The Fuji X-T2 Has Arrived; It Is Even Better Than I Expected

All images in this post were made using the new Fuji X-T2 and Fuji lenses (click to enlarge)

In case you don't want to read through this entire post of my first use and initial comments about the Fuji X-T2, my recommendation is that if you have this camera, don't let anyone pry it out of your hands.  If you don't have it, go to your computer and order it today.  You won't be sorry!  Yes, it is that good!  If this peaks your interest, read on.

My brand spanking new Fuji X-T2 arrived by way of UPS late Monday afternoon.  After pre-ordering it on the day it was announced, July 7th, I was fortunate to have been one of the lucky ones to be included in the first batch shipped by B and H Photo.  Along with the X-T2, I ordered the new Power Booster Grip VPB-X-T2, two additional batteries (the new "S" version) and, since I only owned one high speed UHS II SDXC card, I ordered one of those as well.

The first thing I noticed is the packaging of the camera.  A box within a box.  Very nicely done. The presentation had a touch of class and elegance.  Everything well packed to keep it all safe during shipping.  Nice but in what I was truly interested was inside. Finally, the camera was revealed and, not strangely, it looked almost identical to the X-T1.  Upon picking it up, it was just a little bigger, but I think better.  I don't have really large hands, but I do like to be able to securely and comfortably grip my camera bodies. Almost all digital cameras today are great tools capable of producing excellent images. To me, what can make or break a camera and what can distinguish it from others, is how it feels in one's hands.  This camera feels right to me.

Click to enlarge

The X-T2 really is an attractive camera and felt very solid when first picking it up.  So far I like what I see.  I actually sat at my kitchen table looking at the engineering and craftsmanship that has gone into this camera and admired it.  Not only from a visual standpoint, but I admire how the engineers put everything together as a complete package.  From past experience, i think the X-T2 will become one of those cameras that you just want to pick up and use.  The X-T1 is that way and the X-T2 feels even better. But how much of an improvement will be had over the X-T1.

The first thing I did was fully charge the batteries.  While charging, I spent some time with the User's Manual as there are things about this camera that are different when compared to the X-T1.  There are some minor control differences and some additional features.  I needed to know and understand those differences before I took the "2" out for a shakedown.

After the batteries were fully charged, I powered up the X-T2 and went about going through all of the setup menus, one by one.  I like the menu system.  Even though it is different from the X-T1's, it is very easy to use and one can easily find whatever setting one needs without having to work at it.  I should not be a pain in the #%& to use a camera's menu.  This one is easy.  Great job Fuji!  As I said the menus are different from the X-T1 but I set the camera up almost identically to my X-T1, since I was very familiar and comfortable with the way I had it set up.  Very easily done.  No surprises.  However, some nice additional functions and options that weren't previously available.  I like the menu option to set one's most used menu items so they are first to appear when pressing the "Okay/Enter" button.  One thing that I have always done is change the file names from my cameras' default to a name that I can associate with a specific camera for future reference.  Just something I do, not necessary, but it helps me identify a particular image with a particular camera if the EXIF data is not available.  I'm happy that I could do this, but I'm not pleased that I could not directly add my copyright to the files in camera. That, too, is important to me since I shoot stock and I think an oversight.  If posting an image before importing into Lightroom, there is no indication of my copyright status and no way for me to apply my copyright directly to the image files.  Certainly a minor thing.

click to enlarge

After setting the camera the way I wanted it, I stepped outside to make a couple of exposures just to ensure it worked as it should.  It did, as expected from Fuji.  I then put the batteries in the grip, attached it, then powered the camera up in regular and boost mode to ensure that, too, was working.  Not only is the EVF a bit better than the X-T1's, but when panning it was "almost" like looking through an optical viewfinder.  Almost, but not quite, but better than any EVF I've ever tried.  After this initial test, I put the camera back down and went back to reading the User's Manual.  Self-torture!  I would wait until Tuesday morning to take it out to initially judge any differences in focus lock-on speed, focus tracking accuracy, dynamic range, color reproduction, etc.

