Fuji X-T1 Review

To cut a long story short, I never thought that mirrorless cameras would be up to much after years of being conditioned to use and live with massive DSLR’s that only seemed to get bigger and heavier with lenses to match, as that’s what ‘Professional Photographers’ use isn't it?

Well stuff that and with good reason - if you think back at what cameras were used by photojournalists over the years they were things like Rolleiflex TLR’s for sports and that includes Formula 1, Leica’s for news work and SLR’s in the real sense such as Don McCullin and his famous yet diminutive Nikon F & Olympus OM-1's.

A couple of shoots around Silverstone for the Formula 1 and Touring cars last year, taught me that after getting together a fine array of L lenses and a 5DMK3, all I had really gotten myself was a very real pain in the neck.

My 5DMK3’s were about as reliable as a chocolate teapot and I was already on my third body in twelve months (and yes I do look after my kit.) perhaps I was just really unlucky, but it was getting to the point that I couldn't go to a shoot with the confidence in my gear that I needed.

Time for a major change then as after fifteen years of being a Canon user the poor run of luck with the kit coupled with the stellar UK service gave me the kick in the behind that I needed to start looking around for an alternative.

Followers of my blog and work will know that I have a soft spot for the Fuji X100, so when I found out about and read up on the X-T1 I got very excited indeed.

I fired off an email to Fuji UK to see if they had any X-T1 demo kit that I might be able to test run, it was a long shot, they didn't know me but I included a link to my website www.richardwoodphotographer.com and crossed my fingers.

Within 24 hours I had a reply, they did indeed have some cameras and would be happy to send one out to me, they just wanted to know what lenses I fancied taking for spin and they would send it all out for me next day.

The end result of this is that I am now a Fuji shooter, The 5DMK3 and all the lenses are gone I only have a 550D the nifty 50mm and a 75-300mm left, I use them for making videos for youtube and that’s about it.

The XT-1 is the kit I use every day for my professional work, it is quite simply a beautiful camera - friends in the know have commented that it looks like a ‘real’ camera compared to the comedy sized DSLR’s and to top it off I no longer have a pain in the neck!

The Camera

My current X-T1 setup, it consists of 2 x X-T1 bodies, 14mm XF, 35mm XF, 55-200mm XF, 10-24mm XF - I'd like to also get the 23mm XF and 56mm XF but as it stands this kit covers almost all eventualities.

I will publish individual lens reviews over the coming weeks and months but this review will focus on the functionality of the X-T1.


The construction of the X-T1 is to a very high standard, with a magnesium alloy body that is weatherproofed. Fuji have already started to launch lenses that are weatherproofed but as yet I have not had the chance to try any of them.

All of the dials are metal and click and turn very nicely. The only exception to this is the shutter button that is made from plastic. I would have really liked a threaded metal shutter release on the X-T1.

The size of the X-T1 fits nicely in the hand and has an extended grip on the reverse of the camera, this coupled with the moulded front grip makes it a very comfortable camera to use. Anyone who has used the X100 range will have a good idea what to expect in terms of body size.

For people with bigger hands or those who want longer battery life a standard grip and a battery grip are both available. The X-T1 is capable of taking around 350 shots with a single charge, not a great deal when it is compared to it's DSLR counterparts that will happily churn out a couple of thousand between charges. The X-T1 uses the now standard Fuji NP-W126 batteries and these can be found online for peanuts.

The X-T1 features six programmable custom buttons that can be customised for several options however since firmware 3.0 has been released it would have been nice to have the option added to assign one to natural view on the EVF.

To conclude on the X-T1's build quality it really is a very nice camera and for me it's the perfect size and weight. As I have already mentioned it is like picking up a classic Nikon F or similar.

The electronic viewfinder (EVF) was something that I was a little worried about as up until now and across all manufacturers they have left a lot to be desired. Honestly the EVF on the X-T1 blew me away it is by far the nicest, biggest, brightest most useable viewfinder I've ever used. It's ginaggerous, bigger than the 5DMK3 with pretty much zero lag and as for quality of picture it sports a 2.3 million pixel OLED.

I got used to it very quickly and I don't miss an optical viewfinder at all.

The display inside the EVF is so big that you can actually look around the scene. You also have the option for making it standard sized so it's on par with a normal cameras view or (and here is the party trick.) you can switch the camera to manual focus and have a split view that will give you the option to peak or split focus with centre point of the camera magnified to 100% in it's own little screen to the right of the main image, it works very well.

If you ever get tired of looking through the eyepiece at the beautiful EVF then you have the option of using the very nice rear screen that is also articulated.

X-T1 Front View

X-T1 Top View

SD Slot

HDMI, USB, Mic & Cable Release

The menus on the X-T1 can at times be a little long winded but in reality if your thinking of getting the X-T1 your not getting it for menu screens, the true beauty of this camera is that everything you actually need is to hand via real dials and switches that after a short amount of use become completely intuitive and a delight to use.

I really can't speak highly enough of how nice it is to use the camera, main functionality like shutter speed, exposure compensation & ISO are on the top plate with aperture settings placed on the lens.

