Sunday, July 29, 2012

Gear Review: Fujifilm Finepix XP50 Camera--"Outdoors-proof!"

I finally found it! I've been looking for years for an inexpensive, but high quality, camera that can hang out with me in all of my outdoor adventures without me having to worry about it too much. Clear, crisp photos that at least attempt to do justice to the phenomenal scenery that I encounter were an important criteria in my search. Another key asset was no shutter delay. I was tired of clicking the camera button and missing the shot because the shutter took literally several seconds to close.

This camera can withstand most anything I will be tempted to throw at it. Not only is it small and compact enough to fit easily in a pocket, but it is water proof to 16ft, plenty deep enough for this snorkeler, not diver. It is shock proof in case I drop it. It is freezer proof to 14 degrees Fahrenheit--plenty cold enough for the kind of hiking and camping I do. It is also dust proof, so it is safe, even in the house that would get cleaned more if I didn't hike and bike ride so much! It also operates on a rechargeable camera battery which lasted for literally hundreds of shots and recharged in less than an hour. In reality I don't know how long the battery would have lasted because it never got anywhere close to running out of battery charge.

I bought this little gem right before the Clingman's Dome hike, and during the torrential rains which fell on us that day, I never worried that it might get wet. Shortly after that hike, we travelled to the Grand Caymans for our 25th wedding anniversary trip. We took it snorkeling along a barrier reef, it was drenched by spray from a catamaran, it endured extreme heat and humidity, it took close up shots of stingrays as they waved at us under the turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea, it captured our first saltwater fly-fishing venture, and the photos and videos that it took were amazingly sharp with colors that almost were as exquisitely beautiful as the real thing.

To top it all off, when I purchased it at Best Buy for only $179, I received a Shutterfly promotion for a free hardbound photo album which I have used to commemorate our anniversary trip. Now that's what I call a sweet little perk--kind of like icing on the cake!



8 comments:

  1. One of the best features of Canon's outdoor cameras is their ability - on select models - to take regular batteries, which can be quite useful when you don't have a recharger handy!.

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  2. True if you are away from civilization for more than a few days. The downside of that is that all those batteries get expensive after awhile if you have to use them all the time. Been there, done that.

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  3. But folks who were going to be AWOL for more than a couple days would definitely want to consider that. Thanks for the reminder!

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  4. I am a frequent visitor in your blogs, this post is very interesting and easy to read .... I hope to visit again

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  5. Great review :) I'm looking for a camera for hiking. How about picture quality, do you have some sample pictures?

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  6. I'm very pleased with picture quality. Almost all of the pictures on this blog after this post have been taken with this camera--especially the hiking ones.

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  7. Watson, check out the following blog posts specifically. These pics were taken with this camera: Victory on the Appalachian Trail (Sept 18), Mt LeConte Shared and Magnified (Oct 17), and Riding the Cade's Cove Loop Road (Oct. 28). That should give you an idea of the quality of the photos that it takes.

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  8. Your blog is great. I think I have something that you and your audience might like. The Nube' lets you camp .... in the air. The patented design protects you from torrential down pours, pesky insects, and keeps your gear elevated and protected. Plus, you'll look supercool. We launched the Nube' on Kickstarter and reached our funding goal of $30k in 3 days. We're now at $96k. I hope you and your audience like it.

    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1313173787/nube-the-perfected-hammock-shelter-by-sierra-madre?ref=live

    Sincerely,
    Paul Trujillo
    paul@hammockshelter.com
    http://www.sierramadreresearch.com

    ReplyDelete