The Fujifilm FinePix XP170 is a rugged digital camera which comes with built-in Wi-Fi, Daniel Bell reviews.
| Fujifilm FinePix XP170 in Compact Cameras
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Features
Handling
Performance
Verdict
Specification
The Fujifilm FinePix XP170 is a brand new rugged compact camera which is an alternative to the XP150. Instead of GPS, this new model comes with the addition of a wireless streaming mode that lets you send pictures to a smartphone straight after taking. It is available in orange and blue with an RRP of £219.
The FinePix XP170 can connected to any Android smartphone/tablet or iPhone/iPad with the free Fujifilm Photo Receiver app. Images can then be shared to your favourite social networking site. To make the camera easy to use there is 6 Scene SR Auto, which automatically detects and selects the correct settings from Portrait, Landscape, Night, Macro, Night Portrait and Backlit Portrait. Other modes include Pro Low-light Mode (takes a series of four high-sensitivity and low-noise exposures and combines them into an image with less noise than the single exposures), Dynamic Range (HDR), Natural Light & with Flash, Face Detection, Red-eye Removal in Detected Faces, Couple Timer, Group Timer, Motion Panorama 360 and Tracking Auto Focus.
Videos are recorded at full 1080p HD at 30fps with an underwater movie function. The XP170 can be connected to a HDTV via HDMI for video playback.
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 shoot for a full day. We took in excess of 400 shots during testing and the battery was still showing as full. 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.
All three continuous shooting modes have a limited image size of 3 megapixels.
Sample Photos - When shooting portraits, skin tones are pleasant and when using the flash, are free of red-eye. Landscapes have excellent blues and greens in bright conditions.
Lens 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 images well exposed. The lens has a minimum focusing distance of 9cm, which doesn't allow the camera to get close enough to take particularly good macro shots.
ISO Noise Performance - 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.
White Balance Performance - 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 XP170 struggles a little under our fluorescent lights, with each fluorescent preset showing a different colour cast, with the AWB preset performing well.
Panorama | 1/500 sec | f/6.2 | 5.0 mm | ISO 100
Panorama mode - Panorama images are impressive, with little signs of stitching issues. In the example above there is a tripod in the foreground which shows a little bit of ghosting.
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 example above was taken using underwater macro. There are also examples of HDR, sports and text modes.
Digital Filters - The XP170 has a few colour modes, examples of each above.
Video - 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, you can also see a video using the high-speed video mode.
You'll also need to buy a memory card and a case or bag to keep your camera safe and protected - have a look at our complete guide to camera bags.
Available in a good range of colours
Very good battery life
Built-in Wi-Fi
Full 1080p HD video recording
Camera is easy to grip
Good colour reproduction
Impressive panoramas
LED light
Continuous shooting modes have a limited image size
Minimum focusing distance of 9cm
Noise impacts on image quality from ISO 400
Handling
Performance
Verdict
Specification
The Fujifilm FinePix XP170 is a brand new rugged compact camera which is an alternative to the XP150. Instead of GPS, this new model comes with the addition of a wireless streaming mode that lets you send pictures to a smartphone straight after taking. It is available in orange and blue with an RRP of £219.
Fujifilm FinePix XP170 Features
The XP170 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 XP170 can shoot up to 10fps.The FinePix XP170 can connected to any Android smartphone/tablet or iPhone/iPad with the free Fujifilm Photo Receiver app. Images can then be shared to your favourite social networking site. To make the camera easy to use there is 6 Scene SR Auto, which automatically detects and selects the correct settings from Portrait, Landscape, Night, Macro, Night Portrait and Backlit Portrait. Other modes include Pro Low-light Mode (takes a series of four high-sensitivity and low-noise exposures and combines them into an image with less noise than the single exposures), Dynamic Range (HDR), Natural Light & with Flash, Face Detection, Red-eye Removal in Detected Faces, Couple Timer, Group Timer, Motion Panorama 360 and Tracking Auto Focus.
Videos are recorded at full 1080p HD at 30fps with an underwater movie function. The XP170 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
- Built in Wi-Fi
- Full 1080p HD movie recording and underwater movie mode
- 2.7 inch LCD with anti-reflection coating
Fujifilm FinePix XP170 Handling
The parts of the XP170 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 Wi-Fi. 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. |
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| The Wi-Fi is easy to use, we tested it on an iPad, you need to download the app from iTunes and follow the instructions. The images are transferred one at a time, when you've finished receiving they are then saved to the Camera Roll. (Above) Screenshot of the XP170 sending a picture to the iPad. (Right) Screenshot of the iPad receiving pictures from the XP170. |
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 shoot for a full day. We took in excess of 400 shots during testing and the battery was still showing as full. 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 | 2.6 seconds | |
| Shot to Shot (without flash) | 1.3 seconds | |
| Shot to Shot with Flash | 2.4 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 XP170 Performance
Additional sample photos and product shots are available in the Equipment Database, where you can add your own review and product ratings.Fujifilm FinePix XP170 Sample Photos
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Sample Photos - When shooting portraits, skin tones are pleasant and when using the flash, are free of red-eye. Landscapes have excellent blues and greens in bright conditions.
Fujifilm FinePix XP170 Lens test images
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Lens 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 images well exposed. The lens has a minimum focusing distance of 9cm, which doesn't allow the camera to get close enough to take particularly good macro shots.
Fujifilm FinePix XP170 ISO test images
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ISO Noise Performance - 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 XP170 White-balance test images
Previous
Next
White Balance Performance - 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 XP170 struggles a little under our fluorescent lights, with each fluorescent preset showing a different colour cast, with the AWB preset performing well.
