Fujifilm X-Pro 3 Review

Into

The Fujifilm X-Pro 3 was released I October 2019. For reasons I’ll got into in a bit I decided to purchase one in the summer of 2021 and am just now writing a review. As you probably know if you’re at all interested in this camera already. The Fuji X-Pro 3 is a ranger finder styled camera. It is not a true range finder of course like a Lecia M is but it is made to look close to one and handle in many of the same ways.

The X-Pro 3 is a very premium camera, there is no doubt about that. With this model Fuji has moved to using titanium for the top and bottom plates. This means the camera comes in painted black, or in a coated finish called Dura black or Dura Silver. The dura coatings should prevent most scratches from showing up but does cost an extra $300 Canadian at the time of this writing. By pure luck I ended up with a Durablack model.

It is a camera that wants you to use it the way Fuji designed it to be used and not in any other fashion. I moved to this camera body from an X-T2. I was also shooting a lot with the X100F at the time and was liking that form factor more and more. Just over a year into the pandemic with no travel options in sight I decided I didn’t mind spending the money on a bit of gear and wanted to give the X-Pro3 a good go.

Screen(s)

I feel like I need to talk about the screens before much else here. When I say Fuji wants you to use this camera their way this is a big part of it. The main screen folds into the back of the camera at which point you only see the rear status screen and have to use the viewfinder to shoot. You probably alright know if this is an acceptable situation in your mind or not. You can of course fold out the screen and shoot with it folded at waist level or full down, but it doesn’t lie flat in the body with the screen facing out like most cameras do.

In doing this Fuji is basically telling you that with the viewfinder, in either electronic or optical mode is the ‘correct’ way of doing thing. I tend to agree with them on this point.

If you think that this is a good thing or not will depend on your previous photography experience and what you want to get out of a camera. I can understand if you’re used to shooting on a phone for example why composing your shots on a screen might be preferable to you. I am a person who learned photography on film and I’m currently shooting on a Leica M6 TTL along side the X-Pro 3. I also have little interest in shooting video generally. I also never review my photos in the field. So for me getting a digital camera that is closer to a film experience in many ways was appealing. You might think I’m completely wrong and that’s fine.

The stats on the main screen are pretty standard, it’s a 3-inch touch screen and 1.6 million dots. Generally, it’s plenty bright to see in moderate daylight and completely customizable in what information is displayed in the menus.

The rare status screen is a memory LCD screen that uses very little power when off, it is not e-ink like some people assume and does require a battery in the camera to work. It is 16 colour and can display the current film simulation mode or some basic exposure information. This screen has no backlighting so you will not be able to see it in the dark really.

Viewfinder

The viewfinder is similar in many ways to previous X-Pro cameras. It is a hybrid of an optical finder (OVF) and electronic (EVF) or in some modes a mix of both. It is simple to switch between the two main modes and I do often find myself going back and forth depending on the lens I’m using at the time.

The viewfinder on the X-Pro 3 is larger than previous models and they have moved to an OLED panel which makes an enormous difference in contrast. The magnification on the EVF is now higher as well sitting at 0.66x. The EVF is smooth in normal mode but I tend to use boost mode which brings the refresh rate up to 100fps, so it always looks perfectly smooth. Unfortunately, the optical viewfinder now longer has dual magnification modes so it is solely set at 0.52x. In practical terms this means that the widest lens you’ll get bright lines for is a 23mm and any lens longer that probably the 56mm gets kind of hard to see. This means I have mostly use the EVF when using the 16mm F1.4 for example.

I’ve used the 23mm F1.4 for a long time and sadly on the Xpro3 it covers a significant corner of the OVF. With no lens hood on the 23mm F1.4 is fine but I prefer to use it with a hood when possible. The 35mm F1.4 is fine however so it will take some time to get used to which viewfinder is right for you and with which lens.

