X-Trans 1 (X-Pro 1 / X-E1) – Amazing colors/colours?

barret2023 wrote:

I was pondering buying my first X-Trans sensor camera, but now I'm not sure anymore if X-E3 is the best choice, naively I assumed it should be as it's newer than I and II.

Personally, having used all the X-Trans sensors, I really like the X-Trans III; the raw files stand up really well to all sorts of treatments in post processing, and the in-camera settings seem to be capable of working the colour and contrast much harder than previous versions. Essentially you have more options for in-camera processing than the I and II, but obviously you don’t have to pay X-Trans IV prices.

And for my money the X-E3 is possibly my favourite X body: it’s compact, the ergonomics are close to perfect, and the imaging capability is great. I wish it had retained the X-E2’s larger viewfinder, but that’s its only real shortcoming, and if you didn’t have another body to compare it to (or if you don’t wear glasses) then it’s not an issue. If it were weather resistant it would be the only camera I’d need.

Image characteristics are subjective, of course (not to mention being additionally dependent on the medium you view them on—whether that’s an iPad, a calibrated monitor, paper, canvas or whatever), and while the X-Trans III seems to be the one I get on best with, that’s not true for everyone. But do remember that you have lots of options for manipulating various aspects of the output, and each sample image you see on the web represents only one of millions of permutations. So you should be able to find a configuration (or rather, up to seven configurations) that you like; and like I say, the III gives you more latitude in that respect (as well as in terms of cropping) than the I and the II—which is why I personally tend not to take much notice of comparisons like this.