Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS (X-Mount) Review

Dustin Abbott

September 5th, 2023

For the second time in about a month, I am working on a review of a lens that was designed on full frame but is being ported over to the APS-C only Fuji X-mount. Tamron determined that its full frame 150-500mm VC lens was compact and competent enough to work on Fuji (where there are few telephoto options). The result is (for the most part) successful, as I detailed in my review here. But Sigma also has an excellent candidate for this converter – a direct competitor to the Fujinon XF 100-400mm OS (my review here)in the form Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS (we’ll call it the 100-400X in this review for brevity). The 100-400X is going to be a bit of disruptor on X-mount for a couple of reasons. The first is that it is a very competent lens in terms of performance. The second is that is going to be a huge value alternative at $950 vs $1900 USD for the Fuji. The 100-400mm zoom range is one of the most popular for those who want some serious reach for birding, wildlife, or sports but don’t want the larger size that comes with longer focal lengths. When you consider Fuji’s 1.5x crop factor on X-mount cameras you get a focal length equivalence of 150-600mm on full frame, which is obviously incredibly useful, going from this at 100mm:

to this at 400mm:

I have the original Sigma 100-400mm DN a positive review on Sony E-mount in mid 2020. It was the first of the third party telephoto lenses to come to Sony E-mount, and it was very welcome because it was along about a third of the price (though you had to buy the tripod collar separately if you wanted one) while providing most of the features and performance of the Sony 100-400mm G Master lens. I suspect that it can serve a similar role here on Fuji, mostly because it can create images like this…

…for under a thousand bucks. The fact that Fuji’s own 100-400mm is getting a little long in the tooth won’t hurt, either, though there are still a couple of areas where the Fuji has the advantage (compatibility with teleconverters, for example). So, does using a lens designed for full frame on an APS-C only system make sense? We’ll try to unpack that in this review. If you prefer to watch your reviews, just click the video below.

Thanks to Gentec (Sigma’s Canadian Distributor) for sending me a pre-release review loaner of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. I’m doing this review on a 40MP Fujifilm X-H2 camera.

Sigma 100-400X Build and Handling

The Sigma 100-400mm is mostly similar in Fuji X-mount build to the Sony E-mount and Leica L-mounts before, though with a few minor feature changes due to the unique market positioning on Fuji. The lens continues to be lighter than the competition despite being designed for a larger sensor. While the Fuji 100-400 OSS weighs in at 1375g (right over 48 oz), the 100-400X tips the scales at a relatively svelte 1135g (40 oz), a nearly 250g weight savings. This is without the tripod collar, obviously (as this is an optional accessory for the Sigma), which will add another 123g. (Nala really wanted to join this product photo session!)

The Fuji is 94.8mm in diameter and 210.5mm in length (3.73 x 8.29″), while the Sigma is thinner and shorter at 86 x 199.5mm (3.4 x 7.9″). Not a major difference, obviously, but enough to be noticeable. The front filter thread is also smaller at 67mm vs the 77mm standard for the Fuji.

Part of the reason for this difference is the fact that the Fuji lens does have an aperture advantage throughout the zoom range. It starts at F4.5 and doesn’t hit F5 until a little before 200mm. At 300mm, it’s f/5.2, and from 350mm on it is f/5.6. The 100-400X performs much worse in this regard, as, while it starts at F5 at 100mm, it reaches F5.6 by 113mm where it remains until it hits F6.3 at 235mm. What this means is that the Sigma is going to require more light (either slower shutter speed or higher ISO) than the Fuji in identical conditions regardless of the focal length.

While the Sigma 100-400mm DN lenses are compatible with teleconverters on Leica L-mount, Fuji X-mount shooters are in the same boat as Sony E-mount – there are no TCs that can be used on the lens.

Sigma has made a few changes to the controls to accommodate the difference in Fuji’s protocols. There are four switches and buttons on the side, but these have been slightly changed on X-mount. Instead of an AF/MF switch, there is an AF-L/AF switch instead. The Sony-style “Focus Hold” button has been rebranded as AF Function. When AF-L is selected, you can use the button to either lock focus or reactivate autofocus afterwards. So yes, we’ve got reduced function here compared to the Sony version. The loss of a direct AF/MF switch is because Fuji lenses don’t come with this function (typically AF/MF is controlled from a dial on the camera). The loss of more function on the “Focus Hold” button is due to the simple fact that unlike Sony or L-mount cameras, Fuji has no option to assign different values to this button in camera.

Other functions here include a 3 position focus limiter (FULL | 6M to infinity | Under 6M) and a three position switch for the OS (Mode 1 [Standard] | Mode 2 [Panning] | OFF).

The OS (Optical Stabilizer) has gotten an updated tuning here and is now rated for 5 rather than 4 stops, which puts it on equal footing with the Fuji 100-400mm, which is also rated at 5 stops. The first shot of Nala below was shot at 100mm and 1/7th of a second shutter speed, while the shot of the woodpecker is at 400mm and 1/20th of a second.

Both lenses have a standard zoom lock that locks the lens at 100mm and keeps it from extending. The lens barrel will extend out a fair bit when zoomed to the telephoto end of the zoom range on both lenses, as these are externally zooming designs.

While these lenses have mostly similar controls, I prefer the layout and feel of the Sigma controls. They are organized more logically and feel better to the touch. I do have one practical complaint, however. While hiking with the lens on a strap I would sometimes pull the lens up for a shot and it wouldn’t focus. I would look, and the focus limiter would have moved to close focus position (furthest to the right), limiting focus. I’ve not had this problem previously, so it does indicate in some carrying positions the switches can be inadvertently moved.

One feature the Fuji has that the Sigma does not is an aperture ring. Aperture rings are fairly ubiquitous on Fuji lenses, but obviously this redesign by Sigma for X-mount didn’t extend quite that far.

Another minor difference is with the lens hood. The Fuji lens features a little window in the hood to allow one to rotate a circular polarizer without reaching down into the hood. The Sigma lacks this feature, though it does have a relatively small 67mm front filter thread and a nice flare in the lens hood at that point which allows one to reach in to rotate a C-PL fairly easily. The lens hood also has a textured portion near the front for one to grasp as the 100-400 DN is designed to function as either a typical “twist” zoom or a “push-pull” design where one simply grasps the front of the lens hood and pushes or pulls the lens to the desired focal length. Something for everyone here.

The 100-400 DN is a very nicely made lens, using a mixture of premium materials, including a brass lens mount, magnesium alloy in the first section of the lens, and then engineered plastics over a metal frame. I didn’t get the feel that the Fuji lens was superior in materials. The 100-400X is a good looking lens that feels very sturdy and well made. It looks and feels more modern in design than the older Fuji option.

As noted already, the lens does not ship with a tripod collar (many people do not use one on a lens like this). It comes with a rubber sleeve that covers the screws where the tripod collar attaches. It has 100-400 stamped on there and makes for a cleaner finish when no tripod collar is attached.

The optional tripod collar is the TS-11. The tripod foot is nicely made, and, unlike the Sony tripod foot, it is ARCA compatible (meaning you can attach it right onto most tripods without the need for a quick release plate. You can freely rotate and lock it in any position.

Using the tripod collar and foot makes a significant difference when using the lens on a tripod. While the lens is on the lighter side of its class, it is still too heavy to easily balance on a tripod.

We have got a thick rubber gasket at the lens mount, but Sigma’s language does not specify other seal points in the lens itself, so that is likely another area where the Fuji lens is a little more robust. Thus far Sigma’s “Contemporary” branded lenses (like this one) have only had sealing at the lens mount.

The 100-400 DN sports a useful magnification figure at 400mm of 1:4.1 (0.24x), which actually bests the Fuji’s 0.19x . Minimum focus distance is 1.6m (5.25ft), which also best Fuji’s 1.75m. Here’s what the Sigma’s MFD looks like:

You can really compress the background at close distances, and the bokeh is quite beautiful. One could add an extension tube to allow for closer focus and higher magnification. One thing is clear: at minimum focus distance your backgrounds will completely blur out beautifully.

The overall build quality is familiar to those who have used the lens elsewhere, but, for the most part, the 100-400X holds up pretty well when compared to the Fuji competition.

Sigma 100-400mm DN Autofocus Performance

This is an area that has historically been challenging for Fuji in general and even more so for third party lenses being adapted to the platform. This is definitely the area where I experience my greatest frustrations with the 100-400x. Sigma’s most recent telephoto lens on Sony received a new focus system (called HLA), but unfortunately we don’t get that here. That means that we are working with an older STM motor that was in the original Sony design over 3 years ago. There are moments when it works great, and other moments where it is pretty frustrating…and that’s on the X-H2, which has one of the most robust focus systems available on Fuji at the time of this review. At times, autofocus was great, allowing me to effectively track and photography birds in rapid flight.

In other situations, just trying to focus on a slightly closer subject (but further than the minimum focus distance) would be impossible. Focus would only go to the background, and even trying to choose a more obvious focus choice would not motivate focus movement. Here’s what autofocus gave me in a shot that I wanted:

…and here’s what manual focus gave me.

I think we can all agree the latter is the much nicer shot. The optics on this lens are really quite good, but there are definitely moments when the autofocus experience holds it back. In the scenario above, there were a few minutes of trying to get autofocus to work, then another few minutes of trying to manually focus (a very slow process as it takes many full rotations to go through the focus possibilities ). I estimate I had about six minutes invested in trying to get two very easy photos that should have taken a couple of seconds each.

Frustrating.

And these subjects weren’t going anywhere. In another instance I had a great shot of a dragonfly about 10 feet away. By the time I went through all the effort to get focus to the proper place, I got this:

You’ll notice there are no dragonflies on this pine bough. The dragonfly patiently waited for a minute or so, but then moved on.

There were other situations where focus worked just fine. About fifteen minutes after the dragonfly episode I got a nice series of well focused images of a butterfly flitting around wildflowers.

About five minutes later I saw a pileated woodpecker through the trees, and tried to react quickly to get the shot. At first, this is all autofocus gave me.

It just refused to focus. I maneuvered around a bit to allow eye detect to focus on the eye, and even with some foreground obstructions, I got a well focused result.

My observation has been that the current iteration of Fuji autofocus is that focus is quite good if the AI has a detectable subject to track, but it’s not nearly as good if there is no trackable subject and the core autofocus system (which hasn’t changed much in years) has to do the heavy lifting. This shortcomings are magnified by a long focal range and a fairly slow maximum aperture of F6.3 on the long end. I’m pretty spoiled by the autofocus capabilities of my long glass on either Sony or Canon, so I do find all of this somewhat frustrating.

In long tracking sequences with the X-H2 and the 100-400x, I found that tracking was okay if I started the burst with a focus lock. There were some dips in and out, but probably about a 70% keeper rate.

If I started the burst without a good lock, the camera and lens never did achieve proper focus. I could follow the action of the bird for dozens of frames without focus ever locking on, which is rather disappointing for 2023.

Most of the time autofocus would grab the eye of the bird quickly, and I could get some great reactive shots.

Other times it just wouldn’t want to grab on at all. I can’t really tell you why…because other times focus would lock well even with the subject’s back turned to me.

I shot long bursts at 15FPS with the mechanical shutter on the X-H2, and, while I got some shots during the session that I really liked, I also had a lot more castoffs than usual. I would say that my overall keeper rate for the session was no better than 60%.

If you plan on doing a lot of BIF work or tracking a lot of fast paced action, you might want to spend a bit more for one of the Fuji options, though, to be fair, there isn’t really a “slam-dunk” option on the platform outside of the hugely expensive 200mm F2. I think most able photographers will be able to get the Sigma 100-400X to work just fine, but just realize that you won’t be getting anything like a 90% hit rate for action work. But I came away with dozens of great looking shots from just a 20 minute session of tracking gulls, so there is value here for birders or wildlife photographers.

On the video front I found that at 100mm (the easiest focal length to frame and typically fastest autofocus speed) focus pulls were reasonably successful, though with some obvious stepping. Focus breathing was fairly minimal, however, so that’s a plus. My “hand test” where I alternatively block the view of my face with my hand and then remove it went well, however, with good transitions from my eye to my hand. In another clip, focus picked up my face quickly when I stepped into frame.

On a more negative side, I shot a clip of flowers in the morning sun and focus was initially good, but then focus racked forward to where nothing was in focus and didn’t return for at least five seconds.

The footage itself looked good, with nice detail even when shooting at 8K on my X-H2. I wouldn’t buy this lens for video work if that work required sophisticated autofocus, but if you want to augment your footage with some long shots, it certainly provides the least expensive way to get that kind of reach…and the footage looks great.

There is obviously room for improvement on the autofocus fronts. I’m hoping that at least some of my complaints can be fixed via firmware updates, and perhaps the lens will also benefit from growth in Fuji’s autofocus systems in the future. Some of these frustrations are Fuji frustrations in general, but there’s no question that I had fewer complaints when using Fuji’s own telephoto options and even the Tamron 150-500mm faired better in my tests.

Sigma 100-400 DN Image Quality

The Sigma 100-400 DN has a moderately complex optical formula with 22 elements in 16 groups. This includes one FLD element (a low dispersion glass) and four SLD (special low dispersion element) to help with aberrations and distortion. I was quite impressed with this lens on its native full frame when I reviewed it on a 42MP Sony a7RIII years ago, but the standard of Fuji’s 40MP APS-C sensor is much more demanding. That many pixels on a smaller sensor is the equivalent of 90+MP on full frame, which requires a lens to be really strong optically to resolve the sensor. Fortunately that is an area of strength for the 100-400x, as the optical performance is very competitive with the more expensive Fuji options.

This is a lens capable of producing really great looking results even on the high resolution Fuji sensor.

The Sigma gives a very strong showing when it comes to vignette and distortion. What distortion is there is a very mild pincushion distortion that grows from a -1 to correct to a maximum of -3 to correct at 400mm (essentially 1,2,3), but at any point in the zoom range you could leave the distortion uncorrected and never even notice it. Likewise vignette is at one stop or less throughout the zoom range, and you could easily leave it uncorrected as well. You can see the uncorrected and then corrected results at 100, 200, and 400mm below.

You may have already figured out why these figures are so much lower here than what we saw on Sony – you are putting a full frame lens on a much smaller APS-C image circle, which means that the majority of the vignette and even distortion have been cropped off (they fall outside the APS-C image circle). This is the area where a full frame lens is most advantaged by using it on a smaller sensor. The Sigma does have full support of Fuji’s in-camera correction profiles for JPEG and Video as well, and RAW files will be corrected via the available correction profile in your favorite software.

I also saw minimal issues with Longitudinal Chromatic Aberrations (LoCA), which means that you should see little fringing in your shallow depth of field shots:

I also saw next to no Lateral CA near the edges of the frame.

All good thus far. The harder test is coming, however, as the 100-400x must now face a much more pixel dense sensor than it was initially designed for. The highest resolution E-mount or L-mount camera in 2020 was a 42MP full frame sensor; this pixel density is vastly higher. That can be the area where full frame lenses on high resolution APS-C sensors can struggle. My resolution torture test is done on the 40MP Fujifilm X-H2 and results are examined at a very high 200% magnification. Here’s a look at the test chart:

And here are the nearly 200% crops at 100mm, F5 from the center, mid-frame, and corners:

That’s an excellent result with very consistent sharpness across the image frame. It also compares very favorably to the much more expensive Fuji XF 100-400mm, both in the center:

and in the corners:

The Sigma is the clear winner here, particularly in the corner, where it probably benefits from having the weakest performance from the lens cut off by the crop.

And yes, the Sigma has a slower aperture here (F5 vs F4.5), but if I stop both lenses down to F5.6 and compare at 100mm, the Sigma is still the clear winner all across the frame. Impressive.

Stopping down to F5.6 or even F8 makes little improvement, if any, so you can be confident that you are getting close to peak performance wide open, which is really important on the 40MP Fuji bodies because diffraction arrives so early. Real world results look good as well:

Diffraction arrives early on these bodies, so while the minimum aperture is F22, I would avoid using it because diffraction really robs away sharpness and contrast progressively after F8:

$44-Diffractionb$

100mm is the high water mark for the lens performance, however, so while 200mm is good, it isn’t quite as good as what we’ve seen at 100mm (though very, very close):

Maximum aperture is F5.6 at 200mm, so stopping down to F8 brings no advantage because diffraction has started to very slightly soften the image. Fortunately I think that most people will find real world results in and around 200mm at F5.6 very usable:

Image quality is weakest at 400mm, though it still exceeds what I saw from the older Fuji 100-400mm lens:

As before, the image quality is fairly consistent across the frame. There’s good sharpness there to begin with, and the weakest part of the image gets cut off by the crop factor, leaving still strong corners. When focus is nailed, you can get good results wide open at 400mm:

I don’t find contrast “off the charts”, but, to be fair, the only telephoto lens that I’ve been really impressed with on this high resolution sensor is the very expensive Fujinon XF 200mm F2 OIS (my review here). I haven’t really seen better performance than this from any of the zoom competitors. The Fuji 100-400mm has a slightly faster aperture of F5.6 at 400mm, but the more expensive XF 150-600mm is slightly slower (F7.1), and the Sigma results are as sharp as what I saw when testing that XF 150-600mm. Bottom line is that this is about as good of image quality you are going to get at 400mm on the Fuji platform at the moment:

F6.3 isn’t incredibly fast (even at 400mm), but remember that the compression of the focal length is equivalent to 600mm on full frame, meaning that you can really defocus a background. You can see from the image below that the quality of the bokeh doesn’t look like a $10,000 F4 prime (there is some nervousness to some of the textures), but also the background is strongly blurred. At closer focus distances you can really defocus the background and get very creamy results with nice subject isolation:

Obviously I prefer the images with greater compression, as the creamy backgrounds look great. But even in this image where the background is only mildly defocused, I still think the nature of the blur isn’t bad.