Build Quality and handling

The X-Pro 3 is, according to Fuji 497grams with a battery and card in it. I do not believe there is any weight difference between the different finishes. Surprisingly this is a touch less than an X-T3. The camera feels incredibly solid in the hand and the grip is pretty good for the size as well. Everyone’s hands are different so the grip might seem a bit small to you. But I don’t think anyone is going to find much to complain about in the build quality department. The camera is also fully weather sealed now as well so you should be able to shoot in most weather conditions should you have a WR lens as well if that’s a think you like to do.

Handling is one of those things that might take you a bit of getting used to if you’re moving from a previous Fujifilm camera. Gone is the D-Pad on the back of the camera. There is now a simplified control surface and the joy stick. There are two unmarked buttons that are what I personally use to get to my most common settings. However, you can customize most of the buttons and dials on the camera should you find yourself needing even more options.

I’m a person who tends to setup the camera the way I like and then rarely change anything, so the simplified controls are more than enough for my needs.

The camera holds two SD cards which can be setup in various ways. My preferred set up is to have RAW files go to one card and JPEG to the other. This way I never need to import the JPEGs to my computer but have them while shooting to transfer to my phone if I want.

Autofocus and image quality

This far in there are plenty of people on the internet who have talked about the image quality of this camera with lots of samples and charts. I think the main points to get across are that this camera is using a 26.1 mp sensor and will produce very fine detail in your images. Yes, it is not a full frame camera but if you’ve been shooting Fuji for any length of time that should not be surprising to you. Fuji is generally known for how good the jpeg images out of camera are and that still holds true here. Though I often shoot JPEG to one of the two SD cards as I saw above but I tend not to use them day to day.

There are now 17 different film simulation options. You can set any of these and you will see the simulation in the EVF as well. I personally only use a few when I’m out shooting but then try out others in the editing process in Capture One Pro.

With the style of shooting that I do most often blazing fast autofocus is not something I need. That said it has seemed very quick even on older lenes like my 23mm F1.4 and 35mm F1.4. There are a few differences between the optical viewfinder and electronic here. First there are less focus points to pick from when using the optical finder (117 vs 425) but that’s probably not too much of a concern. Second with the optical viewfinder you lose the ability to use face or eye detection autofocus which I think is a bit of a shame.

One tip if you like using face or eye detection mode is if the camera focus on something you don’t want you can press in on the focus stick on the back and switch back to your selected autofocus point quite quickly.

Other Stuff

I didn’t talk much about video here because I don’t shoot much of it. I’m really a still photography shooter which is why I enjoy this particular camera so much. Thankfully Fuji still gave some decent options if you find yourself needing to shoot some video as well. Options like zerba lines, focus peaking, F-Log and an Eterna film profile. All of this should serve you well unless you’re a very serious video shooter and then you’re more likely considering a different camera body already.

I’m a believer that you should enjoy the camera you’re using and that it should feel right for you. Some people want a camera to get out of their way or be an ‘extension’ of their body. I’ve never felt quite those ways. I mostly want a camera to feel good in the hand and have no concerns about the build quality. The X-Pro 3 is a real joy to use, every dial and button feels good and you never feel like it’s going to fail you when you need it.  For me personally there are perhaps too many menu options and has some features I never intend to use. But all of that is fine once the camera is setup the way you like. Once you get there, you can basically pretend the rest doesn’t exist and go about shooting.

Dream Camera - Hasselblad SWC

Note: Originally written in Nov 2019 but never posted.

Dream camera project part 1 

I’m hoping this is the first post in a new series. I’m going to try to get a hold of and use some cameras that I would consider to be my dream cameras. Maybe because they are more expensive than I can afford or just hard to find in good condition these days or maybe both. 

The Idea came to me when a friend agreed to let me borrow his early model Hasselblad SWC. Sadly I was unable to shoot with it a lot due to a few things going on in my life at the time but the experience of using it was still super interesting and I learned a bunch of stuff with it.

The Hasselblad SWC gets its name because from Super Wide Camera. It’s slim by medium format cameras standards. The body comes with a Zeiss Biogon 38mm f4.5 CF lens permanently affixed. This lens is the main part of the magic of this camera. I’ve always been a fan of wide angle glass. Because this camera shoots in a square 6x6 format it’s hard to give you an equivalent focal length in 35mm. It’s about 21mm in one direction and 16mm in the other. The lens is well regarded for its sharpness and lack of distortion considering how wide it is. 

