand side of the camera, so you’ll be able to make any settings changes when shooting one handed.

On the top of the Fujifilm XP120 is the on/off button, the video record button and the shutter release. There is a ridge in between the video record and the on/off button so you should hopefully not mistake the two and record accidental videos. The shutter release button is large and textured, again making it easy to find when using the camera underwater or when your visibility is impinged.

Flipping to the back of the Fujifilm FinePix XP120, and you’ll find all the buttons you need to make any camera changes. To zoom the lens, you’ll find two buttons marked W (wide) and T (tele). Zooming is reasonably quick and fluid, while the separation of these buttons is useful to keep the buttons distinct when using gloves, or shooting underwater.

Fujifilm FinePix XP120
Rear of the Fujifilm FinePix XP120

There’s a small playback button which you’ll use to access your images. From here, you can scroll through your images, and delete anything you don’t need. You can also set up wireless communication to transfer any images you’ve taken across to a smartphone or tablet for quick sharing online.

A four way navigational pad is available, with each of the buttons doubling up for a different function. The up button accesses exposure compensation (or delete in playback), the right button accesses flash modes, the left button switches on and off macro focusing, and the down button switches on the self-timer. In the middle of the navipad is a main menu button which gives you access to the main shooting menu where you can make further settings changes.

The final two buttons on the back of the Fujifilm XP120 include a direct access to high frame rate button, which doubles up as a wi-fi button. There’s also a display button which you can use to alter how the screen displays information.

Fujifilm FinePix XP120
Top of the Fujifilm FinePix XP120

A range of different shooting modes are available, which you can access through the main menu. Most users will probably want to leave it on Scene Recognition Auto. The camera is good at detecting what kind of image you’re trying to photograph, such as landscape and macro, and change its own settings accordingly. However, there’s also a range of specific scene and auto modes here to choose from. For those who are a little more advanced, shooting in Program mode gives you the option to make changes to certain settings such as white balance and ISO, but you can’t alter shutter speed or aperture. There’s also no raw format shooting available.

If you like to experiment with different looks and effects, switching to “Advanced Mode” gives you the option to choose between some different creative filters, as well as using a panoramic mode for ultra wide angle shots. There are also dedicated underwater modes if you find yourself shooting in an underwater situation.

A flash is inbuilt for the XP120, which is activated via the navigational pad. It’s worth noting that you can’t use the flash if you’re working in silent mode, but you’ll be prompted to switch that off if you are.

Fujifilm FinePix XP120
The Fujifilm FinePix XP120 In-hand

The Fujifilm FinePix XP120’s screen is not touch-sensitive, and it’s fixed. That’s not particularly an issue with a camera like this, because it’s unlikely a touchscreen would work all that well underwater anyway. Generally speaking, the screen is bright enough to be seen from a variety of different angles, but it can be difficult to see what it is displaying if you’re holding the camera underwater, but the rest of you is not - for example, photographing rock pools or near the tide.

When shooting in good light, focusing is quick and generally accurate. When activating macro focusing, the camera can hunt a little before locking on - it’s unusual for a false confirmation of focus to be displayed, instead, if the camera can’t focus, a red square will be shown. In lower lighting conditions, the camera struggles a little more to gain focus, but a focusing assist lamp helps.

Using the Fujifilm FinePix XP120 in general is pretty quick - start up time is just a couple of seconds, while moving through the different settings and viewing your images in playback is generally rapid.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 16 megapixel JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 7Mb.

It’s often the case that cameras which are “tough” don’t tend to have that great image quality - the main selling point being that you can still use them when other cameras would have to be packed away.

With the Fujifilm FinePix XP120 however, you could happily use the camera as your only holiday camera, no matter the shooting condition you’re working in. In good light, colours are bright and punchy without being overly saturated. A good overall impression of detail is also presented.

In lower light, shooting at higher ISO speeds, such as ISO 1600, results in slightly painterly effect type in images, with some image smoothing visible when examining at 100%. Still, the overall impression of detail remains more than usable when sharing at normal printing and web sizes. The highest settings of ISO 3200 and ISO 6400 are perhaps best avoided unless desperate to get the shot.

For the majority of situations, the XP120’s all-purpose metering system does a good job to produce balanced exposures, with barely any need to touch exposure compensation. The automatic white balance setting tends to err towards slightly warmer tones, but are generally quite pleasing.

