Trek of Joy

When you go into full magnification the IQ of the EVF degrades significantly - its so grainy its pretty much useless for me. Its much better with the 3.69mp EVF used in the a7r3/a9 and likely the XH1 (haven't seen it yet to confirm, but reports are its sharp when punched in). My workaround is to try and find an edge and look for the pixels to get more jagged, fire a still and check focus. I usually have to tweak focus a couple times before getting it perfect. It obviously doesn't work on the fly and its much worse at night. I wish the parts were easy to swap, like components on a mountain bike. I'm trying to avoid an external monitor, but my eyesight has faded ever so slightly, so I now need glasses to read. For me the EVF is vital for my work. Chris

a7III seems most logical, though a7s2 prices are lower on the used market. If you go speed booster, it opens up Fuji and Sony APS-c.

Was set to shift a XT2 and get the XH1, but some of the early hiccups and the a7III give me pause. I'm sure they'll be ironed out with a FW update in time. A7III would be a near perfect cam if the EVF were on par with the XH1's. Same for the XH1 if it had better AF coverage, eye AF, a bigger battery and no crop. Still on the fence between both. Eterna is calling me... Chris

I'm on the fence with this one. Personally, I'm disappointed by the lower spec EVF, the a7r2 is abysmal - for me - when trying to MF after punching in. Manually focusing with the r2 is at times a guessing game. The low spec LCD isn't any help either. My XT2 is better, despite having a similar resolution EVF. But the a73 certainly ticks a lot of boxes, including the -3ev AF, the wide AF coverage, full readout 4k and the bigger battery - which is a big plus compared to the Fuji side since its AF coverage is only 40% of the frame, 4k crops and they have a smaller battery. I was all set to go Fuji and liquidate my Sony gear, but the recent Sigma/Tamron/Tokina/Samyang announcements give me pause since the E-mount is the only mirrorless system with significant 3rd party AF lens support and Sony has really upped the AF specs in the a73. There just seems to be more momentum with Sony than anyone else - including CaNikon. Its always tough choosing between the option with the warts you can live with. The a7r3 EVF would likely make this an instant buy for me, but now I need to try one before deciding so I can see what the EV looks like when punching in. AF improvements could negate some of the frustrations with the EVF since I mostly shoot with native lenses. I still can't believe the low spec, half-arsed touch LCD either (but this is industry-wide, not just Sony), much worse than 3-year-old cell phones. Why people constantly bitch about batteries and exposure comp dials while completely ignoring bigger/better LCD's on $2000 cameras is a mystery to me. Chris

Plenty of people do paid work with 8-bit material. I've shot a number of events and done a few cheap/free broadcast commercials. All were 8-bit, and I go back to the 5d2 in like 2008 or so. All of the spec was either 720/60p or 1080/30p and a minimum bitrate of 50mbps. I've never shot 10-bit or more outside of tinkering with a C300 and a Red a few times. Scratch that - I had a BMPCC for awhile, so I did shoot some raw/prores. But I never did any paid work with it because the workflow didn't jive with my run-and-gun shooting style. People keep repeating things like Netflix of BBC standards, which in most cases apply to them - not everyone. I know people that have shot stuff for Discovery, Nat geo and so on with gear below their published standards. If you're doing stuff for broadcast, then it might be an issue, but if you're shooting weddings or TV spots, its not an issue. I never understand why people criticize specs from their own bubble. If you want a 10-bit camera, this isn't for you. If you want to shoot for 3 straight hours, this isn't the camera for you. Move on. Why keep repeating the same numbnut argument and clogging up this thread? Back to the XH1- I absolutely love Eterna. 24p looks beautiful. I'm much more excited about this camera than the A7III. It looks like a winner. I'm looking forward to mine arriving soon. Chris

Yes, I really hate that argument. Along with "Fuji needs to stop wasting resources on video to improve stills" as if the two are completely unrelated. Just like when the anti-IBIS crowd kept repeating the BS comments about how much IBIS degrades IQ, or how it won't work with the X-mount. SMH. Chris

