Fujifilm FinePix XP90 Review

Introduction
The FinePix XP90 replaces last year’s XP80 to become FujiFilm’s flagship (and since the discontinuation of the XP200, only) toughened and waterproof compact camera.
As is often the way with new compact cameras, the XP90 isn’t actually all that new. It boasts identical toughness credentials to the XP80, being waterproof to 15m/50ft, shockproof to a height of 1.75m/5.8ft, freezeproof to -10°C/-14°F, as well as dustproof.
Much of what’s underneath the toughened exterior is also carried over from the XP80, so the new camera gets the same 16.4 million pixel 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor, paired with a sealed 5x optical zoom lens giving a focal range equivalent to 28-140mm. The lens also retains optical image stabilisation.
The only significant improvement made to the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 is a new 3-inch, 920k-dot LCD screen. Its extra features have been seen before on the XP80, but they are fairly extensive. You get Wi-Fi connectivity for remote camera control and easy image sharing, plus an interval timer for shooting time-lapse sequences. Full HD video capture is also available, as is high frame rate video recording.
The Fujifilm FinePix XP90 can be had for around £149/$179, undercutting the cost of rival toughened cameras like the Canon PowerShot D30, Nikon Coolpix AW130, Olympus Tough TG-4 and Ricoh WG-30.
Ease of Use
Apart from some minor styling tweaks, the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 follows the outgoing XP80’s outward appearance. It’s unashamedly plastic, though the build quality is high and there’s no flex or obvious weak points. The only slight issue if we’re nit-picking is the prominent lens bulge, which is a magnet for chips and scratches if the camera is dropped. The XP90’s ergonomics are also hard to fault, with a good sized front finger grip and a textured thumb rest on the back. Even the shutter release is textured so it’s easier to press when underwater, however the video and playback buttons are very small and the latter is especially tricky to press when wearing gloves.
At 109.6mm x 71mm x 27.8mm, the XP90 isn’t exactly svelte, but its chunky size is great when you’re in the thick of the action or under water, and the 203g ready-to-shoot weight is reasonable for a toughened compact. A single door covers the battery and memory card slots, and it’s secured by a rotating dial lock and safety button. Some waterproof cameras use two separate catches instead, but Fujifilm's locking system is marginally more convenient while still protecting the flap from being opened accidentally.
The Fujifilm FinePix XP90's control layout is much the same as the XP80, with the rear panel being especially similar, though there’s a more noticeable difference when you power the camera up. The XP80’s 2.7-inch, 460k-dot LCD screen has been replaced by a 3-inch, 920k-dot device for a crisper viewing experience. The new display also boasts superb viewing angles, while brightness is high enough to maintain easy visibility under direct sunlight. The only thing missing is touch sensitivity, but that’s not really surprising as capacitive touch screens won’t work properly when wet.
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Front of the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 |
The increased screen resolution helps display Fujifilm's clear menu interface at its best. This is split into two tabs: a shooting menu spread over three pages, and a set-up menu covering five pages. With so many pages of camera options, it isn’t easy to remember where to find any one setting. Splitting the camera’s settings into additional categories would make for faster, more logical camera control. It’s also a pity that there isn’t a separate menu containing frequently used camera settings to avoid entering the main menu for almost every function change.
Alongside the new screen there are two buttons for controlling the XP90’s 5x optical zoom, which is unchanged from the XP80 and provides an acceptable – though not particularly wide – 28mm-equivalent maximum wide angle focal length. As with many waterproof cameras, the zoom button feel quite vague and spongey, though they function fine. The directional pad on the rear panel doubles as controls for the flash, macro focussing, self-timer and exposure compensation. The latter enables +/-2EV of exposure control, while the self-timer features 10 or 2-second delays, plus a group timer option, and then there’s that interval timer.
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Rear of the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 |
The interval timer allows you to set the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 to record images over a duration of up to six hours, with shots fired every 3, 5, or 10 seconds, up to a minimum frequency of 10-minute intervals. It’s a useful feature for shooting time-lapse sequences, and if you select the Time-Lapse Movie option from the main menu, the XP90 will convert the recorded images into a video with a resolution of up to 1920x1080 and a frame rate of 60, 30, or 10fps. The only drawback is the XP90’s NP-45S rechargeable Li-ion battery, which is carried over from the XP80 and is rated for the same 210 shots per charge. That won’t be enough to power lengthier time lapse sequences, and it’s not really enough for normal shooting, especially when compared with the Nikon Coolpix AW130 that’ll manage 370 shots per charge.
Back to the XP90’s controls and you’ll notice that there’s no mode button. There are in fact 22 different shooting modes, but you’ll need to access them via the Menu button on the rear panel, which reveals the shooting modes as the first menu option. The default Scene Recognition Auto mode is accompanied by a plain Auto mode that functions almost identically, as well as a Programmable auto mode where you can set options like ISO sensitivity, white balance, and autofocus mode (centre, multi-point and tracking modes are on offer).