I'm now writing the bulk of this post on Tuesday afternoon.  I took the X-T2 out this morning, photographed a variety of subjects, both man-made, nature, still, moving slowly, moving fast and of a variety of subjects.  In total, I made 387 images shooting on RAW plus JPEG Fine.  I wanted to assess the JPEG engine as well as the RAW engine.
Now back in Lightroom and looking at my images I have a few comments.  I can't be definitive about my opinions in this post since I have only used it one day but I don't suspect, from my initial usage, that many of my comments will change in the future. So, take what I am saying with that in mind—these are initial thoughts and impressions based upon one day of use.

Fuji 100-400mm lens with the Fuji 1.4X converter shot wide open and handheld (click to enlarge)

First of all, the Fuji X-T2 has so far exceeded my expectations.  How so?  Focus speed and focus tracking.  It is much faster and more accurate than my X-T1 and faster and more accurate than I expected it would be.  I would put it right up there with my Nikon D810, which was the best camera I had ever owned, up until now.  One reads raves from those who had access to the camera pre-release, many of them being Fuji X photographers, but I don't think they were exaggerating or misleading when they told us how much better the continuous focus is.  Additionally, the single focus is almost instantaneous.  Its as fast as any camera I've owned.

Additionally, the image files, when viewed at 100% are much better.  Not only do they have more resolution, but that dreaded foliage smearing issue seems to be totally gone! I'll have an image or two to show you.

Taking the camera out to make real images was easy.  If you are familiar with the X-T1, you won't have any problems finding your way around this camera.  That is nice.

Let's talk about my impressions of use and the resulting images.

Dynamic Range and Image Quality

The image quality is excellent.  No doubt about it to me.  I'm picky and the images I made from this initial outing fully meet my needs.  I am very pleased to have 24mp as opposed to 16.  As I have written many times, 24mp is my sweet spot for stock photography.  It gives me a sufficiently large file so the file can be licensed for many more purposes than can a small file. Additionally, the extra pixels gives me some breathing room for cropping when absolutely necessary or straightening an horizon and still have lots of meat in the files.  These are "meaty" files.  I'll coin that term if someone already hasn't.

The color and that abstract "Fuji" quality is still there.  Thank goodness.  My sense is the look of the image files, when compared to the image files shot with my X-T1, are almost identical.  The resolution is higher but that esoteric quality we all love from Fuji files is intact.  The JPEG files look pretty much like the JPEG files from the X-T1.  In other words, as good as the RAW files in most instances and usable for most everything.  I have not done any black and white conversions from RAW or black and white JPEGS yet, but I will before the end of the week. 

I found the dynamic range to equal or exceed that of the X-T1.  I took some images of bright white boats in direct early morning sun with heavy shadows.  I also took some images of a backlit locomotive coming directly at me.  I was able to easily tone down the whites to reveal detail in the wood of the boats as well as bring up the shadows sufficiently to reveal the amount of detail I find pleasing.  Without any direct measurement, it "seems" to me this sensor has a bit more dynamic range than the X-T1.

Directly back lit by sun, as it came out of the camera (click to enlarge)

The auto white balance, as with my X-T1 seems to come in just a bit on the blue side.  I need to warm them up when editing them.  But that is a very subjective thing.  They might be just fine as is for you.

Edited in Lightroom CC 2015 (click to enlarge)
I could easily pull the detail from the shadows and it is focused perfectly
see details of conditions in narrative

My images, overall, are very, very pleasing.  I'm a very happy photographic camper with the image quality from this camera.

Focus Lock-on and Focus Tracking 

I already made a few comments above but I am really pleased with how fast the camera locks on focus and how well it tracks.  