Ehh, on the video side they may not have the most cutting edge features in terms of frame/bit rates, because they're still very much like Nikon - more focused on stills. I'd say the XH1 is superior to any m43 cam outside of the GH5's on the video side. And its certainly competitive with every other APS-c camera on the market. It can give Canon FF a run for its money too. As a stills camera Fuji is - IMO - far better than anything m43. If you're a heavy stills/video shooter, I'd take the XT2 or XH1 over any m43 or Canon body until you hit the 1dx2 or 1dc. But even that's subjective based on your needs. And personally, as a natural light travel shooter, I hate higher ISO noise. NR has an impact on fine detail. Lots of debate over skin tones here, Fuji's are sublime in a few of their film profiles. Plus Pro Neg can be dialed to match Canon pretty well. I guess it depends on what you're looking for. Like most here, I'm looking for the unicorn. The perfect camera isn't there yet, and even when we do have a 4k60p, 10-bit body with IBIS, great AF, global shutter, and shoots amazing stills - there will still be warts. My definition of great will be different from you or anyone shooting narrative, because I'm very much a run-and-gun shooter that often doesn't have time to grade hundreds of clips for a 2 minute video. I like the final product to be as close as possible in cam. For me that point is much easier to reach with Fuji - despite its quirks. I have a love/hate relationship with Sony too, they still refuse to put two UHS-II cards in any of their bodies, even the $4500 a9. Its part of the reason I'm not buying the a7r3. The Xpro2/XT2 had them for a couple years, I can shoot to both cards without any card-writing delays. The Sony shutter sounds like a car slamming into a light pole, Fuji's is so much better, and the XH1 has dramatically improved on the XT2's already pleasing shutter with its floating mechanism. It goes on. Panasonic gives pre release until to lots of experiences video producers and it shows in pieces like Neuman's robot film. Fuji gave the XH1 to a few, they put together more release videos highlighting the video side of the XH1. They're definitely moving in the right direction. Adding 20 more pages to this thread is just shouting in a vacuum IMO - hit Fujiguys up on social, comment on their videos, comment to the Fuji honks that get test units to pass the word to Fuji, or even Fujirumors with your list of fixes. I do want to continue hammering Fuji to improve the video shooting experience, because they can make a lot of progress with FW updates. The last sentence quoted is accurate, Fuji has cultivated a user group that's very vocal about things like the exposure comp dial, and not about zebras. Just look at comments about a forward facing LCD, its all about the narcissistic selfie generation, not about its usefulness. Same goes for touchscreens, video, AF shooting video, and so on. Pick your poison... Chris

I am. Shifting one of my XT2's for the XH1. The more I see, the more I'm looking forward to it. IBIS looks much better than Sony's first effort, Fuji really did their homework with the mechanism and the dual processors. Its faster for shooting action than any current Fuji, and the XT2 is no slouch. I like the bigger grip and the touchscreen. Yes as you've pointed out, there's room for improvement with info on the display, the implementation of the touchscreen and the need for the grip to really make it a complete camera. 60p would be nice, but its not a deal breaker for me. The camera will get better with updates as well. I was watching the Fuji Guy with the Camera Store duo last night, it sounded like he hinted that there's room for a video oriented camera in Fuji's lineup. IMO Fuji is moving toward more video features, a XV1 seems inevitable. They're just so beholden to a group of curmudgeon still shooters that whine about any feature beyond pushing a button to take a photo, so there moving slower than others. Might be the end of my time with Sony and the a7r2/s2. Though giving up the 42mp stills will be tough... Chris

Doesn't the Xpro2 lack the ability to adjust highlights, shadows or lower in-camera sharpening? You can change all of those on the XT2. I think the XH1 with said abilities and a higher bitrate will be a little different than what you're getting from the Xpro2.

