Fujifilm X-Pro 2

Note: I wrote this sometime ago (no snow) and just finished editing it and posting it now. I apologize to everyone for the very long delay in getting this online. Some how life, work and family have taken over all of my free time. I am however trying to spend a bit more time on the blog now so hopefully post will be a bit more timely. 

Intro
I recently got to spend a few weeks shooting with a Fujifilm X-Pro2. Released in early 2016 the X-Pro2 was the first to use the new 24mp X-trans sensor. This is something a lot of people including myself had been waiting for. Many X-T1 shooter like me though were wondering if the form factor of the X-Pro2 would be right for them. We all knew an X-T2 was coming but didn’t know how long that wait would be. I’ve been a life long SLR and then X-T1 shooter but I’ve use the Fujifilm X100T and a Leica M9 at times so I knew what i was getting into here. So let’s take a look at the X-Pro2 and see what it has to offer. 

Autofocus and Image Quality

I’ll start by saying that the auto focus is really fast. About 40% of the frame is covered by phase-detect AF points and even when you get out side of those you shouldn’t have any real problem. Even with the slower focusing 35mm F1.4 I never found that I was missing shots due to Autofocus performance. You can choose to display a grid of 77 or 273 AF points to pick from in single AF mode. I just left it at 77 as I found I never needed more precise control than that for my style of shooting. 

One rather major edition to the X-Pro 2 over any previous Fujifilm camera is the new Focus Lever. It lets you use a small joy stick to move around and select your focus point. Not only did I find this much quicker than the old function button, but it’s one less button press and you get that assignable button back for something else. After shooting with the X-Pro 2 for three weeks and then going back to my X-T1 it’s a feature I’m really missing. 

Among the many reasons people might want to upgrade to this camera from other Fujifilm bodies the big one is image quality. With this camera Fuji has finally made the jump to a new sensor and bumped the resolution to 24MP. That might not sound like a huge difference to some but it is almost 20% increase over 16MP. I could immediately see the difference compared to my X-T1 in fine detail. This increase will be most welcome to those who like to make large prints or those who tend to crop more often. I don’t make many large prints at the moment but having the extra quality available for those times that I do will be nice.

Many people including myself were hoping for improved high ISO performance with this new generation sensor. Sadly Fuji could not work magic, but it’s not all bad news either. We all know that an increase in resolution might have indeed made the ISO performance worse. Thankfully though I see no more noise at any given ISO than I do on the X-T1. So really it’s just more detail with the same noise as before.  Another way of looking at it is I get to use one higher stop of ISO if I really need it. 

Build Quality

From the moment you pick up the X-Pro 2 you will notice the solid build quality. Built with a magnesium alloy body the camera is strong but reasonably light. There is also weather sealing of course for those of you who like to go out and shoot in all kinds of weather. I went out and shoot a bit in some moderate rain with the 90m F2 and both the lens and camera held up wonderfully. This however is not something I personally do on a regular basis. All of the dials and knobs had a good solid feel to them as well. I feel like you could take this camera out into pretty much any situation and the build quality is not going to be an issue or slow you down in any way. An odd thing to note but the door for the flashcard slot is finally more solidly built and didn’t open once by mistake on me. 

Handling and Viewfinder

The handling of this camera is going to be divisive. You’re ever going to love it or hate or learn to love it maybe. This is a rangefinder style camera with an optical hybrid viewfinder. It’s pretty similar to the X100T with the ability to have the viewfinder in optical or electronic or hybrid modes. To me the appeal of this camera is the optical viewfinder and that’s what I used the majority of the time I spent with the camera. Your preference is going to depend on what lenses you like use most and the type of subject matter you shoot. Optical viewfinders often are preferred for street photography because you can see around the edges of the frame a bit. This lets you see when things are going to enter the frame so you can’t get the right timing for your shot. 

