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.

Machine Guns At The Ready!

Before I get started I'd like to point out that I have and still do shoot sports photography, I have shot everything from Golf to Formula One and have used a variety of equipment from prosumer DSLR’s to the latest main brand monsters and all the usual lenses that go along with it.

My topic of debate for this blog is where does photography end and filming begin most top end cameras these days such as the Canon 1DX shoot 10 frames per second that's a crazy amount of frames per second, movies are shot with 24 frames a second, after a bit of a dig around on Google I found out that a lot of stop motion animation is done at 10 frames per second like a lot of the stuff you used to see on Sesame Street.

My point being (and I know I'm likely to get a bit of a kicking over this.) With such high frame rates, Autofocus, Image stabilisation is there any skill left of the photographer to display?

No I'm not some kind of all fuddy-duddy purist who requires everything to be shot on a 10 x 8 Glass plate with a gunpowder flash and a sheet over my head and I know that a lot of photographers don't even use the autofocus when shooting things such as motorsport and they instead focus on a fixed point and wait the action to come into that area of prefect focus.

After my recent switch from Canon to Fuji it has for me re-awoken the manual aspect of photography again, the thought before a shot. Don’t get me wrong the X-T1 can knock out 8FPS with tracking focus etc. but it’s unlikely your buying that particular model for that reason. I'm starting to sound like a bit of a tit but go with me on this one as I think there is a valid point in here somewhere.

From my point of view manual photography can be anything from using full manual set up where you're in control of the aperture and shutter speed and the ISO and the focus to a simple state where are you might just be in Aperture mode with a preset ISO and autofocus all variations of all of these things that we are all familiar with when using a camera.

Is there any difference between holding the shutter button down and getting 10 frames per second than there is to cranking a handle to allow 35mm film through to capture Charlie Chaplin upsetting a wedding party or running a dubious window fitting outfit?

I like it when not everything works out perfectly and i’m stuck with a blurred image of an event, especially when it’s a fast moving sport like Formula 1 as a lot of the shots are done by one guy (at least I think that’s the case.) as he seems to really love shooting the car parked up on an apex with the driver sitting in it, you know the ones that guy does - head on stuff from about a mile away on a 600 mm lens, maybe a dash of F2.8 and good for him after all he’s built a career out of it and clearly goes to all the races.

It’s so nice having someone like Darren Heath around who is a man after my own heart, he tries to inject a bit creativeness into it, to capture the atmosphere, colour and emotion into the shots and not just a technically perfect pixel peeping shot - although from watching various interviews on YouTube I have learned that Darren is a Canon 1DX user and I'm not sure why as he does state that he doesn't tend to use autofocus or use the high burst right? I’m sure he has his reasons, if it were me it would be down to peer pressure as I have myself been the subject of sneers for using a 5DMK3 and a 200mm F2.8 - not exactly consumer grade kit.

It’s pretty dismaying when you get asked to shoot an event and they specifically ask you for the shot described above ‘oh make sure they are all head on with nothing more than F5.6.’ - I mean they all look the same and might as well be a still from a video feed.

Ah I jumped the gun there, video feeds nothing against them, brilliant! means I get to watch the race at home with a Gin &Tonic and not just what happens to be going on at the wind swept corner I’m standing at. But I can see that in a couple of years time with tighter and tighter restrictions on entry to track for up and coming photographers things might take a turn for the worse.

FIA rules state that to the effect: you can not become a race photographer unless you have a proven track record and examples of work published from previous FIA events, however you are not allowed as a member of the public to take track images with a view to them being published - Chicken/Egg anyone?

So with that gem in mind and the press looking for that apex shot what’s to stop the FIA banning all track photography with some excuse such as it’s safer for all involved blah blah and just issuing a media pack with a bunch of stills taken from the live feed of the events and while they are at it charge the newspapers and other media a fee for the privilege?