When shooting underwater, the XP120 does a good job of producing accurate and pleasing images - but you might find you have best luck by switching to the specific underwater modes, rather than using automatic or Program mode.

The XP120 has a 5x optical zoom lens. It’s flexible enough to get close to most subjects, but image quality is the most detailed at the wide angle end.

Noise

The Fujifilm FinePix XP120 has seven sensitivity settings ranging from ISO 100 to 6400 at full. However, the maximum ISO 6400 sensitivity is only recorded at 8MP/3264x2448 pixel resolution

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

iso100.jpg iso200.jpg
   

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

iso400.jpg iso800.jpg
   

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

iso1600.jpg iso3200.jpg
   

ISO 6400 (100% Crop)

 
iso6400.jpg  

Focal Range

The Fujifilm FinePix XP120’s 5x zoom lens achieves a maximum wide-angle focal length equivalent to 28mm, and can zoom in to 140mm (in 35mm-camera terms).

28mm

focal_range1.jpg
 

140mm

focal_range2.jpg
 
 

Macro

The Fujifilm FinePix XP120’s lens will focus as close as 9cm from your subject, and does so reliably.

Macro

macro.jpg

Flash

When shooting a white surface from a distance of 1.5m, the Fujifilm FinePix XP120’s flash produces noticeable vignetting with the lens at maximum wide angle, though fall-off is much less severe when you use longer focal lengths.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (28mm)

Flash On - Wide Angle (28mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64
   

Flash Off - Telephoto (140mm)

Flash On - Telephoto (140mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64

In our testing with the XP120 successfully avoided red-eye and the flash produced only minor wide-angle vignetting from a distance of 1.5m.

Flash - Redeye

flash_redeye.jpg

Advanced Filters

The Fujifilm FinePix XP120 offers eleven filter effects, all of which are previewed live and recorded at full resolution. Your options are: Toy Camera, Miniature, Pop Color, High Key, Low Key, Dynamic Tone, Fish-eye, Soft Focus, Cross Screen, Sketch, and Partial Color (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple).

Toy Camera

Miniature
advancedfilter1-toy.JPG advancedfilter2-miniature.JPG
   

Pop Color

High Key

advancedfilter3-popcolor.JPG advancedfilter4-hikey.JPG
   

Low Key

Dynamic Tone

advancedfilter5-lowkey.JPG advancedfilter6-dynamictone.JPG
   

Fish-eye

Soft Focus

advancedfilter7-fisheye.JPG advancedfilter8-softfocus.JPG
   

Cross Screen

Sketch

advancedfilter9-crossscreen.JPG advancedfilter10-sketch.JPG
   
Partial Color  
advancedfilter11-partialcolor-red.JPG  

Panorama

Motion Panorama mode has 120, 180 and 360-degree pan options. Whichever you choose, images are recorded with a vertical resolution of 1088 pixels. That’s not exactly high, and the Fujifilm FinePix XP120’s panoramas also display small areas of stitching ghosting.

180 Degree

panorama.jpg

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Fujifilm FinePix XP120 camera, which were all taken using the 16 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample Movie & Video

This is a sample movie at the highest quality setting of 1920x1080 pixels at 60 frames per second. Please note that this 22 second movie is 38.1Mb in size.

Product Images

Fujifilm FinePix XP120

Front of the Fujifilm FinePix XP120

 
Fujifilm FinePix XP120

Side of the Fujifilm FinePix XP120

 
Fujifilm FinePix XP120

Side of the Fujifilm FinePix XP120

 
Fujifilm FinePix XP120

Rear of the Fujifilm FinePix XP120

 
Fujifilm FinePix XP120

Rear of the Fujifilm FinePix XP120 / Battery Cover Warning

 
Fujifilm FinePix XP120

Rear of the Fujifilm FinePix XP120 / Turned On

 
Fujifilm FinePix XP120

Rear of the Fujifilm FinePix XP120 / Image Displayed

 
Fujifilm FinePix XP120

Rear of the Fujifilm FinePix XP120 / Main Menu

 
Fujifilm FinePix XP120

Top of the Fujifilm FinePix XP120

 

Fujifilm FinePix XP120

Bottom of the Fujifilm FinePix XP120

 
Fujifilm FinePix XP120

Side of the Fujifilm FinePix XP120

 
Fujifilm FinePix XP120

Side of the Fujifilm FinePix XP120

 
Fujifilm FinePix XP120
Front of the Fujifilm FinePix XP120
 
Fujifilm FinePix XP120
Front of the Fujifilm FinePix XP120
 
Fujifilm FinePix XP120
Memory Card Slot / Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The Fujifilm FinePix XP120 is a good choice for holidaying photographers who are looking for something small, light and convenient to throw in a bag for a family holiday. 