The only issue I have is with the drive dial as it's not logically laid out. I would expect the first option to be single shot not BKT and as for the ADV mode that in real terms means camera filters such as miniature and toy camera I would drop these from the camera all together.

It would be a smart move to put the Movie mode on the drive dial and free up the current movie button for something else.

Current Drive Layout

Rich Wood Special Frankendial, but you get the idea

The X-T1 comes with WiFi and has a free app available on Apple and Android, the app works well and is responsive, giving a live view of what the camera is seeing. It works in movie and still mode.

Talking of movie mode the Fuji cameras get a lot of stick for the video side of things but I've shot a live stand up show at a theatre for a comedian and the quality at 30FPS and 60FPS was very good - with the just released firmware update Fuji have added 50, 25 & 24FPS and I have already lined up some very special interviews to shoot with them. As a side note the onboard microphone really is not that bad at all and it knocks the mic on the 5DMK3 out of the water, so if your in a pinch it's a good reserve but if your shooting anything worthwhile you'll want to use an external mic.

A bit of a gripe but I have no idea why Fuji opted for the fiddly 2.5mm input instead of a standard 3.5mm input?

Bundled with the X-T1 is the EF-X8 flash that is powered by the extra pin on the XT-1's hot shoe, so no need for AA's.
It's a much nicer alternative to a built in flash and it sits quite high on the camera to provide a good fill flash. When not in use the little flash unit is easily pocketable until needed.

A number of reviews have mentioned that one of the main downsides to the camera is the poor and hard to use D-pad, I have been able to compare the test body sent to me by Fuji with the later model that I now own and can confirm that it has been greatly improved to the point that this is no longer and issue. The D-pad now is easy to operate and works as nicely as the rest of the camera. I have also noticed that the overall finish is ever so slightly tweaked for the better.

The Results

The photographs the X-T1 takes are not just good, they are in fact stunning.

I have been a fan of the 'Fuji look' for a long time now, ever since I got my X100 and the X-T1 builds on that. The skin tones and overall colours produced by the camera are beautiful. Combine this with a range of lenses that in my opinion are hands down L glass beaters then you have a very special combination.

The X-T1 sports the now familiar range of film simulations from the Fuji stable, they are Provia, Astia, Velvia, Pro Neg STD/HI, B&W (Ye, G, R, Filter.) and Sepia. The advent of the 
latest firmware brings with it the Chrome simulation.

The option to shoot RAW + JPEG is available plus the option to bracket exposure in film simulation mode, for instance a single shot will be processed as a Chrome, B&W and Velvia.

I was getting used to the way the camera worked and took it out for my first shoot at a Neville Staple (The Specials) gig and was wowed by the 8FPS burst rate, the swift and accurate autofocus and the responsiveness of the camera.

Several view options are available with an eye sensor that shuts off the LCD in favour of the EVF when you bring your eye up to the eyepiece. I have my X-T1 set up to have no display at all until I bring the camera up to my eye, this enables a bit of power saving turning all displays off until they are in use and the sensor response is so quick that there is no waiting around to frame the shot.

The EVF has a very cool little trick, when you use the camera in portrait mode the display flips so you don't have to read the information the wrong way up. One small request though Fuji can we have the option to change the colour of the needle on the light meter from white to green as it would make it easier to read quickly?

Neville Staple 56mm 1.2

I was really happy with the results at the X-T1's first outing as the lighting was terrible and this was shot at around iso 5000.

However the first portrait proper I did was of US Comedian Dave Fulton, this was the shot that made me pack up the Canon and wave it goodbye.

Dave Fulton, 35mm 1.4 200 iso

This photo is actually a crop, and the 16MP X-Trans sensor just screams quality - this is pretty much untouched JPEG straight out of the camera.

A lot has been said about the benefits of a full frame sensor over an APSC etc, etc - when it boils down to it, who cares, it's really not worth worrying about - your 52inch television has a around 2MP so 16MP is more than enough for any print size.

JPEG 55-200mm 1/250th, 128mm F4.4

Conclusion

I did have a lot more things I was going to complain about on the X-T1 but Fuji beat me to it and released the latest firmware version 3.0 and fixed pretty much all of the issues I had. None of them were major things, but as a left eye shooter I was hoping for a way to swap the AF/AE buttons around........oh that's fixed then.

The rest of the Firmware update is so extensive it borders on what's a firmware update and what's a viable X-T2?

The support and response from Fuji is something to behold and a breath of fresh air.

The camera for me is near perfect. I am at this moment in time in a very happy place camera wise and it might sound silly but the Fuji cameras that I now own have really revived my passion for photography.

The X-T1 has 'it', whatever 'it' is.

The DSLR for me is now a thing of the past, I can't wait for the weather to pick up and for the new 2015 race season to start - I also can't wait to see the looks on the faces of the other press photographers as they cart around ten tonnes of kit.

For the first time in a long time I feel like I'm Peter Parker again.

Am I Fuji fan? Oh yes, you better believe I am.

I'll be posting more images from each of the lenses as and when I get a chance to review them all so don't forget to subscribe to be notified of new content.