@DaveAltizer I have the 10-24, 18-55, 16-55, 50-140, 55-200, 23/1.4 and 56/1.2 right now. Shop used on Fred Miranda, you can get everything far less than new and most of the gear hounds there don't abuse their gear, easy to find cheap, pristine copies of everything. If you're looking at the XH1 - personally I'd skip the 18-55 and just get the 16-55/2.8. Its a much better lens in every way compared to the 18-55, its wider, constant 2.8, sharper through the range, weather sealed (a big deal IMO) and uses the newer linear focusing motors so its quieter and faster to focus - and according to Fuji you get more stops with IBIS using the 16-55. Some like Jon call it huge - which I really don't get since its a standard 2.8 zoom, look at others in the same range. The 18-55 is smaller, that's really all it has going for it, its not weather sealed either, mine has dust since the lens extends and sucks in whatever is in the air and its not as sharp through the range. The 10-24 is a great UWA - its compact, its sharp on the wide end and the OIS works really well. Its only drawback is that its not weather sealed, mine has dust inside. The 50-140 is really, really good, OIS is brilliant, weather sealed and its very sharp. I haven't done side-by-sides, but IMO its as good as the Canon 70-200/2.8 mkII I shot with back in my Canon days. If you want a smaller zoom the 55-200 is also very good, but its a variable aperture lens so less light gathering and not as shallow DOF, especially on the long end. It's also not weather sealed, and again mine has dust. Right now my only primes are the 23 and 56 as mentioned. I bought them for low light capabilities and subject separation. The f/2 WR primes are much faster to focus with newer linear focusing motors and far less glass. Personally 23mm is my favorite walk around FL on APS-c (35mm FF), and I don't like the bokeh on the 23/2, so I live with the slower focusing lens. The faster primes struggle a little more in low light and their focusing makes a little noise. Though they're still far quieter than something like the Sony 85GM. There is a 8-16/2.8 coming that I'm going to swap my with my 10-24 when it drops. I'm going to get the 16/1.4 as well as I love the look of fast wides wide open, if you shoot events its a great lens along with the 2.8 zooms. If you're doing gimbal work, the 14 is a really light lens with virtually no distortion, and its very sharp. But that might be too wide. There's also the 18mm pancake that weighs next to nothing, that's probably going to be my go-to gimbal lens. Can't offer a lot of video samples right now as I'm traveling around the world, but I have plenty of stills linked below. All photos in the galleries from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, India, Nepal, Japan and the NZ Penguins are XT2 only - mostly with the 10-24, 18-55, 55-200 and a few with the 23/56, but not many because I don't like to change lenses in the field due to dust and crud getting on the sensor. The galleries from the other 40 countries we've visited are a mix of Sony and Fuji. https://www.facebook.com/pg/trekofjoy/photos/?tab=albums Cheers Chris

They seemed to have really done the engineering right. Fuji says they have dual processors just for IBIS: "A three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyro sensor and a dedicated dual processor work together to carry out processing and correction approximately 10,000 times every second to achieve image stabilization performance with advanced speed and precision" Plus the new shutter: "The top plate of the FUJIFILM X-H1's shutter unit is equipped with suspension for absorbing delicate shock generated by the operation of the mechanical shutter. This minimizes camera shake risks to maximize the effect of image stabilization. The mechanism reduces shutter noise to the lowest level in the history of X Series" So far it looks better than Sony, but not quite Olympus. Will be interesting to see side-by-side comparisons. Chris I would guess probably not, the grip doesn't add another 70mm in height, or 857g, or make it any wider, or make it thicker.

I really think they missed the boat a bit by not putting the larger GFX battery in the XH1. The grip certainly looks large enough to accommodate it. I get wanting compatibility with existing batteries across its model lines, and I have like 6 of the 126s' so its not a big deal for me. I shoot with the grip most of the time anyway, same for the a7r2. And I feel for mirrorless the XT2 is really good on batteries, certainly much better than my a7r2. But adding power consuming features like IBIS and improved AF/EVF performance does eat batteries faster, I don't think it would impact sales at all if they went to the bigger battery. It doesn't appear to have any negative impact on the a7r3 judging by all the used a7r2's for sale on Fred Miranda. That said, its not a deal breaker for me. YMMV. Chris

I think its been available from the get-go. Set it to T and assign SS to one of the command dials. I don't think I've ever used the top dial for SS, I prefer using my thumb on the command dial. Chris

One other interesting tidbit from Dpreview, MF with focus by wire lenses just got a little better: "the choice over whether focus-by-wire lenses respond in a linear or speed-sensitive manner. This may sound esoteric but it means that video shooters can mark out positions on the focus ring to allow controlled focus pulling. With a linear response you know that turning the lens by x degrees will result in the same change in focus, regardless of how fast or slow you turn the ring. It's a simple-sounding addition and one we've long been calling for, but Fujifilm is the first manufacturer to listen." Though I'm disappointed by the lack of zebras as well, this still looks like a nice upgrade from the XT2 for me. I'll be replacing one of my XT2's with a XH1 when I return to the US shortly. Chris

You can set the XT2 to just use the control dial and to use the full range of shutter speeds, I never turn the top dial. Also, unlike Sony and others, there's actually 1/48 instead of 1/50 if you're shooting 24p.