The frame lines and other information are projected into the optical viewfinder. What information is displayed is customizable and the bright frame lines are corrected for parallax in realtime as you focus. If you prefer the EVF it’s quite good as well. The EVF is 2.3 megapixels which is the same as the X-T1 but the magnification is less. That means appears to be smaller when looking at it. If I wasn’t used to the X-T1 I would not be disappoint by it. I mostly used this mode when shooting with a long lens like the 90mm F2. Otherwise in optical mode you only get tiny frame lines in the middle of the viewfinder. Another oddity of the optical viewfinder is that you can often see the lens cutting into the frame. This really bugged me for some reason.

I mostly didn’t use the hybrid mode but it’s just like the X100T where you see a small EVF in the bottom right corner of your OVF. This would be good for those who want to use manual focus but that’s not something I often do. 

A final thing about the viewfinder. The diopter for it drove me a little crazy. I found it far too easy to knock so often I would look through the viewfinder and wonder why everything was out of focus.

Everything Else 

There was much talk of the retro style ISO dial. It is a combination ISO and shutter speed dial really. You lift and turn to change the ISO which you see thought a window. You simple turn the dial to change you shutter speed. It’s neat and looks pretty so I can see why people like it. I’m so often in one of the Auto ISO modes that I didn’t end up changing it much. 

There are now two SD card slots which I really appreciate. There are a few options of how you want files to save to the card. It’s super buried in a menu but it’s there. Finally I can save Jpegs to a separate card from my RAWs. 

Screen

The screen on the Fujifilm X-pro 2 has a fairly standard 1.62 megapixel 3 inch screen. This a bit more resolution than the X-T1 which is nice of course. The main thing to know here is there is no tilt on the screen at all. Although I don’t need a tilt screen of course I’ve gotten so used to it now that going to another camera without is hard. I guess the theory is that most people are buying this camera for the optical viewfinder and will not be using live view. I guess this is true but it seems like an odd omission. 

Menus

The menus on the X-Pro 2 are a newer style and nicely organized. This camera is very customizable which is kind of a requirement for a pro level camera. The only problem is that this means there are many nested menus with a ton of different options, the meaning of which is not always clear. 

There are almost too many options. I know it’s a pro camera so you need to give users lot of choice. I had to dig though the manual a number of times to find out where a setting I wanted was located in the menus. I know this is kind of a universal problem with pro level digital cameras at this point but some clarity in name menu items would be nice. 

Being able to customize the quick menu is really nice on the other hand and I found myself using it more often. There is also a custom MyMenu option where you can save menu items you most often use. 

Other Stuff

There are no two ways about it, this is a pro camera body through and though. Now that Fujifilm has their sensors up to 24mp and a reasonably large lens catalog built up I don’t see a lot of reasons not to do pro level work with this camera. Sure there will still be people who need a Dslr for some reason or another and that’s fine of course. For the vast majority of people though a mirrorless system will be the way to go. At a price of about $1850 Canadian (at the time of writing) I could complain about the price since this is not a full frame camera. I do think Fuji offers a lot here though in terms of unique features though to justify the price for the most part. Wether the features are worth it to you as a professional or advanced amateur is only something you can really decide for yourself of course. 

I enjoyed my time working with this camera and I can see the appeal of a range finder system. Despite how good the viewfinder on the X-T1 is I still my the optical viewfinder of my dslr system from time to time. Maybe it would just take me more time to get use to it all but somehow using the ranger finder just didn’t feel right for me. It’s a very personal choice I think, like many things in photography For me having the image quality of the X-Pro 2 with a actuated screen and a viewfinder I enjoy seems like something I’ll enjoy. I hope this is true because I’ve now purchased an XT-2

Sorry Coffee Co.

102 Bloor St. W. Toronto

Sorry Coffee Co. is located in the back portion of the Canadian retail store, Kit and Ace. This is Kit and Ace's second location in Toronto, but the only one with a coffee shop in the same space. The front doors off Bloor Street to the main clothing store are not wheelchair accessible. Only the doors around the back on Critchley Lane will allow access to the space. Thankfully the entrance here is wide and powered. 

