mjhoy
Member
I've been shooting mirrorless cameras as a hobbyist since 2010 with the Panasonic GF1. Before that it was a relatively big & clunky Pentax DSLR, and before that an old film Pentax K1000.
The small, fast, simple micro four thirds cameras, paired with great glass (the 20mm f/1.7 pancake, for instance) won me over. I sold my DSLR and never looked twice at Nikon or Canon.
Fast forward, to last year. I feel a growing nostalgia for aperture rings, shutter speed dials, no autofocus. Simplicity. I read about what Fujifilm is doing, and decide to jump all in with the X-T2.
I've used it for about nine months. With any luck on Monday it'll be sold. It is in many ways a great camera, but it's not for me. Here's why:
The X-T2 is a very competent camera. It does precisely what you ask it to do, quickly, quietly, with no complaints. With the right lens — any of the newer "Fujicron" f/2s — autofocus is near instantaneous.
The EVF is excellent. It more or less shows me the photograph before I take it. The exposure, the depth of field, everything is there in a way it never was with my (older) MFT gear. All at a very natural refresh rate and high resolution.
The body itself, the reason I first became intrigued with the camera, is ultimately a disappointment. It somehow feels less sturdy than my GH3. I prefer the more rubbery grip of the Panasonic over the Fujifilm faux leather. The dials, though easy to turn, feel oversized and a little cheap. Everything is jammed together just a little too close. I have small hands, and still it never quite feels natural to adjust settings when I'm out photographing. I don't like the multi-layered ISO and shutter speed dials: I sometimes switch the drive mode accidentally, which causes the camera to do strange things in strange modes I never use. The flip-out LCD feels just a tad loose when you pick up the camera. I much prefer the GH3-style articulating screen, which can be shut entirely into the camera (i.e., screen-side in) and as a result doesn't need a protective cover and, when it's flipped closed, feels much more secure.
Speaking of sturdiness: I dropped the X-T2 some fifteen feet onto bare rocks (!). I thought it was a goner, but not so: the damage was limited to one corner of the base plate, which now has a small crack, and the hinges of the SD-card door, which now is more difficult to open but otherwise works fine.
It clearly is a sturdy and well-built camera in the ways that count. But when I pick it up, I just don't feel it.
The battery life isn't good. A consequence of this is I feel like I have to watch the power consumption as I use the camera if I'm shooting for an extended period or while traveling. I never felt this way with the GH3. Again, it takes away from the simplicity of just using the camera without needing to worry about that.
As for lenses. My preferred focal length — what I shoot 90% of the time — is either 28 or 35mm, FF equivalent. The 23 f/2 is good, but in the end, I realized it is not substantially better than what I had with my MFT, save for its weather sealing. I have not tried the 18 f/2, but I was never unhappy with my Panasonic 14 f/2.5. The Fujifilm just isn't really an upgrade from my Panasonics. (A real upgrade, one that I can clearly see and feel, is a Leica 35 Summicron, shot on a full frame M camera.)
Finally, Lightroom and Fujifilm don't seem to mix very well. Raw files seem to take an order of magnitude longer to import and produce 1:1 previews and smart previews. Importing felt like a considerable chore, when it never used to. I have heard other programs work better with Fujifilm, but at this point I'd rather get rid of the X-T2 than Lightroom.
I realized about a month ago that I just wasn't excited to use this camera anymore. I had stopped picking it up and taking it with me, wherever I was going. It's a somewhat expensive experiment to buy all this stuff new, bang it up, and sell it nine months later, but even more expensive is the camera you have and don't use.
The small, fast, simple micro four thirds cameras, paired with great glass (the 20mm f/1.7 pancake, for instance) won me over. I sold my DSLR and never looked twice at Nikon or Canon.
Fast forward, to last year. I feel a growing nostalgia for aperture rings, shutter speed dials, no autofocus. Simplicity. I read about what Fujifilm is doing, and decide to jump all in with the X-T2.
I've used it for about nine months. With any luck on Monday it'll be sold. It is in many ways a great camera, but it's not for me. Here's why:
The X-T2 is a very competent camera. It does precisely what you ask it to do, quickly, quietly, with no complaints. With the right lens — any of the newer "Fujicron" f/2s — autofocus is near instantaneous.
The EVF is excellent. It more or less shows me the photograph before I take it. The exposure, the depth of field, everything is there in a way it never was with my (older) MFT gear. All at a very natural refresh rate and high resolution.
The body itself, the reason I first became intrigued with the camera, is ultimately a disappointment. It somehow feels less sturdy than my GH3. I prefer the more rubbery grip of the Panasonic over the Fujifilm faux leather. The dials, though easy to turn, feel oversized and a little cheap. Everything is jammed together just a little too close. I have small hands, and still it never quite feels natural to adjust settings when I'm out photographing. I don't like the multi-layered ISO and shutter speed dials: I sometimes switch the drive mode accidentally, which causes the camera to do strange things in strange modes I never use. The flip-out LCD feels just a tad loose when you pick up the camera. I much prefer the GH3-style articulating screen, which can be shut entirely into the camera (i.e., screen-side in) and as a result doesn't need a protective cover and, when it's flipped closed, feels much more secure.
Speaking of sturdiness: I dropped the X-T2 some fifteen feet onto bare rocks (!). I thought it was a goner, but not so: the damage was limited to one corner of the base plate, which now has a small crack, and the hinges of the SD-card door, which now is more difficult to open but otherwise works fine.
It clearly is a sturdy and well-built camera in the ways that count. But when I pick it up, I just don't feel it.
The battery life isn't good. A consequence of this is I feel like I have to watch the power consumption as I use the camera if I'm shooting for an extended period or while traveling. I never felt this way with the GH3. Again, it takes away from the simplicity of just using the camera without needing to worry about that.
As for lenses. My preferred focal length — what I shoot 90% of the time — is either 28 or 35mm, FF equivalent. The 23 f/2 is good, but in the end, I realized it is not substantially better than what I had with my MFT, save for its weather sealing. I have not tried the 18 f/2, but I was never unhappy with my Panasonic 14 f/2.5. The Fujifilm just isn't really an upgrade from my Panasonics. (A real upgrade, one that I can clearly see and feel, is a Leica 35 Summicron, shot on a full frame M camera.)
Finally, Lightroom and Fujifilm don't seem to mix very well. Raw files seem to take an order of magnitude longer to import and produce 1:1 previews and smart previews. Importing felt like a considerable chore, when it never used to. I have heard other programs work better with Fujifilm, but at this point I'd rather get rid of the X-T2 than Lightroom.
I realized about a month ago that I just wasn't excited to use this camera anymore. I had stopped picking it up and taking it with me, wherever I was going. It's a somewhat expensive experiment to buy all this stuff new, bang it up, and sell it nine months later, but even more expensive is the camera you have and don't use.
