Big test
PERFORMANCE: ISO A famous London landmark at twilight was used to test ISO in the X-M5’s stills.
SPECS › Prices £799 body only, £899 with the XC 15-45mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS PZ kit lens. Available in black or silver › In the box X-M5, body cap, strap, NP-W126S battery › Resolution 26.1 megapixels › Sensor APS-C format, X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor, 6240x4160 pixels › Image processor X-Processor 5 › Image formats 14-bit Raw, JPEG, HEIF 4:2:2 10-bit › Storage media Accepts 1x SD UHS-I card › ISO range Native ISO range 160- 12,800, expansion to ISO 80, 100, 125, 25,600 and 51,200. In movie: 160-12,800, expanded to 25,600 › Shutter Mechanical/electronic front curtain shutter: 30secs to 1/4000sec in P/A modes, 15min to 1/4000sec in S/M modes. B up to 60mins. Flash sync 1/180sec or slower. Electronic: 30secs to 1/32,000sec in P/A modes. 15min to 1/32,000sec in S/M modes › Exposure system PASM modes, TTL 256-zone metering. Multi, spot, average and centre-weighted › Monitor 3in vari-angle 3:2 LCD touchscreen, 1.04m dots › Viewfinder No EVF › Focusing Single point 13x9, 25x17 zones; 3x3, 5x5, 7x7 zones from 117 areas on a 13x9 grid. Face/ eye detection, subject detection: animal/bird/automobile/motorcycle and bike/aeroplane/train › Drive modes Mechanical shutter continuous shooting at 8fps, electronic shutter 10/20fps, 30fps (1.25x crop) › Pre-shot 8/10/20fps, 10/20/30fps (1.25x crop) › Video HEVC/H.265, MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, 6.2K (3:2) 6240x4160, DCI4K (17:9) 4096x2160, 4K (16:9) 3840x2160, Full HD and Full HD High Speed (17:9) 2048x1080, Full HD and Full HD High Speed (16:9) 1920x1080, Full HDLP (16:9) 1920x1080 at 1.29x crop › Film Simulation modes Provia/ Standard, Velvia/Vivid, Astia/Soft, Classic Chrome, Reala Ace, Pro Neg Hi, Pro Neg Std, Classic Neg, Nostalgic Neg, Eterna/Cinema, Eterna Bleach Bypass, Acros with no filter and yellow/red/green filters, Black & White with no filter and yellow/red/green filters, Sepia › Battery One NP-W126S; 440 frames in economy mode, 330 frames in normal and 300 in boost › Connectivity HDMI Type D, USB-C 10Gbps, 3.5mm headphone and microphone sockets, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, hotshoe mount › Other key features Microphone direction setting, vlog mode, portrait enhancer, grain effect, art filters › Dimensions (wxhxd) 111.9x66.6x38mm › Body weight 355g (with card and battery) › Contact fujifilm-x.com A GOOD MOVE In this inspired design move, the USB, HDMI and headphone ports are on the right side of the body. There’s no room for a 3.5mm microphone port here, so you’ll find it on the rear, where you would normally expect to find an EVF eyepiece
noticeably, which impacted finer details, but I’d still be happy shooting at ISO 6400 if needed, knowing that there are denoising apps to use as backup. All told, this gave a solid performance as expected, and I’ll have no reservations about using the X-M5’s high speeds for both street and indoor shooting.
impressive results from the X-M5. Images were very clean up to ISO 800, while fine grain was visible at a high magnification. Quality dropped off a little at ISOs 1600 and 3200 but no complaints about detail rendition, colour accuracy and richness considering the high speed. From ISO 4000, noise levels increased
The base ISO 160 shot was exposed at 3.2sec, f/8 and the Raws didn’t get any denoising in post. From experience, we know the X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor to be a decent performer at high ISO, so it was no surprise to see
160
800
1600
3200
6400
12,800
25,600
51,200
“THE X-M5 HAS BROAD APPEAL; EVEN EXPERIENCED CREATORS JUST WANTING A POCKETABLE BACKUP WILL FIND THIS CAMERA A WORTHWHILE INVESTMENT”
On an EVF camera this would create fresh issues, but it is potentially a great design initiative on the EVF-free X-M5. Given that I use the mic port more often than the headphone port I’d prefer them to be swapped over. In-body image stabilisation is getting to be a common feature, but sadly it doesn’t make an appearance on the X-M5 for space and cost reasons. Having gotten used to it, I did miss having IBIS handy, and some slower-shutter-speed shots – in the region of 1/8 to 1/30sec – did suffer from camera shake. The lack of IBIS obviously has an impact on handheld video shooting too. The X-M5 is the second X Series camera to feature a dedicated Film Simulation dial with eight fixed settings and four berths that you can fill to suit your taste. The eight fixed ones are Provia/Standard, Velvia/ Vivid, Astia/Soft, Classic Chrome, Reala Ace, Classic Neg, Nostalgic Neg and Acros – for setting this, the filter options can be applied via the menu. As you might expect, the X-M5 can be customised to suit different users, but the breadth of customisation is limited compared with other X Series cameras. There are three physical buttons – AEL/AFL, record and Q –
that can be assigned to 79 different settings and four direction monitor swipes with 74 options. That’s more than enough, and there’s the added benefit of it being easier to remember what does what. With its pedigree and well- established imaging technology, you would be entitled to feel let down if the X-M5 didn’t deliver great results. There’s no danger of that though; the X-M5 proved itself to be a capable performer in both stills and video capture. I shot JPEGs, HIFs and lossless compressed Raws, putting the latter through Adobe Lightroom. Exposures were generally spot on, the exception being when shooting directly towards strong light sources, but here the Raws showed good highlight and shadow recovery powers. Shooting predominantly dark scenes could also mean slight overexposure but this is also easily corrected with Raws. For JPEGs and HIFs, having correct exposure at the time of shooting is important. I enjoyed the Film Simulation modes, as always, and having 12 of the 20 – including the latest addition, Reala Ace – instantly available is fun. To be fair, digging into the menu isn’t arduous either, with options for
LIGHT SHOW The X-M5’s native ISO range stretches to 12,800. This used ISO 6400 on the XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 R LM OIS with the exposure at 1/120sec and f/4
the mode dial has the usual PASM settings. There are also four custom user positions, and both a movie and a vlog setting. Limited space on the back panel means that there is no AF-ON button and the focus joystick is somewhat low down, so a slight hand readjustment is required to use it. One aspect of the design does deserve highlighting. Most cameras
have ports on the left side of the body, which is fine until the ports are used at the same time. Plug in a mic, external monitor and use the USB-C battery charging port, and things can get a bit messy when the articulating monitor is faced forwards or optional L-shape grip is attached. The X-M5’s solution is to have the headphone, USB and HDMI ports on the right and the mic port on the rear.
36 Photography News | Issue 119
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