Life on the West Coast is beautiful year round, but my favourite time of the year is summer. Everything slows down, and we all spend as much time outside as we can savouring the long days of warm sunshine. Around here the sun doesn’t set until almost 10:00 pm, so we can play outside long past bedtime.
Tee turned seven this spring, and along with a newfound talent for cursive writing, she’s discovered a love of photography! She been using her Leapfrog tablet and occasionally my phone to take selfies and pics of the family, but I think she’s ready to try her hand at a real camera. Of course any camera she uses has to be sturdy, reasonably priced, and user-friendly.
The Fujifilm FinePix XP120 is a great choice for us because it meets all my criteria. This rugged camera is ideal for any kind of family adventure, including underwater! The FinePix is:
- Waterproof to 20 meters (65 feet)
- Shockproof up to 1.75 meters (5.8 feet)
- Freezeproof to -10°C (14°F)
- Sealed against dust and sand
This weekend, the girls and I took a mother-daughter trip to White Rock Beach. Things have been so busy around here with all the end of the school year wrap-up, seemingly neverending home repairs, and the daily grind, we really needed some time off to relax and reconnect.
I feel blessed to live where we do. The beach is only a few minutes’ drive from home, and we love to come down here to stroll down the boardwalk, watch the boats, grab some fish and chips, explore the tide pools, and people watch. We decided to bring our FinePix XP120 camera along with us to show you some of our beautiful scenery!
When did they get to be so grown up?
The FinePix is really easy to use. Its scene recognition mode automatically selects the optimum settings for each shot, making it the perfect setting for capturing quick shots and for Tee as she’s learning the ropes. Just point and shoot!
The first thing we did when we arrived was walk out to the end of the pier and look out across the Georgia Strait towards northern Washington State. I can’t get enough of this breathtaking view! If you can’t actually be here, then here’s the next best thing. Click on the 360° panorama shot below to see it full-sized.
The FinePix XP120 has a 5x optical zoom and 10x intelligent digital zoom, which let us capture this photo of kayakers coming in, then zoom in on the goofy seagulls hanging out on the breakwater.
It was high tide when we arrived so there wasn’t much sand to hang out on, but we didn’t care. Kay found a comfy spot just up from the beach to watch the waves come in. This is the life!
Tee took this picture of some purple flowers she found. She did a pretty good job too, if I say so myself!
The flower shooting mode captures clear close-ups and rich colours.
We had some unexpected company join us for a bit. These fellows are fearless! Tee was maybe eight feet away when she took this picture – no zoom needed.
The FinePix XP120 also shoots 1920 x 1080-pixel full HD video, so we made a little clip of the water coming in. This footage is unedited by the way; what you see is what you get.
Then we got a round of ice cream cones and sat on the shore to watch the sun go down.
Decisions, decisions.
The FinePix’s dedicated sunset mode is designed to help capture those vivid colours.
Once the sun went down, it was way past our usual bedtime so we piled into the car and headed home for a good night’s sleep.
We’re planning lots more days like this once school’s out, and we’ll definitely be bringing our Fujifilm FinePix XP120 camera with us. The controls are intuitive, and the big, bright LCD is great for framing shots and navigating menus. You can shoot remotely using your smartphone, and it even has a 96 MB internal memory for those times you forget to put in a memory card (I’m famous for this).
This June, take advantage of $40 off the Fujifilm FinePix XP120 so you can be prepared for adventures wherever you go this summer!
Advanced Filters
I wanted to show you one more fun feature. The FinePix XP120 boasts 11 built in advanced filters. We’ve been having lots of fun playing around with these, especially that fish-eye lens!
From top left clockwise: partial colour (red), toy camera, sketch, fish-eye.
Win a Fujifilm Instax Mini 70
One of my readers will win an Instax Mini 70 limited edition Canadian themed/engraved camera plus a pack of Canadian themed film (RV $183.94 CAD) perfect for capturing instant pictures of all your summer fun!
Fujifilm’s Instax® Mini 70 instant camera is small, slim, and sleek, with all the features that make your instant photos more fun. The modern, simple design of the Instax® Mini 70 comes in six exciting colors and comes with selfie mode (and selfie mirror to check your framing), automatic exposure control, self timer, macro mode, and landscape mode.
Enter in the giveaway widget below. This giveaway is open to residents of Canada excluding Quebec, 18+. All the winner’s entries will be verified.
