My beloved Minolta A200 8MP 7x may well be retiring soon, as I have just come across what might be the almost perfect replacement and ideal travel companion!
An ideal travelling camera should in my opinion, be a jack of all trades, compact, all in one unit, with few extras that add to the weight and can get easily lost, and bridge cameras fit this bill quite nicely.
Yes, DSLR's can take better pictures in most cases, but the gap is narrowing, and do you really want to carry all the extra lenses with you everywhere you go?, sods law denotes that the lens you need right now is the one still in your bag, and by the time you swap them over, the moment is lost!
Each to their own of course, I'm sure there are many who would never go back from an SLR, and thats fine, I have never gone down that route.....yet!, and like the lightweight medium sized single package, with fixed manual zoom long lenses which keep out the dust, dirt and sand.
Cost is another factor, prices are very reasonable now for DSLR's, but there are not many of us who can really manage the full kit, especially as some lenses are triple and more times the cost of the camera itself.
These are all my own personal preferences for the ideal travelling camera, and in my opinion, the HS10 is the closest to being just that!
Due for release April 12th 2010, the Finepix HS10 has a host of features both familiar and new that has me literally drooling over the prospects!
•High Resolution super wide Fujinon 30x optical zoom (24-720mm) with manual (mechanical) zoom
•True wide-angle and extreme telephoto capture in a single compact unit
•Triple image stabilisation (sensor shift IS, high ISO IS, Digital IS)
•3.0" High Resolution tilting LCD•10 MP BSI CMOS sensor with advanced shooting modes and high image quality
•Electronic Viewfinder with eye-sensor for automatic switching
•High speed 10 fps continuous shooting at full resolution and new motion-tracking auto focus
•Full HD (1080p) movie capture with stereo sound
•Super High Speed movie capture at 1000 fps
•Motion Panorama mode for 'one shot' sweeping panoramas
•Advanced capture modes including unique Motion Remover mode that removes tourists and other moving objects from your photographs
•Direct Shooting Command buttons and Command dial put advanced photographic features at your fingertips•RAW and JPEG capture mode
At last a manufacturer has brought out what seems on paper, to be the ultimate camera for the traveller, a surprisingly compact bridge design (medium sized, fixed lens), a whopping great 30x optical manual zoom lens that should cater for virtually any situation (I'm not dishing DSLR's here, but you would have to carry 2 maybe 3 separate lenses to cover what this one fixed Fujinon beauty can do!), a 3" tilting LCD screen, triple image stabilisation (especially useful at the higher magnifications), full 1080p HD, Super Macro, and a host of intuitive manual buttons to instantly change the most frequently used settings, instead of all that tedious menu scrolling!
Other useful additions include;
High speed continuous shooting at a rate of 10fps, 7 frames max, to make sure you capture that perfect moment when your shooting a moving object, perfect for capturing birds and animals which never seem to sit still.
Motion Remover Mode, which takes a series of 5 pictures and combines them into one and automatically removes anything that has moved, a cool thing to have when you want that special holiday snap and tourist's keep walking into shot!
Multi-Motion Capture Mode, which takes 5 quick pictures of a moving object and combines them into a single composite image.
Motion Panorama Mode, sweep left-right or up-down for that super panorama shot, all done in camera.
Pro Low Light mode, for ultra-low noise output in low light.
Ultra slow motion video capture, at up to 1000fps, admittedly this will not be in HD of course, but still a pretty cool feature to play with.
Super Macro, focuses down to 1cm-1.0m
Check out all the features at FujiFilm, including a 3D image and promotion video.
Whether this camera lives up to it's extensive feature list, is still to be seen, as it's April release date nears, I for one will be checking my regular review sites for the reports, and secretly saving my pennies!
is a good alternative.A wireless remote would be a nice accessory too, to aid in crystal clear telephoto shots of small long distance targets in conjunction with a tripod, this could spell an end to Digiscopeing?
The end of the lens barrel is threaded O58mm for the inclusion of filters and converters, how long the AA batteries will last has been quoted at 300+ , maybe more with rechargables, disposable AA's are easily available everywhere, but your never really sure what sort of charge they have in them, even the expensive ones, anyone purchasing a HS10 (or anything else that uses disposable batteries) should invest in quality rechargeables like the Sanyo Eneloop Batteries, if only to save the landfills!
At this time it also lacks a microphone jack, which could be rather handy if the HD video works well, but it does have a hotshoe for a flashgun.
I know there must be some manufacturers that worry about their mid to lower range of cameras taking too big a slice out of their DSLR market, thats why they are not as feature rich as the higher end models, and as far as I know, Fuji do not have any plans to release a DSLR in the near future, so it looks like this could be their flagship model, and if this creates as big a stir when it's released as it has already, then I think Fuji could be onto a winner!
Lets hope they listen to all the feedback for future models...........wouldn't that be nice?
Exciting times ahead in the bridge digital camera market, my trusty Minolta is sulking in the corner, feeling rather............impotent!
Please support this site by pre-ordering or buying through one of these affiliate retailers;
Amazon.UK will deliver to United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales), Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland (Republic of), Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland
Warehouseexpress.UK will deliver to United Kingdom (including Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands), Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland
HS10 at Pixmania available in 26 countries
For the US readers
Fujifilm FinePix HS10 at Amazon.com 
will deliver to Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom
Many thanks
will deliver to Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom Many thanks
Check out the Fujifilm Talk forums, and the HS10 debates going on over at dpreview
Lots of new pictures being posted every day!
Posts
