As the popularity of mirrorless cameras rises to previously unseen heights and with every manufacturer giving all they got to take a slice of the pie that is mirrorless camera market it’s only natural that we should give some attention to Fujifilm and some of their best efforts to come out on top as one of the best around. As you’ll soon come to realize, there are really some quite interesting and diverse offerings in their line-up. So as usual, let’s start with the most affordable camera and end it with some exotic ones.
Fujifilm X30Go to Amazon
As the tradition dictates, the first item on this list will be the most affordable one out of the bunch and that place belongs to the Fujifiilm X30.
Overall rating:
84
Design:
0
100
100
Ease of Use:
0
75
100
Price:
0
80
100
Features:
0
80
100
Pros
Lovely retro design
Plenty buttons and dials
WiFi capable
Rear tilting screen
Sturdy built
Cons
Small body
Noise noticeable at higher ISO settings
Takes too long to wake from sleep mode
Limited exposure compensation
Read Reviews & Buy on
See Full Technical Specs
Click to read the full Review
It's a compact mirrorless camera with above the average sensor size and a lens with a useful zoom range and maximum aperture. It's built around a 12 megapixel 2/3 inch X-Trans CMOS II sensor with EXR Processor II providing it with all the necessary power. While this sensor isn't as big as the 1 inch sensors we usually find in these types of cameras, it's still noticeably bigger than the 1/2.3 inch sensors found in a lot of cameras in its price range, so we have no complaints here.
The image quality you can expect from this camera is rather good. You can get a lot of detail in your shots at lower ISOs and also benefit from good dynamic range if you end up with some over or underexposed areas in your photos.
The noise performance is also very respectable for such a relatively small sensor and you can get usable images up to ISO 1600. At an ISO of 3200 there's a little too much noise for our taste, but at least the amount of detail retained is still ok if you decide to shoot in RAW. If you aim to get the most detail out of X30, we suggest you to use RAW capture when shooting at ISO of 800 or above because the JPEG algorithms apply too much noise reduction at these ISO values and we believe that so much processing really isn't necessary. The same applies to video quality, it's good at normal ISO values while some noticeable noise creeps in at 1600 and 3200.
The body of the X30 is another of it's strengths being made out of magnesium alloy and looking very sharp and retro-like. There's also a lot of manual controls available for a compact camera with as much as three dials. There's also a very useful articulated 920,000 dot 3 inch TFT-LCD and a large high resolution 2,360,000 dots EVF - Our only complaint here is the omission of a touchscreen which is a pretty normal affair these days on many cameras. We understand that some corners had to be cut to keep it competitive price wise, we just wish that this wasn't one of these cuts.
The AF system in X30 consists of 49 focus points and its performance is average at best. You won't have many problems with it in regular use, but it can be quite hesitant to focus correctly while you're shooting extreme macro or portrait photos when you aren't holding the camera in landscape. Unfortunately the situation for video isn't any better and you'll get much better results when using manual focus helped by the focus peaking.
Back on the more positive note, the lens on the X30 is of very high quality; besides having such a useful aperture range it's also sharp, exhibits minimal distortions and is also quite resistant to flare because of Fuji's familiar EBC coatings. Its Wi-Fi capabilities are also very good and give you an easy way to connect to your smartphone or a tablet with Fuji Camera Remote app. The app itself is well thought out and easy to navigate through and also serves as a replacement for the missing touchscreen by giving you the ability to use tap to focus on your smart device. Other noticeable features include a pop-up flash unit, 12 fps burst rate, RAW support, micro-HDMI port and a battery life for 470 shots.
Fujifilm X-A3Go to Amazon
We are only on the second camera on this list and it's already a one with the large APS-C sensor. Seems like Fuji are very serious in trying hard to make this new camera a best seller.
Overall rating:
75
Design:
0
100
100
Ease of Use:
0
90
100
Price:
0
40
100
Features:
0
70
100
Pros
Articulated screen
WiFi capable
Touchscreen
1080p video
Timelapse recording
Light body
Cons
No Image Stabilization
No Built-in Viewfinder
No External Viewfinder
Low Battery Life
Read Reviews & Buy on
See Full Technical Specs
Click to read the full Review
The X-A3 is built around company's new 24 megapixel APS-C sensor, replacing the older 16 megapixel X-Trans sensor. It's backed up by EXR Processor II that makes the X-A3 a speedy little beast with fast start-up times, AF speed of around 0.3 seconds, little to no shutter lag and short interval shooting times.
The AF system itself sports 49 autofocus points for single AF mode and 77 points for subject tracking. When talking of its design, it's a classic Fuji, with sleek metal parts combined with faux leather accents and a slew of manual controls. It all looks very attractive and you even get a choice of three different colors (brown, red and black).