Click here to check out my other open giveaways and be sure to follow me on Facebook!
RSVP to the #FujiSummerFun Twitter Party
I hope you’ll join me at the upcoming #FujiSummerFun Twitter Party for to get ready for summer fun!
- Date: Tuesday, June 13, 2017
- Time: 9:00 pm Eastern Time
- Host: @FujiGuys
- Co-Host: @SJConsulting_CA
- Prizes: 21 prizes valued at $4159.15
- 1 Grand Prize – X-A3 Camera (Value $750 CAD)
- 5 Second Prizes – XP120 Cameras (Value $240 each for a total of $1200 CAD)
- 5 Third Prizes – SP-2 Printers with Canada Film (Value $213.95 CAD each for a total of $1069.75 CAD)
- 10 Fourth Prizes – Mini 9 Cameras with Canada Film (Value $113.94 CAD each for a total of $1139.40 CAD)
RSVP BELOW! Enter your Twitter handle “@yourtwitter” in the Link/Blog Title field, and your Twitter URL “www.twitter.com/yourtwitter” in the Link Field.
Disclosure: I am participating in the FujiFilm campaign managed by SJ Consulting . I received compensation in exchange for my participation in this campaign. The opinions on this blog are my own.
I would take pictures of wild flowers along our local trails.
If we are lucky enough to win we’ll take the camera everywhere, starting with a road trip to see family in Radium and then Vernon. Thanks!
We would take this camera to our local streams and parks where my son would take a lot of photos.
I would take pictures of all the beautiful provincial parks we’ll be visiting this summer.
I would give this to my daughter for her trip to Ottawa this summer.
I would travel to Montreal & take interesting shots on my way there and in the city!
I would go to Granville Island.
I’d take it out in the woods when we go for hikes. There’s always lots to see.
I would love to win this Camera! My 5 year old would love to take it on all of our summer adventures to local parks and lakes.
First thing I’d do is to see if the camera can take pictures of red flowers. It’s so hard! And I’d love to travel north and see the northern lights
we will probably go to the lake and take pictures of boats & ducks & scenary
I would like to take pictures out at the lake with the camera
I’ll be heading to the rocky mountains with my family and new camera! Thanks for the chance!
We would take it too brightsand lake.
I’d bring it to the beach and take photos of the sunset.
I would take this cute camera to the cottage and snap some shots of my dog jumping in the lake! 🙂
We would take this camera on all our summer road trips to capture memories.
I’d take my camera with me to the Okanagan and take photos of my family
I would use the camera when we camp in Alberta this summer! Lots of great pictures to take of the lake, kids doing water sports, and gorgeous scenery on hikes!
I’m headed to Fairmont Hot Springs this August and would love to take this little camera with me on my adventures and hikes!
I would use it on our trip to Newfoundland this summer
Would love a new camera! I like to take a lot of photos of my cats!
I would go to Niagara Falls and take some great shots to remember how awesome they are!
I live in Windsor and I would stay here to take photographs. There is a lot of artwork along the river, most of which I have never seen. I would photograph them as well as the Detroit skyline at night.
I would take it to the beach and take pictures of my kids having fun in the water and sand.
I would take it to the lake and get some sunset views and hopefully some wildlife.
I love the red colour of this camera. I would take it to the river that runs through town and take shots of nature, boats and summer glory.
I’ll take my new camera on a summer road trip.
I would go to our trailer that is located on a beautiful landlocked lake to take amazing pictures of my family enjoying the outdoors, wildlife and the scenery
I would take this camera on a trip to the mountains, to the Calgary Stampede and to my brother’s wedding.
I would bring it with me all summer long when we go on road trips, to the beach, camping and take photos of my family, friends, scenery and my pets! 🙂
I Would give it to my daughter as she has been asking for one. She would use it when we went to the zoo or other places this summer
I would love to go out east and drive the Cabot Trail with my husband and take pictures of our vacation out there.I would also love to take some pictures of our grandchildren.The youngest one will be three in August.I just find that kids are so photogenic and fun to take pictures of.Thanks for the chance. 🙂
I would go to New Brunswick and visit the Bouctouche Dunes again and take lots of pictures of my kids playing at the beach and finding shells! The first time we went with our son, our phone died so unfortunately we couldn’t get any pictures 🙁