The main body of the camera is unlike a typical Hasselblad 500 series because it contains no mirror, ground glass or viewfinder of any kind really. Instead of the body is more of a spacer to separate the lens from the standard A12 film back. There is a hotshoe viewfinder on the top of the camera. The viewfinder on the early version of the camera I used is, lets be honest, poor. It only gives you a rough estimate of what the lens sees. There is no focus aid in the viewfinder and has to be done via the lens markings. I thought I did an okay job but I found the images to be a little soft. This is more likely my lack of experience with the camera than anything technical with it. I should also point out there is no light meter of any kind. I happen to still have a hand held meter so I used it when trying out this camera.

The engineers who designed this things thought about it a lot. Maybe I should not be surprised considering it’s Hasselblad but the tolerances even on a 50 plus year old camera are still pretty perfect. The film backs clip into place perfectly and the film advance winder on the side of the camera feels good. There is a nice feeling click when you hit the end of you wind and the next frame is ready to go. 

So now that you have a bit of background why I think this camera is cool, let's talk a bit about how it was to use. I’ve used a ton of digital and film cameras over the years but never a hasselblad. Maybe some of these things won’t be surprising to those of you who have. 

Setting your exposure is interesting, You can change the shutter speed and aperture independently by holding back a little clutch and turning the aperture dial. Once you have your correct exposure set you can turn the whole dial without pressing the clutch to change the aperture and shutter speed in sync. You can also set the correct exposure based on the exposure value scale. This was handy for me since I was using a light meter that showed me a EV number I could just match on the camera. Something that I had to keep in mind was that the shutter speed of this lens only goes up to 1/500th which is not uncommon on these types of cameras. It’s not a big deal but you do need to plan for it with your film selection on a sunny day. I often found myself shooting at this upper limit with 100 iso film stock. Later I found that a lot of my images were under exposed. I suspect my light meter was at fault for this.

One thing that I found to be very smart is that you cannot make an exposure until you’ve removed the darkslide from the film back. You also must inset the darkslide before removing that back from the camera body. It’s simple but it proves they were thinking about the usability of the system. Loading film was simple enough. It’s similar to loading other medium format systems if you’ve ever uses one. 

Overall I found the camera easy to use and had a good time with it. It’s not super heavy so you can totally hand hold it comfortably if you want. However putting it on a tripod so you can make sure it’s totally level when you’re framing is probably better. I know people use this camera for all kinds of subjects but to me it really shines as a landscape or architecture camera where you likely to use a tripod anyway.

So what comes next? I don’t know I’m going to pester some people I know to see if anyone has some gear they are willing to let me get some hands on time with. I know there are a lot of neat film cameras out there, X-pan anyone? However I’m up for digital stuff too if it’s interesting and something I haven’t gotten to play with yet. Let me know if you’re willing to help out in this endeavor, thanks. 

Fujifilm X-T20

Intro
The Fujifilm X-T20 was released in February of this year. Over the past 3 weeks I was able to spend some time with it. Fujifilm Canada was kind enough to also send a 23mm F2 WR lens along with it for me test out. I will say that I did not test every single feature of this camera. I used it like I use any of my other cameras. That is only for still images and often in aperture priority or full manual modes. I shoot raw + jpeg purely so I can transfer files to my phone to post on the go if I want but that’s all I ever use the jpegs for. I tested the touch screen but didn’t use it much, we’ll get to that. Onward we go.

What’s New ?
So what is new with the X-T20 versus the X-T10 it now replaces, well kind of a lot. I’ll just a few of the new features mostly will appreciate.

