FujiFilm X-T3 - Thoughts After One Month

[DBounce]

So it's been a little over a month since I purchased my first FujiFilm X-T3 body. About two weeks after purchasing the first body I became convinced that this camera was very special. It was fun to shoot with. It reignited my desire to shoot stills. When it came to video the X-T3 seemed more than capable. I decided to refine my lens collection, adding the 23mm F2, 35mm F2, 16mm F1.4 and 56mm F1.2. Later I add the magnificent MKX18-55mm T2.9. All of these lenses performed to my highest expectations. 

I can tell you after this short period of owning these cameras that they can capture some truly lovely images. The in camera profiles are great and very inspiring to work with. The whole experience is really quite wonderful... well, that is it was. I am getting rid of the whole system. 

Why? Well, the second body decided to quit. The screen froze up and would just blink. A quick call to Fuji tech support revealed that the hardware had failed. I called to get a return authorization, which was granted. I decided not to go for an exchange, instead opting to wait and see how the first body held up. Today, I went out to shoot some pictures for a project we are doing. Upon arriving at the location I grabbed the X-T3 out of my bag and flipped the switch to power it on... NOTHING! Absolutely nothing. No lights, no screen lighting up, no power up at all. I tried different batteries. Still nothing. I tried pulling the battery and holding down power, then re-inserting the battery and attempting to power up again. Still nothing. Finally I tried the one thing I knew would work. This technique has never failed me.... I went home and grabbed my Canon 1DXMk2. Needless to say the shoot was completed. But the Fuji's are paper weights. 

I'm done with FujiFilm. It's all going back. It's packed up... I will not buy another one. In my experience they are not fit for serious use. Heck, they are not fit for even casual use. I had spoken highly of them in the past, but this experience with not one... but two bodies failing is enough for me. Lesson learned.

[thebrothersthre3]

Damn that is unfortunate. I'll have to see how mine holds up. Two weddings in so far with no issues. 

I usually get things used so they are already broken in and I know they aren't lemons ?

[leslie]

8 minutes ago, thebrothersthre3 said:

Damn that is unfortunate. I'll have to see how mine holds up. Two weddings in so far with no issues. 

I usually get things used so they are already broken in and I know they aren't lemons ?

damn that's bad luck dbounce, receiving two bad units. i'd be about ready to string somebody up by their toenails. rather glad i went with the p4k but even then there's probably a one in a million chance that mine could be a dud as well but at least we both have the warranty as a saving grace

i kinda lean the other way, and have to wonder why someone is selling it. however having said that all my lenses are second hand, so was the car and motorbike. i'm not sure i would buy a camera body 2nd hand of ebay. i prefer the security of a warranty for most electrical items but that might be just me.

[thebrothersthre3]

3 minutes ago, leslie said:

damn that's bad luck dbounce, receiving two bad units. i'd be about ready to string somebody up by their toenails. rather glad i went with the p4k but even then there's probably a one in a million chance that mine could be a dud as well but at least we both have the warranty as a saving grace

i kinda lean the other way, and have to wonder why someone is selling it. however having said that all my lenses are second hand, so was the car and motorbike. i'm not sure i would buy a camera body 2nd hand of ebay. i prefer the security of a warranty for most electrical items but that might be just me.

Ebay has a great return policy so I just make sure it works well. 

I am a bit crazy though. I bought a camera that was labeled as broken. I asked the seller what was wrong with it. He said he wasn't sure but it seems to work fine, turns on and all. I bought it and its been working good for two years now lol. 

[graphicnatured]

Oh man, that sucks, DBounce. Sorry to hear you had such an ordeal.

[Kisaha]

The reason the price went down, since the X-T2 and H, is that it is made outside Japan.

For both cameras, P4K and X-T3 we have to have a bigger sample out in the wild, to judge build quality and reliability.

[leslie]

 

17 minutes ago, thebrothersthre3 said:

Ebay has a great return policy so I just make sure it works well. 

I am a bit crazy though. I bought a camera that was labeled as broken. I asked the seller what was wrong with it. He said he wasn't sure but it seems to work fine, turns on and all. I bought it and its been working good for two years now lol. 

i know ebay has a return policy, i am grateful that i haven't had to use it yet. i guess you can be lucky at times ? but i prefer to have my bases covered with a minimal amount of risk with my money plus the fact that it would add an extra level of drama having to ship stuff back and filling out forms and so on. i would prefer just to take it too the shop i got it from the next time i was going that way

[Attila Bakos]

I had the same problem a few hours after my purchase. The unit did not turn on, battery pull didn't help. It turned out one of my Lexar 2000xs broke inside the camera. I removed the card and did another battery pull and the unit powered on again. 