How about flare resistance? I replicated the results from Sony here, as they are representative for the behavior on Fuji, too. Flare is typically less of an issue with a lens like this, as the angle of view is so narrow (particularly on the long end), that you rarely point it at the sun. Still, however, the results aren’t bad here. There are six tests shown below. The first series (of four) is of the lens at 100mm where the sun is most likely to be in the frame. We’ve the sun centered in the frame wide open, then in the upper right corner, then with those results repeated at F11. There’s a mild flare pattern that doesn’t worsen when the lens is stopped down. Pretty good.

The final two images show the lens at 400mm with the lens wide open and then stopped down to F11. There’s a little most veiling and loss of contrast here, though this will probably rarely be a real-world factor.

I ended my section on the autofocus with many reservations, but I’ve got no such reservations here. The image quality stands up very well to the Fuji competition that will cost twice as much. If you’d like to see more photo samples, I would recommend that you visit the image gallery here.

Conclusion

The 100-400mm focal range is popular for a reason. By designing a variable aperture lens, lens makers are able to fit a fairly high performing long telephoto lens into a body roughly the size of a typical 70-200mm F2.8 zoom. The end result is a a very flexible tool that can meet most anyone’s telephoto needs without breaking their backs in terms of the weight. The Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS takes that to the next level, as it also won’t break the bank at a price point of right under $1000 USD.

Fuji has been a bit of a wasteland for telephoto options, with only two lenses reaching beyond 300mm from Fuji. The release of the Tamron 150-500mm VXD added a third lens, and this Sigma provides a welcome fourth option. But the Tamron and Sigma lenses are actually full frame designs, but their reasonably compact size allows them to work on this smaller platform. Like the Tamron, the biggest limitations include the lack of compatibility with teleconverters and the simple fact that autofocus isn’t as effective as what we’ve previously seen on Sony.

The difference in price between the Sigma and the Fuji options will probably mean that there are plenty of people who would be willing to do deal with a few more autofocus frustrations to get a quality telephoto lens that they can afford. The fact that the Sigma 100-400X actually bests the Fuji competition optically won’t hurt, either. The Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS is a perfect example of the role that Sigma can and should play in the Fuji marketplace – a quality mid-tier option that offers 90% of the first party lens at a much cheaper price.

Pros:

Nice build quality including some weather sealing and premium materials
Slimmer and lighter than competing lenses
Fairly good tracking results for birding or fast action
Excellent image quality…particularly at the very important 400mm position
Nicer bokeh than many variable aperture zooms
Almost no vignette or distortion
Excellent chromatic aberration control
Improved optical stabilizer (5 vs 4 stops)
Good magnification and close focus results.
Fantastic price

Cons:

Autofocus can be frustrating at times
Tripod collar a separate purchase
Variable aperture zoom reaches smaller apertures very quickly
No TC options available on Fuji

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Keywords: Sigma 100-400mm DN, Sigma 100-400 Fuji, Sigma 100-400, Sigma 100-400mm, Sigma 100-400 OS, Sigma 100-400mm OS X-mount review, 100-400mm, Dg DN, Dg, DN, OS, Contemporary, F5-6.3, Review, Fuji X, Fuji X-mount, Review, Telephoto, Action, Tracking, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Photography, Fujifilm X-T5, Fujifilm X-H2, let the light in, #letthelightin, DA, #SIGMA, #SIGMA100-400mmContemporary, #SIGMAContemporary, #SIGMAContemporaryPrime, #SIGMADCDN

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Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS Fuji X-Mount Gallery

Dustin Abbott

September 5th, 2023

For the second time in about a month, I am working on a review of a lens that was designed on full frame but is being ported over to the APS-C only Fuji X-mount. Tamron determined that its full frame 150-500mm VC lens was compact and competent enough to work on Fuji (where there are few telephoto options). The result is (for the most part) successful, as I detailed in my review here. But Sigma also has an excellent candidate for this converter – a direct competitor to the Fujinon XF 100-400mm OS (my review here)in the form Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS (we’ll call it the 100-400X in this review for brevity). The 100-400X is going to be a bit of disruptor on X-mount for a couple of reasons. The first is that it is a very competent lens in terms of performance. The second is that is going to be a huge value alternative at $950 vs $1900 USD for the Fuji. The 100-400mm zoom range is one of the most popular for those who want some serious reach for birding, wildlife, or sports but don’t want the larger size that comes with longer focal lengths. When you consider Fuji’s 1.5x crop factor on X-mount cameras you get a focal length equivalence of 150-600mm on full frame, which is obviously incredibly useful, going from this at 100mm:

to this at 400mm:

I have the original Sigma 100-400mm DN a positive review on Sony E-mount in mid 2020. It was the first of the third party telephoto lenses to come to Sony E-mount, and it was very welcome because it was along about a third of the price (though you had to buy the tripod collar separately if you wanted one) while providing most of the features and performance of the Sony 100-400mm G Master lens. I suspect that it can serve a similar role here on Fuji, mostly because it can create images like this…

…for under a thousand bucks. The fact that Fuji’s own 100-400mm is getting a little long in the tooth won’t hurt, either, though there are still a couple of areas where the Fuji has the advantage (compatibility with teleconverters, for example). So, does using a lens designed for full frame on an APS-C only system make sense? You can get my thoughts either by watching my video review or reading the text review here.

Thanks to Gentec (Sigma’s Canadian Distributor) for sending me a pre-release review loaner of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. I’m doing this review on a 40MP Fujifilm X-H2 camera.

Images of the Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DN

Images taken with the Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DN

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FUJIFILM X-S20 Review

Dustin Abbott

June 23rd, 2023

The Fujifilm X-S10 was one of my favorite Fuji cameras of the previous generation. I gave it a positive review when it was released roughly 2.5 years ago as I liked the balance of bringing some of the best features of the X-T series into a smaller, cheaper package. A lot of Fuji cameras occupy the premium end of the APS-C space, and the X-S10 provided a strong camera at the roughly $1000 USD price point that largely had superior specs to alternatives from other brands. The Fujifilm X-S20 is the successor to the X-S10, and, as always, there’s some pros and cons. On the plus side, there are a number of core improvements (particularly on the video side), but, in the negative column there is a jump in price from the $1000 range up to $1300. There was nearly a $700 gap between the X-S10 and the X-T4; the gap between the X-S20 and the X-T5 is only $400, which will certainly leave a few buyers strongly considering that camera instead.

The X-T5 received the higher resolution sensor of the X-H2 (40.2 MP) while the X-S20 carries on with the older 26MP X-Trans BSI-CMOS sensor found in a number of other Fuji cameras. This might be part of Fuji’s market strategy, however, as not everyone needs (or wants) the higher resolution point.

The X-S10 was a bit more revolutionary than the X-S20 as it was the first of Fuji’s lower priced models to get features like IBIS (In Body Image Stabilization), the 26MP X-Trans sensor, faster burst rates, and a fully articulating LCD screen. The X-S20 is more evolutionary than revolutionary with more subtle improvements. A lot of the core features remain the same:

26.1MP BSI X-Trans IV CMOS sensor
ISO 160 to 12800 (80 to 51200 extended)
Hybrid AF system (117 contrast / 425 Phase Detect points)
Up to 20fps continuous shooting with electronic shutter (30fps with 1.25x crop)
1/4000th second max. shutter speed (1/32,000th using the electronic shutter)
0.39-in OLED EVF with 0.62x magnification, 100Hz
Similar Dimensions (the X-S20 is 1.7mm wider and 26g heavier)
Single SD card slot

Key improvements include:

Larger NP-W235 battery (from higher end models) that nearly doubles shots and video record time
Deep AI learning autofocus tracking (similar to X-T5 and X-H2)
Newer/faster X-Processor 5
Slightly improved IBIS
Up to 6.2K video and 4K60 options
Improved LCD resolution
Card slot now supports UHS-II
Deeper buffer
Can be used as a webcam via the USB-C port

When you add all of these up it equals an improved camera in a number of key areas, but there really isn’t a lot of new features that jump off the page. This is a pretty common trend in camera development, in my experience, as while some generations really push the envelope for new features, the next generation is often where those features are refined and the camera matures. In short, it’s in that second generation that things start to work as they should! The challenge here is that Fuji has elected to do a significant price increase on the cycle where there isn’t a lot of headline new features or upgrades. Will that present a marketing challenge? Will the X-S20 be as successful at $1300 as the X-S10 was at $1000? That remains to be seen.

For those that want a smaller, lighter, simpler camera that has many similar features to the higher end Fujifilm X-T5 (my review here), the X-S20 offers a compelling package. It has solid autofocus, competitive buffer depth, long lasting battery life, and very good image quality. It also happens to be quite a little video powerhouse, as we’ll see. It also comes at a great time for the Fuji ecosystem, as Fuji’s opening up to third party lenses has opened a floodgate of new development from Sigma, Tamron, Samyang, Viltrox, and more. I’ll use a few of those new lenses in this review, including the Tamron 11-20mm F2.8 RXD and the Viltrox Pro AF 75mm F1.2. I’ve also got some interesting new lenses on hand from Fuji, including the new XF 8mm F3.5 wide angle lens and the XF 18-120mm F4. I’ll also throw in a few shots from the extremely inexpensive XC 15-45mm F3.5-5.6 OIS PZ kit lens. The question to be answered is if the X-S20 ends up feeling “worth the money” relative to Fuji’s alternative offerings. I’ll do my best to answer that in this review. If you would prefer to watch your reviews, you can check out my definitive video review instead.

Thanks to Fujifilm Canada for sending me a review sample of the X-S20 and some lenses. As always, this is a completely independent review. All conclusions are my own.

Fuji X-S20 Build, Handling, and Features

The X-S20 continues the trend of taking a number of high end features from the X-T series and packing them into a considerably smaller body. The X-H2 is fairly large – pretty much equivalent to a full frame camera, and the X-T5 is smaller and slimmer, but the X-S20 feels very compact in something akin to the Sony a6600. It measures in at: Width: 127.7mm (5″) | Height: 85.1mm (3.4″) | Depth: 65.4mm (2.6″). The grip is fairly deep, though as always with shorter cameras like this I feel like I have no place to put my pinky finger because of the relatively low height.

The weight is still quite light at 491g (1.1lb) with memory card and battery, or 410g (0.9lb) without. The X-S10 weighed 465g with battery and memory card, but that’s a little deceptive as the battery was so much smaller. The bare camera weighed 415g, or 5g more than the X-S20. Fuji has actually managed to keep the weight quite low despite the camera being very slightly wider than its predecessor.

My only other grip complaint (outside of having no place for my pinky!) is when using larger lenses. I noticed when using the Viltrox Pro AF 75mm F1.2 that the deep grip combined with a wider lens made for a close fit for my fingers between the lens barrel and the grip of the camera. I had a recent injury to one of those fingers and it is still a bit sensitive, so I noticed more than I might ordinarily.

Viewed from the front, the X-S20 has a classic Fuji camera profile, though conspicuously missing is my favorite little control level for choosing between M/S/C (Manual, Single Shot, Continuous).

It remains a curious omission, as some lower priced cameras have it. I find this control particularly important on Fuji bodies as Fuji lenses themselves almost never have an AF/MF switch, so that lever is the simplest, most direct way to enable MF. I had to go into menus to choose MF, which is obviously a slower process.

While I’m griping, I’ll detail my other main handling complaint. Like the X-S10 before it, the X-S20 has only a single SD slot that is located down in the battery compartment on the bottom of the camera. That location means that if you ever work from a tripod (for video or stills) and mount a quick-release plate, you almost always have to remove or at least loosen the QR plate so it can be moved out of the way to access the battery compartment and memory card.

It may seem like a minor thing, but as someone who does major projects where I’m collecting a lot of video and stills for reviews, this gets really annoying. I MUCH prefer a memory card location on the side of the camera. The higher end X-T cameras have two card slots and a memory card compartment on the side.

As noted, the battery is improved from the lower end NP-W126S Rechargeable Lithium-Ion, 8.4 VDC, 1260 mAh unit that is rated for 325 Shots to the much better, much larger NP-W325 unit found on Fuji’s higher end cameras. The NP-W325 is a 2200 mAh battery and is rated for 750 shots here, or more than double the rating of the previous battery pack. It also means that video recording time as related to battery life is vastly improved as well – expect to get around 2 hours of record time on a charge. This is one the biggest practical improvements to the camera (and an issue that I harped on for the X-S10, as there was clearly room in the grip design for the larger battery. The grip is the exact same size on the X-S20).

Though small and compact, the build materials on the X-S20 are excellent. It is built from the same premium magnesium alloy we see on higher end cameras.

This promises to make the camera more durable and professional grade, though that is counterbalanced by the reality that there is no weather-sealing in the camera body.

Sigh.

The realities of mid-level cameras, where you are sometimes delighted by what’s there and then frustrated by what is not.

On the positive note of what is here, we have a great 3″ fully articulating touchscreen that has been upgraded to a higher 1.84 million dot resolution. I love an articulating LCD as it allows for front monitoring and also more flexibility in the camera position and angle of shots.

This can really make a difference when in front of the camera, as it gives you visual feedback on framing and if something goes wrong (like a dead battery)!

Fuji’s touch capacity has not changed (or improved) over the three generations of cameras that I have now tested. It used to be that Fuji was at least better than Sony, but Sony has finally improved on this aspect and their recent cameras are fully navigable by touch. Fuji allows you to select focus areas, touch to capture, and to navigate the Q (quick) menu, but no navigation of main menus and there is noticeable input lag when compared to the better response of competitors. It’s time for some serious improvement to the touch capacity of Fuji cameras, as they have fully fallen behind in this area.

Speaking of that Q menu…

On the X-T30, the Q button was placed right on the thumb rest area, a serious ergonomic faux pas, so Fuji has wisely relocated the Q button from there. The new position (on top of the camera) works fine, though it won’t be intuitive for anyone who has used just about any other camera, well, ever. Every Q menu button I’ve previously seen has been located on the back of the camera, so it will take a while before you instinctively reach for it there.

There is also a dedicated ISO button there, which I certainly approve of.

You’ll also note that instead of the traditional Fujifilm control scheme found the X-T series that leverages retro-style dials for ISO, shutter, and exposure compensation, Fuji has opted for a more generic set of controls. This includes a mode dial similar to what you would see in many cameras and then front and rear dials to control things like shutter, aperture, or exposure compensation.

This more standard scheme feels a lot less “Fuji”, but will probably also make the X-S20 feel more accessible to those unfamiliar with the Fuji way of doing things and will probably also serve to make the camera less intimidating to those photographers put off by the more analog approach Fuji has taken in the past. Everything works fine, however, and in many ways this is a better ergonomic setup than what is found on the Sony a6xxx series. There is one addition to the mode dial, and that is a dedicated VLOG position. The VLOG position takes you into a video mode, but with additional options available. This includes a self-timer (countdown to the start of the video), direct link to the Face/Eye detect settings, a “product priority” focus mode (rather than focusing solely on the face of the presenter it will prioritize a product when it enters the frame), IBIS control, High Speed recording options, and a “Background Defocus” mode (which sets the lens to the maximum aperture to create a more defocused background).

I still don’t like the shutter button as well as some of other Fuji lineups. The shutter is almost slightly recessed in the housing, which requires you to depress it by shaping your finger a bit. This will certain be exacerbated in cold weather when I’m wearing gloves. That same observation also applies to the video record button located by the shutter button, which is very small and sits flush with the top of camera. Both of these buttons would be more useful if they were raised a bit and easier to find by touch.

The rear of the camera has a small joystick that helps navigation and selecting a focus point along with the standard compliment of buttons that one would expect to find back there.

The left side of the camera has three ports in two compartments. The top port is a clean, compact microphone input slotted nice and high that can also be used as a remote shutter release port. A dialogue on the LCD screen smartly pops up when you plug into the port asking if you want to select something other than a microphone input (a remote release cable, for example). You can jump directly into those menu settings if desired, or it will go away in a few seconds if you don’t want to change anything.

