Fuji's version of the OM-D EM-10 II

:-)deSam in Hawaii wrote:

And I mean that in a good way. I really like the little EM 10, have had three of them (not at the same time; I keep selling them and buying another. Maybe done with that...)

I hated my A7 II so much I sold it at a loss, only 342 clicks in 6 months. Then I got into a "sell it!" mode on eBay, sold my largely-unused EM 5 II (lovely camera), a stack of M43 lenses, but fortunately stopped before peddling the Pen F, which will be the last to go, it's my favorite camera ever.

Anyway, I wanted small, good quality, great optics, and did I say small? And more and bigger pixels to play with. Olympus and Panasonic really need to step it up on sensors instead of size. The A7 II, while fairly petite for full frame (and, strangely, smaller than either the EM 1X or the G9), was still too much to schlep around everywhere. Not to mention clumsy, crude, awkward, and generally crappy, not to mention the price of lenses. there are no bargains. Sony makes great sensors, but...

High on my list is user involvement; I really, really want to be able to dial in shutter speed and aperture and ISO and white balance and stuff without the camera getting in the way, and the more it looks and feels like a 1960's film camera, a good one, the better. Which is why my attachment to Olympus, they have mastered retro-tech.

Which brings me to the Fuji; it ticks the boxes. Small, about the same size as an EM 10; aperture and shutter controls where they're supposed to be, 24 mpx APS-C, I really don't need full frame; X-trans, which I like after fiddling with an X 100T; and Fuji optics are, like M43, all pretty good, not a real clinker in the bunch. It only costs twice as much as an EM 10, but what the heck. It's cuter. And nobody has one. Of course, I never see an Olympus around a neck, either, it's all big box Canikon two lens kits. But I digress.

So here I am, after a couple of weeks, finding I can carry the little Fuji pretty much anyplace I used to carry my LX100 (a great compact!). It's a lot of fun to use, really. Highly competent, without a lot of the gimcracks Oly and Pana insist on stuffing in (live composite, in-camera HDR, to name a couple), just a good camera. I like the 35 mm f/2 a lot, the 18-55 is a decent zoom, and the 50-230, Fuji's answer to the Oly 40-150 plastic fantastic, that I picked up for sofa cushion change on fleabay may be the sharpest zoom I've ever had. It out-does any of my previous m43 zooms.

I think the Fuji is worth the extra money. They might work on the user interface a bit, I thought Oly's was bad but Fuji sets new standards for obscure, but otherwise I like it a lot.

I see that Amazon is closing out X-T2 bodies at garage sale prices, which is nice because they're a bit better weather-resistant, but they're also bigger, about the size of the Sony, so although I'm tempted, I'll keep the little brother.

Nice review. I also came from m43, trading my em1.2 and em10.2 bodies for xt3 and xt20 (now xt30). My verdict is that the larger 24/26 MP APS-C sensors offer more latitude for cropping and post process shadow and highlight recovery. The upgrade is negligible In good light/well exposed shots, but less than optimal lighting and exposure is where the upgrade is noticeable in the results. That being said, there is a likewise upgrade jumping to FF, but that is where size/weight versus image quality argument can be argued. I’m happy with the compromise (for now  ).

And as far as user interface goes, you well get used to it. I think having Fuji’s exposure controls available on the body is better than an PASM control, and many others here feel the same way. Give it some time.