The screen of the back is an articulated TFT-LCD touchscreen with a resolution of 1,040,000 dots. With it you get some interesting features like Touch AF, Touch Shoot and Touch Zoom. It is also optimized towards taking selfies with modes like Smile Detection, Buddy Timer and Group Timer. These are all there to help you take a photo of yourself or your friends without even touching the camera. So much though has went into this that even the Eye Detection AF is activated when the screen is tilted upwards. Lastly there's the Portrait Enhancer mode which offers different ways to change the tonality of skin tones in your photos.
Curiously enough, there is no viewfinder. It seems that the only explanation for it missing would be that Fuji wanted to distance this camera away from its more expensive models which are aimed at more advanced photographers and market this camera as a more casual camera that everybody can use and get great pictures with. The whole focus on taking selfies really proves that Fuji decided to portray the X-A3 as a camera for youngsters.
Another fact that supports this theory is the addition of types of color filters and effects. First, there are Film Simulation modes. They are essentially something along the lines of Instagram filters but made to mimic the tonality you could get while using different types of film back in the day. Some of these are Provia, Astia, Classic Chrome, Monochrome and Sepia. In addition to those you also get some fun filters like Fisheye, Toy Camera, Miniature, Soft Focus, etc. When It comes to controlling your exposure you get a very wide ISO range of 100-25600, fast shutter speeds up to 1/32000 of a second when using the electronic shutter and a maximum flash sync speed of 1/180 sec. While there's no 4K video recording, you do get the option of recording at 1080p at 60 frames per second and there's also Focus Peaking available to help you focus more easily.
Since this is a camera targeted at a younger audience it's only natural that it comes with Wi-Fi built-in and all the expected functionality that comes with it. A little disclaimer at the end; the X-A3 does sound like a camera that was build as a tool for having fun with and also for light hearted photography in general, and it is. But one shouldn't overlook the fact that it still comes with freshly made large APS-C sensor and the ability to use any of the Fuji's high quality glass, so it's still a really capable camera for those who take their photography more seriously and plan to do more with their camera than just taking selfies.
Fujifilm Finepix S1Go to Amazon
While Fuji aren't know that much for being a company that makes a lot of superzoom cameras, they still make an interesting one from time to time and Fujifilm Finepix S1 is certainly one of them.
Overall rating:
61
Design:
0
40
100
Ease of Use:
0
89
100
Price:
0
50
100
Features:
0
65
100
Pros
WiFi Capable
Articulated screen
Manual focus
AE bracketing
1080p Video
Timelapse recording
Long battery life
50x Optical Zoom
5-axis Image Stabilization
Cons
No touchscreen
Heavy body
Price
Read Reviews & Buy on
See Full Technical Specs
Click to read the full Review
It boasts a 16 megapixel 1/2.3 inch sensor that sits behind a 24-1200mm lens with a maximum aperture of f2.8 - f.5.6. That's a huge zoom range that equals to 50x in compact camera terms. Because of that large lens S1 looks more like a DSLR than a compact camera.
The lens itself also has optical image stabilization as well as a digital; you can combine both to get better results than using the optical stabilization by itself. While it doesn't feel very premium in the hand it still shaped ergonomically and easy to use.
There aren't as many manual controls as with some of Fuji's more premium cameras, but there are still two dials available as well as all the buttons you would expect for adjusting things like WB, ISO, AF modes and others. On the back you'll find the 3 inch 920,000 dot vari-angle TFT-LCD screen and 0,2 inch viewfinder of the same resolution. They aren't the best around, but fall in line with what you'd expect in this type of camera.
Before we touch on the rest of the feature set, we should say a few words about the image quality. As is the case with all the superzoom cameras with a smaller sensor the image quality is average at best. At wider angles picture quality can be good, but when you reach the telephoto range it gets noticeably soft. Noise performance isn't great either and you should only go above ISO 800 if you really need to.
To help you with low light shots, Fuji implemented a Pro-Low Light mode in which the camera takes a burst of four photos with different ISO levels and combines them into one less noisy image. It really does work like promised but at the cost of reduced detail in your photos. On the positive side, you do get the RAW support which is rarely found on any cameras sporting a 1/2.3 inch sensor. Also, any other aspects that determine the image quality like distortion, chromatic aberrations and vignetting are all well control and never really noticeable in everyday images.