Being tough means that not only is it suitable for adventure type holidays, but it’s also useful for standard beach holidays as you don’t have to worry about getting it wet, or sand getting into any of the parts. 

Image quality is good when shooting in bright light - something you’re likely to be doing when using it as a holiday camera. Having a range of different shooting conditions means you can take some control over it, but it’s best suited to those who are happy to use it in fully automatic. 

Having a 5x optical zoom gives you enough flexibility for most holiday type subjects, but you’ll find the best image quality at the wide angle end of the lens. Focusing for static subjects is good, but don’t expect to use the XP120 to capture super fast moving objects. 

Using the Fujifilm FinePix XP120 is easy, although the buttons are a touch on the small side. They’re just about prominent enough to be easy to use with gloves or underwater, though. The screen doesn’t tilt or articulate, nor is it touch sensitive, but that’s not such an issue for a camera of this kind. 

There are better underwater / tough cameras currently on the market, for example, the Olympus Tough TG-5 offers a wider maximum aperture, includes raw format shooting and can shoot in 4K. However, it’s also considerably more expensive than the Fujifilm FinePix XP120. If you’re looking for something which offers good value for money and will really only be used for family beach holidays, you should find this camera will satisfy almost all of your needs. 

4 stars

Ratings (out of 5)
Design 4
Features 3.5
Ease-of-use 4
Image quality 4
Value for money 4.5

Main Rivals

Listed below are some of the rivals of the Fujifilm FinePix XP120.

Canon PowerShot D30

The Canon PowerShot D30 is an action compact camera that's waterproof to an impressive 25m, as well as being dust, freeze and shock proof. The Canon D30 also offers12 megapixels, a 5x zoom, 1080p HD video, built-in GPS and a 3-inch screen. Read our in-depth Canon PowerShot D30 review now...

Fujifilm FinePix XP200

The Fujifilm FinePix XP200 is an all-action water, freeze, shock and dust proof 16 megapixel compact camera. The XP200 also offers 1080i HD movies at 60fps, a 5x zoom lens, a 3 inch LCD screen and built-in wi-fi. Read our expert Fujifilm FinePix XP200 review to find out if this is the best rugged camera for you...

Leica X-U

The Leica X-U (Typ 113) is a new waterproof, shockproof, and dustproof compact camera, offering a 16 megapixel APS-C sensor, 1080p HD video recording, fast f/1.7 35mm lens, 5fps burst shooting and a 3-inch screen. Read our in-depth Leica X-U (Typ 113) review now...

Nikon 1 AW1

The Nikon 1 AW1 is the World's first ever water-, freeze-, dust- and shockproof compact system camera. The AW1 is waterproof to 15 metres, freezeproof to -10°C and shockproof from heights of up to 2m, and comes with a new all-weather 1 Nikkor AW 11-27.5mm f/3.5–5.6 lens. Is this the perfect action camera for all the family? Read our Nikon 1 AW1 review to find out...

Nikon Coolpix AW130

The Coolpix AW130 is Nikon's latest all-action compact camera. The 16 megapixel Nikon AW130 features a 5x zoom lens, 3 inch OLED 921K-dot screen, built-in GPS. NFC and wi-fi, 8fps burst shooting and can record full 1080p video. Read our Nikon Coolpix AW130 review to find out if it's the right tough camera for you...

Olympus TG-4

The Olympus TG-4 is a new flagship water, freeze, shock and dust proof compact camera for 2015. Boasting a 25-100mm equivalent f/2.0-4.9 lens, the 16 megapixel TG-4 also offers Raw file support, built-in wi-fi and GPS connectivity, 1080p HD movies, a 4x zoom lens and a 3 inch OLED screen. Read our Olympus TG-4 review to find out what this tough camera is capable of...

Olympus TG-860

The Olympus TG-860 is a water, freeze, shock and dust proof compact camera with built-in wi-fi connectivity and GPS tracking. The 16 megapixel TG-860 also offers a 180-degree tilting LCD screen, 1080/60p HD movies, a 5x zoom lens starting at 21mm, and time-lapse interval shooting. Read our Olympus TG-860 review to find out what this tough camera is capable of...