The second compartment has a micro-HDMI port along with a USB-C multipurpose port. The USB-C port can be used either for data transfer or charging.

The top left side of the camera has a lever that will pop up the built-in flash, which has a 16.4′ (5 m) at ISO 100 guide number. Not particularly powerful, but useful in a pinch if you use it right. In most situations you’ll probably be better off avoiding using that flash, as it rarely produces flattering results. There’s a reason most pro cameras come without a built in flash.

There’s also a dial there that is set by default to toggling through various film simulations. This is a bigger deal on Fuji cameras than most other systems as they have more varied (and often better) simulations that can really give you a certain “look” for your JPEGs in camera. It’s particularly handy for those that prefer to shoot JPEG and not process RAWS, as the film emulation style doesn’t effect RAW images. You can change the function of that ring to a variety of other uses in the menu, however.

Like the X-S10, the X-S20 has Fuji’s In-Body-Image-Stabilization (IBIS). This is a hugely desirable feature, as it provides true sensor-based optical stabilization that works with all of your lenses. You can even input the focal length if you are using a manual focus or adapted lens and don’t have electronic contacts. The IBIS is more effective than on the X-S10, however, and is CIPA rated at 7 rather than 6 stops of assistance. I find IBIS an incredibly important feature for photography but even more for video capture. I forget how shaky handheld run and gun video footage is without IBIS!

Fuji has some of the best stabilization in the business and it is a genuine joy to use.

The viewfinder is a slightly undersized 0.39″ number with 2.36 million dots of resolution and a 0.62x magnification, so while LCD resolution was upgraded here we have the exact same viewfinder as before. It’s fine, but unexceptional, and I noticed a HUGE difference switching between it and the larger (0.5x), higher resolution (5.76m dot), and higher magnification (0.80x) viewfinder of the X-H2.

The X-S20 is compatible with Fuji’s new FAN-001 cooling fan accessory. This is an interesting concept, as it plugs into the body with the screen rotated out and actively cools the camera chassis to extend video recording time. You aren’t going to be able to close the screen with the FAN-001 attached (for obvious reasons), but it seems like a fairly intelligent solution to a common problem for those focused on long format video capture at higher bitrates and resolution levels.

Another new and interesting accessory that works well with the X-S20 is the TG-BT1 Tripod Grip. I’ve reviewed several such accessories in the past for other platforms, and they are very useful for Bluetooth control, extending your reach for vlogging, a quick tabletop tripod, and even for video capture where you have the major controls right at hand. It’s particularly useful if you have one of the powerzoom lenses (like the kit lens 15-45mm OIS PZ) as you can smoothly zoom in our out without grasping a ring of any kind. I really like the 18-120mm F4 OIS PZ for its superior build, great zoom range, and constant aperture (which helps when zooming through the focal range).

I like the X-S20 as a compact and yet feature rich camera for most of the same reasons that I liked the X-S10 before it. There are a lot of positive strengths here, but, outside of the transition to the bigger, better battery and the addition of an additional 3.5mm port for headphone monitoring, there isn’t much here to distinguish the X-S20 from the X-S10 in the overall design and handling despite the $300 price increase.

Fujifilm X-S20 Autofocus System

The Fujifilm X-S20 inherits the focus system we’ve seen on a number of Fuji cameras beginning with the X-T3. It’s a good AF system that is competitive on paper with alternatives from other brands, though with a few practical limitations where Fuji still lags. We’ve got a hybrid phase detect/contrast AF system, with 425 phase detect points that are selectable across the frame. Use the rear wheel to expand or contract the active focus/tracking area.

The improvements come under the hood of this focus system and are largely attached to improved processing via the faster X Processor 5 along with an improved autofocus algorithm that Fuji developed for higher end cameras like theX-H2S. Also improved is the AI learning that adds a variety of subjects that can be detected and automatically tracked, including: Animal, Bird, Automobile, Motorcycle & Bike, Airplane, and Train modes. In full Auto mode, the camera will attempt to recognize and apply the correct mode based on the subject in the frame, which is great except for the fact that I don’t want to shoot in “Auto” mode. Your mileage may vary, however.

The thumbstick can be used to move the focus point around, and, if enabled, you can also touch on the screen even with your eye on the viewfinder to do the same. What I find less intuitive, however, compared to Sony and Canon is that even if you have all points active, the focus system will still search for focus only in the active “box”, which you still have to move around…unless there is a trackable subject on the screen. It’s fine for the most part once a subject has been selected, but even when you expand the focus area to whole sensor tracking a smaller green box remains and you essentially have to get that green box on the subject before whole sensor tracking begins. At that point the focus will follow all across the frame, but it feels a bit like the old focus/recompose method of the past. I prefer the Canon/Sony approach where the autofocus system AI scans for the subject across the whole frame (if enabled), and you can then override the subject it selects if so desired, but I find that 90% of the time it grabs the right subject.

The AI tracking will also track insects, and, as I’ve recently become a beekeeper, this was an interesting addition for me.

Though on paper the focus system is largely the same as what I’ve seen for a while, there has been a significant improvement in the quality and consistency of focus. The focus algorithms have improved, and it also helps that recent Fuji lenses have a more sophisticated autofocus system in them. The AI learning has definitively improved as well, and I find that once the system is tracking, it has good stickiness and good visual feedback that helps inspire confidence that tracking is taking place. The focus system is capable of precision focus, however, even at F1.2:

If there is a trackable subject, autofocus works well. The eye precision is not as exact as some of the best cameras, but it works very well in general. I tested with both humans and also a sequence with Nala at a variety of focus distances and angles.

One of the key improvements here is improved buffer depth. That’s due to a faster processer (X Processor 5 mentioned before) and an upgrade to the memory card compatibility (UHS-II instead of just UHS-1 SD cards). The shutter burst rate is good, with 8 FPS available with the mechanical shutter but a jump up to 20 FPS available with the electronic shutter. One can even stretch that up to 30 FPS in their “sports mode” that has an additional 1.25x crop factor (smaller files can move through the pipeline faster). Here’s a look at the X-S20 figures (in bold) vs the X-S10 figures. UR = Uncompressed RAW. LR = Lossless Compressed RAW. CR = compressed RAW

Mechanical shutter (8 FPS): 35 UR | 90 LR | 1000+ JPEG or CR | X-S10 = 18 UR | 18 LR | 23CR | 105 JPEG
Electronic shutter (20 FPS): 28 UR | 44 LR | 79 CR | 256 JPEG | X-S10 = 17 UR, LR, or CR | 32 JPEG
20.9 MP Crop/Sports Mode (30 FPS): 28 UR | 62 LR | 88 CR | 407 JPEG | X-S10 = 17 UR, LR, or CR | 29 JPEG

What we see is not only more speed (typically twice as many frames at least) but also more versatility in buffer depth for different file depth. At 8 FPS you can shoot essentially endless JPEGs or Compact Raw, and the 90 Lossless Compressed RAW buffer means that you can have over 11 seconds of continuous image capture. The faster 20 FPS electronic shutter gives you less depth, obviously, though you still get as much as 4 seconds of continuous burst when shooting Compressed RAW and plenty of time if you choose JPEGs (the 256 vs 32 figure really jumps out). These figures definitely move the X-S20 towards the head of the class for this level of camera. Shooting a burst allowed me to catch this “bee’s dance” where one bee is taking off and another seems to be doing a headstand (shot with the Tamron 150-500mm):

Video autofocus is definitely improved, as we now have the ability to have similar AI tracking of the same variety of subjects during video capture, and I find autofocus when shooting video more confident in general. I tested video pulls with several lenses along with face tracking and found the results were mostly very good, though I did see a bit more stepping in some focus pulls than what I see with recent Canon or Sony cameras. Some of that comes down to the lenses, obviously, but I’ve also had the chance to test some lenses (like those from Viltrox and Tamron) in both Fuji X-mount and Sony E-mount, and autofocus pulls feel a little smoother and more confident on Sony bodies.

The X-S20 allows you to configure the shutter so that the camera will automatically switch between mechanical and electronic shutters depending on shutter speed. The mechanical shutter continues to have a budget camera 1/4000th shutter speed limit, but that’s easily overcome by the switch to electronic where the shutter speed limit is a whopping 1/32,000th of a second. Both of these figures are carryovers from the X-S10.

On paper, the focus system is largely the same as the X-S10, but real world performance is definitely improved. There’s more confident subject tracking, deeper buffers, and generally more reliable autofocus across the seven different lenses I used during my test period. Fuji isn’t quite at the level of Canon or Sony when it comes to autofocus performance, but the gap isn’t as big as it used to be, either.

Fujifilm X-S20 Video Performance

Video performance is another key area of improvement for the X-S20, furthering its credentials as a very good hybrid photo/video machine. We’ve already noted the physical improvements, which include the addition of a dedicated headphone monitoring jack and the cooling fan accessory to make sure that overheating is never a problem. But also improved is the resolution and bitrate options here. Whereas the X-S10 was capped at 4K30, the new X-S20 will let you shoot 6.2K30 and 4K60 in either UHD or DCI framing. Bitrates go as high as 4:2:2 10-bit internally up to 360Mbps (only 8 bit recording was available internally on the X-S10). Here’s a look at the various formats, resolutions, and bitrates available.

You can also choose slightly better than HD resolution DCI 2K framing (2048 x 1080) and get up to 240P in high speed recording mode. It is worth noting also that we no longer have a forced recording limit of 29:59 either; you are now only limiting by the size of your recording media or temperature. You have the ability to output either Apple ProRes RAW or Blackmagic RAW footage at 12 bit resolutions provided you have a suitable ATOMOS or Black Magic external recorder. The dinky micro-HDMI port doesn’t necessarily inspire confidence for serious external recording, however, though, to be fair, you have to skip the X-T5 and go right up to the X-H2 or X-H2S to get a full size HDMI port.

We’ve also got an upgrade to F-Log 2 and up to 14 stops of dynamic range on tap, and it’s worth nothing that all 19 of Fuji’s film simulations are available for video recording as well as photos. You have further options to tweak the look of footage in the menus to really get a look that you like even if you don’t want to spend time grading footage.

Another structural change is the addition of the headphone monitoring jack to the right side of the camera; a move clearly designed around video capture.

Fuji cameras in general produce very nice footage with good detail, excellent color, and, when shooting LOG, excellent dynamic range.

As mentioned earlier, there is a dedicated VLOG mode on the dial that gives you those options for when you are both creator and camera operator. Another really intriguing improvement is the ability to use the X-S20 as a dedicated webcam without the need for software. It’s as simple as connecting the X-S20 to the computer with a USB-C cable.

All of this adds up to a very versatile little video platform, and it seems from Fuji’s promotional materials to this point that they marketing the X-S20 as a creator/vlogger camera. I’ll note that using the TG-BT1 Tripod Grip adds versatility to the idea of this being a vlogger camera. It gets the camera another 8 inches away from you and gives you some handy controls on that grip along with a more ergonomic way to hold the camera.

Fujifilm X-S20 Sensor Performance

The 26.1Mpx X-Trans sensor in the X-S20 is a familiar one to me. This is now the fifth Fujifilm camera I’ve tested that uses this sensor (X-T3, X-T30, X-T4, X-S10, and now X-S20), so it is pretty familiar by this point. There isn’t really anything new The sensor was originally developed for the X-T3, where Fuji said of the X-T3’s sensor, “[with] a newly developed sensor, the X-T3 features an APS-C-format 26.1MP X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor, which has a back-illuminated design to afford smooth tonal rendering, improved low-light performance, and a low native ISO 160 setting. As an X-Trans sensor, it still utilizes the randomized pixel array, too, which provides a high degree of image quality and sharpness due to the omission of an optical low-pass filter. Versus conventional pixel patterns, the X-Trans design more closely mimics the organic nature of film in order to produce nuanced colors and tonal transitions, while also reducing moiré and aliasing.”

It used to be that this was the higher resolution point of the Fuji X lineup, with a more standard Bayer 24MP sensor used on some lower models, but now the X-H2 and the X-T5 utilize a much higher resolution 40MP sensor. This 26MP sensor is a good but not exceptional one. I’ve spent time with and reviewed most all of the competition, so, my quick conclusion is that this sensor is a competitive but not a clear winner in any category. The Sony 24Mpx sensor in many of its cameras has a bit more dynamic range and slightly better ISO performance. Canon has the resolution win with 33Mpx in its M6 Mark II. I’ve also not personally seen any area where I find X-Trans to be superior in some way to Fuji’s more traditional 24 MP Bayer sensors (like on the X-T200 that I recently reviewed). Fuji says that the X-Trans sensor produces a more film-grain-like noise pattern, but frankly this seems a little hyperbolic. I don’t really see it. Here’s a look at the various file sizes and framing options:

If you don’t want the technicalities, here’s a brief summation of the sensor performance. This sensor has a smaller native ISO range than the X-T5 or X-H2 at ISO 160-12,800 (those cameras have a base ISO of 125). Most competing camera from Sony or Canon have a larger ISO range that starts even lower at ISO 100. I like to charitably call this Fuji being conservative and avoiding the marketing extremes. I have found that Fuji competes well with, say, Sony, across its native range but Sony continues to have usable results after 12,800.

Likewise, Fuji’s sensors don’t quite have the same amount of dynamic range as competing Sony sensors (close to a stop less DR at base ISO), though the Fuji sensors are more competitive at higher ISO values. I found that shadow recovery is clean, but I start to see highlight clipping earlier on. Fuji does have a feature called DR200/DR400 that open up at higher ISO values (320/640) that will sample the highlight information from the base ISO while taking the midtone and shadow information from the selected ISO value. This does help the dynamic range to be more competitive.

I also find Fuji images a little more complex to sharpen, as the X-Trans sensors have a unique way of handling information.

But what the sensor does have is Fuji’s excellent color science. Many people love Fuji colors (myself included), and they include a number of their film emulations that can give a unique “feel” to images and/or video footage. I’m currently loving the Astia/Soft profile for a great look that works well on a wide variety of images. Fuji also has a fantastic JPEG engine, so if you just want to take photos and not spend a lot of time editing them to get the look you want, you may really enjoy the Fuji approach. Fuji also does a great job with in camera correction profiles, and so often the JPEG output looks even better than what the RAW images might suggest is possible. Note: as there are no changes to the sensor itself, the following are results given

ISO Performance

The native ISO range of Fuji’s 26Mpx X-Trans sensor is more limited than alternatives from Sony or Canon, running from ISO 160 to 12,800, with an expanded range going down to ISO 80 and moving up to 51,200 on the high end. I personally don’t ever use expanded ISO ranges and consider them more marketing than actually useful.. The native range is usable throughout, and even images ISO 12,800 are perfectly usable in many situations. Here’s a look at an image and crop of a guitar taken at ISO 12,800:

There’s some obvious noise at a pixel level, but the basic image is perfectly useful. Here’s another image at ISO 12,800 where I’ve used the Fuji ACROS + G monochrome simulation, and I would argue that the noise in this image is quite film-like and pleasing.

So how about at lower extremes? At ISO 800 there is a tiny addition of noise only detectable in the shadows. There isn’t a lot of difference from base ISO, however, and moving on to ISO 1600 shows little difference. At ISO 3200 there is slightly less contrast and slightly more noise, but still at a very acceptable level:

That pattern continues at ISO 6400 and 12,800, where the noise becomes rougher and more visible in shadow areas, with 6400 being cleaner than ISO 12,800.

You can go up into an “extended” range that gives you the 25,600 and 51,200 options. The first might be usable in non-critical situations, but few people will be happy with what ISO 51,200 is going to give you for any kind of application.

I will say that ISO 25,600 in particular does do a good job of “color fastness”. If we step back and look at the images on a global level, we can see that the sensor has done a good job of keeping a consistent color balance without color shift or color banding.

This is a solid ISO performance, and this is at least one area where the older 26MP sensor found in the X-S20 is going to deliver better results than the larger resolution 40MP sensor of the X-H2 or X-T5.

Dynamic Range Performance

I value dynamic range within a camera in two specific areas: the ability to cleanly lift shadows without introducing noise or color banding and the ability to recover highlights without introducing “hot spots” where information has been permanently lost. The value of good dynamic range is in the margins of photography, as eliminating shadows or recovering blown out highlights doesn’t always produce the better image. Having good dynamic range (particularly if you shoot RAW), allows you a lot more creative vision over how the final image will turn out (particularly with Adobe’s new AI tech for getting more information out of the sky). This shot, for example, has all of the rich detail in the shadows and colors of the trunk of the fallen tree and the moss on it, but also allowed me to recover the sky rather than just a blown out mess. This shot was taken with the new Fujinon XF 8mm F3.5, which is a very sweet little lens, by the way.

Fuji has an extra trick up its sleeve to help you maximize dynamic range performance in such scenes, which we’ll get to in just a moment.