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Top of the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 |
The mode menu also contains the usual selection of scene modes, but more interestingly you get a multi-shot HDR setting, as well as a sweep panorama mode and three different night scene options (see the Image Quality section for examples). Underwater and Underwater Macro modes are also present, helping to remove any colour casts when shooting at the deeper end of the camera’s 15-metre depth rating.
The last button of interest on the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 is the Wi-Fi button at the bottom of the rear panel. By downloading the Fuji Camera Remote app – available for iOS and Android – you can remotely control the XP90 and transfer photos from it to your smart device. The system lets you download a full resolution photo in around five seconds, and it boasts a decent amount of remote control options. You can zoom at two speeds with almost no signal lag, as well as remotely control self-timer and flash options. The app will also let you switch between stills and video shooting. The only niggles are a lack of NFC pairing, and some slight lag between pressing the remote shutter release and the XP90 actually capturing a shot.
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The Fujifilm FinePix XP90 In-hand |
During conventional shooting, the Wi-Fi button instead activates the XP90’s burst capture mode. At full resolution, the XP90 can shoot at up to 10fps for a 10 frame burst, or it’ll capture 70 frames at up to 60fps if you drop the image size to Small, Widescreen (1920x1080). However, in both cases you still get only around one second of capture time. If that’s not long enough, the XP90’s will shoot a 30-second burst of video at 120fps at 640x480 resolution, or 240fps at 320x240, and it maxes out at 320fps, albeit at a tiny and virtually unusable 160x120 resolution.
The Fujifilm FinePix XP90 powers up almost instantly, though you’ll need to wait two seconds before a shot can be captured. Autofocussing in good light isn’t quite instantaneous, but it’s nippy enough and also reliable. However when things get dim there’s some noticeable focussing delay, and the camera often fails to focus, especially in night-time conditions.
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 little surprise that with its aging sensor and image processor, the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 doesn’t produce eye-popping image quality. Even in optimal daytime conditions detail is lacking and fine landscape foliage is smeared to a greater extent than we’d expect from a 1/2.3-inch sensor. In fact it’s only the physical image dimensions that give away the sensor’s megapixel count, as in terms of detail levels, shots look as though they’ve been captured at 8-12MP and simply enlarged to 16MP.
Fortunately the XP90’s punchy colour reproduction and generally accurate exposure metering help it record shots that are initially acceptable to the eye. But again, look more closely and the mediocre dynamic range manifests itself with murky shadow detail and some blown-out highlights.
High ISO performance is nothing special, either. Grain is clearly visible at ISO 800, further softening fine detail. ISO 1600 images look acceptable at 50% image size, but zoom in and there’s little – if any – extra detail revealed, thanks to aggressive noise reduction processing. The extent of noise in ISO 3200 shots makes them only suitable for 6x4 prints or social media sharing. ISO 6400 is as good as useless, as despite this sensitivity being limited to 8MP, the camera still can’t hide the dreadful dynamic range, muted colour and dismal detail levels.
While the Fujifilm FinePix XP90’s sensor doesn’t impress, it’s 5x zoom lens does a much better job. Corner sharpness is a close match for the centre of frame, and although fringing is visible on very high contrast boundaries, it’s nothing intrusive. The lens’ optical image stabilisation also performs very well, helping to keep shots sharp at maximum zoom and in most shooting conditions.
Noise
The Fujifilm FinePix XP90 has seven sensitivity settings ranging from ISO 100 to 6400 at full. However, the maximum ISO 6400 sensitivity is only recorded at 8MP/3264x2448 resolution
ISO 100 (100% Crop) |
ISO 200 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 400 (100% Crop) |
ISO 800 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 1600 (100% Crop) |
ISO 3200 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 6400 (100% Crop) |
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Focal Range
The Fujifilm FinePix XP90’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 |
140mm |
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File Quality
Shooting the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 at its maximum 16MP resolution with Fine jpeg quality produces images around 7-8MB in size. Switching to Normal quality at the same resolution roughly halves the file size.
16M Fine (8.38Mb) (100% Crop) | 16M Normal (3.62Mb) (100% Crop) |
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Macro
The Fujifilm FinePix XP90’s lens will focus as close as 9cm from your subject, and does so reliably. However, cameras like the Nikon Coolpix AW130 and Olympus TG-4 both boast 1cm macro focussing.
Macro |
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Flash
When shooting a white surface from a distance of 1.5m, the Fujifilm FinePix XP90’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. Red-eye is also just about visible when firing the flash without red-eye reduction enabled, and even with the system activated, red-eye isn’t successfully eliminated.
Flash Off - Wide Angle (28mm) |
Flash On - Wide Angle (28mm) |
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Flash Off - Telephoto (140mm) |
Flash On - Telephoto (140mm) |
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In our testing with the XP90 successfully avoided red-eye and the flash produced only minor wide-angle vignetting from a distance of 1.5m.