They're claiming faster EVF and AF performance which indicates there's untapped power in the XT2's processor, but I think we're still limited by the readout speed of the sensor. Unless they've discovered some voodoo, I think it won't happen until the XT3. But you never know....

FR just posted a full XH1 brochure, of course soon we'll get the whole picture with production samples after its launched. https://www.fujirumors.com/fujifilm-x-h1-brochure-online-see-eterna-film-simulation-sample-much/ Chris

Nice! I use the Nikon Bourne 28-70/2.8 as a hack cine lens because it produces a nice image, its fast and relatively cheap. If I were looking at cine lenses I'd be really tempted to try the Fuji MK, but those are far less stealthy than a small prime like the Veydra. I guess you could swap mounts and use them on the GH5 as well. Chris

I shot 30,000+ stills last year and many hours of video with the XT2 and the a7r2. The XT2 is a brilliant hybrid. I'm anticipating the XH1 to be even better now that my 16-55/2.8, 23/1,4 and 56/1.2 are going to be stabilized. Stills is where m43 falls short. Despite what some claim, the DR of the larger sensors is better. Its easy to see when you start lifting shadows when shooting sunsets and such. So I don't consider the GH5 to be a competitive hybrid because it fast short in comparison with stills and especially the AF. The XH1 looks a lot a (spec-wise) like a a6500 in a proper chassis, with Fuji's colors. I tried to like the a6500 as a backup to my a7r2, but I just didn't jive with it, so I bought the XT2. Fuji has its quirks, but FW updates improved video shooting significantly and addressed some other issues. With a better spec EVF, touchscreen and face detect in 4k, I'm really looking forward to shooting with the XH1. At some point I'm getting a speed booster for my Nikon 28-70/2.8 lens too, that's been my workhorse video lens on the a7s2.

The XT2 spec says 40, but its under specific CIPA rating conditions. Just like the ratings for number of shots per battery, they aren't difficult to exceed. I bet I can get close to an hour, if not more with the XH1 as well. For stills the XT2 is rated at 340 shots, I've shot over 1,000 clicks and a couple dozen short video clips on a single w126s battery, and still had juice to spare. I shot a project in Sydney awhile back, over 3k frames and I did it with 3 batteries. Even if you only get 35 min, that's still not a ridiculous 6 batteries for an hour. Chris

The specs you're quoting are for record time limits, not battery life. So no you don't need 4 batteries to record one hour.

What are you talking about? You don't need 6 batteries for one hour of recording. I did a overheating test when I first got the XT2, recorded an hour of video with consecutive takes and still had charge in the single battery I was using. Strawman. SMH.

Kind of a straw man argument, don't you think? You have to pay for Vlog, which brings the GH5 to about the same price as the XH1 with the grip - at least in the US. And unless you only shoot with a single battery for the GH5 for all of eternity - which seems unlikely - you're still spending roughly the same amount of cash once you add Panasonic batteries to the mix. So do you want 10-bit and 60p with the GH5, or a larger sensor, much better hybrid AF, cleaner files at higher ISO's, much better stills, better color profiles and more DR from Fuji? If you shoot stills and video, the Fuji is a much better choice IMO. YMMV. Its good to have options.

Canon AF adapters are now out for Fuji. Plus Canon 17mm is not nearly as wide as a 16mm on a Fuji body either since the Fuji has less crop and 16mm is wider than 17mm. And how many high quality APS-c lenses does Canon have outside the excellent 17-55? Remind me which Canon APS-c body has IBIS? Shoots 4k? 120fps? Or even actual 1080p? But there's always DPAF, the 5d4's massive 4k crop and goofy file sizes.... Not trying to be a dick, but if you're talking APS-c, there's really no comparison. Fuji wins hands down.

I really, really like the a9 - the zero blackout EVF and AF are truly what every mirrorless camera should strive to achieve, its so far ahead of everything else out there - most DSLR's too. The oversampled 4k is absolutely beautiful as well, RS is good and its just so fast at ... well everything. I've been seriously tempted to get one and dumping my a7r2/s2 despite the lack of PP's, just using the standard profiles instead. I still think the PP's get added at some point when a7r3 mania slows a bit. But Sony being Sony, you can see why they exclude them. With the sensor readout speed being so fast, I'm willing to bet they could unlock 4k60p and much higher bitrates too if they wanted to. Chris