In my tests, I found that the X-S20 did an excellent job of recovering shadows very cleanly. Here we have an image that I purposefully underexposed by four stops. As you can see in the original RAW image, there is very little information left there. In post I added those four stops back into the recovered image. What we find is an image that has been recovered with very little penalty. Contrast looks good and the image is nice and bright.

Here’s a look at that same image at a pixel level. We see little additional noise, no banding or discoloration, and a nice restoration of contrast to the image.

As is often the case, however, highlight recovery lags behind shadow recovery. While a 2 stop highlight recovery is nice and clean, by 3 stops the recovered image is not natural looking at all:

Moving beyond that is obviously a fools errand. But Fuji does have a nice workaround if you want more dynamic range. If you move beyond the base ISO to either ISO 320 or 640 (and beyond), two new options open up in the menu. These are DR200 and DR400. What these do is essentially split the sensor readout so that the shadow information is gathered from the current ISO setting while the highlight information comes from base ISO. At ISO 320 that gives you one additional stop in the highlights, while at ISO 640 you gain two. This allows you to overexpose the image slightly so that you have plenty of information in the shadows, but since there is one or two stops less exposure in the highlights, you have plenty of ability to recover blown out areas in post. A three stop highlight recovery using DR200 looks just fine:

I can go even further using DR400. Here’s a four stop overexposure (look how blown out the image is on the left), and how cleanly it recovers using DR400:

I certainly will often utilize this for landscape images when I’m shooting Fuji. My priority was exposing for the interesting textures of the little barn in this shot, but rather than a white, blown out sky, I was able to recover something interesting in the sky to add to the image.

I personally enable DR400 in camera, and then it is ready if I have to raise the ISO level (either intentionally or not). Dynamic range naturally diminishes as the ISO raises anyway, so it can be a way of getting better results when the ISO is up. That’s not to say that you should shoot this way all the time, as often retaining contrast and either crushed shadows or blown out highlights makes for a better photograph, but having this technique available to improve dynamic range certainly has its uses…just don’t go too crazy on those sliders!!

X-S20 Color

Color science is the one area where there is a fair amount of consensus on Fuji. It’s definitely something that Fuji does well, and I think it’s true both on the camera sensor side and in their optical glass. Fuji color tends to be really nice, with good saturation levels and a pleasing transition of color tones. I shot this image of a still lake with the 8mm F3.5 and the X-S20, and I think the colors look lovely.

Likewise a standard shot of the woods, where the greens look really rich but without feeling garish:

This shot of Nala (taken with the excellent Viltrox Pro AF 75mm F1.2) looks really rich:

Fuji is also well known for their in-camera film simulations and excellent JPEG engines, and I know there are a lot of people who choose Fuji for this reason. They don’t want to mess with post processing and just want to be able to get great photos right out of camera. If you do shoot RAW files, however, it is easy to choose those same film simulations in your editing software (I primarily use Adobe products, myself). Here’s an example from the X-T4 shown first with Adobe’s Landscape profile.

Now Astia (Soft)

Now Classic Chrome

Provia

Velvia

Eterna (Cinema)

Classic Chrome is little less saturated but often has a tasteful look to it. I find Velvia (which is Vivid) is often too intense for me, but can be great for landscapes. Provia is the Standard, and it is fairly neutral. Astia is “Soft”, and it’s another one I like. Your mileage may vary, and what I like for one type of image is not necessarily what I like for another. Velvia is terrible for portraits but often works fine for landscapes, for example.

I also enjoy the monochrome film simulations and also the ability to go into the menus and tweak the look in several ways. For example, if I select Acros, I’ve got the added ability to select whether to apply a Yellow Filter (more contrast, darker skies), Red (slightly more extreme of yellow), or Green (for better skin tones). There is also an option to warm or cool the monochrome image in camera. You can move to near-sepia on the warm side and near-selenium on the cool side. This shot of a coiled rope looks great in Acros + R (red filter):

You can also control grain (if that’s your thing) in camera as well. Bottom line is that color science and the ability to manipulate color in camera remains a great strength for Fuji cameras…and you can utilize that same color science in video as well.

I would recommend checking out the Image Galleries page to get an even better sense of performance with a variety of lenses.

Conclusion

I really liked the fusion of X-T series features in a smaller, cheaper, more accessible package when the X-S10 was launched. That continues to be the lane that X-S20 operates in, though it seems like Fuji is pushing the video side of things in the X-S20. That stands to reason, as there are more tangible improvements available on the video side of things in the X-S20, from the improved video options (resolutions, bitrates, formats) to accessories like the grip and cooling fan. The main physical addition is a headphone monitoring jack, and while photographers will also benefit from the much larger battery, it will impact video shooters arguably even more. Even the inclusion of the VLOG option on the mode dial and the options that it opens up are obvious attempts to market this camera to a new audience. If you happen to be in this audience, the Fujifilm X-S20 should be a very compelling potential camera for you.

There are fewer innovations on the stills side of things, though the improved autofocus is welcome as well as the improvements to battery life and IBIS. Owners of the existing X-S10 who primarily shoot photos might not feel any great urgency to upgrade, however, as this is the same sensor, largely the same body, and mostly the same autofocus system as what is found in the X-S10…and with a significant price increase.

I’ve enjoyed using the X-S20, though the viewfinder feels a little constricting at this point and I’ll never be a fan of a memory card slot located in the battery compartment. There’s less of a price divide between the X-S20 and the more robust X-T5 than there was between the X-S10 and the X-T4, though perhaps not everyone is interested in moving to the higher resolution point of the X-T5. But you can get a used X-T4 for a few bucks less than the X-S20, which may cause a little bit of frustration for those looking for a clear upgrade path. I’m always glad to see choices on the market, and, while I don’t find the X-S20 as compelling based on the market as I did the X-S10, it is a nice evolutionary upgrade over what was already a very nice camera. Decisions, decisions…

Pros:

Excellent In Body Image Stabilization
Fully articulating LCD touchscreen
Magnesium alloy body
Deep, functional grip in compact body
Big new battery gives all day performance
Addition of AI Learning to autofocus tracking
Excellent JPEG engine and film emulations
Good set of video features

Cons:

No weather sealing
Single SD card slot based in the battery slot
Underspecced viewfinder for 2023
Video AF still not as good as competitors
No focus mode dial on front

Gear Used:

Purchase the Fujifilm X-S20 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Purchase the Fujifilm X-T5 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Find it Used at KEH

Purchase the Fujifilm X-S10 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Purchase the Fujinon XF 8mm F3.5 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Fujinon XF 18-120mm F4 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Fujinon XF 33mm F1.4 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Fujinon XF 30mm F2.8 Macro @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK

Purchase the Viltrox Pro AF 75mm F1.2 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Viltrox (use code DUSTINABBOTT for 10% off) | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Pergear Store

Want to support this channel? Use these affiliate links to shop at: B&H Photo | Amazon | Adorama | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Ebay | Make a donation via Paypal

Buy DA Merchandise https://bit.ly/TWIMerch

Keywords: Fujifilm, X-S20, FujiFILM X-S20, X-S20Review, X-T5, Fuji X-H2, Fuji X-S20 Review, Fujinon, Dustin Abbott, Review, Sensor, Tracking, IBIS, Stabilization, Eye AF, 100-400mm, 8mm F3.5, 18-120mm F4, XF, Review, Hands On, Video Test, Sharpness, High ISO, Autofocus, Dynamic Range, 26MP, 26 MP, Lens, Comparison, Test, Dustinabbott.net, APS-C, X-Trans, letthelightin, DA

DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Fujifilm X-S20 Image Gallery

Dustin Abbott

June 23rd, 2023

The Fujifilm X-S10 was one of my favorite Fuji cameras of the previous generation. I gave it a positive review when it was released roughly 2.5 years ago as I liked the balance of bringing some of the best features of the X-T series into a smaller, cheaper package. A lot of Fuji cameras occupy the premium end of the APS-C space, and the X-S10 provided a strong camera at the roughly $1000 USD price point that largely had superior specs to alternatives from other brands. The Fujifilm X-S20 is the successor to the X-S10, and, as always, there’s some pros and cons. On the plus side, there are a number of core improvements (particularly on the video side), but, in the negative column there is a jump in price from the $1000 range up to $1300. There was nearly a $700 gap between the X-S10 and the X-T4; the gap between the X-S20 and the X-T5 is only $400, which will certainly leave a few buyers strongly considering that camera instead.

The X-T5 received the higher resolution sensor of the X-H2 (40.2 MP) while the X-S20 carries on with the older 26MP X-Trans BSI-CMOS sensor found in a number of other Fuji cameras. This might be part of Fuji’s market strategy, however, as not everyone needs (or wants) the higher resolution point.

The X-S10 was a bit more revolutionary than the X-S20 as it was the first of Fuji’s lower priced models to get features like IBIS (In Body Image Stabilization), the 26MP X-Trans sensor, faster burst rates, and a fully articulating LCD screen. The X-S20 is more evolutionary than revolutionary with more subtle improvements. A lot of the core features remain the same:

26.1MP BSI X-Trans IV CMOS sensor
ISO 160 to 12800 (80 to 51200 extended)
Hybrid AF system (117 contrast / 425 Phase Detect points)
Up to 20fps continuous shooting with electronic shutter (30fps with 1.25x crop)
1/4000th second max. shutter speed (1/32,000th using the electronic shutter)
0.39-in OLED EVF with 0.62x magnification, 100Hz
Similar Dimensions (the X-S20 is 1.7mm wider and 26g heavier)
Single SD card slot

Key improvements include:

Larger NP-W235 battery (from higher end models) that nearly doubles shots and video record time
Deep AI learning autofocus tracking (similar to X-T5 and X-H2)
Newer/faster X-Processor 5
Slightly improved IBIS
Up to 6.2K video and 4K60 options
Improved LCD resolution
Card slot now supports UHS-II
Deeper buffer
Can be used as a webcam via the USB-C port

When you add all of these up it equals an improved camera in a number of key areas, but there really isn’t a lot of new features that jump off the page. This is a pretty common trend in camera development, in my experience, as while some generations really push the envelope for new features, the next generation is often where those features are refined and the camera matures. In short, it’s in that second generation that things start to work as they should! The challenge here is that Fuji has elected to do a significant price increase on the cycle where there isn’t a lot of headline new features or upgrades. Will that present a marketing challenge? Will the X-S20 be as successful at $1300 as the X-S10 was at $1000? That remains to be seen.

For those that want a smaller, lighter, simpler camera that has many similar features to the higher end Fujifilm X-T5 (my review here), the X-S20 offers a compelling package. It has solid autofocus, competitive buffer depth, long lasting battery life, and very good image quality. It also happens to be quite a little video powerhouse, as we’ll see. It also comes at a great time for the Fuji ecosystem, as Fuji’s opening up to third party lenses has opened a floodgate of new development from Sigma, Tamron, Samyang, Viltrox, and more. I’ll use a few of those new lenses in this review, including the Tamron 11-20mm F2.8 RXD and the Viltrox Pro AF 75mm F1.2. I’ve also got some interesting new lenses on hand from Fuji, including the new XF 8mm F3.5 wide angle lens and the XF 18-120mm F4. I’ll also throw in a few shots from the extremely inexpensive XC 15-45mm F3.5-5.6 OIS PZ kit lens. The question to be answered is if the X-S20 ends up feeling “worth the money” relative to Fuji’s alternative offerings. You can get my thoughts by watching my definitive video review or reading my text review…or just enjoy the photos below.

Thanks to Fujifilm Canada for sending me a review sample of the X-S20 and some lenses. As always, this is a completely independent review. All conclusions are my own.

Photos of the Fujifilm X-S20

Photos Taken with the Fujifilm X-S20

Gear Used:

Purchase the Fujifilm X-S20 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Purchase the Fujifilm X-T5 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Find it Used at KEH

Purchase the Fujifilm X-S10 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Purchase the Fujinon XF 8mm F3.5 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Fujinon XF 18-120mm F4 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Fujinon XF 33mm F1.4 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Fujinon XF 30mm F2.8 Macro @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK

Purchase the Viltrox Pro AF 75mm F1.2 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Viltrox (use code DUSTINABBOTT for 10% off) | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Pergear Store

Want to support this channel? Use these affiliate links to shop at: B&H Photo | Amazon | Adorama | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Ebay | Make a donation via Paypal

Buy DA Merchandise https://bit.ly/TWIMerch

Keywords: Fujifilm, X-S20, FujiFILM X-S20, X-S20Review, X-T5, Fuji X-H2, Fuji X-S20 Review, Fujinon, Dustin Abbott, Review, Sensor, Tracking, IBIS, Stabilization, Eye AF, 100-400mm, 8mm F3.5, 18-120mm F4, XF, Review, Hands On, Video Test, Sharpness, High ISO, Autofocus, Dynamic Range, 26MP, 26 MP, Lens, Comparison, Test, Dustinabbott.net, APS-C, X-Trans, letthelightin, DA

DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

FujiFILM X-H2 Review

Dustin Abbott

April 24th, 2023

When I was reviewing the Fujfilm X-T5 a few months ago I was impressed by the overall progress Fuji has made with this most recent in the X-T series, but I couldn’t help drawing parallels to another recent Fuji camera – Fujifilm X-H2. I hadn’t reviewed the X-H2 yet, but on paper, I noticed that many of my critiques of the X-T5 were answered in the X-H2…for only a few hundred dollars more. I was eager to spend time with the X-H2, but it took a few months before I could fit it into my schedule, but I’m glad I did. After spending some quality time with the X-H2, I can safely say that this is the next Fuji camera I will personally buy. I think of it as the APS-C equivalent of a camera like the Canon EOS R5 – a high resolution camera that also manages to be a good action camera…and video camera. In this case the X-H2 was the first Fuji model to sport an ultra-high resolution 40.2MP sensor that delivers wonderfully detailed 7728 x 5152 pixel images. The new sensor is definitely the headline new feature here, though there are a number of other improvements that we’ll explore as a part of our review…including robust focus and deep buffers.

As noted, the Fujfilm X-H2 is sold slightly upmarket of the X-T5 at a price point of about $2000 USD. That additional $300 nets you a more professional grade body, much deeper buffers, improved viewfinder, and more robust video features and is well worth considering if you have deeper pockets. The X-T and X-H lines differ in terms of their basic design philosophy. The X-T series employs a retro-design with a lot of physical controls (some of which are very useful, others less so) while the X-H series employs more moderns controls along with having the top mounted LCD screen commonly associated with premium cameras.

There is a certain amount of market parity these days, and there are some things that Sony, Canon, and Nikon do better, though Fuji has had a long investment in the APS-C mirrorless space, and it shows in the maturity of the system. These other brands are more focused in the full frame market, but Fuji has focused on APS-C and never entered the full frame space. That has led to more lens development (including a revamping of same aging designs with new MK II version) along with a fully fleshed out accessory market. And, as noted, the opening up of the platform to third party development has lead to some excellent third party options at more affordable price points which helps close the gap with a company like Sony that has long been more third party friendly. I primarily used three excellent lenses in this review – the high end XF 200mm F2 (and 1.4x TC) to test tracking action (my review of the lens here), the amazing third party Viltrox Pro AF 75mm F1.2 portrait lens (my review here), and the new(ish) Fujinon XF 33mm F1.4 – a wonderfully compact large aperture lens with a roughly “normal” angle of view (my review here).

I’ll refer to to it more in this review, but it should be noted that Fuji also makes the X-H2S, a sports oriented model that retails for about $500 more ($2500 USD). While the X-H2S has a lower resolution point of 26MP, it features a stacked BSI sensor (like those found in cameras like the Canon EOS R3, Sony Alpha 1, or Sony a9 series). It allows you to record up to 40FPS in electronic shutter mode (double the X-H2) with deeper buffers and also minimizes rolling shutter, something that can be an issue with the X-H2. That’s why I compare the X-H2 to something like the Canon EOS R5, as it is more of a high end jack-of-all-trades.

There are still some areas where Fuji lags a bit, and my primary complaints are focused on some rolling shutter issues, an autofocus system that, while vastly improved, still lags in some areas behind the other brands along with my continued frustration with navigating Fuji’s Q-menu. I’ve not seen any real progress on their touchscreen capabilities in four years. But while I might prefer the focus system of, say, the Canon R7 (my review here), the complete lack of appealing lenses there means that Fuji is still offering the more appealing system in general. There are a lot of great things about Fuji’s approach to APS-C, so let’s take a closer look if the flagship Fuji X-H2 meets your needs for photography and/or video. If you would prefer to watch your reviews, you can choose watch my definitive video review below…or just keep reading.

