FujifilmFinepixXp30
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Fujifilm FinePix XP30 hands-on: a week of underwater testing (video)
One thing's for sure: we're utterly thrilled with the direction that ruggedized cameras are heading. Canon's PowerShot D10, while impressive, was more like a small stone than a bona fide P&S, but it wouldn't take much convincing to make someone believe that Fujifilm's FinePix XP30 was just another run-of-the-mill compact. Our pals over at Photography Blog already ran this thing through the wringer earlier in the year, but we couldn't resist the opportunity to take it to a few other places for testing. Namely, the Big Island of Hawaii. We spent a solid week with the XP30 and Samsung's W200, and while neither ended up impressing us from a visual standpoint, they both shared one common lining of the silver variety: price. At just $184, the XP30 is quite the bargain given its neatly trimmed exterior, but was the performance enough to warrant a recommendation? Head on past the break for out thoughts, as well as a heaping of sample shots and even an underwater video taken... after dark. %Gallery-131553%
Fujifilm FinePix XP30 reviewed: average ruggedized cam, with GPS
With this ruggedized, GPS-equipped FinePix XP30 from Fujifilm, you won't have any trouble proving to your friends that that penguin photo your grandmother uses as her "screen saver" really was taken in Antarctica. Unless it happens to be snowing in Antarctica. Or even cloudy. This otherwise average 14.2 megapixel camera is the first to include GPS, but the gurus at Photography Blog had trouble getting a fix while testing in England. They also had issues with the battery door flipping open when the camera was dropped, and sand getting trapped in the zoom rocker -- not problems you want to see on a ruggedized cam. Like most rugged cameras, the XP30's image quality also doesn't compare to its land-limited cousins, according to the review, so this $240 Fuji might be a better bet as a second shooter than your be-all and end-all camera. Head on over to Photography Blog for the full review.
