This is going to be my first foray into reviewing a digital camera, as I’ve mostly shot film for the last two years. Specs will come first, because anybody can simply look them up their own, so I’ll keep it quick and easy.

I will be drawing comparisons between the Fuji and my old Canon 5D Mark II throughout the review since it’s the only other digital camera I have used.

Specs

24 Megapixel X-Trans III ASP-C Sensor (1.5x Crop)

Weather Sealed

Mirrorless

Hybrid Optical Viewfinder + Electronic View Finder (OVF/EVF)

Dual Card Slots - One UHS II compatible

Well, that’s enough of that nonsense.

Handling & Useability

Coming from a Canon DSLR was a weird transition. Canon is renowned for their phenomenal grips, something Fuji has only addressed in the X-H1, GFX 50S, and GFX 100S. Most of their cameras come with grips that are seriously lacking security while in the hand. I love the feeling of a solid grip, so I ended up buying a used grip from Fuji (pictured).

The grips on Fujis aren’t great by any means, but the feel of the camera in your hand is very reassuring to the build quality. It eeks quality the moment you pick it up, and people are always surprised how heavy it is.

Fuji has done a phenomenal job of putting everything you could possibly need, right on top of the camera. Aperture is controlled on the lens. Shutter speed, ISO, and exposure compensation are all on the top plate.

I do with that the aperture ring on the lenses were a tiny bit sturdier, as I’ve accidentally bumped it onto something else on numerous occasions. The shutter speed dial is solid and out of the way while taking photos, and locks when in A.

Colorado Springs, Colorado. My Harry Potter glasses are on the side of the road if anyone wants to go look for them.

The exposure compensation dial definitely needs to be more stiff, as I’m constantly bumping it and changing it. Fuji really needs to make it a locking dial, as it’s something I tend not to change while I’m shooting. It would also be advantageous for it to be recessed more into the body like the shutter speed dial. It’s a pain in the ass, but nowhere near as bad as the ISO dial.

Now, onto the infamous ISO dial. It’s supposed to be a throwback to the film cameras with a similar method of setting the ISO, though I’ve never personally had one like that. To change the ISO, you lift up on the collar around the shutter speed dial, and twist it. I shoot with my left eye in the viewfinder, so this is basically impossible to do with the camera up to my eye. I was hoping they would get rid of it on the X-Pro 3, but alas, it’s a no go.

Other than those gripes with the dials, the camera feels great in the hand, and it’s light and small enough that I can take it just about anywhere without a second thought.

The hybrid OVF/EVF is what most people are looking for when they purchase the X-Pro series. Both the OVF and EVF have their benefits and negatives, and I’ll cover the most blatantly obvious ones to me.

The Optical Viewfinder is nice and clear, provides frame lines for the associated lens, and shows whatever information (you pick it out in the menu) you want along the sides of the frame. That information is displayed pretty small, and not always the easiest to see in brighter conditions. You are able to see outside the frame lines, so capturing a moment should be easier since you can see things lining up. Manual focus isn’t possible with the OVF, as it’s the first thing I tried to do when I held the camera in store, though it’s super easy with the EVF and the focus assist turned on.

The Electronic Viewfinder is of decent quality. EVF’s benefit from the fact that you’re seeing exactly what the photo is going to look like when you click the shutter. Change any setting on your camera, and your EVF will show you how that changes the photo. The EVF inside the X-Pro 2 tends to have a lot of trouble with high contrast scenes, and doesn’t always show you the most true representation of what the sensor is capturing. I tend to either use the OVF or live view on the back of the camera. Newer mirrorless cameras apparently have phenomenal EVF’s, showing better contrast, detail, and with faster refresh rates.

Switching between the EVF and OVF is simple enough, just flick the switch on the front of the camera with your right trigger finger. A huge issue I have with the X-Pro 2 in general concerning the EVF/OVF, is the mode button next to it. It gets accidentally pressed, changing how the viewfinder works. Sometimes it blacks out the LCD screen. Sometimes it blocks off usage of the viewfinders. It would be a million times better to have that buried in the settings (which they did on the X-Pro 3) instead of having it’s own button. If you ever turn your camera on and the LCD doesn’t pop up, try cycling through the modes and it’ll probably come up.

Image Quality

It’s good. It’s super good. The Fuji files in combination with Capture One blow me away every time. Bringing up the shadows reveals good detail, with little noise at most ISO’s. Images are easily useable up to 6,400, something that can’t be said for the Canon. The Canon’s limit is right around 1,600, and anything higher than that starts to degrade quickly.

Unprocessed files have a lot of potential if needed, but I’ve found the colors and contrast just need a tiny boost to be at a level I like. Reds seem to pop the most, but the sensor gives a really good baseline for editing. This next photo, I barely had to change anything, partially do to the fact that the light was damn near perfect.

I like contrasty images, so I left the road darker. I could have pulled up the shadows a bit and therefore showed more details in the road, but I didn’t feel it added to the photo at all. Like I mentioned above, I typically just boost the contrast and saturation a bit, and leave everything else as is.

The more I shoot with this camera, the more comfortable I get shooting with the optical viewfinder. I typically shoot in Aperture Priority (set the aperture, let the camera choose shutter speed) and set the exposure compensation to -1 or -1.5 to preserve the highlights. I know I can draw the shadows up easily if need be while not blowing out the highlights. This next photo is a great example, as Miah was just a dark shadow before I started processing the file.

The shadows tend to have a lot of information in them even when underexposed by 2 to 3 stops, which I can’t say for the highlights. I’ve found that I can recover a bit of information in the highlights, up to 1 stop over exposed, but beyond that, you’ll blow them.

Early Fall. Root River Park outside of Rochester, Minnesota.

I was able to pull back the highlights in the sky to reveal more a bit more blue on the right side of the image. If I pulled them back too far, the sun stopped looking like a sun, and more like a random orb in the sky. Pulling back the highlights in the sky too much will give it a fake look (which some people like). If the sun is going to be in the photo, you should try and make it actually look like the sun.

Pahrump, Nevada. Martin the Old Man Manual Mazda. Death Valley off in the distance.

Overall, I really do love using this camera, though I still much prefer my film cameras for more serious work. It is great for everything from snapshots to more serious work, though I don’t think you’ll see anybody shooting with it in a professional studio environment. I actually bought a flash and some studio equipment to learn more about lighting, taking some interesting self portraits in the process.

Now about four years old, it’s definitely still a very capable camera. Though I have my issues with it (like anyone will with any camera) I do enjoy using it and I’m glad I picked it up to become my new main digital camera. I’ll probably trade it for a Fuji X-H1 eventually, as that camera has a much larger grip, which is something I would prefer over the measly grip of the X-Pro 2. Until then, I’ll keep shooting with it and enjoying it while I can.

NOW, onto more photos.

Monterey, California. Just north of Big Sur.

Chloe, Eye Autofocus - On. Twin Cities, Minnesota.

Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Also somewhere in the middle of California.

Miah’s Birthday, Interstate State Park, Minnesota.