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT25

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT25 is an affordable freeze, shock, water and dust proof camera. The Panasonic FT25 features a 5x zoom lens, 16 megapixel sensor and HD 720p video recording. Read our expert Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT25 review now...

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT5

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT5 is a new freeze, shock, water and dust proof camera. The well-appointed Panasonic FT5 also features built-in GPS, wi-fi and NFC functionality, a compass, altimeter and barometer, 4.6x zoom, 1920x1080 full-HD movie recording and a 16 megapixel sensor. Read our Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT5 review to find out if this is the best do-it-all camera for your family....

Ricoh WG-5 GPS

The Ricoh WG-5 GPS is a new shock, freeze, dust, water and crush proof compact camera. The Ricoh WG-5 GPS offers a 16 megapixel Backside Illumination CMOS sensor, a 4x zoom lens with f/2 aperture, Full HD movie recording and built-in LED macro lights. Available for £259.99 / $379.95, read our in-depth Ricoh WG-5 GPS review now...

Specifications

Number of effective pixels 16.4 million pixels
Image sensor 1/2.3-inch CMOS with primary color filter
Total number of pixels: 16.76 million pixels
Storage media Internal memory (approx. 96MB)
SD / SDHC / SDXC memory card *1
File format
still image
JPEG (Exif Ver 2.3)*2
(Design rule for Camera File system compliant / DPOF-compatible)
movie
Movie File Format : MOV
Movie Video Compression : H.264
Audio : Linear PCM Monaural
Number of recorded pixels L : (4:3) 4608 x 3456 / (3:2) 4608 x 3072 / (16:9) 4608 x 2592 / (1:1) 3456 x 3456
M : (4:3) 3264 x 2448 / (3:2) 3264 x 2176 / (16:9) 3264 x 1840 / (1:1) 2432 x 2432
S : (4:3) 2048 x 1536 / (3:2) 2304 x 1536 / (16:9) 1920 x 1080 / (1:1) 1728 x 1728

