Photography News | Issue 37 | absolutephoto.com
Camera test 43
The X-T2’s native ISO range is 200 to 12,800 with expansion options to 100 at the lower end and 25,600 and 51,200 at the high speed end. Unlike the X-T1, all expansion speeds on the X-T2 can be used to give Raw as well as JPEG output. On the ISO dial there is one H setting and in the menu this can be allocated to one of the two top speeds. For this twilight shot, the X-T2 was fitted with a 23mm f/1.4 and mounted in a Benro FTA28C tripod and the mechanical shutter released using the self-timer. In-camera noise reduction was set to zero. The base exposure for the ISO 200 shot was 2secs at f/5.6. The resulting Raws were processed through Lightroom with no noise reduction and default sharpening. Images are very clean up to ISO 800 and even at ISO 1600 there is minimal coarseness and impact on fine detail. The high level of image Performance: ISO
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quality ismaintained through to ISO 3200 and this speed is good enough for critical use andbig enlargements. Should you need to, shooting at ISO 6400 will still give fine results and intricate detail still looks acceptable. I took some low-light concert shots at ISO 6400 and was very pleased with the results – they were improved even more in software. By the time we reach ISO 12,800 of course noise is much more evident and the expansion speeds are best reserved for those dire light occasions when a sharp shot is better than none at all. Tosumup, theX-T2 turns inavery creditable high ISO performance so if this is a facet of a camera’s performance that is important, you won’t be disappointed. Equally, if you’re one who doesn’t venture beyond ISO 800 you can’t but help be impressed with the sparkling images shot at lower ISOs.
I took a set of low-light concert pictures at ISO 8000 and was very pleased with the results
ISO 1600
ISO 3200
ISO 200
ISO 800
ISO 25600
ISO 51200
ISO 6400
ISO 12800
The X-T2 has in-camera noise reduction for JPEGs with settings from +4 to -4. I shot sets of pictures at ISO 3200, 6400 and 12,800 at each of those settings to check its effectiveness. Using the same kit combination as for the ISO images, the exposure for the ISO 6400 was 2.6secs at f/10. The +3 and +4 settings are, as expected, aggressive and while noise is greatly minimised the softening of detail, particularly in the shadows, is significant so they need using with care. The +1 is a safe setting if you just need a little more than the default setting. Looking at the negative NR values, if you want minimal NR and maximumdetail in your JPEGs then the -1 setting is the one to use. Performance: high ISOnoise reduction
ISO 200, 0 NR
ISO 6400, 0 NR
ISO 6400, -4 NR
ISO 6400, +4 NR
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