Seating inside the smallish space is pretty standard stuff. Some small moveable tables and bar stools along the window facing into the park. I was able to navigate the space without any trouble. There is also a fully accessible washroom to the right of where you place your order. It's nice to find accessible washrooms in any coffee shop that isn't a Starbucks. 

The only trouble I think you might have is that the area for preparing your coffee if you take milk and sugar would be hard to reach if you're sitting in a wheelchair. Personally I take my coffee black so it wasn't a problem for me. However the Staff were extremely friendly bringing my order over to my table anyway so I think if you needed any other assistance they would be more than happy to help you. 

The closest subway station is Yonge and Bloor and then about a 10 min walk west from there. There is underground parking in the area though being downtown Toronto it will be expensive of course.

Fujifilm X70

Intro
When the Fujifilm X70 was announced earlier this year I was a bit confused by it. I was also very interested in getting my hands on one. Over the last month I had that chance and I now have a good feel for what the camera is capable and possibly more importantly who might enjoy using it.

Let’s start with a bit about what the Fujifilm X70 is. Well it’s a couple of things, first it’s the guts of an X100T compressed into a smaller body. You get the same 16 MP sensor we’ve seen in most of the current fuji cameras and the same autofocus system as the X100T. You lose the viewfinder but more on that in a bit. The other major thing it is, let's be honest is Fujifilm's’ competition to the Ricoh GR II. I have not personally used a Ricoh GR yet but spec wise they seem to be going after the same market.

Lens, Autofocus and Image Quality
The Lens on the X70 is a 18.5mm F2.8 which gives you an 28mm full frame equivalent field of view. This is going to be good or not so great depending on what you like you shoot and your general style of shooting as well. Personally I most often shoot with a 35mm equivalent lens so that is what I’m really used to. I took me a bit of time to get use to the wider lens. You might be much more comfortable shooting the 28mm depending on what you like, this is really going to come down to personal preference.

The lens is quite sharp which doesn’t really surprise me considering it’s a fixed lens. Sharpness wide open is quite good at the center and falls off a bit as you get to the corners. Above F4 or so I don’t think you’ll have any issues there either. At F11 and above refraction issues starts to show up. I never ran into chromatic aberration issues during my testing though I wasn’t trying to make them show up either.

Just like in my review of the X100T, starting out with the X70 I had a pretty reasonable idea of what to expect from the image quality. It is after all using the same 16 megapixel sensor  and image processor as the X100T and the X-T1 that I shoot daily. The really nice thing here is that you get such a large sensor in such a compact camera. If you’re come to this camera from a smartphone or cheaper point and shoot you’re in for a nice treat and much better depth of field control.

The X70 has the same hybrid autofocus system we’ve seen on other Fujifilm cameras which uses both contrast-detection and on-chip phase detect AF sensors. I found the autofocus to be quick and more than adequate for my street shooting as well as taking family photos of the kids running around. Setting your autofocus to wide tracking worked well for moving subjects across the frame but focus felt a touch slower in that mode. You can set you focus points with the directional pad or via the touch screen but more on that in a bit too (the suspense). Manual focus worked okay, you have the same set of focus assist option you do on many other Fuji cameras standard, split image and focus peaking which is the one I prefer. I used manual focus a lot when I was shooting out in bright daylight and higher apertures and could just use zone focusing. However wide open I found that the focus ring was a bit too small to be adjusting all the time. To be fair the whole camera is pretty small and I have reasonably large hands.

Build Quality and Handling
The X70 had a very solid feeling all metal body. There are some plastic parts here and there but the majority of the camera is metal. The aperture ring has a nice click to it and I never had a problem with it getting knocked out of where I wanted it to be. The focus ring was nice and smooth as well but is a bit too easy to knock if you’re not being careful. All the other dials and switches on the camera feel good. Some of the buttons on the back are a bit small, most feel good but some are a little mushy though none of them were really an issue for me in daily use.

