Features
Handling
Performance
Verdict
Specification
The XP150 was added to the Fujifilm FinePix range of digital compact cameras in January 2012 and is water, shock, dust and freezeproof. It is available in black, silver, orange, green and blue for £219.00.
Fujifilm FinePix XP150 Features
The XP150 is designed for photographers who enjoy the outdoors and enjoy active hobbies, such as mountain climbing or scuba diving. It is waterproof to 10m, shockproof to 2m and freezeproof to –10°C as well as being dust and sandproof. There is a 5x optical zoom, a 35mm equivalent of 28-140mm, which has a water repellent coating to stop water droplets ruining your shots. There is a 14 megapixel CMOS sensor and sensor shift image stabilisation to help reduce camera shake. With continuous shooting, the XP150 can shoot up to 10fps.
The XP150 has a new high sensitivity GPS antenna aiming to make it quicker and easier to pinpoint your location, no matter where you are in the world. The GPS will track your movements and show the route on the LCD screen. You can create a pictorial map of the locations you’ve visited using the bundled My FinePix Studio software and your PC. The GPS will let you use the camera as an electronic compass so you can ascertain the direction in which you’re shooting, the altitude and the direction and distance to a previous location.
Videos are recorded at full 1080p HD at 30fps with an underwater movie function. The XP150 can be connected to a HDTV via HDMI for video playback.
Key Features
- 14.4 megapixel CMOS sensor
- 5x optical zoom lens (35mm equiv: 28-140mm) with water repellent coating
- CMOS sensor shift image stabilisation
- Waterproof to 10m
- Shockproof to 2m
- Freezeproof to -10°C
- Dust and sandproof
- High sensitivity GPS with electronic compass and tracking
- Full 1080p HD movie recording and underwater movie mode
- 2.7 inch LCD with anti-reflection coating
Fujifilm FinePix XP150 Handling
The parts of the XP150 where you hold it are rubberised, making it easy to grip, with a groove on the front for your right-hand fingers. The lens is housed internally and the camera is small enough to carry in your pocket. The buttons are typical for a compact camera and are all easy to press, with a dedicated button for using the GPS, which is able to detect your position in less than a minute when switching the camera on. The menus are easy to navigate but it makes a horrible beeping noise on every move, you'll soon be looking for the option to switch the sound off.
To access the battery and memory card there are two locks to keep it firmly in place and ensure no water gets in. These are numbered so you click them in the correct order, when they are open the numbers are a bright yellow to help you notice if you leave them unlocked by mistake. The 2.7 inch screen is easy to view in all lighting conditions thanks to the anti-reflection coating.
The battery has a CIPA rating of 300 shots, meaning the camera will be ready to shooting for a full day. We tested the camera's performance at focusing, shutter response, shot-to-shot time, continuous shooting etc. and have posted the results below. To test this we took 6 or more shots and calculated the average.
| Shutter Response | 0.2 seconds | |
| Wide - Focus / Shutter Response | 0.45 seconds | |
| Full zoom - Focus / Shutter Response | 0.55 seconds | |
| Switch on Time to Taking a Photo | 2.0 seconds | |
| Shot to Shot (without flash) | 1.5 seconds | |
| Shot to Shot with Flash | 2.1 seconds | |
| Continuous shooting H |
10 fps | |
| Continuous shooting M | 5 fps | |
| Continuous shooting L | 3.3 fps |
All three continuous shooting modes have a limited image size of 3 megapixels.
Fujifilm FinePix XP150 Performance
When viewing the images at full size, it is clear that detail isn't great throughout the images whether shooting wide or with the optical zoom. Colour reproduction is good with image well exposed. The lens has a minimum focusing distance of 9cm, which doesn't allow the camera to close enough to take particularly good macro shots.
Fujifilm FinePix XP150 Lens test images
Noise doesn't effect images at the lowest ISO setting of 100, with a little appearing at ISO 200. Noise becomes more significant at ISO 400, enough to cause images to lose a little sharpness. Going to up to ISO 800 sees a much softer image produced, but its colours remain good. Both ISO 1600 and ISO 3200 produces images with lots of noise, which leads to a loss of detail in the images. These settings are best used where there is no other choice, with the images best used for the web.
Fujifilm FinePix XP150 ISO test images
The two landscape pictures below demonstrate further how well the XP150 reproduces colours, as does the panoramic picture, which are stitched together almost perfectly. When shooting portraits, skin tones are pleasant and when using the flash, are free of red-eye.
Fujifilm FinePix XP150 Scene modes
Panorama 1 | 1/550 sec | f/6.2 | 5.0 mm | ISO 100
When shooting underwater, the camera has a number of modes, including underwater, underwater wide and underwater macro, which can be used for both images and videos. The examples below are both underwater macros, one taken using the LED light.
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Under the incandescent lighting in our studio, the auto white-balance (AWB) setting gives an orange cast, with the respective preset coping much better. The XP150 struggles a little under our fluorescent lights, with the fluorescent preset having a slight magenta cast, with the AWB preset producing an image with a hint of green throughout the image.
Fujifilm FinePix XP150 White-balance test images
The XP150 has a few colour modes, examples of each below.
Fujifilm FinePix XP150 Digital filters
Video Mode
Below is a video shot at full 1080p HD, the camera also allows the use of optical zoom during recording, an example of which can be seen on the ePHOTOzine YouTube Channel.
Value For Money
The Fujifilm FinePix XP150 GPS is currently priced at £219.00. If you want the most waterproof and shockproof camera, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT4 ticks the box.| Camera |
Waterproof | Shockproof | Freezeproof | Price |
| Kodak Easyshare Sport C123 | 3m | - | - | £50.00 |
| Nikon Coolpix S30 | 3m | 0.8m | - | £95.00 |
| Olympus Tough TG-320 | 3m | 1.5m | -10°C | £139.00 |
| Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT10 | 3m | 1.5m | -10°C | £144.00 |
| Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT20 | 5m | 1.5m | -10°C | £169.00 |
| Fujifilm FinePix XP50 | 5m | 1.5m | -10°C | £189.00 |
| Pentax Optio WG-1 / (GPS) | 10m | 1.5m | -10°C | £204.00 / (219.00) |
| Olympus Tough TG-620 | 5m | 1.5m | -10°C | £214.00 |
| Canon PowerShot D10 | 10m | 1.2m | -10°C | £214.99 |
| Fujifilm FinePix XP150 GPS | 10m | 2m | -10°C | £219.00 |
| Olympus Tough TG-820 | 10m | 2m | -10°C | £252.00 |
| Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT3 | 12m | 2m | -10°C | £259.00 |
| Sony Cyber-shot TX10 | 5m | 1.5m | -10°C | £269.00 |
| Nikon Coolpix AW100 | 10m | 1.5m | -10°C | £294.95 |
| Pentax Optio WG-2 / (GPS) | 12m | 1.5m | -10°C | £299.00 / (£339.00) |
| Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT4 | 12m | 2m | -10°C | £329.00 |
| Canon PowerShot D20 | 10m | 1.5m | -10°C | £349.00 |
| Ricoh G700 | 5m | 2m | -10°C | £449.00 |
Fujifilm FinePix XP150 Verdict
If we were to base the review of the XP150 on image quality alone it wouldn't score particularly well. Detail in images isn't great even at the lowest of ISO settings, but if you aren't going to be using the images for large prints but for sharing on the web, this won't be of much concern, particularly as colour reproduction is good enough. Where the XP150 does excel is with its range of features and handling. There is full 1080p HD video recording, GPS, impressive panoramas and the battery life is very good.