X-H2 Build, Handling, and Features

Here are the highlights of the new features:

40MP APS-C X-Trans5 BSI Sensor
7-Stop In-Body Image Stabilization
8K 30p, 4K 60p, FHD 240p 10-Bit Video
5.76m-Dot OLED Electronic Viewfinder
160MP Pixel Shift Multi-Shot
20 fps E-Shutter, 15 fps Mech. Shutter
CFexpress Type B & SD UHS-II Card Slots
ProRes Raw, Blackmagic Raw via HDMI
Intelligent Hybrid Autofocus

There are a lot of core improvements to the X-H2, including the unprecedented resolution level for APS-C, the inclusion of video recording up to 8K, improved IBIS, and some improvements to ergonomic elements like a higher resolution OLED viewfinder. All of this adds up to a camera that ticks a lot of the boxes for me.

That starts with the basic ergonomics of the camera. The X-H2 is easily my favorite Fuji APS-C camera to handle thus far, as, being slightly larger, it fits my hands much better. The X-T5 is 130 x 91 x 64mm (5.1 x 3.6 x 2.5″) and weighs 557g (16.8oz), while the X-H2 is 136.3 x 92.9 x 84.6 mm (5.4 x 3.7 x 3.3″) and weighs 1.5 lb / 660g. All of those dimensions are slightly larger, but the most significant difference is in the depth (20mm difference), which makes for a much more robust grip that fills my hands better. The X-H2 and the Canon EOS R7 are my favorite mirrorless APS-C models to handle and use for similar reasons.

As noted, the control scheme is more traditional as well. The X-T5 utilizes a lot of dials for basic controls like ISO, shutter speed, etc… The X-H2 utilizes the traditional front and back wheels for control and utilizes a button/wheel combination for choosing ISO. This is helped by the top LCD screen which gives you immediate feedback on your selection.

My only gripe is that I would prefer a third wheel rather than the D-pad arranged around the Menu/OK button.

Further navigation comes via a nice little joystick (that is also clickable as another button).

There is a three inch fully articulating 1.62m dot resolution LCD screen there as well, and while the resolution of the X-T5’s tilting screen is slightly higher (1.84m dot), I personally strongly prefer the flexibility of the fully articulated screen. For one, it allows you to front monitor the camera for video, and as someone who sets up shots and then sits in front of the camera, I can tell you that this can be a big deal for being able to monitor the framing of the shot (is my head half out of the frame?) but also catching some recording issues (full memory card, depleted battery, etc…) Articulating screens are also more flexible for the angles that they can be used at compared to a tilting screen, though at least Fuji’s tilt screen allow them to be tilted on a couple of different axis. A lot of people debate which is better – tilting or articulating – though I’ll note Sony has managed to go one better in their recent a7RV camera which has a cleverly designed rear LCD that is both articulating and tilting.

The touch functionality hasn’t really progressed in the past five years, and the touch action isn’t as responsive or useful as Canon’s mirrorless cameras (where all menu options can be accessed via touch and the screen is nicely responsive) or even as useful as the newer Sony cameras. The X-H2 does allow for things like dragging the focus point around with a thumb when you are looking through the viewfinder, and will also allow one to tap an autofocus point and even take a photo through that means. I didn’t find it as responsive as either Canon or Sony’s touchscreens for touching to focus during video mode. There’s some definite input lag before autofocus responds. You can navigate the Q menu (to some degree) by touch, but the main menu has no touch navigation.

Other physical controls take the form of seven buttons on the back of the camera along with a four-position directional pad (each direction can also be programmed for a different function). One of these is a dedicated Q (quick menu) button. This is similar to Canon’s approach, though I prefer Canon’s method of navigation in that menu. There are a number of options there (16, typically) in the Q Menu, which is good, but when you select one of those options with the tiny joystick also located on the back, the logical (at least for me) choice is to select the option you want to change by hitting either the OK button on clicking the little joystick (clicking it in works similarly to the OK button). Instead of opening up the options for that choice, however, it okays the choice already made and closes the Q menu.

Frustrating. Just like it was on the ten other Fuji cameras I’ve tested.

What the camera actually wants you to do is to move over to the desired setting you want to change and then rotate the rear wheel to change the settings (without another dialogue box ever being opened). I don’t find this a very intuitive process even after reviewing 10 Fuji cameras over the past several years and, more often than not, I’ll click either the joystick or the OK button and have to start the process over again. What’s interesting about this is that while you cannot use the touchscreen to select in the regular menus, you can tap on the icons for the various options in the Q menu and it will open up a dialogue box and allow to select the option you want (by a tap on it) in the way that you would expect the menu to work all the time.

On top we have the aforementioned LCD readout, a large mode dial (complete with a total of 7!!! custom modes), three buttons to the right of the LCD, then the shutter and video record buttons close together. The video record button is on the small side, but there is some logic to having them both close together there.

What we don’t have is a switch that allows us to fully switch between a video and stills layout.

There are two custom buttons on the front, with one occupying the position where Fuji puts the M/C/S dial, though by default the button there controls a similar function. I think I prefer the dial, personally, but the button does have the advantage of letting you control that without moving the camera away from your eye.

Another strength of Fuji’s cameras (though one that takes some familiarity to execute) is that most of the buttons and dials can be customized and have different values assigned to them. I mostly like the configuration of the buttons and vastly prefer the X-H2’s placement of the Q button relative to the X-T5. I don’t love the Fuji’s approach to reviewing and deleting images. Typically the delete button on other cameras is in the location of the Display/Back button, while on Fuji camera’s it is next to the play button on the upper left. Deleting images also takes one more step than on other cameras, and I just don’t find it quite as intuitive.

One of the headline improvements is that the IBIS (In Body Image Stabilization) has improved. I’ve been impressed with Fuji’s stabilization in general, whether in-camera or in-lens, and the IBIS in the new X-H2 is rated at up to 7 stops, making it one of the most robust IBIS system I’ve tested to date by the numbers. I put the X-T5 (with similar stabilization) in the hands of a friend who is an industry professional (he does the ads/branding for a significant company) and he was wowed by the stability of the system for fluid handheld video shots.

At this stage I would say that the IBIS performance in real world use does improve on what I’ve seen with Sony and even Canon, though, as always, I find that getting perfectly sharp images at extremely low shutters speeds is an unreliable process. The practicality of “seven stops” in many applications is not going to happen. For example, I should be able to handhold the XF 35mm F1.4 R for nearly 4 second shutter speeds. That just isn’t realistic. I’m personally more concerned more concerned with eliminating motion blur in normal shots where the shutter speeds fall outside the margins and getting stable handheld video, and by these metrics the IBIS is a success.

Effective IBIS is wonderful because it applies to all lenses, making a longer portrait lens like the XF 90mm F2 (my review here) much more useful and easier to use. Though the XF 200mm F2 does have lens stabilization as well, I was able to get a stabilized image at 280mm (200mm F2 + 1.4x) and at 1/5th of a second. That’s well over 400mm in full frame equivalent, making for somewhere right under 7 stops. That’s pretty impressive!

The X-H2 utilized the newer NP-W235 battery, a 2350 mAh pack which is rated by CIPA to give 540 shots per charge (680 in Economy mode), which is slightly less than the X-T5. The battery life is competitive across the board (for mirrorless), and I think it worthy of note that the X-H2’s battery can be charged via the USB-C port in camera by most any power source…including a portable power bank. There is also an included USB-C charging cord and AC power adapter included in the box. I found that my real world battery performance was better than what I’m seeing from the four other cameras that I currently own.

Unlike the X-T5, the X-H2 is compatible with a battery grip. The VG-XH grip runs about $400 and allows you to have vertical controls plus a second battery for easy all-day shooting. You can also purchase an innovative fan attachment (Fan-001) that allows for active cooling and ensures you can shoot high bitrate video for long periods without worrying about overheating.

The X-H2 has a nicely damped shutter that has good feel and a great “schnick” sound to it. The shutter speed limit is the typical 1/8000th of a second. The headline improvement here is in the electronic shutter, which increases the maximum shutter speed from 1/32,000th of a second to a massive 1/180,000th of a second, allowing you to really freeze action (if you can achieve the ideal conditions that allow for such a fast shutter speed). This is probably not really a practical improvement for most people in most situations. One feature I do like is the ability to set the shutter option to where the camera smartly chooses the right shutter option for most situations. Up to 1/2000th of a second it will choose Electronic Front Shutter, then mechanical shutter (without EF) until the mechanical limit of 1/8000th, then electronic shutter takes over after that for really fast shutter speeds.

There is a little port on the front of the camera that is the flash sync port. It unscrews and pops off, but is also very small, so be careful not to lose it! On the left side of the camera are four small doors that cover different connection ports. There are a couple of key improvements here over the X-T5 is you want to capture video. The most important is that we have a full size HDMI port rather than the dinky micro-HDMI found on the X-T5. The X-T5 also lacked a headphone monitoring jack, whereas the X-H2 includes one in the port underneath the microphone input. The final door covers the USB-C port. Charging can be done via the USB-C port, and I was happy to find that even small power-banks would help to quickly charge the camera.

The right side of the camera houses the card slots. The X-H2 has one CF Express Type B standard and a UHS-II compatible SD slot as well. CF Express Type B cards are more expensive, but they offer much faster write speeds, which is a big part of why the buffer depth is so much deeper in the X-H2 relative to the X-T5 (which has only SD slots).

The X-H2 sports a OLED electronic viewfinder design with a 5.76m-dot resolution and 0.80x magnification. That’s definitely a higher resolution point than the 3.69m dot resolution of the X-T5.

The camera body is made of a magnesium alloy and sports quality weather sealing. Fuji touts 79 different weather sealing points in the body, giving it about 25% more seals than the X-T5. The camera feels very tough and durable. There are a lot of little things that add up to a more premium camera made for professional use.

The menu is very familiar, with little changes that I can see. Fuji has a wide range of menu options, and nearly all controls can be customized to the user’s preference. Every camera maker has a different way of organizing such menus, and so expect to have to learn where everything is if you aren’t a long-time Fuji shooter, but I found the menus fairly logical once I began to learn how Fuji labels things. Everything is organized under seven main groups: (Image Quality, AF/MF, Shooting Settings, Flash Settings, Movie Settings, Setup, and Network). There is an eighth tab called “My” (My Menu) that will be populated once you select custom functions to be there. I like to task commonly used settings that I haven’t assigned to a physical control to that area. If you aren’t confident navigating menus, however, you may find these menus a little overwhelming. There is a LOT of room for customization, and little instruction for what different settings do.

Many of my critiques here are my general gripes about Fuji cameras; the X-H2 is my favorite Fuji body thus far…and that includes the four GF (medium format) cameras I’ve tested.

Fuji X-H2 Autofocus Performance

The X-T5 and X-H2 share a common focus system. Improvements are more along the lines of improved focus algorithms and potentially better processing of the focus data via the X-Processor 5. Fuji’s marketing says, “X-Processor 5 features subject-detection AF based on Deep Learning technology that automatically detects and tracks a broad range of subjects, including animals, birds, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, airplanes, and trains – as well as human faces and eyes. Image-makers can concentrate on composition and creativity, confident that X-H2 will track focus accurately.” Note that phase detection “pixels” is not the same as phase detection points, as we have the same number of selectable AF points (425) as we’ve had over the past two generations. The key improvement is the addition of Deep Learning AI technology that improves Eye detection and the number of subjects that can be identified and tracked. In addition to human subjects this now includes animals, birds, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, airplanes, and trains.

As before we have 425 selectable AF points spread over most of the frame.

Phase Detect sensitivity is rated down to -7 EV (with the 50mm F1.0 lens), but that will vary depending on the maximum aperture of the lens you have mounted. I had good focus results (though some reduced focus speed, as per usual) in very low light conditions. It always helps to have an edge on your subject (a contrast point) to aid AF, but I was able to lock accurate focus in varied lighting conditions with good success. This shot is at 1/12th second, F2.8, ISO 12,800 (very dim conditions!).

An area where Fuji’s focus system is actually very good is in the tracking of high speed action. Tracking is improved on the X-H2 with the ability to do the Deep Learning AI tracking of a wide variety of subjects. The burst rate with the mechanical shutter is 15 FPS (with full continuous autofocus). This is obviously exceptionally fast, and easily exceeds the 11FPS offered by the Sony a6600 and matches the 15FPS of the Canon EOS R7. The mechanical shutter allows you up to 1/8000th second shutter speeds. You can go faster, however, by selecting the electronic shutter which is rated at shutter speeds up to 1/180,000th of a second. This enables Sports Crop Mode (1.2px) that gives you a bit of additional reach and allows the burst rate to climb to 20 FPS, though surprisingly the 30FPS option of the X-T3 and X-T4 is gone. The Canon R7 gives you 30 FPS, and the X-H2S will give you 40FPS, but those are also lower resolution points and a little more focused on sports.

I tested this while shooting some pickup basketball and found that for certain things (like basketball) rolling shutter becomes a major issue with the X-H2 if used with the electronic shutter. Rolling shutter is a type of image distortion that occurs when the motion of a subject is moving too fast for the camera’s sensor to capture properly. It happens most often during panning action. I found that the basketball and even player’s heads got stretched and distorted during certain sequences, like this:

The solution is fairly simple, and that is to use the mechanical shutter in those type of situations, though obviously you have to settle for the slower (15FPS) burst rate.

I used the mechanical shutter for some bird in flight (BIF) tests and had no issue with rolling shutter.

I should note that there were sequences during the basketball setting that were just fine, and I did notice the rolling shutter mostly with the longer telephoto combination (200mm F2 + 1.4x). At the same time, I’ve never seen rolling shutter effects quite so pronounced. If you want the best Fuji camera for action, choose the X-H2S with its stacked sensor (the faster readout from stacked sensors largely mitigates the effects of rolling shutter).

One of my laments during the X-T5 review was the shallow buffer depth, and it was one of the things that stood out to me as a compelling reason to consider the X-H2 instead. The X-H2 can record up to 1000+ JPEGs and over 400 RAW files at 20FPS (and 1000+ lossless compressed RAWs at the 15FPS mechanical level) as compared 168 JPEGs, up to 72 compressed RAW files, up to 41 lossless compressed RAWs, and only 23 uncompressed RAW files on the X-T5. If you want to shoot with the mechanical shutter on the X-T5 (without the “sports crop”), the buffer will fill faster still. You can get 119 JPEGs, 39 Compressed RAWs, 22 Lossless Compressed RAWs, and only 19 uncompressed RAWs. I found that the buffer filled very quickly in my tests of the X-T5 with less than 1.5 seconds (with RAW files) to capture your action sequence before the frame rate drops. The X-H2 is much more robust in this area.

I had no such problem with the X-H2, shooting long sequences of actions without a concern about the buffer depth, and the faster memory card (CF-E Type B) meant that I never saw any downtime for the buffer to clear. It’s quite liberating to not have to worry about timing the burst perfectly and being able to hold down that shutter button just a bit longer. It also makes the X-H2 a more versatile camera than the X-T5, which is one more reason why I would consider the X-H2 a more compelling choice personally. It just means that you won’t miss the killer shot in the sequence.

During shooting BIF I found that once tracking was attached to the subject (shooting in “Bird” mode), I had good results along with a strong visual connection to tracking the eyes or head of the bird. I felt that subject acquisition wasn’t as good as the sports models from Canon or Sony (focus didn’t “snap” onto the subject as fast when trying to acquire a bird on the wing), but tracking was good once I got focus established. Bottom line is that the AF system is excellent for tracking action, and I’ve considered this to be one of the strengths for the system. I would give the edge to the Canon EOS R7 as the best APS-C camera for action, but I give the X-H2 high marks for overall versatility.

Fuji has been gradually improving their Eye AF tracking via firmware and updated algorithms, and the X-H2 benefits from having the newest iteration of that. I found Eye detection better than on previous Fuji bodies, but still not quite as effortless on what I’m seeing on recent Sony and Canon bodies. I was typically able to get very good focus accuracy, though it takes a little more work than on those other brands. In this shot, for example, there are a lot of distracting layers before the deer, but focus ignored the obstacles and grabbed the right subject.

I also took this shot of Ferrari at F1.4 with the XF 33mm F1.4, and you can see excellent focus on the eye.

I used the X-H2 in an event setting and had nice focus accuracy. It gave me quick detection of the eye and tracked it accurately whether the eye was facing the camera or in profile.

It’s also worth noting that autofocus has improved on the excellent Viltrox 75mm F1.2 (still a Fuji exclusive at the moment) due to firmware updating, and I was pleasantly surprised by the consistency of focus during the same pickup basketball game. It acquired focus fairly quickly and tracked the players consistently without swings to front or back focus.

I largely had good overall focus accuracy during my time with the X-H2, though I don’t enjoy Fuji’s approach to whole sensor tracking. It’s fine for the most part once a subject has been selected, but even when you expand the focus area to whole sensor tracking a smaller green box remains. You can move that box around by touch or the joystick, but you essentially have to get that green box on the subject before whole sensor tracking begins. But there’s no question that Fuji’s autofocus is becoming more competitive with the leading brands. If you are looking specifically for a sports-oriented Fujifilm camera, consider the X-H2S, but the X-H2 does a pretty remarkable job of being quite good at everything…including tracking action. Just watch out for that rolling shutter.

