Time to upgrade X-E2

cms239 wrote:

I want to replace my xe2 but my head is spinning.

Do I keep my budget low and get a used xe3 or do I splash our and get the xe4?

The key question is: what’s the root of your urge to upgrade? (And then: what would you miss most about the X-E2?)

As with a previous poster, I personally find the ergonomics of the X-E2 practically faultless, so almost any other camera is a step down from that (the exceptions being the X-Pros, and the X100T/F/V come close). So I’ve still yet to try an X-E3, despite the fact that I love the X-Trans III sensor and engine, having had it in the X-T20 and X-T2. (Like you, I find I much prefer the rangefinder format.) I find I can produce much more dramatic treatments out of the X-Trans III than the earlier sensors.

The X-E4 is by all accounts quite a different way of working and the loss of the focus switch is a bigger deal for me than gaining a tilting screen.

For me, an upgrade from an X-E2 might be an X-E3, X-Pro2/3 or X100F/V depending on priorities. If I were in your shoes and uncertain, I’d be looking at either an X-E3 or an X-Pro2. I’m not really tempted by the X-E4, which isn’t to say it’s a bad camera, just that the E series has taken some usability turns that lave me cold. For less than a used E4 you can get a used Pro2, and although I didn’t like its EVF enough to keep it, that one is a step up from the E2 in every other way, whilst still maintaining the superb ergonomics.