Fuji X20 at $599 or X10 at $379?

[Biro]

A friend of mine has become interested in Fuji's X20/X10 family and the current price for new examples of these cameras (at least on Amazon) is $599 for the X20 and $379 for the X10 (which is interestly the same as the going price for a new XF1).

So, of course, my friend asks me which is the better option. I almost defaulted to saying the X20 but I told him to wait a few days until I can ask the best and brightest at both FujiXspot and Serious Compacts. What say ye?

 

[flysurfer]

That depends on what your friend wants to accomplish.

 

[dacalac]

+1 to the above. What is he looking to use this camera for?

 

[Biro]

We're talking about the X20/10 here. So we're talking about general walking around, travel use and family snapshots.

 

[Joey Wilson]

For me, the X10 NIB at $379 is a no-brainer: That's a steal. You can make great pics with either camera, but they are essentially two different cameras: I think of them like buying the same car with either a gas or a diesel engine.

If this guy is quite a ways along in his digital photography, has a PP 'suite', and is really serious about this stuff, there's more support for X20, and the XTrans output is more like the XPro, X100S, etc. If he really just wants a walk-around camera, is not geeked-out to have the latest/greatest, and has his prints done SOOC at Costco, and wants to save some $$$, again, for me the X10 at that price is a steal.

And again, for me, if the guy is a rank beginner, steer him to a Canon P+S: These aren't the best 'Auto Everything Idiot Proof Your Mom Likes It' cameras.

 

[depscribe]

Unless he is especially interested in manupulating RAW files, in my view there is no question -- he should get the X10. Indeed, having gotten an X20 and used it for a couple days I returned it and still have and use my X10, which I would prefer even if they were the same price.

 

[Biro]

The X10 price is down to $349 now. I have recommended it to my friend. One last question from him: Is the hybrid phase detection/contrast detection autofocus of the X20 that much better than the AF on the X10?

 

[flysurfer]

Not $250 better, I'd say.

 

[Biro]

Okay, then.

 

[depscribe]

In my (brief) X20 experience, better/faster focusing was something I was looking for, but did not observe it. It is supposedly mathematically quicker and better than the X10, but as a practical matter the two are at least very close. Nor did the (occasional) times when the X10 could not lock focus cease in the X20. Then again, I was shooting in available darkness -- really low light -- with both cameras, and must confess that I was sometimes surprised that either of them made a picture at all. Something has happened with sensors in the last couple of years -- say since the release of the X100 -- that allows digital cameras to far surpass film in low-light shooting. (I mostly shoot D7100s, and I am constantly surprised at how good they are in very low light. So it's not just a Fuji thing, though I think Fuji led the way.)

 

[flysurfer]

I remember writing about it several months ago: X20 vs. X10 | Fuji Rumors

Could be helpful.