Well...I Bought a Fujifilm X-T1; First Impressions

Giant Redwoods; In the area of Avenue of the Giants in Northern California.

You never seem  be too old for emotions to win out over logic.  After I wrote last week's post on gains or losses with the Olympus E-M1 versus the Fujifilm X-T1, I thought about it and went ahead and ordered the camera and a few lenses from B and H.  My curiosity and desire overtook to explore this Fujifilm camera system overcame my logic.  In other words, I didn't need it but I wanted it.  I am really interested in how their cameras differ from Bayer sensor cameras. Since I had recently divested myself of a lot of gear that I was no longer using, I had some handy cash to put into the Fujifilm system.  The camera and lenses arrived late Friday evening via UPS.

This turns out to be a good news/bad news situation.  First the good news.

I had previously read the X-T1's user's manual by downloading the PDF.  By the time the camera arrived, I had already refreshed my memory and brushed up on the details of the X-T1.  So, when I opened the package, the first thing I did was fully charge the battery, as I always do.  After the battery was charged (Fujifilm says it takes about 2 1/2 hours to fully charge a battery from its lowest charge.  The battery, as received, took about 1 1/2 hours to fully charge), I started setting up the camera by going through all the menus.  Here are my first impressions.

The camera and lenses seem to be very well designed and built.  My first thought–this is a very nice quality.  They are solid and have a nice heft to them. They don't feel plasticy or cheap.  The finish is very nice and the rubbery skin on the camera allows you to grip it with confidence.  The camera fits well in my hand and feels good in bringing it to my eye.

The controls are well placed and it is easy to find the control to change the things you often would want to change, such as shutter speeds, apertures, ISO, exposure compensation, etc.  All the controls are tight and not prone to be accidentally changed.  That being said, the exposure compensation dial, in my opinion, is too stiff.  With the E-M1, I only have to use my thumb to move it left or right.  I can do that while I have my eye to the viewfinder.  With the X-T1, I have to grip this control with my thumb and index finger in order to change it.  That means I have to move my index finger off the shutter button to change it while looking through the viewfinder.  Sometimes, I found myself taking my eye away from the viewfinder to change my hand's position in order to move it easier.  Maybe with time, it will loosen a bit.  There are several programmable function buttons, which I like.  The "Q" menu system is a nice feature.  The menu fonts are big and clear, easy to read.

The "four-way" buttons that surround the menu/enter button aren't very well designed.  I almost have to use my fingernail in order to push them.  They are flush with the camera back.  I understand the designers purposely made them that way in order to avoid inadvertent pushes because part of your palm, below your thumb, may rest in that area while gripping the camera.  Olympus solved that issue with the E-M1.  Fujifilm engineers should look at that camera.  It is much easier to use.  That being said, its predecessor, the E-M5 was no better than the X-T1.  I suspect Fujifilm will get a lot of negative feedback on this and they will change it for the next camera.

I set the camera up in a way that would be familiar to me and found almost all the menu items covered my particular likes.  That being said, I wish I could switch out some of the 'Q" menu items for others that are buried deep in the menu system.  Ones that I would use more frequently than the ones they provide.  If this can be done, I missed it.  However, I will go back into the manual and see if I can find if I can do this. Changing out or customizing the "Q" menu items would be a good thing.

Next, I put the 18-55 lens on the camera and made some test shots.  I set the camera for RAW + JPEG as Lightroom does not yet have the ability to read these RAW files.  I had downloaded Adobe Camera Raw 8.4 Release Candidate and was able to look at the RAW files in Photoshop CS6.  I looked at the JPEGs in Lightroom 5.

The files looked really good.  The lens is sharp, and the images are detailed.  The day was very heavily overcast so I really didn't get a chance to see how the images looked on a nice sunny day to judge dynamic range.  I had the camera set to Astia, a film which renders color naturally and one which I used to use extensively in the old film days.  The color was very natural.  It was not the oversaturated color that comes with most cameras today.

The focus is fast, but my feeling, after using the E-M1 for the past 3 months, is that it is not quite as fast as that camera's focusing.  Inside my home, I did some focusing tests on several items.  The camera hunted a bit before locking on focus.  In comparison, the E-M1 does not hunt indoors.  But the difference won't affect my photography as most of my work is landscapes and nature.  I don't have to worry about them moving quickly in and out of the frame!

Now the bad news.

It was at this point, while making some test images, I noticed that I didn't see the image stabilization working.  In every other camera and/or lens I have owned over the past 20 years that had image stabilization, it was easy to notice when it would activate–typically upon half-press of the shutter button.  I didn't see any difference when I half-pushed the shutter.  I thought maybe the lens was malfunctioning, so I attached the 55-200 and it was the same.  So, I thought, maybe it only activates when the shutter is fully pushed.  Not so, according to the user's manual.  It clearly states that in Mode 1, a half-press activates the image stabilization in the lens.  I tried Mode 2, which is full time IS and it was clearly visible.  Big difference in what I saw in the viewfinder.  So, I thought I would run some tests with both lenses making images to see of there was a difference with the IS on and off.

I taped a piece of paper on the wall, which had typing on it and made a series of exposures from 1/250th second all the way to 1/8th second.  I made two exposures at each shutter speed, the first with the IS turned off, then the second with it turned on.  Finally, I made the same series of exposures with the IS in Mode 2, which is full time.  With the IS turned on, I certainly wasn't getting a much sharper image at the lower shutter speeds.  Upon examination at 1:1, there was a one stop betterment with IS on.  That could have been just sample variation and not the IS functioning properly.  There certainly wasn't a two or three shutter speed difference for sharpness with the IS on as I have experienced with every other image stabilization system I have owned.

I did the same test using the full time IS.  Much better.

At this point, I'm not sure that the IS is working properly, but I decided that it appears that it is malfunctioning and I am sending it back to B and H and exchange it for another copy.  I will then evaluate it again to see it is the same or different.  I'm hoping it is different as a 1 stop IS difference is not good.

At this point, the evaluation and tests ended as I packed the camera and 19-55mm lens kit up to go back to the seller. B and H sent a return authorization and a pre-paid shipping label and it is going back this morning.

So far, I really like what I see and feel with this camera system.  I am anxious to get a different copy and get out there and make some images.  But, I will just have to practice a bit of patience and wait for the new copy to arrive.  After it does, I will go through the same process and continue with this evaluation.

Thanks for looking.

Dennis Mook

Many of my images can be found at www.dennismook.com.  Please pay it a visit.  I add new images regularly.  Thank you.


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