Macro performance is also good and you get the option to either shoot at a distance of 1 cm at the widest angle or 1.3 m at the longest. Lastly, to help your photos stand out a little, you get different kinds of filters like Toy Camera, Miniature, Pop Color, High-Key, Fish-Eye, Soft Focus, etc. You also get some of the Fuji's familiar film simulation modes like Chrome, Black and White and Sepia. It's obvious you won't be buying a superzoom camera with a 50x zoom range to get the best image quality, you're buying it soley for the convenience of having such a range. It's important to keep that in mind when looking at the S1 just from the image quality standpoint.
Some other specifications worth mentioning are the 1080p 60 fps video recording with stereo sound, a pop-up flash as well as hot-shoe for external flash use, HDR and panorama modes, mini-HDMI port, Wi-Fi and a battery life of 350 frames when using the Auto mode. In conclusion, the Fujifilm Finepix S1 is a "Fine" camera indeed. While not having the best image quality, it still offers an impressive number of features in one package you can always lug around with you.
Fujifilm X70Go to Amazon
If you want a general purpose camera that's easy to use, has great image quality and looks good, than the Fujifilm X70 might be your cup of tea.
Overall rating:
67
Design:
0
82
100
Ease of Use:
0
70
100
Price:
0
60
100
Features:
0
55
100
Pros
Articulated Screen
WiFi Capable
Touchscreen
1080p video
Long Battery Life
Manual Focusing
Manual Exposure
External Microphone Port
Timelapse Recording
Cons
No Image Stabilization
No Built-in Viewfinder
Heavy Body
No Environmental Sealing
No Panorama Shooting
Read Reviews & Buy on
See Full Technical Specs
Click to read the full Review
In many ways it can be considered as an upgrade for the camera on your phone as it's also build around a large touchscreen and a fixed wide angle lens. The sensor in the X70 is Fuji's venerable 16 megapixel X-Trans CMOS II APS-C sensor that can already be found in many of their more premium models.
To make sure you can get the most out of that sensor Fuji decided to couple it with a Fujinon 28mm f2.8 lens. Other than it being of high quality and gathering a good amount of light because of that f2.8 aperture it also has an impressive minimum focus distance of 10 cm making it very versatile lens indeed.
Almost every part of X70's body is made out of metal with some plastic parts here and there mostly for doors protecting the ports. It feels and looks like an old film camera, but a lot slimmer than the rangefinder style cameras back in the day. There are two major things that separate it from those cameras when you look at it and these the tilting touchscreen and the lack of a viewfinder. Considering how closely the X70 resembles those retro cameras, it's quite strange that Fuji didn't include the viewfinder to complete the whole package. At least the screen itself is really good, so you're not completely left in the dark.
To finish the story about the body of the X70 we should also mention that it comes with integrated Wi-Fi, micro-HDMI port, build-in flash unit with a maximum range of 7.9 meters and a lithium-ion battery that's rated at 330 shots. The X70 sports a Hybrid AF system which makes use of both the contrast and phase detection AF and combines them both to help you get more accurate focus. It's not very fast, but it is precise, even in low light. You'll also get some useful AF modes like Zone AF, Wide/Tracking and face/eye detection. There's also a Touch AF mode which enables you to use the touchscreen to select a desired focus point, which is very useful to have. Now, let's say a few words about image quality.
The X70 produces pleasing images all around. There's plenty of detail captured with no noticeable over sharpening and colors come out accurate and neutral. Noise performance is also great and you'll be able to get very usable images even at very high ISO values. The story is the same with RAW, so we have no complaints here. One thing you do have to keep in mind is that the lens (albeit pretty resistant to everything from distortions to vignetting) is a little soft wide open and you'll need to stop down to at least f5.6 to get really sharp images. One interesting feature you get with the X70 is the digital teleconverter. It works only in JPEG mode and it digitally turns the 28mm lens into 35mm or 50mm by cropping into the sensor.
As expected, there is a noticeable decrease in image quality and some artifacts do appear, but honestly it isn't that bad for casual use and for those photos that you just plan to view on your computer screen or post online. Those who plan to print their images shouldn't use this mode. If you wonder why we still haven't said anything about the video recording on the X70, It's because it just isn't very good. It's ok for a casual video here and there, but nothing more than that. This is a camera for taking photos and you should treat it like one and forget about video.
Fujifilm X-T10Go to Amazon
If you like what Fujifilm X70 has to offer but you wished it had an ability to change lenses and a viewfinder, than you'll certainly like the X-T10.
