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| The Fuji X-T1 with the battery grip and 23mm f/1.4 lens |
I've spoken before about my love for the
Fujifilm x-series cameras. The idea of having a camera that produces good
enough quality and usability without having to lug around DSLR really appeals
to me, whether for day to day stuff or even on jobs. You can read my thoughts
on the x100s and X-Pro1 here. Although I love them as
cameras to use day to day I probably wouldn't be
comfortable shooting a commercial gig exclusively on them. I tend to keep them as back-up and also as
something to use for myself.
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| The Fuji X-T1 packed alongside the X-Pro 1, my X100S and my Medium Format Bronica SQ-AI |
However when the Fuji X-T1 came out I was
excited that it could be a potentially great set-up for traveling with and
shooting editorial assignments - it was much closer to the DSLR setup I'm used
to using but without the bulk. With this in mind I decided to take one away
with me on some recent assignments to
Croatia, Spain, Morocco and Sweden. I already own some x-series
lenses (18mm, 35mm) and I was lent a few extra ones (27mm, 56mm, 18-55mm, 23mm) which gave me
a fairly thorough set-up.
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| Gullholmen, Sweden. XF 18-55mm, 1/400 at f/9.0, ISO 800 |
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| Gullholmen, Sweden. XF 23mm, 1/750 at f/4.5, ISO 400 |
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| Gullholmen, Sweden. XF 18-55mm, 1/320 at f/13 |
My initial reservations with the camera were
with the fact that the viewfinder is obviously EVF rather than optical, something which in the past has always been a
turn-off for me. I needn't have been too concerned however, the EVF is
fast, bright and large. Occasionally I found
myself covering my other eye in bright sunlight but otherwise it was great and not a hinderance as I had first feared. The great thing about having EVF is that it exposure meters right
in the viewfinder so you know straight away how your exposure is looking. For
someone like me who shoots mainly in manual mode (out of habit rather than any deep
reasoning) this is really useful,
and it saves you 'chimping' shots.
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| Tangiers, Morocco. XF 23mm, 1/125 at f/2.8, ISO 400 |
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| Tangiers Morocco. XF 23mm, 1/180 at f/10, ISO 200 |
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| Tangiers, Morocco. XF 23mm, 1/180 at f/8.0, ISO 400 |
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| Tangiers, Morocco. XF 23mm, 1/320 at f/11, ISO 400 |
My first impression of the XT1 in the hand is that's
its small. At first I actually
kind of felt it was too small - I think if I were to
get one of these I would definitely
go with the battery grip. I imagine for some people the
small size is the main draw, and the great thing with the grip is that you can
always take it off if you want to
travel with a smaller package, but for me the larger
size just makes it a little more manageable to shoot with. It balances out the camera and feels more
comfortable in my hand plus it gives you a bit more functionality with buttons
for shooting in the portrait orientation. When Fuji
bring out their 24-70 and 70-200 f/2.8 equivalents (read about the 50 - 140mm here) with image stabilisation - they
will have produced a real contender for a full size
DSLR but at a fraction of the weight and physical size. For travel jobs, this
is all rather exciting because flying with kit is always a bit stressful and hand luggage limits can be less than
generous.
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| Tarifa, Spain. XF 35mm, 1/500 at f/4, ISO 200 |
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| Tarifa, Spain. XF 35mm, 1/2000 at f/2, ISO 200 |
Real world tests
Shooting with this camera
on assignments was interesting and highlighted a few gripes I had with the camera.
Firstly I'm a creature of habit; for the last 6 years I have used the back
button on my Canon DSLR to get focus, something I took up after being shown it
by a seasoned pro - thus using my thumb rather than my shutter finger to get
focus. You can set the Fuji up to do something similar (AF lock) but for me
these buttons are just too small, and are not satisfying to press, they feel
like they'd be easy to fumble and miss. However all is not lost, I did see a genius mod that involved using Sugru to physically modify the buttons on the
camera. Had it been my own X-T1 I probably would have tried this myself - I'm
not how pleased Fuji UK would have been with me if I'd given them back a hacked
camera!
