The old days of photography were the most romantic.

In the same way footprints on beach sand is proof of someone’s journey, cameras document a fleeting moment and offer a developed photo as proof.

The digital age of photography has seen this ‘analogue’ process replaced through software manipulation, and although it is evolution, it’s not as magical. That’s why I like FujiFilm’s X10.

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Even though it’s a digital compact cam, it’s a throwback to an era were memory (film) was finite, and you had to make every shot count. With the X10, you can compose photos by peering through the optical viewfinder, as you would’ve in the golden days of photography. It communicates real colour and lighting, and not the recreated kind you find on a digital screen. The only problem with relying solely on a viewfinder is you can’t instantly review your photos, and navigating through the menu blind would be tricky.

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For these reasons, the X10 includes a 2.8 inch LCD screen. The screen has a reflective coating to make sure your photos are legible when viewing them under the sun and the brightness does make browsing the menu enjoyable.

The other ode to the cameras of yesteryear can be found just by looking at it. It has a retro design that fuses together a leather grip, bespoke manual dials and switches characterised by familiarity. FujiFilm has taken inspiration from the 35mm cameras popular in the 1970s and have simply imbued it with modern technology.

Take its dual core processor for instance, which delivers the kind of prompt computing you’d find from flagship smartphones. It’s a great benefit to the X10 because it helps rapidly focus and renders images quickly.

Immediacy is a requisite when you take notice of the camera’s imaging sensor. The compact camera uses a 2/3inch EXR CMOS sensor which puts to work a different pixel arrangement. Photos can be snapped in its full 12MP resolution, but when lighting is dim, it’ll fuse neighbouring pixels together in order to diminish image noise and produce a better quality photo.

Couple these traits with four times optical zoom and Full HD video recording, and you have a compact camera with genuine photographic prowess.

It might not be the smallest cam, taking up a little more space by including the viewfinder and a flushed flash, but users will get a vast array of manual settings foreign to other cameras in the category. This, then, is the compact camera of choice for the enthusiast who values the art of photography and doesn’t think the occasion merits their bigger DSLR.