Fujifilm FinePix XP140 Review

Features
Handling
Performance
Verdict
Alternatives
Specification

Quick Verdict

The Fujifilm XP140 is a well-built and robust camera offering a lot of shooting modes including 4K video recording at 15fps. With a waterproof rating of 25m, it could make a great addition to your holiday giving you the ability to shoot effortlessly underwater. It can struggle to focus on close-up subjects and low-light performance isn't great, but landscapes and portraits offer punchy colours and good skin tones. For the price, the camera offers a lot of functionality.

Fujifilm FinePix XP140 Features

The Fujifilm XP140 is the latest incarnation in Fujifilm's XP line of tough cameras. The XP130 was released only last year, but despite this the XP140 offers a number of improvements on the previous model:

• Waterproof to a depth of 25m, that's 5m more than the XP130
• 4K video recording (at 15fps), the XP130 only offered FullHD
• New processor 
• Advanced SR Auto mode with eye detection for quickly locking on to your subject
• ISO sensitivity has increased from 6400 to 12800

The Fujifilm XP140 has the same solid set of core features as the previous models with a few handy improvements. 

Apart from these key features, the main specs are the same as the previous model - there's a 16 megapixel BSI CMOS sensor, a wide-angle 5x optical zoom lens equivalent to 28-140mm in 35mm terms, and there is optical image stabilisation built-in, which moves the CMOS sensor to counter camera shake.

On the front there's the lens, flash unit, and a raised rubber grip for your fingers. On the top, there's a large, textured shutter button and next to this you'll find the on/off button and a dedicated video recording button. 

On the back there's a 3-inch 920k dot LCD monitor and next to this on the left are w/t (wide and telephoto) buttons for zooming in and out. Below there is a plastic textured area for your thumb. There's a small playback button to view your images and a 4-way controller which also allows quick access to a function of your choice, flash settings, self timer settings, exposure compensation and the ability to delete images. In the middle of this si the menu/ok button. Below the 4 way controller is a dedicated multiple exposure button and a back button. There's a robust looking metal loop on the right-hand side to attach a strap or floatation device to. 

On the bottom there's a tripod screw thread, and on the right-hand side there's a grippy twist wheel which gives you access to the battery, memory card and USB/HDMI ports. To access this you need to depress the button in the middle of the gripped wheel and turn it to minimise the chances of accidental opening while the camera is wet. There's a reassuring click when this is locked and there's substantial rubber sealing. 

FinePix XP140 shooting modes

There is no mode dial but through the menu you can select from a number of shooting modes:

• SR Auto
• Program - allowing you to change ISO, white balance and exposure compensation
• Multiple exposure - take 2 images and merge them into one for creative photos
• Portrait - offering 'soft overall tone and beautiful skin tones'
• Portrait enhancer - offers 3 levels of enhancement to make skin appear to your liking
• Landscape 
• Advanced filter - a wide number of filters can be added 
• Panorama
• Sport
• Night
• Night (tripod) - offers a lower shutter speed 
• Fireworks
• Sunset
• Snow
• Beach
• Underwater
• Party
• Flower
• Text
• CALS - Take pictures at size and image quality settings suitable for submission under Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism guidelines. A slightly odd addition!

The camera offers W-Fi, enabling you to connect it to your phone via the Fujifilm app. It also offers Bluetooth, and the ability to pair directly with Instax printers to get instant photos of your adventures.  

There are 4K, FullHD 23.98p, 24p, 50p and 59.94p options as well as 1080p square (for Instagram videos). HD lower resolution video can also be captures. High-speed video and time-lapse movie mode in 4K and lower resolutions is also available.

Key Features

• 16-megapixel BSI CMOS sensor
• 5x optical zoom lens, f/3.9-4.9
• OIS (sensor shift)
• 3-inch LCD 920k dots
• Waterproof to 25m, freeseproof to -10 degrees C
• 4K video at 15fps
• ISO 100-12800
• Wi-Fi & Bluetooth built in
• Up to 10 fps continuous shooting
• Slow motion movie mode
• Buy now on Amazon UK, Amazon USA

Fujifilm FinePix XP140 Handling

The XP140 camera feels very robustly built and solid, and the finger grip on the front works well to give you a reassuring hold on the camera. Everything is very ergonomic although those with larger hands may find the buttons fiddly, especially zoom in/out buttons.  

The screen is relatively bright and is large enough to comfortably view images. Colour reproduction is good in good light, with punchy colours. In bright sunlight some of the lighter colours can appear washed out. 

The camera doesn't offer a touch screen but the menu is fairly simple to navigate. The D-pad also offers shortcuts to access flash, exposure compensation, and self timer settings. You can also personalise the left (fn) button to perform one of a variety of tasks. Everything's very ergonomically laid out to make things as easy as possible if you're shooting underwater.

The camera can be connected to a smartphone via Bluetooth, or directly to a Fujifilm Instax instant printer enabling you to directly print instant photos from the camera.

Battery life - Battery life is rated at 240 shots in auto mode, which is average for a camera of this spec. The battery life should be fine for occasional snaps and video throughout the day. Heavy use may require an extra battery to make sure you can keep shooting when out and about.

Fujifilm FinePix XP140 Performance

The performance section is where we look at the image quality performance of the camera. Additional sample photos and product shots are available in the Equipment Database, where you can add your own review, photos and product ratings.

Fujifilm FinePix XP140 Sample Photos

Sample Photos - Colours are accurate and vibrant, with good rendition of skin tones. The camera did struggle to pick out some detail in very dark and light areas of the image, and sometimes struggled to focus on close-up subjects, choosing instead to focus on the background. There is a 9cm closest focusing distance, which can make it awkward to get really close shots. Details are a little soft when looking closely at the captures - but for sharing online they should be fine.

Fujifilm FinePix XP140 Lens test images

Lens Performance - Some flare and chromatic aberration is present when shooting into the sun - especially at the edges of the frame, where detail drops. When shooting in bright situations the camera likes to over darken the scene you're looking at - so it's sometimes necessary to half-press the shutter in a darker area of the image and the re-compose to get a better exposure.

Fujifilm FinePix XP140 ISO test images

ISO Noise Performance - ISO100-12800 is available. ISO100-800 produce usable images with a fair amount of detail. ISO1600-12800 sees a drop in detail and images become very noisy as the ISO speed increases. 

Fujifilm FinePix XP140 White-balance test images