Photography News 116 - Newsletter

Big test

“WHILE IT’S NICE TO SEE THE SET ISO AT A GLANCE, I DID NOT MISS IT” camera HEIF/JPEG shots. The Raws – shot at a wide range of ISOs – had plenty of headroom to pull back highlights and push shadows. Plus, ISO performance proved impressive. See the Performance: ISO section on the previous page for more on this. And finally, just another shout-out for the Film Simulation dial, which I thought proved its worth. On this camera’s big brother (the X-T5), the same dial controls ISO. While it is nice being able to see the set ISO at a glance, I didn’t miss it – especially as I use auto ISO a lot now. Having the option to switch colour styles in a moment was both fun and useful.

For the fastest burst rates, the electronic shutter is required, which offers 20fps but with a drawback in the form of a 1.29x crop. The fastest rate for full-format shooting is 13fps, dropping to 8fps when you use the mechanical shutter. In my tests, shooting in Raw only with a 300x Lexar SD card, the mechanical shutter achieved 7fps and 28 frames before the camera slowed down. With JPEG and Raw, I managed to get the same continuous rate and 20 shots before the camera inevitably slowed. The X-T50 showed itself to be a fine camera with ample potential for producing great stills and video. I shot test video footage at 4K/60p with a 1.14x crop and 4K/30p without any crop; the footage looks crisp and clear – and the AF system handled itself well. However, I spent more time shooting stills and was pleased with the Raw files as well as the out-of-

test shots from 1/30sec down to 1sec. The five-axis IBIS claims a 7EV benefit. I was consistently getting highly acceptable shots at 0.9sec with the handheld standard zoom using the electronic front shutter. What’s even more noteworthy is that, with the XF55-200mm, I was shooting handheld as low as 1/8sec with a good degree of success. The X-T50 has three shutter options: mechanical, electronic and electronic front shutter. The electronic shutter has a top speed of 1/180,000sec so there is the potential for shooting with superfast-aperture lenses in bright light without having to fit an ND filter.

PERFORMANCE: XF16-50MM F/2.8-4.8 R LM WR The XF18-55mm f/2.8-4 R LM OIS has been a leading standard kit zoom since its launch back in 2012. Priced at £679 – and after over a decade of great service to Fujifilm X Series users – it’s finally giving way to the XF16-50mm f/2.8-4.8 R LM WR, priced at £699 when bought on its own. Driven by the requirement of making the most of its its maximum aperture at the telephoto end is 0.8EV slower and there is no optical image stabiliser. Tested with the X-T50, the new zoom exhibited a decent optical performance throughout its focal

40.2-megapixel sensor, the new lens uses three aspherical and three ED elements to minimise optical aberrations and extract the finest detail possible from its high-res sensor. The lens has a 35mm-equivalent range of 24-76mm as opposed to the 27-84mm coverage of the older model, and its internal zoom mechanism means the optic stays a constant size. The lens is also remarkably compact, although

length range. At 16mm, the lens gives its best at f/8 with lovely, contrasty across-the-frame sharpness, though it’s a little soft at the edges at the wider f/stops. The opposite was the case at 35mm, where the best quality came at the wider aperture settings; both f/4 and f/5.6 were impressive. The same pattern of performance was seen at 50mm, but the drop-off at f/16 and f/22 was more noticeable.

Final word

Verdict

16mm

35mm

50mm

The X-T50 brings Fujifilm’s latest 40.2-megapixel sensor and X-Processor 5 to a wider audience. For that reason alone, it comes highly recommended. That said, the APS-C market is very competitive and the Canon EOS R7 (£1349 body only) and the Sony A6700 (£1429 body only) are both worthy rivals. Fujifilm’s own X-T5 is a rival too, with its current body-only price of £1449. It’s a bigger camera and has a better all- round specification. When all is said and done, however, the X-T50 at £1649 with XF16- 50mm f/2.8-4.8 R LM WR is compelling value and a high-performing camera with much to enjoy. 24 /25 FEATURES

F/2.8

F/4.8

F/2.8

F/3.8

With a great sensor, IBIS, top 1/180,000sec shutter speed and the Film Simulation dial in a truly portable package, the X-T50 rates very highly

F/4

F/5.6

24 /25 HANDLING

The rounded body fits the hands nicely and key controls are easily accessible. Plus, there’s a decent level of customisation potential

F/5.6

F/8

F/5.6

24 /25 PERFORMANCE

You can only truly judge a camera’s merits on the quality of the images it produces, and on that basis the X-T50 is up there with the best

F/8

F/11

23 /25 VALUE FOR MONEY

The X-T50 is competitively priced for what you get. While it’s good for video, it’s especially well- equipped for stills shooting

95 /100 OVERALL

F/11

F/16

You’ve got to applaud Fujifilm for what it has achieved with the X-T50. It’s certainly a camera that deserves to be recommended

PROS Good value, turns out truly excellent images, high resolution, compact, image stabilisation, rounded body, Film Simulation dial, top 1/180,000sec shutter speed, lovely to use CONS One SD card slot, battery capacity, can’t modify Film Simulation dial, body not weatherproofed, needs USB-C adapter for headphones

F/16

F/22

Issue 116 | Photography News 29

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