Fuji X Series- black or silver finish more durable & scratch resistant?

What difference, if any, have you noticed between the durability or scratch resistance of the silver vs. black X-T5 (or any other X-T# Fujifilm camera for that matter)? I noticed the silver one is about £50 more on Amazon, so wondered if there's a reason to buy one color finish over the other aside from aesthetics and personal preference. Thanks!

I think it’s fair to say (with quite a degree of confidence) that the black finish wears better.

However, I personally prefer silver and will always pick it given the choice. It has its downsides of course - my X-T5 (bought at launch) has a few small nicks and scratches already.

The black of course scratches too but it doesn’t show up anywhere near as much.

IME the black always seems more durable and looks better when it does wear (silver-painted plastic in particular looks really horrible when it wears) with the exception of the X100V* where the silver version is unpainted solid aluminium and basically doesn’t show wear (also it seems to be pretty abrasion resistant anyway). The X-Pro3 Duratect versions are also exceptions, because their metal surfaces should be so hard as to be all but immune to wear. No idea about the Graphite X-Pro2.

For me it basically boils down to: bare metal good, silver paint bad.

* possibly also the X-E4, and maybe the X-E3 too

For the majority of Fuji bodies, you’re looking at a dull magnesium alloy that’s been painted to appear either silver or black. Both scratch just as easily, but when the silver version - that’s finished to appear as solid shiny metal - is scratched or worn away, the darker undercoat or the slightly different shade of dull metal underneath looks odd, and ruins the illusion.

When the black paint is scratched or worn, it’s either to a black undercoat that doesn’t show, or it’s to metal that’s lighter and shinier than the black, so it looks like what it is - authentic wear. For most people it looks better.

As another poster pointed out, none of this applies to the X100V which is solid shiny aluminium throughout, or the dura silver X-Pro3 which is (a) much harder to scratch, and (b) takes it’s natural colour from the titanium underneath.

Black

g7_chord wrote:

Don't know the answer, but I couldn't imagine getting a retro design (especially my X100F, but my X-T4, too) in anything other than silver.

Real pros like me always went for black cameras. Silver is four tourist snapshooters.

(I would have bought a silver X100V, but there only was a black one in the shop. Since then I have succeeded in convincing me that it is the far better choice.)

But maybe google black vintage cameras, you’ll see a lot of nice classic cameras in BLACK.

TumblingTiger wrote:

What difference, if any, have you noticed between the durability or scratch resistance of the silver vs. black X-T5 (or any other X-T# Fujifilm camera for that matter)? I noticed the silver one is about £50 more on Amazon, so wondered if there's a reason to buy one color finish over the other aside from aesthetics and personal preference. Thanks!

Having owned a bunch of X cameras in black, silver, graphite and graphite silver and a couple of GFX cameras I feel the most robust finish is the black X-H1.

Black is next and the various silvers after that.  I prefer silver so durability isn’t really a factor for me.  Most Fujis look amazing in silver.

nurseMarty wrote:

Black is beautiful 😍.

Mask On Nurse Marty

Hehe pro tip: keep all your camera gear black and your partner won't notice when you buy a new one. 🤪

nurseMarty wrote:

Good point!

This isn’t a question I ask. I don’t like the look of the two toned bodies. It isn’t that the black bodies are more stealthy. I don’t believe that. I just like the look of an all black body. Just personal preference.

Buy what you like. Eventually the body will wind up in a junk heap no matter what color body you purchase.

Mask On Nurse e

Weather black looks more stealthy or not is a bit of an opinion. However, black reflects less. So when the sun hitting right, you might just see the reflection/glare of your pretty silver fuji in your shot.

Are the XF 50 f2 and 35 f2 painted silver or the natural metal color of the barrel?