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!

Posted with Blogsy