There is an odd custom function buttons on the left hand side of the camera. I honestly didn’t even notice it there at first. For me it’s in a bit of an odd place and kind of hard to find by feel alone. You can set it to any of the normal custom functions but maybe pick one you don’t use as often. The focus mode selector is on the is on the front. While I appreciate that it is still a switch and not in a menu I again find it to be in an odd spot and always have to look at it when making a selection as I couldn’t just do it by feel. There is no ISO dial but it’s in the quick menu and honestly just set it on auto ISO and move on.

The hand grip on the X70 is nice and solid feeling but a little small for my hands. I think it’s a reasonable size though considering the size of the camera. Aftermarket grips are around if want something addition of course. I’m hearing the addition of the half case helps too.

The X70 is not weather sealed. I’m sure Fuji had their reasons for this, size and cost likely being the major ones. For the price point and market this camera is geared to I understand. I still wish you could go out shooting in the rain or snow and not have to think about it.

The Screen
The Fuji X70 features a fairly standard looking 3” high resolution LCD screen. The best things here are that it tilts, all the way around into selfie mode even, also it’s a touch screen. When you flip into selfie mode the UI flips so it’s right side up which is a nice touch. There are two different modes for the touch screen, or three if you count off. The first is focus area selection. This lets you touch any place on the screen and the camera will select the closest autofocus point. It will however not focus, for that you still have to half press the shutter button. This is weird to me I don’t know why that choice was made. I’m kind of hoping this could change later in firmware.

The second mode Touch Shot is a bit more useful. You can touch the screen and the camera will focus there and shoot right away once it locks focus. The feature works well but I didn’t find myself using it a lot. I think i’m just not used to using a touch screen on a camera so I didn’t really think about using it. If the X70 is your first step up camera from a smartphone then I could see this feature being more useful to you.

In playback mode you can pinch to zoom and move around the image. You can also swipe through your images. This aspect of the touch screen works quite well and feels more natural to me.

Other Stuff
There are few other things about this camera that you might be wondering about still at this point. The battery is a small pack that slides in through the bottom under the same door the memory card slot is in. The battery is charged via the USB port on the side of the camera. Thankfully Fuji ships you a decent charger and usb cable in the box. It would have been silly of them not to but in the consumer electronics industry nothing would shock me.

The lack of the viewfind on the X70 bothered me a first. I’ve shooting for a long time and almost always with a camera that included a viewfinder, I’m just so used to it. After a few weeks and cranking up the LCD brightness so I could see it in the daylight I was okay. I still prefer a viewfinder but in the interest of making the camera more compact I again understand the choice. There is a viewfinder accessory you can add. I didn’t get to use it but just looking at it I have two issues. One if gives you frame lines but nothing else, it's a dumb viewfinder as it were, with no data coming to it from the camera. Also it’s currently $250 Canadian which is quite a lot. I know this is somewhat in line with what other companies are charging for viewfinders but it’s a large chunk of change and would make me think twice about picking one up.

Wrap Up
After shooting with this camera for a month I first have to say that I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed having great image quality in such a compact camera, no doubt. I found it fun that the lack of a viewfinder kind of forced me to take shots in a different way that I normally would. The questions I had going into this is who is this camera really for. Is it more than just a street photographer's camera to compete with the Ricoh GR? Personally I think so. The Fuji X70 sells for about $700 USD or $900 CND at the moment which is quite a bit. That said I think it has potential as the camera someone buys when they finally want a camera that isn’t their smartphone. The iPhone 6s has an equivalent focal length 30mm which is very close to the X70. Smart phones also don’t have zoom lenses so the lack of one on the X70 shouldn’t be a problem to those buyers. On board wifi means photos can be transferred to your phone to post to social media as well. Also you can’t deny the retro styling of the silver model will have appeal to a segment of the market as well.

All in all the Fujifilm X70 is a fun, stylish and well built camera. If you have the budget for a premium compact camera with a great sensor it has to be on your short list.

- Wheels out