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| Pula, Croatia. XF 27mm, 1/1000 at f/5, ISO 400 |
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| Rovinj, Croatia. XF 27mm, 1/1000 at f/2.8, ISO 200 |
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| Rovinj, Croatia. XF 56mm, 1/4000 at f/2.2, ISO 200 |
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| Rovinj, Croatia, XF 56mm, 1/60 at f/2.5, ISO 200 |
With regards to the focus
itself, it did not cause me any issues - I did not feel it was too slow, which
is impressive as I'm pretty hard to please when it comes to such things. The
other great thing about the large EVF though is that if you do feel unsure you
can quickly check focus - zooming into the focus point whilst the overall image
is still displayed. Coupled with the excellent Manual Focus peaking and you've
got a good alternative to AF (One thing I'd like to see is some alternative
colours for highlight peaking, rather just white).
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| London, England. XF 18mm, 1/80 at f/2.0, ISO 3200 |
The back screen is
relatively good and the fact that it moves and swivels is a massive bonus. The
previews it presents are quite punchy and if you're shooting RAW your image
will have more dynamic range than the back display suggests. But having a
flexible back display is great for getting into tight situations and angles
with the camera.
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| Amsterdam, Holland. XF 27mm, 1/60 at f/2.8, ISO 800 |
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| Amsterdam, Holland. XF 27mm, 1/80 at f/4.0, ISO 800 |
I have to say that I was
incredibly impressed with the Fuji glass, a lot has been written, in a lot more
depth, about the Fuji lenses but all I'm going to say is that I fell in love
with the 23mm (35mm equivalent) and the 56mm* (85mm equivalent) - both fast
primes, robustly built, that would certainly suit my style of shooting.
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| Seville, Spain. XF 35mm, 1/1000 at f/8.0, ISO 1000 |
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| Cadiz, Spain. XF 35mm, 1/500 at f/10, ISO 400 |
As for other features the
in-built wifi and ability to control the camera through a dedicated app were
very cool. I love being able to convert the RAW images in cameras and send
direct to my phone for things like Instagram (if you use instagram my feed has
a few shots from the camera marked with #fuji or #XT1). The remote too was
something that I could forsee being useful for certain situations.
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| The Fuji app for smartphones which allows you to remotely shoot the camera. Both shots below were shot from the waist using the app. |
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| Glasgow, Scotland. XF 27mm, 1/250 at f/5.0, ISO 400 |
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| Glasgow, Scotland. XF 27mm, 1/500 at f/5.0, ISO 400 |
The one thing that has
prevented me from taking up the camera so far has been waiting to see what
further lenses Fuji aim to bring out. If I do take on jobs I also find it
difficult to do so with kit that I wasn't 100% familiar with. I would need to
get very used to the camera before using exclusively on future jobs. The reason
I enjoy shooting with the X-Pro1 and the Fuji x100s so much is that they offer
a different experience to using an SLR - an off centre viewfinder etc. The
thing with the XT1 is that is effectively trying to be an SLR but in a smaller
mirrorless package, with some perks but also ultimately with some cut corners.
The camera, and it's subsequent line, still excite me however, because of the
potential of where it will lead. Any competition to Canon and Nikon is welcome
in my view. And so far Fuji have shown that they are prepared to think outside
the box a little, they have the room and flexibility as a smaller company to
try different things and new approaches. If they continue to do this, whilst
maintaining their legendary concern and interest in customer feedback then they
could really change the field over the next few years and offer a very viable alternative
to the SLR.
*Fuji
have just released an updated 56mm aimed specifically at portrait photographer.
The updated lens includes a special coating which adds to the price tag but
that also promises to produces better bokeh. This is certainly a sign that Fuji
ares serious about capturing professional photographers - akin to Canon having
a range of L lenses which most pro's tend to gravitate towards.
