TOM REVINGTON – My experience of the Fujifilm X-T2
TOM REVINGTON – My experience of the Fujifilm X-T2
I’m a Johannesburg based Cinematographer and photographer. I studied at Wits and own a Sony A7s. I’ve shot on cameras from the Canon 5Ds to Sony FS7 to the big boys like the Arri Alexa, Amira and Red Dragon.
I also play guitar in a band called Shortstraw and we recently went on tour to Japan armed with a Fuji X-T2 and my pal Fausto Becatti.
A day before we left for Japan was the first time I had held a Fuji in my hands, a shiny X-T2. My first thoughts? It looked cool and its small. But cool wasn’t going to get me familiar with a completely different layout and feel in less than a day. That combined with the crop sensor factor and the first time I had ever shot on a Fuji. I was a little concerned to be honest.
After 10 minutes of going through the menu, I realised I had nothing to worry about. I had set it up with all the functions where I like them and started getting comfy way sooner than I had anticipated.
One of the first things I wanted to see was the video capabilities of this little beast. From the XT1- Fuji went from barely usable video to stunning 4k. I’ve always been sceptical of the 4k function in small camera bodies because of the amount of compression that needs to happen in order to capture the high resolution video. But damn does this thing look good. I had on the little 35mm f2 and the picture I was getting was great. The one thing I did notice was the shakiness of the camera. If you don’t have a stabilized lens or the camera isn’t on a shoulder rig with more weight behind it the video gets very shaky.
The video limits of a DSLR or mirrorless camera body can usually be seen in the highlight roll off, rolling shutter and color depth. The XT-2’s video is beautiful. Straight out of camera. Yes there is heavy rolling shutter, but you get that in any DSLR. The highlight roll off looks natural and smooth. One of the main points for me is how skin looks. And with the XT-2 the skin looks clean and natural. Maintaining all the natural tones of the face. Combined with the detail of the 4k and sharp lenses (particularly the 56mm f1.2) the skin is wonderfully reproduced.
Taking the XT-2 on tour in Japan was an awesome experience. It isn’t a bulky camera so walking around cities and going in and out of the tour van isn’t a hassle. And there’s so much happening all the time that you never want to miss a shot. The colours and lights in Osaka and Tokyo are mind melting, and the XT-2 managed to capture the essence of the massive city in all its glorious lights and wonder. The start up time of the camera and the ridiculously fast auto focus meant being ready to capture anything in a second.
All in all I think the XT-2 is an incredible camera. The limits such as the shakiness and rolling shutter will be found with any camera this size. But the RAW photo size (24MP at +/-50mb per image) gives you so much to work with in post. Its frankly amazing that they managed to cram those specs in such a tiny body. The grain feels natural and the colours are stunning. The video packs an incredible punch in terms of resolution and picture quality. This camera is the definition of dynamite in small packages.
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The camera doesn’t have a "crop sensor". It’s lenses are designed to fill the sensor without cropping. It has an APS-C sensor.