@photonewspn | photographynews.co.uk
GEAR / 37
The dual shutter options allows the camera to go up to 8fps with the mechanical shutter or 20fps electronic
SCREEN TIME The rear screen tilts up and over the top for selfies, although it doesn’t swing out. The control buttons and mini joystick on the rear panel are small but still usable even for the fat-fingered among us!
By using the T setting, you can set the mechanical shutter to range from 15 minutes to 1/4000sec, then the electronic shutter takes over to a ridiculous 1/180,000sec. Bulb mode can give exposures up to an hour. But while the X100VI’s leaf shutter can flash sync at any speed, the mechanical shutter on the X-E5 caps flash sync to 1/180sec. So it’s not the camera for hardcore strobists.
Verdict Fujifilm’s winning formula is to use this 40-megapixel sensor and processor combination in lots of different bodies so buyers can choose the form factor and ergonomics that best suits them. If you’re looking for something that’s portable, fun to use and nice to look at, the X-E5 is a good bet. Features 24/25 A great sensor, impressive IBIS, Film Simulation dial and truly portable package, with rangefinder styling Handling 23/25 An improvement over the X-E4 with the front grip, but retro controls can put style over function at times Performance 24/25 Excellent image quality for stills and video, with great control of noise and lots of detail despite the APS-C sensor Value for money 23/25 In a very competitive market, you do pay a little extra for the retro charms and build quality of the X-E5 Overall 94/100 Keen photographers were calling out for a rangefinder- style X100VI with interchangeable lenses. Here it is, and it’s a stunner. Pros Performance, handling, retro looks, image quality Cons No weather sealing, uses old battery, low-resolution EVF and LCD The dual shutter options allow the camera to go as high as 8fps with the mechanical shutter or 20fps with the electronic –fast enough for most. But higher than 13fps, there’s a 1.29x crop. The X-E5 has a single SD card slot that takes UHS-II class cards, which clear the buffer quicker than on the X100VI. To keep things sharp, the camera uses the X-T50 AF system for better tracking, especially in zone AF mode and low-contrast situations. It works well, though there was some hunting in continuous AF while the camera was tripod-mounted and the subject not moving. There’s the option of creating your own zone AF configurations too, as long as it’s square or rectangular. There’s also face and subject detection AF with the choice of animals, birds, cars, motorcycle/bikes, aeroplanes and trains. But no Auto mode to make an intelligent selection, sadly. For those who really want a camera like this, the AF is certainly up to the job most times. Although it did miss face detection focus on a street candid we shot. No system is perfect. As a cool, lightweight camera that can be used for pretty much everything, the X-E5 is a solid purchase. High resolution, great performance and can be used with all the X Mount lenses. It’s a fine machine.
How does it perform? We’ve assessed the camera’s ISO performance and exposure latitude – you can view and download the complete results at photographynews.co.uk in the Reviews section. To test ISO performance, we photographed a church at dusk across the full range of ISO values, with the camera mounted on a tripod. Noise reduction was turned off and we shot in Raw, processed in Adobe Lightroom. Image quality is excellent when viewed at 100% on screen, with very clean images up to ISO 1600. There’s grain at ISO 3200, although it doesn’t impact much on fine detail. It does become more obvious from ISO 6400 upwards. The highest ISO shots are very noisy though, as you would expect at 51,200.
Our shots use no noise reduction, but applying some in post cleans the images up hugely. To test latitude, exposure brackets were taken in different lighting conditions and then the Raws were exposure corrected in Lightroom. Underexposure was handled very well, and the results looked identical to the correctly exposed shot. In the -3EV frame, there was a minor increase in noise, but some noise reduction removed this. For overexposure, there was no problem with the +1EV but the +2EV shots showed washed out highlights and lack of detail. And the +3EV frame fared very poorly with blown highlights and colour casts. It pays to get exposure right or veer towards underexposure.
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