For one test, I photographed my standard fast moving man-made subject, an Amtrak train coming almost directly at me at 79 mph (127 kph).  What makes this test even harder to achieve success is that the bright headlights on the front of the locomotive makes it very difficult for any camera to find the front of the engine and lock on.  I put the X-T2 on 8 fps, continuous autofocus, set the continuous focus custom tracking to #4 and set the focusing to zone with 9 focusing points active.  I am happy to say the 17 of the 18 shots I made were dead on in focus when looking at them in Lightroom at 100%.  The 9th shot, right in the middle of the sequence, was just a tiny bit soft.  Usable, but not perfectly focused.  All images before and after were tack sharp.  Keep in mind as well that I was panning and zooming as I was photographing.  That is a nice improvement over the X-T1. 

Additionally, I photographed a fully backlit freight train coming from the opposite direction at about 50 mph (80 kph).  See above.  All 16 images were tack sharp.  So, 50 mph, coming straight at me, back lit with the front being very dark on a bright sunny day, four bright headlights trying to fool the focusing mechanism, AND I was panning, moving the focus points from left to right and zooming out all at the same time!  All are tack sharp at 100% in Lightroom. Amazing to me.  I've included a shot directly out of the camera and a corrected one to show the difference.

click to enlarge

I photographed some flying gulls as they flew past me, landed in the water toward me and flew away from me.  The bird images were not as successful as the trains but most of that has to do with operator error.  First, I didn't have the shutter speed set high enough to entirely freeze motion.  That is just a stupid mistake on my part.  Second, not being an accomplished or practiced BIF (birds in flight) photographer, I had problems keeping a single bird within the 9 focus points I had enabled.  When I did keep the bird in the block of points, the focus locked on and kept the bird in focus.  I need to try 25 points in the future as I believe that larger square will bring more success.  From what I can determine in critically looking at the BIF images is that most are in focus but show slight motion making them appear out of focus.  The camera did well but I didn't.  This all being said, I don't think this camera is optimal for BIF photography, but it is every bit as good as my Nikon D810 for the same kinds of photography.  It is much better than before but not quite there yet to replace the "big guns" like the Nikon D5 or Canon 1 DX II.  But it is not designed to replace them.  

I experimented with the custom focus tracking settings but need to do much more experimenting before commenting on this new ability.

One comment that I need to further explore as well.  For moving subjects, I think that the number of focusing points selected in zone/continuous focus has to be set appropriately to maximize success.  In my initial judgment, the train shots were set probably correctly at 9 points since the front of the train is so large  It is easy to keep the subject within the zone but at 9 points, I think the shots for the birds would have been more successful if I would have set the camera to 25 points.  That is user error, not equipment failure.  As I said, I need to further explore these settings over time and practice more.

Focus Peaking 

I don't often use focus peaking in the X-T1 as too much of the frame "lights up," so to speak.  I typically use the Standard magnified assist mode.  But trying it today with the X-T2, it seemed better.  It seemed as though the focus peaking was more specific.  I don't know if this will hold true, but it seemed as though it is now better than it was.  I'll keep trying it in different circumstances.

Lightroom 

I was surprised that the RAW images were readable in Lightroom CC 2015!  The camera just was released last week.  Evidently, either Fuji had provided Adobe with the file structure or these RAW files are exactly the same as the X-PRO-2.  I suspect the latter is correct.  My image files look terrific in LR.  The ones I've posted here were not sharpened using the tried and true method setting the Detail slider at 100%.  I don't think we need to do that anymore.  I think they sharpen just fine using the same formula you would use in non-X-Trans sensored cameras.  I'm not sure what is different, but the detail in the foliage is excellent.  None of those artifacts or smearing I saw a year or two ago.  That makes me very happy!  Look at the 100% image of the green trees that is posted with this narrative.

Foliage with very fine detail (click to enlarge)

I think the Fuji photographic community needs to re-visit the sharpening recommendations for these new X-Trans sensors.  I really think there has been a substantial change in the sensor technology and firmware as well as the work done by Adobe.

EVF 

The EVF is larger and brighter than the one in the X-T1 and we know that EVF was pretty darn good to begin with.  This one is better.  When panning, there was no EVF lag that I could notice.  The EVF is bright and, in boost mode, is almost as good as using an pentaprism with an optical viewfinder.  I have absolutely no complaints.  I don't see myself going back to an optical viewfinder in the future.  I have come to really like an EVF and very much appreciate what extra capabilities it brings to me as a photographer.