• Improved grip making holding the camera with one hand a lot easier
• New X-Trans III CMOS 24 megapixel sensor
• Greatly improved autofocus
• Touch screen
• Expanded native ISO range

Autofocus and Image Quality
The Fujifilm X-T20 uses the new X-Trans III 24 megapixel sensor. As a result in gets the same autofocus and images quality of both the X-T2 and X-Pro 2. With this new body we’ve have gone from 77 to 325 autofocus points, almost half of which are phase detect. This has improved the autofocus speed quite a bit. This of course will be a bit lens dependent as it always is. My normal set of lenses all seemed to focus just as quickly on the X-T20 as my own X-T2 in good light. My understanding is the focus speed on these two cameras should be the same. As always I had a few misfires but these were in street scenes where this happens from time to time when an AF point just happens to land in the wrong spot. There are many different autofocus modes depending on the type of content you’re shooting. I most often shoot in single spot or manual modes though for my work.

Image quality is greatly improved over the previous generation of sensor. There will always be arguments over how many megapixels you really need. For my the additional resolution is nice. I’ve started to make prints more often and I often do some perspective correction on images which also means some cropping. If you only ever show your work online this might not be a reason to upgrade for you though.

Build Quality
This might not be a flagship camera but it’s not exactly what would be call budget either. The built quality is where I expect it to be for the price. You get a magnesium alloy body and nicely textured grip all around. All the dials feel really solid and don’t often get knocked or switched accidentally. The d-pad on the back of the camera has a good solid feel to it well. Over the years Fuji has really improved the feel of these button and they are great now.  

What you’re not getting in this camera is weather sealing, which is a disappointment.

Handling
The Fujifilm X-T20 has a few handling ups and downs. I'll go over the positives first as I think they outweigh the negatives. The biggest handling feature is the fact that there is now an actuated touch screen. The touch screen here is basicly the same as we saw on the X70. There is tap to focus, tap to just move the focus point or tap to shoot. If you are someone who is moving to this camera as an upgrade from just shooting on your phone I can see these features being really appealing. After trying them out for a bit I personally left the touch feature turned off. I found the touch screen more useful when review images though. You can pinch to zoom or double tap to zoom to 100% and you can scroll through images. I found all of this to work well and with reasonable speed. Disappointingly you still can not use the touch screen on any of the menus.

Other more minor improvements include a much better grip just making the camera much more comfortable to hold. As I said previously all the buttons and dials have a good solid feel to them as well, though they are not locking like on the X-T2.

A major missing feature compared to the flagship cameras is the lack of the focus lever. I missed having it right way. Weather you will missing having this feature will really depend on your shooting style. If you often use the touch screen then I can see now missing the focus lever. Obviously you can use the d-pad on the back of the camera to move the focus points around when using the screen or viewfinder. The buttons on the d-pad have a really good feel so it works fine. I’m not sure if this is a cost thing or a way for Fuji to create some separation between this more consumer level camera and the flagship bodies. In speaking with a friend friend since using this camera I think the focus lever is something you will only miss if you’ve gotten us to using one previously.

Oddly I don’t like the battery door the doesn’t automatically lock when you close it, but that’s me being picky.

Viewfinder
The viewfinder is basically the same here as in the previous X-T10 and now the new X-E3. The EVF is another case of something seeming weak only in comparison to the X-T2. The viewfinder works very well in most conditions, though I wish for a better eye cup around it. It has a maximum refresh rate of 54 fps which is fine in most situations. I don’t think anyone is going to be disappointed with the viewfinder. It’s still bright and clear and all the information displayed is customizable.

Everything Else
The Fuji XT-20 is currently prices at $1200 Canadian which seems like a lot until you consider that it’s about $900 less than a X-T2. Having both on hand and going back and forth between them for a few weeks has been interesting. I will admit to not using some of the features that make the X-T2 as expensive as it is, like a the optional battery grip or more extensive 4k video options. I went for the higher end camera for the focus lever, better EVF, dual SD card slots and a few additional physical controls. Are those things alone worth spending that much more? For most people probably not, but only you and your budget can decide that really.

So as always I start to think who would I suggest buy this camera. If you’re thinking of moving from a Dslr to a mirrorless system and the X-T2 isn’t in your budget then this camera is for you. I think it would almost make a great camera for someone looking to get into photography more seriously than shooting with a phone or point and shoot. All of the automatic features are there but you can take of with full manual controls that are easy to use when you’re ready.