Flash Off |
Flash On (100% Crop) |
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Flash - Redeye |
Flash - Redeye (100% Crop) |
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Night Modes
You get four different ways of capturing night scenes with the Fujifilm FinePix XP90. In the default Scene Recognition Auto mode, night images are murky, underexposed and lack detail. Pro Low Light mode aims to improve things by capturing multiple exposures and merging them into a sharper 8MP image with better dynamic range, but our testing produced similarly disappointing results to using the default Auto mode. Switching to Night mode produced marginally better image quality with slightly higher sharpness, but for acceptable night-time results, your best option by far is to switch to Night Tripod mode and shoot a long exposure anchored by a tripod.
Scene Recognition Auto Mode |
Pro Low Light Mode |
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Night Mode |
Night Tripod Mode |
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Image Stabilisation
Although not perfectly sharp, the Fujifilm FinePix XP90’s image stabilisation has performed well to keep this 1/8th-second exposure useable. With stabilisation disabled and a marginally quicker 1/9th-second shutter speed, even a very steady hand couldn’t keep the same shot anything like as sharp.
Off |
On |
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Advanced Filters
The Fujifilm FinePix XP90 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 |
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Pop COlor |
High Key |
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Low Key |
Dynamic Tone |
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Fish-eye |
Soft Focus |
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Cross Screen |
Sketch |
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Partial Color | |
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HDR
The Fujifilm FinePix XP90’s HDR mode provides a useful boost in dynamic range, although it could go further still without shoots looking over processed.
Off |
On |
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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 XP90’s panoramas also display small areas of stitching ghosting.
120 Degree |
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180 Degree |
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Sample Images
As of February 2025, we are no longer providing full size sample images or videos for download.
Please contact us if you have any feedback on our new policy.
Product Images
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Front of the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 |
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Side of the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 |
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Side of the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 |
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Rear of the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 |
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Rear of the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 / Image Displayed |
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Rear of the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 / Main Menu |
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Top of the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 |
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Bottom of the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 |
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Side of the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 |
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Side of the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 |
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Front of the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 |
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Front of the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 |
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Memory Card Slot / Battery Compartment |
Conclusion
Judged on image quality alone, the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 would be a disappointing camera with little going for it. Most modern high-end smartphones will trounce it for detail capture, dynamic range, and even high ISO performance. They’ll also lay bare the XP90’s substandard low light focussing, as will a decent regular compact camera in the same price range as the Fujifilm. The latter is also likely to outlast the XP90 when it comes to battery life.
But you can’t have it all for this kind of money. Sure, cameras like the Olympus Tough TG-4 and Panasonic Lumix FT5 produce noticeably better image quality, but they cost significantly more. Where the Fujifilm makes a case for itself is by providing respectable toughness specs with useful extra features like Wi-Fi, a decent screen and sound ergonomics at an accessible price.
If you’re on a tight budget and need a rugged waterproof camera, the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 is a good value option, providing you accept its image quality will be average at best.
Ratings (out of 5) | |
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Design | 4.5 |
Features | 4 |
Ease-of-use | 4 |
Value for money | 4 |
Main Rivals
Listed below are some of the rivals of the Fujifilm FinePix XP90.
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...
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 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-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...
Olympus Tough TG-3
The Olympus Tough TG-3 is a new water, freeze, shock and dust proof compact camera for 2014. Boasting a fast f2.0 aperture high-speed lens, the 16 megapixel TG-3 also offers built-in wi-fi and GPS connectivity, 1080p HD movies, a 4x zoom lens and a 3 inch OLED screen. Read our Olympus Tough TG-3 review to find out what this all-action 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...
Ricoh WG-M1
The Ricoh WG-M1 is a water, freeze and shock proof action camera with built-in wi-fi connectivity. The Ricoh WG-30 Wi-fi offers 14 megapixels, Full HD movie recording and a colour LCD monitor. Read our in-depth Ricoh WG-30 Wi-fi review now...
Review Roundup
Reviews of the Fujifilm FinePix XP90 from around the web.
digitalcamera-hq.com »
Fujifilm didn't change much when they updated the waterproof XP80. The Fujifilm FinePix XP90 offers a higher resolution LCD screen and a new time lapse capture mode.
Read the full review »
Specifications
Number of effective pixels | 16.4 million pixels |
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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 |
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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 |
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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) |
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Sensitivity | AUTO / AUTO(400) / AUTO(800) / AUTO(1600) Equivalent to ISO 100 / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1600 / 3200 / 6400*(Standard Output Sensitivity)
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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 |
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Auto bracketing | - |
Focus |
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White balance | Automatic scene recognition
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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)
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Flash modes |
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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.
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Photography functions | SR AUTO, Program AE, Action camera mode, Pro low-light, HDR, Natural Light & with Flash, High Speed movie(120 / 240 / 320 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 / Sketch, 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 |
Wireless transmitter (standard) |
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Wireless function | Geotagging / Wireless communication (Image transfer) / View & Obtain Images / Remote camera shooting / PC Autosave |
Other functions | PictBridge, Exif Print, 35 languages selection, Time difference, Silent mode Dustproof : IP6X Waterproof : IPX8 (up to 15.0m, within 120 min.) Anti-shock : Method;MIL-STD-810F-516.5 Fuji's standard;1.75m |
Terminal |
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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)
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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 |
Optional accessories | Li-ion battery NP-45S |
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