Fujifilm X-E5 Mirrorless Camera Body - Black Reviews

3 Rating 1 Reviews

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Geraint Brown

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“Well, this is a bit awkward as an avid Fuji fan. I wanted to upgrade from 25MP to 40 MP on my X-E5, so I bought the camera without a hands on test first. While waiting for delivery I rented a GFX100RF 'just to see' what it was like. The RF was surprisingly light in the hand and once I had figured out the dials and menu (not too different from X-E) it was pleasant to use and easy in the hand. However, I did discover that I needed to upgrade my processing software to do the 100MP sensor justice. The aspect adjustment was great for a landscaper, but the 40mm f4 didn't allow me to get in and do as much macro as I wanted as I'm not a fan of cropping for macros. If it had been £1k cheaper I would have bought it. Now back to the X-E5. Built like a... brick. It's very dense compared to the E4 and weighs as much as my X-Pro2, so it sits differently in the hand and you need to grip with more force despite the raised camera edge. I've had an X100 in the past which was an absolute delight to use and was very comfortable to hold, so if people are saying that the E5 is an x100VI killer, they need their heads examined. Added to that, there is a continuous faint noise from the electronics which I've not experienced before. Whether it's the IBIS or a capacitor charging up continuously, I don't know. but even turning the IBIS off doesn't get rid of it. Maybe it is a normal feature on other cameras of similar specification, but I've never heard it before. And the BATTERY! Fuji doesn't tell you that old batteries are not recommended for this camera until you actually put one in the camera and it flashes a warning. IBIS and 40MP consume more electricity (Duhh should have thought of that one) so only the newer batteries have the endurance for what passes as normal usage. The camera obviously works as specified. Owing to my routine use of the Q menu and a couple of Film Simulations (thankyou Fuji Weekly), the 'hot new dial' is a bit of a waste of space. Bracketing the film simulation is also a work around, so I'm not going to get my money's worth of this feature. And if you use Fuji Camera Raw to process RAW images it's also a wasted dial. Yes the pictures have more detail, and the in camera crop to 1.4 and 2 times 'focal length' is potentially very handy, but I've not really tested it yet. It is similar in concept to the Aspect Ratio Dial on the 100RF as it crops the 40MP image to a smaller JPEG. Again, Fuji Camera Raw can do this anyway. Customising the surround of the EVF display appearance (not the numbers on the screen) is nice, but not a big deal for me, although seeing detail outside the frame is a nod (say no more, nudge nudge, wink wink) to Leica, its not a big deal to me. The BIG nice surprise feature is the retro "Classic" EVF display of needle meter and 'red LEDs' of shutter, aperturer and ISO indicators. Less is most definitely more, and takes me back to my OM1. Turning Classic EVF on wasn't easy to find in the Manual, and I needed YouTube to show me how and there is an problewmatic interaction with the surround view mode, turns out I was not the only person to have that problem. So this will be my go-to EVF screen, BUT it can't be set as default so another button press is needed. Connecting to the Smartphone.Pad App is a breeze and trouble free, Fuji seems to have reworked the app significantly since the X-Pro days. Which means that posting form the camera to Facebook is straightforward. So that explains the three stars, rather than the five which I was expecting to give it. Perhaps I should have waited for an X-Pro model, but that might be a long time coming and be even heavier. Maybe I sould have saved up a bit for the 100RF? Hope this gives you some ideas to think about.”

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Posted 8 months ago