Fuji X-H2 Sensor Performance

The headline improvement of the X-H2 is the new 40.2MP X-Trans CMOS 5 HR sensor that is shared with the X-T5 (and future models, I’m sure). Fuji says this of the new sensor, “The high-resolution 40.2MP X-Trans CMOS 5 HR sensor has an enhanced image-processing algorithm that boosts resolution without compromising the signal-to-noise ratio, delivering astonishing image quality.” I’m liking this new sensor, which in many ways seems to deliver more resolution than the 32MP sensor found in Canon’s EOS R7 without adding any new compromises.

If you want even more resolution (and have the right kind of subject), you can use the new Pixel Shift Multi-Shot which utilizes the sensor shifting ability to combine 16 shots into a single 160MP shot…though you’ll have to download the free Pixel Shift Combiner software from Fuji to combine the images (it can’t be done in camera, unfortunately). That’s more of a commitment than I had time to make to this review, so you’ll have to explore this feature for yourself.

We’ve improved the resolution here but have retained the very rich Fujifilm color science that delivers very pleasing images.

Many people love Fuji colors, and they include a number of their film emulations that can give a unique “feel” to images and/or video footage. Feel free to skip over the technical information if it doesn’t interest you; any modern camera can give you fantastic images.

Fuji X-H2 ISO Performance

As the sensor is shared with the X-T5, I’m going to reuse my tests from my X-T5 review to avoid redundancy. Fuji tends to be a little more conservative with their native ISO range than other companies and resort to less marketing hype, though I frankly find the ISO performance to be ever bit as good as the best from Canon and Sony (the other brands I test). In this case the native range is expanded slightly, but on the bottom end, as the base ISO is now 125 rather than 160. The native limit is still 12,800, though expanded options at 25,600 and 51,200 are available. I didn’t really feel like there was much of a step back relative to the 26MP sensor of the past despite the increased resolution, with images at ISO 6400 looking usable in real world situations.

At ISO 800 there is a mild addition of noise only detectable in the shadows. There isn’t a lot of difference from base ISO, however, and moving on to ISO 1600 shows little difference. At ISO 3200 there is slightly less contrast and slightly more noise, and that pattern continues at ISO 6400 and 12,800, where the noise becomes rougher and more visible in shadow areas. The first stop in the expanded range (25,600) looks about the same as what you would find on a Sony or Canon camera (where it is included in the native ISO range), with more visible noise and black levels that aren’t as deep due to “hot” pixels. ISO 51,200 should be be avoided, as image quality is several stops worse even though that is only one stop more. There’s a fair difference between ISO 3200 and 12,800:

Fuji says that the X-Trans sensor produces a more film-grain-like noise pattern, but it mostly looks like the pattern noise I see with most cameras.

What is a strength, however, is color fidelity. I never really see a shift to greens or magenta as the ISO raises, nor do I see obvious banding in the shadow areas. Overall I’m impressed with the performance. This real world image at ISO 12,800 looks perfectly useful to me.

Switch it to a monochrome where a bit of grain is desirable (Acros +R here) and you’ve got a great looking shot.

This is all very impressive considering how much the resolution has increased. The 26MP sensor had a pixel pitch of 3.74 µm; this 42MP sensor has a pixel pitch of 3.04 µm. That’s a lot of pixels packed close together, and it is very impressive how Fuji has managed to pair high resolution with fairly clean ISO performance.

Fuji X-H2 Dynamic Range Performance

I value dynamic range within a camera in two specific areas: the ability to cleanly lift shadows without introducing noise or color banding and the ability to recover highlights without introducing “hot spots” where information has been permanently lost.

Having good dynamic range (particularly if you shoot RAW), allows you a lot more creative vision over how the final image will turn out, though it is always worth mentioning that just because you can raise shadows or reduce highlights it doesn’t always mean you should. Sometimes a photo with crushed shadows or blown out highlights is the better one.

Fuji has an extra trick up its sleeve to help you maximize dynamic range performance in such scenes, which we’ll get to in just a moment.

In my tests, I found that the X-H2 did an excellent job of recovering shadows very cleanly. Here we have an image that I purposefully underexposed by four stops. As you can see in the original RAW image, there is very little information left there. In post I added those four stops back into the recovered image. What we find is an image that has been recovered with very little penalty, whether viewed globally:

…or at a pixel level:

I could even recover shadows fairly cleanly at five stops, though you can see some additional noise has been introduced in the checkerboard pattern of the tabletop.

As is often the case, however, highlight recovery lags behind shadow recovery. Even at 3 stops of recovered highlights there is damage done to the image with both “hotspots” (information that cannot be recovered) and the loss of some colors in our swatches.

Sony is about a half-stop better in this regard, but Fuji has one other trick that I previously mentioned. If you move beyond the base ISO to either ISO 250 or 500 (and beyond), two new options open up in the menu. These are DR200 (available at ISO 250) and DR400 (available at ISO 400). What these do is essentially split the sensor readout so that the shadow information is gathered from the current ISO setting while the highlight information comes from base ISO. At ISO 250 that gives you one additional stop in the highlights (DR200), while at ISO 500 you gain two (DR400). This allows you to overexpose the image slightly so that you have plenty of information in the shadows, but since there is one or two stops less exposure in the highlights, you have plenty of ability to recover blown out areas in post. I also find that you retain better contrast even if you underexpose and recover using this method (here’s the DR400 recovered result at three stops of overexposure compared to the base ISO three-stop recovery):

Note how much more detailed and bright the right (DR400) recovery result looks. The shadow information looks the same on the two images (ISO 500 isn’t high enough to really introduce any additional noise), but the highlights are brighter and have much great fidelity. You’ll also note how much richer the colors are in the swatches by comparison. The better retention of highlights has vastly improved the overall contrast. I would pick the image on the right every time. It looks like a natural photograph despite the fairly radical recovery of highlights.

The original looked like a complete mistake (misfiring flash, wrong settings, etc..), while the recovered image looks like a perfectly exposed shot. This is a technique well worth utilizing where needed, though I found that for the most part I did have enough dynamic range to edit as desired even at the base ISO. This shot, for example, has full information in the shadows but has also allowed me to retain the beautiful nuances of the morning sky.

That’s a very useful amount of dynamic range, and if you need more, just use the DR200 or DR400 modes (I did use DR200 in the shot above). It’s worth noting that due to the increased sensitivity in the ISO (base ISO of 125 vs 160) both of those are available earlier than they were previously, meaning that you can keep the noise down even more than on previous Fuji bodies.

On the video front we find that the X-H2 has Fuji’s F-LOG2 which boasts over 13 stops of dynamic range, meaning that you have more video dynamic range available than on previous models that only had the original F-LOG profile.

X-H2Resolution and Detail

The new 40.2MP sensor is a whopping 53% higher in pixel count than the 26.16MP sensor on previous Fuji cameras. That additional resolution has a lot of potential value, particularly when, as we’ve seen above, it doesn’t come with a lot of extra baggage in terms of reduced ISO performance. For portrait photographers, that high resolution means that you can take one portrait and get multiple different crops out of just one image.

For landscape photographers, you get the same kind of versatility. I can tighten the crop to show more detail from the scene…and I’m still at the resolution level of the 26MP cameras:

Macro photographers can increase their level of magnification while also retaining plenty of resolution for printing or sharing. I can crop in this much while retaining 100% of the resolution of the 26MP sensor:

I could obviously crop much deeper and still have plenty of resolution for most applications.

Wildlife photographers will also enjoy the flexibility of deeply cropping. In this original shot there are a lot of distractions in the frame, and the great detail on the gull isn’t as highlighted as I would like.

A deep crop removes the distractions and allows the image to be simple and clean.

I’m having a hard time finding a downside to the resolution here, particularly when there is a Lossless Compressed RAW file option that keeps the file size down to a reasonable 40MB(ish) size, JPEGs are around 18MB, and if you want even smaller file sizes, you now can choose the HEIF image format which delivers 10-bit image quality in files up to 30% smaller than standard JPEGs.

X-H2 Color

Fujifilm has a solid reputation when it comes to color science. Their long experience with film (it’s right there in the name!!) has translated into a retro-oriented view at film emulation in their digital cameras. You can choose from 19 simulated Fujifilm film stocks in camera from color film simulations to a variety of monochrome stocks as well. These include: (PROVIA/Standard, Velvia/Vivid, ASTIA/Soft, Classic Chrome, PRO Neg.Hi, PRO Neg.Std, Classic Neg., Nostalgic Neg., ETERNA/Cinema, ETERNA BLEACH BYPASS, ACROS, ACROS + Ye Filter, ACROS + R Filter, ACROS + G Filter, Black & White, Black & White + Ye Filter, Black & White + R Filter, Black & White + G Filter, Sepia). One of my personal favorites is Classic Chrome. Here’s a JPEG shot in Classic Chrome that shows off the slightly blue shadows and general look that I enjoy about the simulation.

You can also control grain (if that’s your thing) in camera as well. Most of these tweaks in-camera will only matter if you are shooting JPEGs. If you are shooting RAWs you can do all of this in post. Here’s the same scene from the RAW image rendered in Astia/Soft, Velvia/Vivid, and then Provia/Standard:

Many that have chosen Fuji have done so for their ability to shoot JPEGs and get what they like right out of camera. If that sounds like you, then the Fuji X-T5 might be a great choice. It’s certainly got a lot of customization available for influencing the output. The RAW colors are nice to process as well. Here’s one that I’ve processed using the Velvia profile (and the 30mm F2.8 Macro):

I would recommend that you take a long look at the Image Galleries page to see if you like what is there – most of which has received minimal processing so you can make a fair determination.

Fuji X-H2 Video

A new sensor means new video possibilities as well, and in this case while the X-T5 maxed out at 6.2K at 30P, the X-H2 allows you to jump all the way up to 8K30. Video options include:

[8K(16:9)] 7680 x 4320　29.97p/25p/24p/23.98p　720Mbps/360Mbps/200Mbps/100Mbps/50Mbps
[6.2K(16:9)] 6240 x 3510　29.97p/25p/24p/23.98p　720Mbps/360Mbps/200Mbps/100Mbps/50Mbps
[DCI4K HQ(17:9)] 4096 x 2160　29.97p/25p/24p/23.98p　720Mbps/360Mbps/200Mbps/100Mbps/50Mbps
[4K HQ(16:9)] 3840 x 2160　29.97p/25p/24p/23.98p　720Mbps/360Mbps/200Mbps/100Mbps/50Mbps
[DCI4K(17:9)] 4096 x 2160　59.94p/50p/29.97p/25p/24p/23.98p　720Mbps/360Mbps/200Mbps/100Mbps/50Mbps
[4K(16:9)] 3840 x 2160　59.94p/50p/29.97p/25p/24p/23.98p　720Mbps/360Mbps/200Mbps/100Mbps/50Mbps
[Full HD(17:9)] 2048 x 1080　59.94p/50p/29.97p/25p/24p/23.98p　720Mbps/360Mbps/200Mbps/100Mbps/50Mbps
[Full HD(16:9)] 1920 x 1080　59.94p/50p/29.97p/25p/24p/23.98p　720Mbps/360Mbps/200Mbps/100Mbps/50Mbps
[Full HD(17:9) High speed rec.] 2048 x 1080　240p/200p/120p/100p　720Mbps(recording)/360Mbps(recording)/200Mbps(recording)
[Full HD(16:9) High speed rec.] 1920 x 1080　240p/200p/120p/100p　720Mbps(recording)/360Mbps(recording)/200Mbps(recording)

4K frame rate still tops out at 60FPS, so you’ll have to drop to Full HD for the best slow motion performance, though in this case that’s as fast as 240FPS. This is obviously a very robust suite of video options and bitrates. The inclusion of the aforementioned F-LOG2 also helps give you more editing headroom, and footage looks really nice off the X-H2.

The improved IBIS is obviously a huge benefit to the X-H2’s video capture, giving the ability to move around a bit while retaining smooth footage. The newer Fuji lenses tend to perform better with focus pulls than older lenses (which often showed a lot of visible stepping). When I tested the new Fuji 30mm F2.8 Macro (with Linear Motor focus) on the X-T5, I found that focus pulls were as fast and smooth as what I’m seeing on any other platform.

The X-H2 allows has better cooling built into the body design, a headphone monitoring jack, and that full size HDMI output that adds up to a more serious video rig than the X-T5. Add to this the fully articulating LCD screen and the ability to output ProRes Raw, Blackmagic Raw via HDMI and you’ve got a very nice video camera. You’ll need to utilize the CF Express Type B card for some of those higher bitrates (and you’ll need a good size card if you record at 720Mbps), but that’s true of any such camera. Those who prioritize video will probably find the video specs the most compelling reason to spend the extra on the X-H2 over the X-T5.

Conclusion

The FUJIFILM X-H2 is my favorite Fuji APS-C camera to date, and the new 40MP sensor is definitely a standout. I definitely prefer it to the older 26MP sensor and am impressed with what Fuji has managed to do with it. It compares favorably to Canon’s 32MP sensor on the EOS R7 while offering superior resolution. Image quality is definitely lovely from this camera.

There are some who prefer the retro aesthetic of the X-T series, but I found the X-H2 to be ergonomically sound for the most part and easy to get familiar with. I love the way the camera feels in the hand and have relatively few critiques unique to the X-H2 itself. The great film simulations and beautiful JPEGs are a delight to many Fuji fans, and that retro aesthetic to the design and the film simulations appeal to the “purists” who only grudgingly accept the digital era. Here’s an “Acros” monochrome.

Autofocus continues to improve, though this is probably the area that I would still like to see the biggest refining in. I would prefer some tweaking to the way that whole sensor tracking and continuous autofocus is handled, as I feel that both Sony and especially Canon have some advantages here, but the X-H2 does delight with a deep buffer that allows you to keep shooting to nail the action.

Though I liked the X-T5, I definitely prefer the X-H2 as it adds a number of features including: much deeper buffers, superior memory card technology, 8K video, fully articulating LCD screen, higher resolution viewfinder, has a full size HDMI port along with a native headphone jack, and can be gotten with a vertical grip and cooling fan. It just feels better in my hands, too. The difference in price is only $300, and if your work includes either video or sports photography, it is probably well worth that additional $300. The X-H2 is one of the most compelling arguments for those that feel that APS-C cameras can be sound replacements for full frame cameras at a lower price point, and I think that Fuji has done a great job of executing a highly skilled jack-of-all-trades in the Fujifilm X-H2.

Pros:

The new 40MP sensor is excellent
Beautiful build with a great grip
Improved IBIS works better than ever
Excellent focus system with Deep Learning AI for tracking action
Competitive burst rates
Very deep buffers
Shutter rated up to 500,000 actuations
High resolution viewfinder
Good battery performance
Good detail, ISO performance, and dynamic range
Robust video specs, including 8K30P options
Huge amounts of customization available for images and controls
Solid ergonomics
Great lens selection

Cons:

Eye AF performance still lags behind Sony and Canon
Whole screen tracking not as smoothly implemented as competitors
Some obvious rolling shutter with electronic shutter
Touchscreen navigation remains limited
Q menu navigation remains frustrating

Gear Used:

Purchase the Fujifilm X-H2 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Fujifilm X-T5 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Find it Used at KEH

Purchase the Fujinon XF 33mm F1.4 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Fujinon XF 30mm F2.8 Macro @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK

Purchase the Viltrox Pro AF 75mm F1.2 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Viltrox (use code DUSTINABBOTT for 10% off) | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Pergear Store

Want to support this channel? Use these affiliate links to shop at: B&H Photo | Amazon | | Camera Canada | Ebay | Make a donation via Paypal

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Keywords: Fujifilm, X-H2, FujiFILM X-H2, X-H2 Review, X-T5, Fuji X-H2, Fuji X-H2 Review, Fujinon, Dustin Abbott, Review, Sensor, Tracking, IBIS, Stabilization, Eye AF, 100-400mm, 200mm F2, F2.8, 30mm F2.8 Macro, XF, Review, Hands On, Video Test, Sharpness, High ISO, Autofocus, Dynamic Range, 40MP, 40 MP, Lens, Comparison, Test, Dustinabbott.net, APS-C, X-Trans, letthelightin, DA

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Fujifilm X-H2 Image Gallery

Dustin Abbott

April 24th, 2023

When I was reviewing the Fujfilm X-T5 a few months ago I was impressed by the overall progress Fuji has made with this most recent in the X-T series, but I couldn’t help drawing parallels to another recent Fuji camera – Fujifilm X-H2. I hadn’t reviewed the X-H2 yet, but on paper, I noticed that many of my critiques of the X-T5 were answered in the X-H2…for only a few hundred dollars more. I was eager to spend time with the X-H2, but it took a few months before I could fit it into my schedule, but I’m glad I did. After spending some quality time with the X-H2, I can safely say that this is the next Fuji camera I will personally buy. I think of it as the APS-C equivalent of a camera like the Canon EOS R5 – a high resolution camera that also manages to be a good action camera…and video camera. In this case the X-H2 was the first Fuji model to sport an ultra-high resolution 40.2MP sensor that delivers wonderfully detailed 7728 x 5152 pixel images. The new sensor is definitely the headline new feature here, though there are a number of other improvements that we’ll explore as a part of our review…including robust focus and deep buffers.