Within the next few years formula One and top sporting events will all be found in HD or even 4K giving a huge advantage to the promoters in terms of stills pack sales to the press.

So does machine gun photography have a place at sports events, yes it always will from the motor drives of old to the 10FPS of today but is it as a result photography and photographers signing their own death warrant? What happens to the Canon 1DX’s and Nikon DXXX then? Will that be the end of it in terms of mass production of elitist bazookas and the apparel, who knows? I guess we will have to wait until one of the big two release a DSLR that bangs out 15 or 20 FPS in what I imagine will be their answer to continuing development.

Where else do they have to go in terms of camera development the ISO is already stupid good, focus is pretty much done but think of it two or three flagship models down the road they have little left to sell the new camera - 4K?and FPS? that’s about it.

You know in the 1960’s they used TLR’s like the Rolleiflex and it depended on you cranking a handle and you got twelve shots out of a roll of 120 film.

Is the development of cameras in purely saleable points with them creeping ever towards practically filming a flicker book of action and in doing so slowly ending traditional photography a good or a bad move, it can’t be good can it?

I'd like to hear your opinions so feel free to leave a comment below.

Formula-E Launch Camden Roundhouse London

Here is a post that got lost on my website, it's from earlier this year when I was invited along to the launch party of the all electric Formula-e championship at the Camden Roundhouse in London:

The Camden Roundhouse has played host to many greats over the years from Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and Cream. Tonight sees a new rock and roll circus roll into town with the worldwide launch of Formula-e.

Inside the Roundhouse I’m circled by the various cars from the ten teams, they look fantastic and all of the VIP guests and media are eager to get a close up look.

I'm peering into the cockpit of the e.dams Renault car when I’m asked what I think, the question has come from four time Formula 1 champion Alain Prost. I ask Prost if he’s been tempted to take the car out for a spin at the test sessions but he says that he’s happy to leave that up to his son Nicholas these days who completes the e.dams Renault line up with Sebastien Buemi.

Alejandro Agag & Alain Prost

The sofas at the front of the room fill up with some big names including Formula-e CEO Alejandro Agag, Alain Prost, Emerson Fittipaldi, Damon Hill and Sir frank Williams who’s advanced engineering department has supplied formula-e with the batteries for the cars.

Agag is brought onto the stage by the compare and we are shown a film of the teams racing across Westminster bridge , I have to admit the cars really look the part in their livery and any of them would not look out of place on the F1 grid. Agag asks for the film to be shown again as he was sitting under it and missed the best bits so it is replayed.

During Agag’s opening speech he thanked the Mayor of London Boris Johnson who has supported the new Formula from the start and Sir Edward Lister, the Deputy Mayor of London who was present confirmed that the championships tenth and final round will be decided Battersea Park. There is a genuine felling of achievement coming from Agag and it’s not hard to see why with the fast development of the series and the support of the ten cities playing host to the races.

Emerson Fittipaldi

Speaking with Alejandro Agag after the presentation he tells me that it was amazing to have new partners like BMW and a real honour to work with legends like Sir Frank Williams.

I ask Agag if he sees the relationship with formula 1 as symbiotic?

“Absolutely, we are a child of Formula 1. We looked all over the world for the best technology and where did we find it? F1 of course, that is where the pinnacle of technology is truly. If we are able to multiply the capacity of the battery in the cars we may even see Formula-e racing against Formula 1 cars, who knows but that would be a cool race.”

Asking about the expansion of the season in the coming years Agag was equally as enthusiastic.

“We plan to add two races a year to the calendar, we have many cities that are now asking for races, going to Africa is a priority then there is Australia and the Middle East so we still have lots of new areas we would like to race at.”

Sir Frank Williams

I wanted to get some of the drivers opinions on the new Formula and what impression they had from driving the cars so far. I walked over to Bruno Senna who was showing one of the guests the controls of the car.

“What happens if I pull this?” asked the guest pointing towards the red plastic loupe on the duct behind the seat.

