Big test
FujifilmX-A7 With the X Series’ vintage good looks, but without its iconic sensor, is Fujifilm’s latest entry-level body a good choice for upgraders?
PRICE: £699
FUJIFILM.EU/UK
SPECS
› Prices £699 withXC15-45mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS PZ lens › Sensor 24.2-megapixel CMOS › Sensor format 23.5x15.7mm (APS-C) with primary colour filter › Lens mount FujifilmXMount › ISO range 200-12,800 (100- 51,200 extended) › Shutter range 30secs - 1/4000sec (1/32,000sec electronic) and Bulb (60mins) › Drive modes Single, continuous low (3fps), continuous high (6fps), bracketed (exposure, ISO, FilmSimulation, white-balance, dynamic range), HDR, self-timer (2sec/10sec/smile/buddy (LV.1 - LV.3) group (1-4 subjects) / face auto shutter) › Exposure system TTL256-zonemetering,multi/ spot/average › Exposure compensation +/-5EV (1/3EVsteps) › Monitor 3.5in, 16:9 ratio, 2.76million dot vari-angleTFT colour LCD › Viewfinder No › Focusing Single, continuous, manual modes. single-point, zone, wide, tracking, all areas with face and eyeAF › Focus points 425 selectable › Image stabiliser Optical stabiliser in lens, electronic in moviemode › Video 4K (3840x2160) 29.97/25/24/23.98p; Full HD (1920x1080) 59.94/50/29.97/25/24/23.98p; HD (1280x720) 59.94/50/29.97/25/24/23.98p; 1:1 Full HD and HD (1080x1080, 720x720) 59.94/50/29.97/25/24/23.98p; High Speed (1280x720) at 1.6x/ 2x/3.3x/4x › Connectivity Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USBType-C, HDMI Micro type-D, mic 2.5mmmini jack › Other key features Film Simulationmodes, USBType-C › Storage media SD/SDHC/ SDXCUHS-I › Dimensions (wxhxd) 119x67.7x41.1mm › Weight 320g with battery and memory card › Contact fujifilm.eu/uk
WORDS AND IMAGES BY KINGSLEY SINGLETON
PART OF FUJIFILM’S successful X Series, the X-A7 is the new entry-level model in the range. The 24.2-megapixel, interchangeable-lens body is aimed at those upgrading fromcompacts and camera phones, and comes bundled with a 15-45mmzoom lens. The X-A7 is light and small, though it’s still too chunky to be pocket-friendly, unless fitted with something like the XF27mm f/2.8 pancake lens. It’s styled like others in the X Series, with a vintage look, but as an entry-level camera, it lacks the dedicated dials for shutter speed, ISO and so on, and doesn’t feel as solid as the higher models. It does have front and rear control dials though, which is very welcome, so when shooting in aperture- priority, the front dial controls f/number and the rear, exposure compensation – in manual, the rear controls shutter speed. As well as amode dial, on/off and shutter buttons, there’s a single customisable Fn button at the back of the top-plate that defaults tomovie recording. There are twomore Fn buttons, but these are virtual, sitting on the left edge of the touchscreen. Most of the control happens on the tilting touchscreen that dominates the rear. It spans most of the width, and therefore leaves space for only a very small focus lever joystick, two recessed buttons and a tiny thumbpad. Combined with the slightly slippery front, I found it made the X-A7 a bit uncomfortable to grip and almost impossible to use one-handed. I found the joystick fiddly to use, too. Using the touchscreen, handling immediately improves. It’s where the X-A7 feels at home. An on-screen arrow button brings up a selection of inputs, dependent on the shootingmode. Also included are image size, AFmode, touch functions and two customisable Fn inputs. The latter defaults to white-balance or Film Simulation, but can be set to all sorts.
In keeping with its beginner level, the touch inputs include control over depth- of-field and brightness. Using a slider or + and - buttons, you get a real-time view of the changes on screen. There’s aminor lag, but it’s certainly novice friendly. The same goes for FilmSimulation and Advanced Filter modes like Toy Camera or Fisheye, and if you select Portrait Enhancer, you get control over skin smoothing and fill light, which works well for snaps. The screen also has a Q button for the Quickmenu, which dives into a deeper level of control, and its 15 sections can be customised to include prettymuch anything you need. I’d have liked a way tomap the Quickmenu to a button on the body, but it still works well. Themain menus, which are also touch operable, have a clear design, too – for instance, movie settings have their own space, so you can set ISO separately from stills. There’s no EVF, but the vari-angle touchscreenmakes composing from low and high angles easy, and it can be
reversed for protection. Flipping it to face forwards, the view reverses, helping you shoot selfies. In that orientation, it comes very close to the camera strap lug, so you need to pull the strap out of the way, but the 16:9 screen is wide enough for this not be a problem. The screen is also slightly obscured if you use themic-in port for video. In this ‘selfie orientation’ you can use the touch commands to focus or take a picture, though I couldn’t find a way to move the focus point by touch. Despite its entry-level stylings, the X-A7 has all the focus modes you’d expect from amuch higher-end camera. Once you get used to the on-screen commands, setting appropriatemode and area is quick and easy. The tracking and Face/Eye AF both work well, only occasionallymissing a moving subject. We only tested with the kit lens, so shooting at wider apertures would be a bigger test than f/5.6. With the X-A7 using on-chip phase- detect AF, focusing is brisk. It does struggle a little in dimand low-contrast situations,
but that’s not unusual. The live view display also lags and smears in the dark. Manual focusing benefits from several mirrorless perks, such as focus peaking and focus check previewwhere, if you’re inMF or have AF/MF activated, moving the len's manual focus dial automatically magnifies the view. You can also get a zoomed-in view by pressing the focus joystick in, if you’re in the right mode. When not inMF or AF/MFmode, the MF ring can be used to control the focal length of the 15-45mmPZ lens. I preferred this to themain zoomcontrol as, even though it’s digital, it rotates, and is more like amechanical zoom than themain zoomcontrol’s ‘lever’ feel. Neither are as accurate as amanual zoomas the action moves in steps, and it’s not very quiet. The lens retracts when not in use, but returns to the last focal length used, which is a good feature that many don’t offer. Image quality from the X-A7 was very pleasing. It doesn’t use Fujifilm’s X-Trans sensor from themore advanced X Series
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