As noted, the Fujfilm X-H2 is sold slightly upmarket of the X-T5 at a price point of about $2000 USD. That additional $300 nets you a more professional grade body, much deeper buffers, improved viewfinder, and more robust video features and is well worth considering if you have deeper pockets. The X-T and X-H lines differ in terms of their basic design philosophy. The X-T series employs a retro-design with a lot of physical controls (some of which are very useful, others less so) while the X-H series employs more moderns controls along with having the top mounted LCD screen commonly associated with premium cameras.

There is a certain amount of market parity these days, and there are some things that Sony, Canon, and Nikon do better, though Fuji has had a long investment in the APS-C mirrorless space, and it shows in the maturity of the system. These other brands are more focused in the full frame market, but Fuji has focused on APS-C and never entered the full frame space. That has led to more lens development (including a revamping of same aging designs with new MK II version) along with a fully fleshed out accessory market. And, as noted, the opening up of the platform to third party development has lead to some excellent third party options at more affordable price points which helps close the gap with a company like Sony that has long been more third party friendly. I primarily used three excellent lenses in this review – the high end XF 200mm F2 (and 1.4x TC) to test tracking action (my review of the lens here), the amazing third party Viltrox Pro AF 75mm F1.2 portrait lens (my review here), and the new(ish) Fujinon XF 33mm F1.4 – a wonderfully compact large aperture lens with a roughly “normal” angle of view (my review here).

It should be noted that Fuji also makes the X-H2S, a sports oriented model that retails for about $500 more ($2500 USD). While the X-H2S has a lower resolution point of 26MP, it features a stacked BSI sensor (like those found in cameras like the Canon EOS R3, Sony Alpha 1, or Sony a9 series). It allows you to record up to 40FPS in electronic shutter mode (double the X-H2) with deeper buffers and also minimizes rolling shutter, something that can be an issue with the X-H2. That’s why I compare the X-H2 to something like the Canon EOS R5, as it is more of a high end jack-of-all-trades.

There are still some areas where Fuji lags a bit, and my primary complaints are focused on some rolling shutter issues, an autofocus system that, while vastly improved, still lags in some areas behind the other brands along with my continued frustration with navigating Fuji’s Q-menu. I’ve not seen any real progress on their touchscreen capabilities in four years. But while I might prefer the focus system of, say, the Canon R7 (my review here), the complete lack of appealing lenses there means that Fuji is still offering the more appealing system in general. You can watch my definitive video review, read the text review, or just enjoy the photos below.

Photos of the Fujifilm X-H2

Photos Taken with the Fujifilm X-H2

Gear Used:

Purchase the Fujifilm X-H2 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Fujifilm X-T5 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Find it Used at KEH

Purchase the Fujinon XF 33mm F1.4 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Fujinon XF 30mm F2.8 Macro @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK

Purchase the Viltrox Pro AF 75mm F1.2 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Viltrox (use code DUSTINABBOTT for 10% off) | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Pergear Store

Want to support this channel? Use these affiliate links to shop at: B&H Photo | Amazon | | Camera Canada | Ebay | Make a donation via Paypal

Buy DA Merchandise https://bit.ly/TWIMerch Peak Design Leash Strap: Peak Design Store | B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 1-Year Subscription Get a discount off all Skylum Editing Software (Luminar, Aurora HDR, AirMagic) by using code DUSTINHDR at checkout: Visit Dustin’s Amazon Storefront and see his favorite gear Purchasing your gear through B&H and these links helps fund this website and keeps the articles coming. You can also make a donation here if you would like. Visit my Amazon page for some of my gear of choice! Thank you for your support. Purchasing your gear through B&H and these links helps fund this website and keeps the articles coming. You can also make a donation here if you would like. Visit my Amazon page for some of my gear of choice! Thank you for your support.

Receive a 5% discount on all purchases at Amplis Foto, Canada’s Leading Photographic Supplier. Please enter discount code: AMPLIS52018DA in your cart. It is good for everything in your cart, and is stackable with other coupons, too! It will take 5% off your entire order! Proceeds go towards keeping this site going and providing you with new reviews!

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Keywords: Fujifilm, X-H2, FujiFILM X-H2, X-H2 Review, X-T5, Fuji X-H2, Fuji X-H2 Review, Fujinon, Dustin Abbott, Review, Sensor, Tracking, IBIS, Stabilization, Eye AF, 100-400mm, 200mm F2, F2.8, 30mm F2.8 Macro, XF, Review, Hands On, Video Test, Sharpness, High ISO, Autofocus, Dynamic Range, 40MP, 40 MP, Lens, Comparison, Test, Dustinabbott.net, APS-C, X-Trans, letthelightin, DA

DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Fujinon XF 150-600mm F5.6-8 R LM OIS WR Review

Dustin Abbott

January 26th, 2023

The number of serious telephoto options on Fuji’s X-mount have been fairly limited in the past, with the standard 70-300mm (my review here), 100-400mm (review coming soon), and then the premium XF 200mm F2 lens (my review here). I loved the latter lens, but at a price tag of $6000 USD, it obviously isn’t for everyone. The 70-300mm is more of a consumer grade lens, so that left the 100-400mm as the sole professional telephoto zoom on the platform. Enter Fuji’s second lens to carry the silver finish of the XF 200mm F2 – the Fujinon XF 150-600mm F5.6-8 R LM OIS WR. This is easily the longest focal length on the X-mount platform, giving one the full frame equivalent focal range of 229-914mm, which can be stretched even further by the use of either the Fujinon XF 1.4x or 2X TCs (though with some serious limitations that we’ll note in a moment). For now, however, let’s look at the upside: the 1.4x allows you to reach to 900mm (1350mm equivalent) and the 2x allows you to reach to 1200mm (1828mm equivalent). That’s some serious reach!

There are a number of things about the XF 150-600mm that remind me of one of my favorite telephoto zooms – the Sony 200-600mm G – most notably the fact that it is a rare internally zooming long telephoto lens. That means that the XF 150-600mm is significantly longer than the XF 100-400mm for transport, though the difference in the two is much less with the 100-400mm zoomed out.

There’s a lot of positives about this lens, though there is also one significant hurdle to overcome in its design. The price tag of $2000 USD is only $100 more than the 100-400mm despite the additional reach and more premium look, so potential buyers are almost certainly going to directly compare between the two. We’ll try to highlight both the strengths and weaknesses of the lens in this review to help you make an informed decision. If you would prefer to watch your reviews, you can choose watch my definitive video review below…or just keep reading.

Fuji XF 150-600mm Build and Handling

Fuji likes to essentially build the feature list of their lenses right into the name, so if you learn to “speak Fuji” you can quickly get a sense of what a lens does and does not have right from the name. In this case, the name includes R, LM, WR, and OIS, which is a pretty much all of them!

R = Ring, or specifically an aperture ring.
LM = Linear Motor, Fuji’s premium focus system
WR = Weather Resistance
OIS = Optical Image Stabilization, or in lens stabilization

This a premium lens, and, as noted, it is only the second lens to come with Fuji’s “silver matte” finish. The stated reason for the finish is to help keep the temperature of the lens down even when used in bright or hot conditions, though I have to confess I’ve never had an issue with a black lens even in the hot sun. The lens looks premium, however, and I find this particular finish very attractive. It mentally connects you to the high end 200mm F2 OIS, which is probably the point.

This is not a small lens. It is fairly narrow at 99mm (3.9″) and the filter thread at the front of the lens is only 82mm, but the lens is quite long at 314.5mm (12.4″). That’s less than 3mm shorter than the Sony 200-600G – a full frame lens. This is the longest lens that I’m aware of on the Fuji X-mount platform. Here it is alongside the Sony 200-600G and the new Sigma 60-600mm DN Sport.

It is fairly lightweight for such a large lens, however, weighing in at just 1605g (3.5lb). That’s more than 500g (about 1.1 lb) lighter than the Sony. Fuji manages that in part by putting an engineered plastic shell over a magnesium alloy frame. The lens should prove tough, but isn’t unnecessarily heavy, making it much easier to take into the field. The other way they have kept the weight down is by giving the lens a relatively small maximum aperture, but more on that in a moment. Here’s a look at how the overall specifications of the XF 150-600mm compare to these other lenses.

The most surprising addition here (at least to me) is the inclusion of an aperture ring. Most other brands do not include an aperture ring on zoom lenses, but we’ve got a narrow aperture ring here in between the bank of switches and the zoom ring. The aperture ring moves nicely with defined detents but doesn’t have any markings due to the fact that this is a variable aperture lens. You’ll have to track aperture changes from within the camera, and if you want to move into A (automatic) mode and control aperture from within the camera you’ll do so via the second switch down in the bank of switches. It switches between the aperture ring and automatic (in camera) control.

There are two other switches here. The first is a two-position focus limiter (Full and limited from 5M to ∞), while the bottom switch determines the function of the four function buttons on the cardinal positions towards the front of the lens. These buttons all have the same function, but they are redundantly placed to ensure that one will be ergonomically accessible however the lens is rotated. The three options for the function button are AF-L (focus lock), Preset, and AF drive (essentially like a back-button focus/AF-ON button). The Preset option allows you to set a focus position (via the SET button bellow the switch) and the lens will instantly return to that focus position when you press one of the function buttons. This could be really beneficial if you have a place where you regularly need to return focus to (a sporting event, for example), and it takes the guesswork out of focus.

What is not here, surprisingly, is an ON/OFF for the optical stabilizer or the ability to choose different modes for it (for panning, for example). I had the 100-400mm at the same time, and it does have an OIS switch. The optical stabilizer here is rated up to 5 stops and does a good job of holding the viewfinder steady even at 600mm. I was using the lens on the Fujifilm X-T5, which has very good in body image stabilization (IBIS), so it is hard to know where one stabilization ends and the other begins, but I was able to consistently get good results at 600mm and 1/15th second, which (considering the effective focal length of over 900mm) is a good 6 stops of assistance. The results were consistently good enough to let me know that I could push even further if need be.

As noted, this is an internally zooming lens. The typical tradeoff in this design is that it is less portable (you don’t get to retract anything) but that it is nicer to use in the field as the length of the lens remains the same and you can make quick zoom changes. It probably also helps with the weather sealing, as there is no “pump” action that could theoretically pull in some dust. I love the Sony 200-600G in the field, as you can make very quick zoom changes with a wonderfully light zoom action. Things aren’t as rosy here, unfortunately, as the zoom ring weight is heavier than it should be for an internally zooming lens. It takes at least as much force to zoom the 150-600mm as it does the copy of the externally zooming 100-400mm that I have on hand. On a positive note, you can go from 150 to 600mm in about a 90 degree rotation.

The manual focus ring moves nicer, with a nice damping and overall feel.

The XF 150-600mm has a thorough weather sealing with a total of 19 seal points, including the rear gasket, internal seals, and a fluorine coating on the front element.

The included lens hood feels a little discordant. It is black and feels very plasticky. There is a lock on it plus a sliding window for rotating a circular polarizing filter if you have one mounted, but there isn’t a rubberized transition point at the front to help with bumps and setting the lens down. I liked the matching lens hood with the killer green accent on the 200mm F2 better.

The tripod collar can be loosened via a knob and easily rotated. There are markings at the four points of the compass but no detents. The tripod foot is fairly large and is far enough out from the body to make for a good carrying handle. The foot is Arca-swiss compatible, which means it is grooved and designed to be able to go right onto a tripod without a quick release plate. I vastly prefer this design to the one on the 100-400mm.

The tripod collar itself cannot be removed, but the foot itself can be easily removed via a second tension knob and a switch you depress to release it.

You can focus as closely as 2.4 meters (not particularly close), but the amount of magnification available is a pretty decent at 0.24x.

Up close performance is fairly good, with decent detail and contrast along with a nicely flat plane of focus.

Overall this is a nicely built lens that looks and handles like a much more modern lens than the similarly priced XF 100-400mm.

Fujinon XF 150-600mm Autofocus Performance

The Fujinon XF 150-600mm comes equipped with a linear focus motor, and that motor does the job of moving focus quickly and smoothly. Fuji claims that focus acquisition takes place in as little as 0.15 seconds, and in ideal conditions autofocus is nice and snappy.

The world isn’t always ideal, however. I had more than a few situations even with the high powered FUJIFilm X-T5 where I had a difficult time getting the lens to focus where I wanted. My review period began at the end of December and through the first several weeks of January, so I shot in snowy conditions fairly often. I found that in those conditions the lens sometimes had a difficult time nailing focus. I was carrying a Sony full frame combination (with the new Sigma 60-600mm DN Sport), and that combination focused with greater confidence in those situations. That was with an inanimate object, however, like trying to focus the marker at the beginning of the trailhead.

I shot a series with some horses in the falling snow and got better focus consistency when the AI of the camera had a trackable subject.

Likewise I had a difficult angle on a squirrel high in the trees above me, but the camera/lens combo did an effective job of focusing on the subject and ignoring the branch in the way.

One of the significant challenges for a lens with this small of a maximum aperture at the longer end is that dim lighting conditions are going to create a challenge. Lenses with a larger maximum aperture might be stopped down to F8, for example, but the lens can open up the aperture to a larger setting to gain additional light for focus and then stop back down. But when the physical aperture is F8, that’s the maximum amount of light that can be let in. A lens like the 150-600mm is going to work better with decent lighting. I found that focus slowed WAY down in dim lighting, with it not being unusual to have several seconds before focus showed lock…though I’ll also note that I did end up with correctly focused results in the end.

Focus accuracy was generally good. I was able to shoot a variety of subjects and get consistently well focused results.

I did some action sequences where I shot at maximum burst speed while tracking a runner moving towards the camera. In the hundreds of images that I captured I saw generally very consistent tracking of the eye and good focus. I saw about 2 images per burst that had a very minor back focus swing, but in general I was very pleased with the performance while tracking action. Here’s one sequence from those tests:

In general I think that photographers will be happy with the quality of focus, though if you are trying to stop action, prepare to be at very high ISO settings with this lens. I consistently found myself at higher ISO settings than I prefer to get my shutter speed where I wanted, and that comes with a price tag. There’s more grain, less dynamic range, and thus less latitude for processing images.

150-182mm = F5.6
183-310mm = F6.4
311-520mm = F7.1
521-600mm = F8

At no point is this lens “fast”, and for most of the focal range F6.4 is as fast as it gets, with nearly half of it at F7.1 or smaller. If you add the teleconverters, you have to decrease the available maximum aperture by one (1.4x) or two (2x) stops, meaning that maximum aperture with the 2x TC is F16 at 600/1200mm. That will slow autofocus way down.

It’s not like there are any real options at this kind of range, though, and you can buy three of these lenses for the price of the 200mm F2, and even with its 1.4x TC you are only getting 300mm of reach. That’s not really the same thing.

Fuji XF 150-600mm Image Quality Breakdown

The Fuji XF 150-600mm has a fairly complex optical formula, though that is unsurprising in such a lens. We have 24 elements in 17 groups, and includes 3 ED and 4 super ED elements. A look at the MTF charts shows a pretty consistent performance between the wide and telephoto ends, with a near perfect center performance and a relatively mild dip towards the edges of the frame.

I tested the lens on the punishing 40MP sensor of the X-T5, and that kind of resolution/pixel density is unforgiving. Fortunately the XF 150-600mm is good enough to mostly weather the storm.

Fuji’s correction profiles are typically quite good, but I’ll turn them off to take a look at the actual lens performance when it comes to vignette and distortion. First at 150mm, then at 600mm:

I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. There is really very little being corrected there at all.

I also little in the way of chromatic aberrations. I took a number of photos of brightly backlit objects like this where longitudinal CA (LoCA) could turn up, but everything looks nicely neutral to me here.

There’s also very little off lateral CA (LaCA) to be seen in the transitions from black to white on my test chart.

Good news thus far. Let’s move onto resolution and contrast. Here’s a look at my test chart that the crops will come from (40MP images from the X-T5):

If we take a look at the crops (about 175% magnification) at 150mm, F5.6, from the center, mid-frame, and corner:

What we find is a nicely consistent performance. I’m not quite as wowed by the center of the frame sharpness and contrast as the MTF chart suggests I should be, but that is very likely due in part to the higher resolution of the X-T5. I’m more impressed by the consistency in the midframe and corner performance, which looks quite good.