[thephoenix]

not a good news.

was thinking about getting one with a bmpcc4k and it seems both have issues

[androidlad]

Of all the X-T3s sold so far this is the first failure report I've heard of, definitely rare and isolated incident.

iPhones have exploded in the past, I must say they are not safe to use.

[Inazuma]

They are made in China now rather than Japan so I wonder if that has something to do with it

[androidlad]

12 minutes ago, Inazuma said:

They are made in China now rather than Japan so I wonder if that has something to do with it

Most of the consumer electronics products are assembled in China, including those more sophisticated than mirrorless cameras. So no, it has nothing to do with the change in country of origin.

It could be that very early production batch had rare issue that slipped through QC, this happens all the time in electronics manufacturing.

[Mattias Burling]

I totally understand. Even if it was just two lemons a thing like this just puts a strain on the trust in the camera. For casual use I can live with quirkiness but for work I need to know the gear is 100% at all times. This is why I didn't keep my a6300 or bought the a6500. I got three lemon a6300 from separate batches.. the trust is gone.

[austinchimp]

I just received my X-T3 yesterday and this is disturbing to hear. Hopefully it was a freak occurrence. I'm mentally debating whether I can sell my GH5 kit and survive with just the Fuji as my main working camera, so reliability is a concern.

@DBounce How did you find the photo quality difference between the 1DX2 and the Fuji? Did you feel confident replacing the Canon with the X-T3 as your main working photo camera? Any more thoughts you could add? Interested to hear others experiences. I'm sure the reliability issue has coloured your experience though. Sorry to hear that.

[gelaxstudio]

2 hours ago, Inazuma said:

They are made in China now rather than Japan so I wonder if that has something to do with it

Iphones are made in china，no problems for Apple

The only thing that matter is quality control

[TurboRat]

One reason why I'm still keeping my Panasonics - G85, GH5 & GH5s is that they haven't crapped out on me. Had 2 G85, one bought from ebay, had 2 GH5 and a GH5s all from ebay bought used and the ones that remain are still going strong. There's some occasional freeze, but an sd card change and a battery pull got it running again. Got them through rain and sea water sand and breeze and they still serve me well. I think the Sigma will crap out if I brought it to the ocean so I left it and bought the weather sealed Panasonic lenses instead lol.

[DBounce]

7 hours ago, Attila Bakos said:

I had the same problem a few hours after my purchase. The unit did not turn on, battery pull didn't help. It turned out one of my Lexar 2000xs broke inside the camera. I removed the card and did another battery pull and the unit powered on again. 

I’ve had similar things happen in the past. One of my SD cards left a small fragment inside the slot. Unfortunately, this issue is different. While the build quality seems quite good on initial inspection, clearly quality control on these Chinese assembled bodies is subpar.

It’s a shame, as I really loved shooting with the Fujifilm cameras. They are tons of fun... I just need my hardware to be reliable. I was willing to give them another chance... but after the second body died, I had enough.

[xzobinx]

there is one thing that I found over the years working in a different industry is that the gear could be under spec but have to be reliable. It is a shame that the fuji suffered this much QC issue since I quite like the handling of fuji camera, their customer service and after sale support. 

[DBounce]

4 hours ago, austinchimp said:

I just received my X-T3 yesterday and this is disturbing to hear. Hopefully it was a freak occurrence. I'm mentally debating whether I can sell my GH5 kit and survive with just the Fuji as my main working camera, so reliability is a concern.

@DBounce How did you find the photo quality difference between the 1DX2 and the Fuji? Did you feel confident replacing the Canon with the X-T3 as your main working photo camera? Any more thoughts you could add? Interested to hear others experiences. I'm sure the reliability issue has coloured your experience though. Sorry to hear that.

The Canon 1DXMK2 is a completely different class of camera. It’s an absolute beast. At no point do you ever feel uncomfortable about its reliability or performance. It’s the best stills camera that Canon have ever produced. It’s the reason I will not buy their mirrorless. When you know a company is capable of this level of product, why go with anything lesser that they produce? 

Was the X-T3 a replacement? No, I never thought of it that way. Not outright anyway. But I had hoped it could work its way into my system. Certainly for video it was great... in many ways even better than the 1DXMK2. But for my taste, cameras need to be reliable. Like @Mattias Burlingsaid, once the trust is gone it’s hard to get it back.

Here are some shots done back to back with the X-T3 (first) and 1DXMK2.

 

[androidlad]

Ah I understand now, I went through some of images and videos you posted, I agree you totally made the right decision returning everything, as X-T3 doesn't deserve you, neither does 1DX II.