“No, No.” replied Bruno, “That’s the fire extinguisher.”

I got a chance to speak with Bruno and asked him about the challenges of street racing and the differences between this new formula and the Formula 1 cars that he was used to.

“The hardest thing for us at the moment is the stiffness of the setup, this combined wight the high wall all weather tyres required for the street races make it quit a different sensation for us as drivers.”

“I can see a lot of rapid and impressive development with the formula-e cars as soon as we get out there and start testing and racing, as currently we need to have a broad basis on which to work on considering the different weather conditions, road surfaces and cutting edge technology that has gone into the cars.”

Interested in the safety aspects of the new formula and if any issues unique to the formula had arisen, I put the question to Nick Heidfeld.

“No not at all, it is a very technically safe formula the main issue for me as a driver is the sound or lack of it - having driven single seaters for nearly twenty years now i’m used to hearing the feedback of an engine for instance when you get wheel spin you hear the RPM going up and you can react to that. Driving the new electric car is fantastic but requires a whole new mindset to get the best feedback from the motor beyond relying on the instruments on the wheel, it’s a case of trying to feel it in your body which is great as it’s exciting - a whole new game to play.”

“One of the biggest draws to formula-e for me was the professionalism of the setup and the strong drivers who are competing as I wanted some good competition.”

“The icing on the cake is that it is all street circuit based with fantastic locations, we go to miami, monaco, london, berlin, beijing and more it’s fantastic a real world tour.”

Formula-e drivers 2014

Another strong team joining the Formula-e lineup is the only owner/driver combination on the already impressive grid - Jarno Trulli of TrulliGP

“It feels great to be heading up my own team I’m also so happy to have a co-driver like Michela Cerruti as she is a quick learner who is very, very competitive and allows me the confidence in her to allow me to go ahead and race.”

As a spectator and Photographer I am really looking forward to what the new Formula-e has to offer in terms of innovation and it’s street racing circuits, it will provide some very exciting and close quarters action and from a photographic point of view the backdrops will provide excellent opportunities to make images that loo and feel very different to what we are currently used to seeing.

For more information on all of the teams, drivers and race calendar visit 

www.fiaformulae.com

My Studio For Portraits On The Go

This is a photo of my studio where I take the vast majority of the Comedian portraits.

To be honest it's outside the acts room on a balcony at the Glee Club in Cardiff, the wall is off white (I quite like that.) and it does have a few marks on it but nothing a very quick touch up in Photoshop CC can't handle.

Be it winter or summer by the time I get to do a quick portrait shoot it's around 10:30 - 11:00PM more likely than not very dark out with minimum light interference from the few neon restaurant signs in the area.

My standard set up is to use an inexpensive radio trigger for my Yongnuo YN-560 ii on a light stand bracket shooting through a white umbrella.

The flash is set to 1/32 power and is set at between 24mm and 50mm depending on if I'm shooting with the Fuji X100 or the 35mm on the Fuji X-T1 with it's 1.5 crop factor making the focal length around 50mm - The flash has a pull out wide angle lens compensator that spreads the lights a little wider so shooting through the brolly with this in place gives it a unique softbox kind of look.

My cameras are always set to the lowest iso when shooting portraits to give me the best possible image quality and for the Fuji this means iso 200

I have my aperture set on F1.4 to around F3 depending on my distance from the subject which is never more than about 10ft

Ditching the bulky SLR and plumping for the Fuji system gives me an extremely lightweight and portable kit for impromptu portrait shoots before or after a gig.

I used to shoot RAW only but the JPEGS from the X100 and X-T1 are so good that I either shoot JPEG only or if I'm going for a belt and braces approach then I'll double up and shoot RAW+JPEG

Minimum editing is done in Photoshop CC and Lightroom 5.

I love the restrictions imposed on the shoots as the space is limited the background bland and I only have one light - I feel this setup really gives the subject a chance to sing.

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