Fujifilm
“Inall scenarios, the X-T3 handledbeautifully and felt very comfortable inmy hands”
I love wide-angle photography and particularly wanted to see how the XF10-24mmwould compare with my Olympus 9-18mm; I also thought the XF16-55mmmight make for a useful walk-around optic, but I ended up using the wide-angle more. One of the reasons to ditch a DSLR in favour of a mirrorless outfit is to get decent images with much smaller and lighter gear. When I first picked up the X-T3 with the XF10-24mm attached, I thought it was quite heavy for its size, but in fact there is not a huge difference in weight between the Fujifilm body and XF10-24mm combo (1.13kg) and my Lumix G80 with the 14-140mm attached (826g), both in any event being so much lighter than the equivalent DSLR kit. Taking the X-T3 and lenses out on test, my shooting locations ranged from the East Lothian countryside, where I live, to the streets of Edinburgh, enabling me to
the video modes, and to better compare the cameras, I shot with the X-T3 configured in the same way as I use my Lumix cameras. That means aperture-priority set for the lens’s ‘sweet spot’ ( f/5.6 in this case), AF-S single-frame capture, a single active focus point at the centre, auto ISO with an upper limit of 800, file size set to Raw only, mechanical shutter and so on. I initially had my doubts about the X-T3’s lack of in-body stabilisation, but my fears proved groundless, with the OIS on the XF10-24mm coping admirably with everything I threw at it. I found the camera coped extremely well in low-light or indoor
focus on the subjects I’d pick in my ‘everyday’ photography – landscape, architecture and documentary. In all scenarios, the X-T3 handled beautifully and felt very comfortable in my hands – much more so than my Lumix G80, I have to say. The X-T3 doesn’t have a deep grip, but it just felt... right. That said, I don’t think I would use it with anything larger than the XF10-24mm – a lens I absolutely loved – sharp as a pin, right to the edges . When shooting, I saw no point in trying out settings or functions I wouldn’t use in a real-world situation. I’m a stills photographer, first and foremost, so I didn’t trouble
28 Photography News | Issue 73
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