I purposely set my high speed continuous burst mode for 8 fps.  Why?  I wanted to be able to have the viewfinder not black out so I could track my moving subjects.  Although it is not quite as good as an optical viewfinder, it is very good.  At 8 fps, I could easily track my subjects and have minimal viewfinder blackout.  Very minimal and very usable.  I have been waiting for an EVF with this ability.

Battery Life 

I shot with the grip and the three batteries.  After about 800 RAW plus JPEG exposures, one battery is down about a third.  The other two indicate they are full.  No complaints.

Closer image of fine detailed foliage (click to enlarge)

Booster Grip 

I didn't have a grip for the X-T1.  I'm not big on added bulk to my camera body.  However, I bought the booster grip so I could take advantage of the "boost mode."  I'm glad I did.  I won't use it all the time, but anytime I'm doing wildlife photography or railroad photography, or need the extra capabilities that come with using the grip in boost mode, I will screw it on the camera body.  I will say it very much changes the dynamics of how I hold the camera.  The extra weight will take some time to get used to.

100% crop from above.  Not smeared foliage; fine detail delineated perfectly (click to enlarge)

Buttons and Controls 

The push buttons are better than the ones on the X-T1, except for the AE-L button.  I found it didn't have enough height so I could easily find it and use it with my face pressed to the camera.  The four-way control buttons are raised more and have a definite click when pushing.  Most buttons are in very similar positions as in the previous camera so there is very little to get used to.  I haven't decided yet how I will program the 8 programmable buttons, but there is plenty of time for that.  Same with the Q-Menu.  I will reprogram it in the same fashion as I did with the X-T1.  I was very satisfied with the options available to us as photographers for the buttons and Q-Menu.  Thank you again Fuji.

One improvement that I appreciate is that I noticed it is harder to rotate the drive dial than on the X-T1.  I know I have accidentally moved the setting on the drive dial more than one time in the past.  The X-T2's drive dial has much more resistance and won't so easily be moved unintentionally.  

Did I mention the focus point control lever?  As I call it, the "joystick?"  Lovely, lovely, lovely.  Don't ever take it away from me.  Perfect for what I do.

Sequence of follow focusing on incoming gull; each of these is about 35% of the full frame (click to enlarge)
I'm not really good at this type of photography but I will practice in the future.

The Intangibles 

What I mean by this is just the haptics, how it feels in my hands, ease of use, layout and operation of the controls, the overall philosophy of engineering of the body and pleasure I get when using this camera. Very similar to the X-T1, my initial feeling is that this camera just feels good in my hands, gives me the features I need, allows me to manipulate the controls easily so there is no searching and fumbling and, I know I just received it a couple of days ago, but it makes me want to use it even over my X-T1.

Again, thank you Fuji!  

We have to remember that the camera body is only 1/3 of the equation for excellence in photography. The other two-thirds of the equation are the lenses and the photographer him or herself.  As photographers we would not have the opportunity to rave about a camera body if it weren't for great lenses to attach to it.  Luckily, Fuji has given us great lenses to attach to, what I predict, will be a wildly successful and judged milestone/great/legendary camera body.  That leaves the final result up to us.  No excuses with this camera and Fuji lenses.  If you have bad images, it is all on you!

Several weeks ago, I sold my beloved Nikon D810 and all of my full frame Nikon lenses.  I had decided that Fuji was now meeting my photographic needs 95% or better of the time. After all, it is all about the final images.  That's the bottom line. With the new X-T2, I'm convinced already that I won't be missing anything by not having my Nikon gear.  Not even for landscapes.  The 24mp resolution and resulting overall image quality engineered by Fuji, I'm already convinced, will fully meet my needs for the foreseeable future. Seriously.

I'm sure I'll be posting more images from this camera as well as refining and expanding on my comments in this post.  Again, let me remind you that these comments so far are pretty glowing but I suspect I will find something that aggravates me and I'll be sure to tell you about how it could be improved.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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