Fujifilm X-T1 - first impressions
Hey, the DHL guy just delivered :D
I’m over excited about this camera, so quickly to the point: the AF is fast, very, even in low light; speaking of what, low light performance is really nice and ISO 3200 o.o.c. JPGs are astonishingly usable.
The EVF is a joy to use, and so is the camera with almost all the buttons in the right place.
Looks like the R&D dpt at Fuji really listened to their users, as this camera has most of the features that could’ve made the X-Pro1 perfect (while lacking some, more on this later).
uhm, too good to be true. So, is it perfect? Not really.
Wi-fi didn’t work like a charm, on the contrary: I had to mess around a bit to make it work, and to add to frustration the bundled flash EF-X8 didn’t work. I tried it on a X-Pro1 too to be sure and it’s dead. Bang (camera service is the way to go with it).
“I wish the 4 buttons on the d-pad in the back were larger or more pronounced”, I happened to find this criticism in a forum.
And my blistered thumb seconds that. I found the implementation of the 4-way controller really awful, they could’ve done a much better job with a mini-joystick or a touch sensitive dial (Canon-style) or simply by making the buttons bigger, less recessed and/or more touch-friendly. It smells cheap.
You’ll need to use the 4way controller very often, as due to the lack of a touch screen many operations are to be carried out via those tiny and excessively recessed buttons. I have a regular hand and thumb, yet I found it hard to properly interact with those buttons. I’ve been owning the X-T1 for two days and it’s the only real complaint I found so far (apart from the bundled external flash not working…).
What else? oh, I found the exposure compensation dial to be (unnecessarily) too big and intrusive, disturbing the access to the shutter release button (which is not perfectly placed and could’ve been a bit bigger and more "solid”, feels like cheap plastic, yuck!). Besides, why they took the threaded cable release away goes beyond me (as it could be used to add a bigger custom shutter button, X-Pro style, and many did it in the past).
Finally, the grip is not optimal, it could really benefit from an additional grip (not necessarily the BG, even the smaller one should improve things a lot to that end).
To the ones still pondering if they should just grab the baby or it could be worth waiting for a X-Pro2 to hit the shelves (hoping it to be full-frame, even): just forget it, the whole X-system is APS-C and Fuji stated it pretty clearly that they have no intention to go fullframe any time soon.
Plus, they said that there’s no plan for an X-Pro2 at present (but this might just be marketing, not to hinder the sales of the X-T1) and that in the next year they are going to concentrate their efforts on lenses (and we’ll likely see 3 new at Photokina in autumn).
Bottom line: photography is now! The camera is far from perfect, it’s not a Leica but costing 1/6th it’s well worth the money, so if you’ve been after a light photo gear set which can compete with (and win over some) semi-pro DSLRs, both APS-C and FF, this camera /and the Fuji system) might be the way to go.