Overall rating:
75
Design:
0
72
100
Ease of Use:
0
83
100
Price:
0
60
100
Features:
0
86
100
Pros
WiFi capable
Electronic Built-in Viewfinder
Face Detection Focusing
Articulated screen
Light body
1080p video
External Microphone Port
Timelapse Recording
Cons
No Image Stabilization: No Touch Screen
Low Battery Life
No Environmental Sealing
Read Reviews & Buy on
See Full Technical Specs
Click to read the full Review
Anyway you look at it it's a well rounded camera, especially considering its price. It comes equipped with a very well known 16 megapixel X-Trans CMOS II APS-C sensor. The image quality it produces is very good and fits perfectly into the balanced nature of this camera. You can get plenty of detail out of your photos, but not as much as with some of the 20 or 24 megapixel sensors found I many mirrorless cameras today.
One advantage you gain for sacrificing some detail is the improved low light and noise performance and it sure holds true with the X-T10. Fuji fine tuned their JPEG algorithms to retain a perfect balance between noise and the amount of detail so you'll get very usable shots even at ISO as high as 6400, which is hardly the case with many APS-C cameras these days. Of course, you can do even more tuning in RAW, but interestingly enough when shooting above ISO of 6400 you can only shoot in JPEG mode.
Another impressive thing about this sensor is it's dynamic range. In short, it's excellent and directly comparable with the latest Nikon cameras which were touted as the best in this regard when it comes to APS-C sensors. Unfortunately, when it comes to video quality, the story is pretty much the same as with the X70; it's below par. It's pretty obvious that the X-Trans sensor was designed with stills in mind rather than video and is optimized in that way. So, if you care a lot for video quality and you're looking for a camera that you plan to do some serious video work with, than you should probably look elsewhere. If that's not the case, than please, continue reading this article. Let's say a couple of words about the hardware in and on the X-T10.
The whole body including all the dials and the raised viewfinder heavily resembles the SLR cameras of the 80's and it makes this camera a pleasure to look at. It's almost entirely built out of magnesium alloy with some nice rubber accents on the front of the camera and its grip. All this equals to very positive feel in the hand and makes you confident that you've purchased a high quality product. The screen on the back is a tiltable 3 inch TFT LCD with a resolution of 920,000 dots while the viewfinder is an EVF unit with a resolution of 2,360,000 dots and a magnification of 0.62x. Usually we would complain for the lack of a touchscreen but it kinda makes sense on this camera with it's philosophy being that it should be used as a retro camera, meaning you should rely on using all the available buttons and dials instead of tapping on the screen.
These are so well made that we doubt that many will miss the touchscreen after using them. Other hardware features include a built-in Wi-Fi, micro HDMI port, orientation sensor, pop-up flash, 8 fps burst rate and a battery life of 350 shots. In conclusion, the X-T10 is a well priced, well specced and well made camera that should satisfy anyone who desires a high quality photography tool but without the bulk of carrying a DSLR.
Fujifilm X100TGo to Amazon
Now, we all know how that making your camera look as retro as possible is now a big trend among the mirrorless camera manufacturers and Fuji is no exception when it comes to their's.
Overall rating:
71
Design:
0
61
100
Ease of Use:
0
80
100
Price:
0
50
100
Features:
0
91
100
Pros
WiFi capable
Manual focus
Manual exposure
Electronic and Optical Built-in Viewfinder
AE Bracketing
Built-in ND Filter
1080p video: Timelapse recording
Cons
No Image Stabilization
No Articulating Screen
No Touch Screen
Heavy Body
No Weather-Sealing
No Panorama Shooting
Read Reviews & Buy on
See Full Technical Specs
Click to read the full Review
Each of their higher tier cameras follows that trend, but the X100T is the strongest in this regard. It really looks almost exactly as a rangefinder camera that came straight from the 80's. It doesn't just look the part, it feels very solid and all the buttons and dials have a clicky and responsive feel making them a pleasure to use. Luckily all this doesn't mean that the X100T doesn't pack some serious technology inside that retro body, so let's see what these are.
First, there's the sensor, it's a 16 megapixel X-Trans CMOS II sensor which sits very well with the philosophy behind this camera, meaning it's fully optimized towards taking still instead being balanced between photo and video quality. The lens is another thing that goes together with this, it's a 35mm equivalent lens with a maximum aperture of f2, again mimicking what you would get with most of the fixed lens rangefinder cameras from back in the day.
The lens itself is what you would expect at this price point, sharp, contrasty and without any noticeable image flaws. It also sports a normal minimal focus distance of 0.5m and 0.1m when you switch it to macro mode. Thanks to such a good lens and the quality sensor sitting behind it, the X100T will always give you very pleasing results in any conditions. Although the resolution could be higher compared to some of the other mirrorless cameras, you still get plenty of detail because of the sharp lens.