<Motion Panorama>
360° Vertical : 11520 x 1632 Horizontal : 11520 x 1088
180° Vertical : 5760 x 1632 Horizontal : 5760 x 1088
120° Vertical : 3840 x 1632 Horizontal : 3840 x 1088
Lens
name
Fujinon 5x optical zoom lens
focal length
f=5.0mm - 25.0mm, equivalent to 28 - 140mm on a 35mm format
full-aperture
F3.9 (Wide) - F4.9 (Telephoto)
constitution
13 elements in 11 groups
(includes 4 aspherical elements)
Digital zoom Intelligent digital zoom : approx. 2x (up to approx. 10x, with 5x optical zoom)
Aperture F3.9 / F6.2 (Wide)
F4.9 / F8.0 (Telephoto)
Focus distance
(from lens surface)
Normal
  • Wide : approx. 60cm to infinity / 1.9 ft. to infinity
  • Telephoto : approx. 1.0m to infinity / 3.2 ft. to infinity
Macro
  • Wide : approx. 9cm - 2.0m / 3.5 in. - 6.5 ft.
  • Telephoto : approx. 1.0m - 3.0m / 3.2 ft. - 9.8 ft.
Sensitivity AUTO / AUTO(400) / AUTO(800) / AUTO(1600)
Equivalent to ISO 100 / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1600 / 3200 / 6400*(Standard Output Sensitivity)
  • * ISO 6400 is effective in image size M or S.
Exposure control TTL 256-zone metering
Exposure mode Programmed AE
Shooting modes Portrait, Landscape, Sport, Night, Night (Tripod), Sunset, Snow, Beach, Under water, Under water (Macro), Party, Flower, Text
Image stabilizer CMOS shift type
Face detection Yes
Exposure compensation -2.0EV - +2.0EV 1/3EV step
Shutter speed (Auto mode) 1/4 sec. to 1/2000 sec., (All other modes) 4 sec. to 1/2000 sec.
Continuous shooting
TOP
H : approx. 10 fps max. 10 frames (Size L, M) / max, 20 frames (size S)
M : approx. 5.0 fps max. 10 frames (Size L, M) / max, 20 frames (size S)
L : approx. 3.0 fps max. 10 frames (Size L, M) / max, 40 frames (size S)
SH : approx. 60 fps max. 70 frames (Size S 16:9 only)
LAST
H : approx. 10 fps max. 10 frames (Size L, M) / max, 20 frames (size S)
M : approx. 5.0 fps max. 10 frames (Size L, M) / max, 20 frames (size S)
L : approx. 3.0 fps max. 10 frames (Size L, M) / max, 20 frames (size S)
  • * Use a card with SD Speed Class with style= or higher.
  • * The frame rate and the recorded number of frames varies with shooting conditions.
Auto bracketing -
Focus
mode
Single AF / Continuous AF
type
TTL contrast AF, AF assist illuminator available
AF frame selection
Center / Multi / Tracking
White balance Automatic scene recognition
Preset
Fine, Shade, Fluorescent light (Daylight), Fluorescent light (Warm White), Fluorescent light (Cool White), Incandescent light, Under water
Self-timer 10 sec. / 2 sec. delay, Group Timer
Interval shooting Yes
Time-lapse movie Yes
Flash Auto flash (i-flash)
Effective range : (ISO AUTO)
Normal
  • Wide : approx. 70cm - 4.4m / 2.3 ft. - 14.4 ft.
  • Telephoto : approx. 1.0m - 3.8m / 3.2 ft. - 12.4 ft.
Macro
  • Wide : approx. 30cm - 2.0m / 1.0 ft. - 6.5 ft.
  • Telephoto : approx. 1.0m - 3.0m / 3.2 ft. - 9.8 ft.
Flash modes
Red-eye removal OFF
Auto, Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Slow Synchro.
Red-eye removal ON
Red-eye Reduction Auto, Red-eye Reduction & Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Red-eye Reduction & Slow Synchro.
Hot shoe -
LCD monitor 3.0-inch, approx. 920K-dot, TFT color LCD monitor, approx. 97% coverage for shooting, 100% for playing back
Movie recording Full HD 1920 x 1080 60p / 30p (max 29 min)
HD 1280 x 720 60p
640 x 480 30p
with monaural sound, Wind filter.
Zoom function can be used.
  • * Use a card with SD Speed Class with or higher.
Photography functions SR AUTO, Program AE, Cinemagraph, Action camera mode, Pro low-light, HDR, Natural Light& with Flash, High Speed movie(120/240 fps), Advanced Filter for still image : Toy camera / Miniature/ Pop color / High-key / Low-key / Dynamic tone / Soft Focus/ Cross Screen/ Fish-eye / Partial color / Sketch, Advanced filter for movie : Toy camera / Pop color / High-key / Low-key / Fish-eye / Partial color, Framing guide Frame No. memory, Date stamp, Motion panorama360, Automatic LCD brightness adjustment
Playback functions Multi-frame playback (with microthumbnail), Protect, Crop, Resize, Slide show, Image rotate, Photobook assist, Image search, Red eye removal, Copy, Print order(DPOF), Wireless communication, PC auto save, Favorites, Panorama, Erase selected frames, Movie edit, Create cinemagraph
Wireless transmitter (standard)
standard
IEEE 802.11b / g / n (standard wireless protocol)
access mode
Infrastructure
Wireless function Geotagging / Wireless communication (Image transfer) / View & Obtain Images / Remote camera shooting / PC Autosave / instax Printer Print
Other functions Exif Print, 35 languages selection, Time difference, Silent mode
Dust proof: IP6X
Water proof: IPX8 (up to 20.0m, within 120min.)
Anti-shock: Method;MIL-STD-810F-516.5 Fuji's standard;1.75m
Terminal
Video output
-
Digital interface
Micro USB 2.0 High-speed
HDMI output
HDMI Micro connector (Type D)
Power supply Li-ion battery NP-45S (included)
Dimensions 109.6mm (W) x 71.0mm (H) x 27.8mm (D) / 4.3 in. (W) x 2.7 in. (H) x 1.0 in. (D)
  • * excluding projections.
Weight Approx. 203g / 7.1 oz. (including battery and memory card)
Approx. 186g / 6.5 oz. (excluding battery and memory card)
Operating Temperature -10°C - +40°C (+14°F - +104°F)
Operating Humidity 10% - 80% (no condensation)
Guide to the number of available frames for battery operation*3 Approx. 210 frames (AUTO mode)
Accessories included Li-ion battery NP-45S
AC Power adapter AC-5VF
USB cable
Hand strap
Owner's manual

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