Panorama | 1/500 sec | f/6.2 | 5.0 mm | ISO 100
Panorama mode - Panorama images are impressive, with little signs of stitching issues. In the example above there is a tripod in the foreground which shows a little bit of ghosting.
Fujifilm FinePix XP170 Scene modes
Previous
Next
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 example above was taken using underwater macro. There are also examples of HDR, sports and text modes.
Fujifilm FinePix XP170 Digital filters
Previous
Next
Digital Filters - The XP170 has a few colour modes, examples of each above.
Video - 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, you can also see a video using the high-speed video mode.
Value For Money
The Fujifilm FinePix XP170 GPS is currently priced at £219.00. If you want the most waterproof and shockproof camera, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT4 ticks the box, as does the Olympus Tough TG-1.| Camera |
Waterproof | Shockproof | Freezeproof | Price |
| Kodak Easyshare Sport C123 | 3m | - | - | £50.00 |
| Nikon Coolpix S30 | 3m | 0.8m | - | £84.99 |
| Olympus Tough TG-320 | 3m | 1.5m | -10°C | £119.00 |
| Fujifilm FinePix XP50 | 5m | 1.5m | -10°C | £129.00 |
| Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT20 | 5m | 1.5m | -10°C | £149.00 |
| Pentax Optio WG-1 / (GPS) | 10m | 1.5m | -10°C | £164.00 / (199.00) |
| Fujifilm FinePix XP150 GPS | 10m | 2m | -10°C | £189.00 |
| Olympus Tough TG-620 | 5m | 1.5m | -10°C | £199.00 |
| Canon PowerShot D10 | 10m | 1.2m | -10°C | £214.99 |
| Fujifilm FinePix XP170 | 10m | 2m | -10°C | £219.00 |
| Olympus Tough TG-820 | 10m | 2m | -10°C | £229.00 |
| Nikon Coolpix AW100 | 10m | 1.5m | -10°C | £229.99 |
| Pentax Optio WG-2 / (GPS) | 12m | 1.5m | -10°C | £229.00 / (£269.00) |
| Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT3 | 12m | 2m | -10°C | £254.00 |
| Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT4 | 12m | 2m | -10°C | £299.00 |
| Sony Cyber-shot TX20 | 5m | 1.5m | -10°C | £299.00 |
| Canon PowerShot D20 | 10m | 1.5m | -10°C | £309.00 |
| Olympus Tough TG-1 | 12m | 2m | -10°C | £309.00 |
| Ricoh G700 | 5m | 2m | -10°C | £449.00 |
You'll also need to buy a memory card and a case or bag to keep your camera safe and protected - have a look at our complete guide to camera bags.
Fujifilm FinePix XP170 Verdict
If we were to base the review of the XP170 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 XP170 does excel is with its range of features and handling. There is full 1080p HD video recording, Wi-Fi, impressive panoramas and the battery life is very good.Fujifilm FinePix XP170 Pros
Available in a good range of coloursVery good battery lifeBuilt-in Wi-FiFull 1080p HD video recordingCamera is easy to gripGood colour reproductionImpressive panoramasLED lightFujifilm FinePix XP170 Cons
Continuous shooting modes have a limited image sizeMinimum focusing distance of 9cmNoise impacts on image quality from ISO 400| FEATURES |  |
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Fujifilm FinePix XP170 Specifications
| Manufacturer | Fujifilm | |
| Lens | ||
| Max Aperture | f/3.9 - f/4.9 | |
| 35mm equivalent | 28mm - 140mm | |
| Optical Zoom | 5x | |
| Image Sensor | ||
| Pixels | 14.4Mp (Megapixels) | |
| Pixels (W) | 4320 | |
| Pixels (H) | 3240 | |
| Sensor Type | CMOS | |
| Sensor Size | 1/2.3 inch | |
| Sensor Size (width) | 6.16mm | |
| Sensor Size (height) | 4.62mm | |
| Aspect Ratio |
| |
| LCD Monitor | ||
| LCD Monitor | 2.7in | |
| Screen resolution | 230,000 dots | |
| Touch Screen | No | |
| Focusing | ||
| Min Focus | 9cm | |
| Focusing modes |
| |
| Exposure Control | ||
| Shutter speeds shortest | 1/2000sec | |
| Shutter speeds longest | 4sec | |
| Bulb mode | No | |
| Exp modes |
| |
| Metering |
| |
| ISO sensitivity | 100 - 3200 | |
| White balance |
| |
| Exposure Comp | +/-2 | |
| Shooting Options | ||
| Continuous shooting | 10fps | |
| Video | ||
| Movie mode | Yes | |
| Video Resolution |
| |
| Video FPS | 30 | |
| Stereo Sound | No | |
| Optical Zoom with Video | Yes | |
| Other Features | ||
| Image Stabilisation | Yes | |
| Interface | ||
| HDMI | Yes | |
| USB | USB 2 | |
| Wi-Fi | Yes | |
| Storage | ||
| Card Type |
| |
| File Type |
| |
| Power Source | ||
| Battery Type | Li-ion battery NP-50A | |
| Battery Life (CIPA rating) | 300shots | |
| Box Contents | ||
| Box Contents | Li-ion battery NP-50A, Battery charger BC-50A, Plug adapter, USB cable , Hand strap, CD-ROM , Owner's manual | |
| Dimensions | ||
| Weight | 195g | |
| Width | 102.7mm | |
| Height | 71.3mm | |
| Depth | 27.4mm | |
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