The noise performance and the dynamic range are great. You can get very usable results even at the ISO value as high as 6400 and that kind of performance also helps in those situations where you need to make use of the dynamic range of your camera by pulling out as much detail as you can from the shadows but without the major increase of noise in your photos. Another interesting and unique aspect about this camera is its viewfinder.
While the screen is the usual affair for this type of the camera, the viewfinder is something special. It's a combination of an EVF and an optical viewfinder, which Fuji call a Hybrid EVF. A combo like this gives you many useful features such as Digital Split Image manual focus which gives you a focusing experience similar to that on a film rangefinder camera. That means that manual focusing will be much easier than with any other traditional digital camera when shooting through the viewfinder. Also, this kind of viewfinder pairing means that everything in your viewfinder will be clearly visible no matter the lighting conditions outside and it also means that you can have any shooting information laid out no matter the type of viewfinder you switch to because of the fixed frame around the viewfinder itself that always displays that info.
It's really fun to use and almost eliminates the need to shoot anything by looking through the screen, which also means that you could gain some noticeable improvements in your battery life because of that. In the end, let's list some other features of the X100T, right off the specs sheet: shutter speed range of 30 seconds to 1/32000 seconds (when using the electronic shutter), built-in flash unit, 6 fps burst rate, 1080p 60 fps video recording, micro-HDMI and microphone ports, Wi-Fi and a 49-point AF system.
Fujifilm X-T2Go to Amazon
We are almost at the end of our list and we've saved the best for the last. The Fujifilm X-T2 has been released quite recently so it will be fun to take a look at something completely new.
Pros
4K capable
WiFi capable
Articulated screen
Weather-sealed
Electronic Built-in Viewfinder
Face Detection Focusing
Light body
Cons
No Image Stabilization
No touchscreen
Low battery life
Read Reviews & Buy on
See Full Technical Specs
Click to read the full Review
This is a flagship camera in almost any regard, so prepare for some killer specs. First, there's the new 24 megapixel X-Trans CMOS III sensor. Although the previous iteration of Fuji's X-Trans sensor did produce some nice looking images in all conditions, the amount of detail was still limited because of the lower resolution and also, the video quality suffered quite a bit. Have Fuji managed to solve both of these problems with the new sensor? We are happy to say that they did.
The new sensor could really be called a work of art, in a way. It produces very detailed images in both RAW and JPEG modes, with no over sharpening halos or artifacts in JPEG. The noise performance is even better and even comes close to some full-frame cameras. That means that you can safely crank up those ISO values without worrying to much that you'll end up with unusable results. Lastly, the dynamic range is also very impressive for an APS-C sensor and you'll get a lot of room if you plan on playing with exposure of your shadows and highlights. It's actually pretty amazing how good today's APS-C sensors have become and it seems that the gap between them and the full-frame sensors is slowly closing, meaning that the general rule that you must go with full-frame to get great image quality isn't really valid anymore. One really major improvement over the older sensor is the video quality.
Fuji finally stepped up and included 4K video capture in one of their cameras and one that's of really good quality. It's easily comparable to almost every other camera out there that can record 4K video and it even surpasses some. Also, in addition to those improvements, the X-T2 also gains the microphone jack, more control over the autofocus and a flat F-Log gamma profile. There is one limit because of its size and that's the maximum recording time of 10 minutes when you're shooting in 4K. If you want to extend that then you'll need to opt in for a Power Booster Grip which extends it to 30 minutes. That time is increased because of the additional two batteries that can be found in the grip itself. It also sports another useful feature, the headphone socket.
The AF system in the X-T2 is also a major step ahead from the ones found in the previous models of X-series. It has 325 AF points, 169 of which offer phase detection. That phase detection area is used for subject tracking and covers a nice center portion of the image sensor. It's not spread as widely as on some more expensive DSLRs, but it’s still enough to get you good tracking performance. It could still use some improvement when focusing in low light, but since there are so many other improvements to be found, we'll let this one slide.
Let's round up this mini review with some other honorable mentions when it comes to specifications. You'll get the ISO range from 200 – 12800 (expands to 100 – 51200), shutter speed range from 30 – 1/32000 sec and a maximum burst rate of 14 fps. On the hardware side, there are a 3 inch tilting screen, an EVF with a magnification of 0.77x, dual SD card slots, USB 3.0, W-Fi and micro-HDMI.
Fujifilm X-Pro2Go to Amazon
As we come to a close of this article, it's only natural that the last product in it comes with a "Pro" label in its name.
Overall rating:
63
Design:
0
50
100
Ease of Use:
0
80
100
Price:
0
30
100
Features:
0
90
100
Pros
High Shutter Life Expectancy
Electronic and Optical Built-in Viewfinder: WiFi Capable
1080p video
Weather-sealed
Cons