Initial thoughts on the X70

Recently received a good second-hand copy of the Fujifilm X70 and have been trying it out for the past week. My day to day camera is usually an Olympus EM5 Mark 3 so that is my main comparision point.

Overall, this is a great little camera. I was aware of all the pros and cons before I purchased and the various reviews highlighting them were all correct.

To summarise:

PROS:

1. Very good build quality.

2. Pleasing Jpeg IQ directly from the camera.

3. Good intro to the Fujifilm eco system with many immediately accessible manual controls (i.e. no PASM)

4. Decent lens.

5. Encourages zone focusing for rapid pictures

6. Quite compact

7 Leaf shutter benefits with flash

8. Flippy screen perfect for this camera

9. Capable for static talking head video.

CONS:

1. No image stabilisation (very noticeable coming from the Oly EM5 Mk3)

2. A bit difficult to hold (due to small size of camera)

3. For this type of camera, the lens cap is a bit dated. Ricoh GRiii style would be preferred.

4. Autofocus (AFS) is a bit slow but dependable,

5. For Video, AFC is inconsistent and very noisy. Manual focus is the only practical option.

6. Camera gets a bit warm.

Despite the cons, this is a camera I like having on me and taking pictures with.

Would I consider buying an X80 (if released) or an X100 series camera? For now the answer would be no since the X70 is still a very good camera even though it is 5 years old. However, I would be very tempted if IBIS together with improved CAF were introduced as those would make this a killer system.