It’s here that we encounter the big challenge to a lens with a small maximum aperture mounted on a large resolution body. In theory, diffraction starts on a camera like the X-T5 somewhere around F6.3. The effects of diffraction can start to cause some softening of the image and a reduction of contrast that increases as the aperture becomes smaller (for more on this, see this article). Most lenses achieve their maximum sharpness when stopped down a bit (on average I find that peak sharpness across the frame arrives about two stops down from maximum aperture. A lens with a maximum aperture of F2.8, for example, will often peak in sharpness around F5.6. There’s always some variation from lens to lens, obviously, but this will work as a rule of thumb. When you start at F5.6, however, the potential peak performance would arrive at F11, and, when starting at F8 (as this lens does later on), that peak would be at F16. But because diffraction is already kicking in shortly after F5.6, you are caught in somewhat of a catch-22. Stopping down typically increases sharpness, but because of the DLO limit of a high resolution body, diffraction starts to limit sharpness fairly early.

What does all of this mean? It means that I don’t really see much advantage to stopping down with the XF 150-600mm. Here at 150mm I don’t find that the lens gets any sharper when stopped down to F8:

Performance at F11 has even less contrast, and by the time you reach the minimum aperture of F22, the image has become quite low contrast:

If you are shooting with one of the lower resolution bodies (24 or 26MP), you’ll have more flexibility on this (diffraction starts at F8 or slightly smaller for these bodies), but if you are shooting on one of the newer 40MP bodies you probably won’t get additional sharpness or contrast by stopping down.

At 200mm our maximum aperture is not F6.4, and I found the image quality results slightly softer across the frame than at 150mm. That’s probably a combination of the natural optical performance of the lens along with a bit of diffraction. Despite the diffraction challenge, however, I found that my results were better at F8 than wide open, though diffraction softened things up some by F11. You can see from this midframe comparison that the results look better at F8 than F11.

At 300mm (still F6.4) I found a similar pattern, with my peak performance coming at F8:

By 400mm(ish) I found a fairly similar result. Maximum aperture is now F7.1, which means that even wide open we are losing a bit of lens sharpness to diffraction.

By 600mm our maximum aperture is F8, so unfortunately I can’t even see maximum results without some diffraction softening, but the lens also seems a little sharper to me at 600mm than the middle focal lengths. I will also note that the effective focal length of over 900mm is too long for my testing space, so I’m framing my test chart a little tighter can can’t fit the whole chart in. Here are the crops from across the frame.

Stopping down to F11 neither made the image quality better or worse (the lens was a little sharper but diffraction was a little more pronounced). In most situations I would suggest staying at F8 as it will be easier to get a fast enough shutter speed to stop the action.

I would suggest that the best current pairing for the XF 150-600mm is the X-H2S. It delivers the autofocus, burst rate, and deep buffer that takes advantage of a sports/wildlife lens like this, but it also has the more moderate resolution of 26MP that won’t get hammered as much by diffraction. If you want to shoot a high resolution body, the 100-400mm might be a better choice for the simple reason that it reaches a maximum aperture of F5.6 on the telephoto end, and might give you a little more versatility on stopping it down.

I actually felt like the 150-600mm performed a little better in real world results than what my chart testing suggested. This shot of the moon at 600mm looks quite crisp:

Likewise this shot of leaves (also wide open at 600mm) looks quite good.

This shot of Nala at 435mm shows beautiful detail and contrast.

My capture of this red squirrel also looks good at 600mm:

The good contrast and color of the lens made me feel like images looked better than sometimes what the detail at a pixel level suggested, and when you consider that few people will actually see your images at a pixel level, I suspect that the image quality come across pretty well.

Long telephotos are more likely to be affected by things like thermal variations, heat waves, and smoke, so know that sometimes images will have an almost painterly effect that has everything to do with thermal variations (shooting over water, here) and nothing to do with lens performance.

That being said, I tested the new Sigma 60-600mm DN Sport for Sony E-mount cameras at the same time as the XF 150-600mm, and I was generally more impressed with image sharpness on the similarly priced Sigma lens than with the 150-600mm. Tamron is now selling their 150-500mm VC VXD lens in a Fuji X-mount, and it is also a very sharp lens.

The quality of the bokeh on the XF 150-600mm is going to vary from scenario to scenario. At 600mm and at closer to medium distances it is possible to completely compress and blur the background, as here:

There is a bit more outlining on some of the specular highlights than what I would like, but the general quality of the blur is nice.

With a bit shorter focal range (300mm here) and a similar distance, you’ll see more of the background.

Again, there is a little more outlining than what I would like, but I still like the image.

At a longer distance the lens can still provide some decent separation from the subject, though it won’t compare to a faster lens on a larger sensor.

I often find that Fuji glass has very nice color performance, and that is the case here. Colors were rich and yet natural and I generally liked the “global” look of images.

Optically the XF 150-600mm is caught in a bit of a trap, as it arrives just about the time that Fuji is really pushing the envelope in terms of resolution with its most recent bodies. Physics is playing a bit of a mean trick here, but I also generally liked the images that I got with the lens and appreciate the versatility of that incredible zoom range. Check out the image gallery to see more of those images for yourself and to draw your own conclusions from them.

Conclusion

My first look at the Fujinon XF 150-600mm F5.6-8 R LM WR OIS immediately jogged my mind back to the XF 200mm F2, a genuinely incredible lens. The lens has a premium look and the general concept reminds me of one of my favorite lenses of this type: the Sony FE 200-600mm G. Both lenses are internally zooming, large, and white(ish), but the Fuji didn’t leave me as wowed at the end of the day. I generally liked the lens in terms of the handling and autofocus, but I also felt like the slow maximum aperture was a less than ideal pairing for the high resolution body that I tested it on. I ended up at a higher ISO setting than what I would like on a regular basis, and high resolution bodies tend to a be a little less forgiving at higher ISO values.

In good light, however, I felt positive about the autofocus and tracking capabilities of the lens. The AI learning on my X-T5 had no problem grabbing and tracking the eye of my runner, and I saw consistently good autofocus throughout my bursts.

The build quality here is very nice, and some photographers will the ability to preset a focus distance and immediately return to that at the press of a function button very useful. I prefer an internally zooming lens out in the field, and wildlife photographers will really enjoy the ability to quickly change zoom positions.

As noted earlier, I feel like the best pairing for the XF 150-600mm is going to be a camera like the X-H2S with its high burst rate, deep buffers, and 26MP resolution. It will take advantage of the sport/wildlife capabilities of the lens without being as penalized for the slower maximum aperture. So long as you working with decent light, the XF 150-600mm OIS is going to deliver nice results for you. If you need to shoot in dimmer light conditions, however, you had better start saving for that other white/silver Fuji lens, as the 200mm F2 (or 280mm F2.8 with the TC) is still the only “fast” telephoto option on the platform.

Pros:

Extreme reach
Finish looks sleek and upscale
Weight is manageable for such a big/long lens
Internally zooming design is better to use in the field
Robust weather sealing
Fast autofocus from Linear motor
Has a lot of physical controls
Colors are very rich
Low levels of chromatic aberrations
Fairly nice bokeh
Sharpness is reasonably consistent across the zoom range

Cons:

Slow maximum aperture is limiting on multiple levels
No OIS switch on lens
Internally zooming action is longer and heavier than optimal
Diffraction on high resolution bodies means you can’t stop down for increased sharpness

Gear Used:

Purchase the Fujinon XF 150-600mm OIS @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Find it Used at KEH

Purchase the Fujinon XF 100-400mm OIS @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Find it Used at KEH

Purchase the Fujifilm X-T5 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Find it Used at KEH

Purchase the Viltrox Pro AF 75mm F1.2 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Viltrox (use code DUSTINABBOTT for 10% off) | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Pergear Store

Purchase the Fujifilm X-T4 @B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Purchase the Fujifilm X-S10 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Want to support this channel? Use these affiliate links to shop at: B&H Photo | Amazon | | Camera Canada | Ebay | Make a donation via Paypal

Buy DA Merchandise https://bit.ly/TWIMerch Peak Design Leash Strap: Peak Design Store | B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 1-Year Subscription Get a discount off all Skylum Editing Software (Luminar, Aurora HDR, AirMagic) by using code DUSTINHDR at checkout: Visit Dustin’s Amazon Storefront and see his favorite gear Purchasing your gear through B&H and these links helps fund this website and keeps the articles coming. You can also make a donation here if you would like. Visit my Amazon page for some of my gear of choice! Thank you for your support. Purchasing your gear through B&H and these links helps fund this website and keeps the articles coming. You can also make a donation here if you would like. Visit my Amazon page for some of my gear of choice! Thank you for your support.

Receive a 5% discount on all purchases at Amplis Foto, Canada’s Leading Photographic Supplier. Please enter discount code: AMPLIS52018DA in your cart. It is good for everything in your cart, and is stackable with other coupons, too! It will take 5% off your entire order! Proceeds go towards keeping this site going and providing you with new reviews!

Use Code “DUSTINHDR” to get $10 off ($15 CDN) any Skylum product: Luminar, Aurora, or AirMagic

Keywords: Fujinon, XF, 150-600mm, F5.6-8, OIS, LM, WR, R, Fuji XF 150-600mm F5.6-8 OIS review, Fujinon 150-600mm

Purchase the Fujinon XF 150-600mm OIS @ B&H Photo https://bhpho.to/3XLogHp | Amazon https://amzn.to/3XHvrjQ | Camera Canada https://shrsl.com/3w4np | Amazon Canada https://amzn.to/3QUU8qK | Amazon UK https://amzn.to/3XtFtFI | Find it Used at KEH https://shrsl.com/3w4nw

Purchase the Fujinon XF 100-400mm OIS @ B&H Photo https://bhpho.to/38Deu5U | Amazon https://amzn.to/3kzP0fT | Camera Canada https://shrsl.com/3w4p6 | Amazon Canada https://amzn.to/3XHxTXA | Amazon UK https://amzn.to/3whL8Tc | Find it Used at KEH https://shrsl.com/3w4o3

Keywords: Fuji 150-600, Fuji 150-600mm, Fujinon 150-600, Fuji 150-600 Review, Fujinon XF 150-600mm, R, WR, OIS, LM, Review, Fujifilm, X-T5, Fuji X-T5, X-T5 Review, Fuji X-T5 Review, Fujinon, Dustin Abbott, Review, Sensor, Tracking, IBIS, Stabilization, Eye AF, 100-400mm, XF, Review, Hands On, Video Test, Sharpness, High ISO, Autofocus, Dynamic Range, 40MP, 40 MP, Lens, Comparison, Test, Dustinabbott.net, APS-C, X-Trans, letthelightin, DA

DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Fujinon XF 150-600mm F5.6-8 R LM WR OIS Image Gallery

Dustin Abbott

January 25th, 2023

The number of serious telephoto options on Fuji’s X-mount have been fairly limited in the past, with the standard 70-300mm (my review here), 100-400mm (review coming soon), and then the premium XF 200mm F2 lens (my review here). I loved the latter lens, but at a price tag of $6000 USD, it obviously isn’t for everyone. The 70-300mm is more of a consumer grade lens, so that left the 100-400mm as the sole professional telephoto zoom on the platform. Enter Fuji’s second lens to carry the silver finish of the XF 200mm F2 – the Fujinon XF 150-600mm F5.6-8 R LM OIS WR. This is easily the longest focal length on the X-mount platform, giving one the full frame equivalent focal range of 229-914mm, which can be stretched even further by the use of either the Fujinon XF 1.4x or 2X TCs (though with some serious limitations that we’ll note in a moment). For now, however, let’s look at the upside: the 1.4x allows you to reach to 900mm (1350mm equivalent) and the 2x allows you to reach to 1200mm (1828mm equivalent). That’s some serious reach!

There are a number of things about the XF 150-600 OIS that remind me of one of my favorite telephoto zooms – the Sony 200-600mm G – most notably the fact that it is a rare internally zooming long telephoto lens. That means that the XF 150-600mm is significantly longer than the XF 100-400mm for transport, though the difference in the two is much less with the 100-400mm zoomed out.

There’s a lot of positives about this lens, though there is also one significant hurdle to overcome in its design. The price tag of $2000 USD is only $100 more than the 100-400mm despite the additional reach and more premium look, so potential buyers are almost certainly going to directly compare between the two. We’ll try to highlight both the strengths and weaknesses of the lens in this review to help you make an informed decision. If you want more information, you can watch my video review or read my text review of the XF 150-600 OIS…or just enjoy the photos below.

Photos of the Fujinon XF 150-600 OIS

Photos taken with the Fujinon XF 150-600 OIS

Gear Used:

Purchase the Fujinon XF 150-600mm OIS @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Find it Used at KEH

Purchase the Fujinon XF 100-400mm OIS @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Find it Used at KEH

Purchase the Fujifilm X-T5 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Find it Used at KEH

Purchase the Viltrox Pro AF 75mm F1.2 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Viltrox (use code DUSTINABBOTT for 10% off) | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Pergear Store

Purchase the Fujifilm X-T4 @B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

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Keywords: Fuji 150-600, Fuji 150-600mm, Fujinon 150-600, Fuji 150-600 Review, Fujinon XF 150-600mm, R, WR, OIS, LM, Review, Fujifilm, X-T5, Fuji X-T5, X-T5 Review, Fuji X-T5 Review, Fujinon, Dustin Abbott, Review, Sensor, Tracking, IBIS, Stabilization, Eye AF, 100-400mm, XF, Review, Hands On, Video Test, Sharpness, High ISO, Autofocus, Dynamic Range, 40MP, 40 MP, Lens, Comparison, Test, Dustinabbott.net, APS-C, X-Trans, letthelightin, DA

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Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS (X-Mount) Review

Dustin Abbott

September 5th, 2023

Sigma 100-400X Build and Handling

Sigma 100-400mm DN Autofocus Performance

Sigma 100-400 DN Image Quality

Conclusion

Pros:

Cons:

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

GEAR USED:

Purchase the Sigma 100-400mm DN @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Fujifilm X-H2 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Fujifilm X-T5 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Find it Used at KEH

Purchase the Fujifilm X-S20 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Want to support this channel? Use these affiliate links to shop at: B&H Photo | Amazon | Adorama | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Ebay | Make a donation via Paypal

Related Articles at DustinAbbott.net

Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS Fuji X-Mount Gallery

Dustin Abbott

September 5th, 2023

Images of the Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DN

Images taken with the Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DN

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

GEAR USED:

Purchase the Sigma 100-400mm DN @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Fujifilm X-H2 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Fujifilm X-T5 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Find it Used at KEH

Purchase the Fujifilm X-S20 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Want to support this channel? Use these affiliate links to shop at: B&H Photo | Amazon | Adorama | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Ebay | Make a donation via Paypal

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FUJIFILM X-S20 Review

Dustin Abbott

June 23rd, 2023

Fuji X-S20 Build, Handling, and Features

Fujifilm X-S20 Autofocus System

Fujifilm X-S20 Video Performance

Fujifilm X-S20 Sensor Performance

ISO Performance

Dynamic Range Performance

X-S20 Color

Conclusion

Pros:

Cons:

Purchase the Fujifilm X-S20 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Purchase the Fujifilm X-T5 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Find it Used at KEH

Purchase the Fujifilm X-S10 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Purchase the Fujinon XF 8mm F3.5 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Fujinon XF 18-120mm F4 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Fujinon XF 33mm F1.4 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Fujinon XF 30mm F2.8 Macro @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK

Purchase the Viltrox Pro AF 75mm F1.2 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Viltrox (use code DUSTINABBOTT for 10% off) | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Pergear Store

Want to support this channel? Use these affiliate links to shop at: B&H Photo | Amazon | Adorama | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Ebay | Make a donation via Paypal

Related Articles at DustinAbbott.net

Fujifilm X-S20 Image Gallery

Dustin Abbott

June 23rd, 2023

Photos of the Fujifilm X-S20

Photos Taken with the Fujifilm X-S20

Purchase the Fujifilm X-S20 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Purchase the Fujifilm X-T5 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Find it Used at KEH

Purchase the Fujifilm X-S10 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Purchase the Fujinon XF 8mm F3.5 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Fujinon XF 18-120mm F4 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Fujinon XF 33mm F1.4 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Purchase the Fujinon XF 30mm F2.8 Macro @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK

Purchase the Viltrox Pro AF 75mm F1.2 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Viltrox (use code DUSTINABBOTT for 10% off) | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Pergear Store

Want to support this channel? Use these affiliate links to shop at: B&H Photo | Amazon | Adorama | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Ebay | Make a donation via Paypal

Related Articles at DustinAbbott.net

FujiFILM X-H2 Review

Dustin Abbott

April 24th, 2023

X-H2 Build, Handling, and Features

Fuji X-H2 Autofocus Performance

Fuji X-H2 Sensor Performance

Fuji X-H2 ISO Performance

Fuji X-H2 Dynamic Range Performance

X-H2Resolution and Detail

X-H2 Color

Fuji X-H2 Video

Conclusion