As you may know, I am always searching for the ultimate camera to carry with me. An ultimate camera would be portable, have a decent selection of lenses and work well for both video and photography. The reality is most cameras do this these days.
So what’s the big deal with the Fujifilm X-T3?
Videographers
The attention is within the detail. In this case, its the video specifications that drew my attention. I recently sold my Canon 70d in order to get something a dash smaller with 4K and slow-motion video support. I purchased the Sony A6500 which whilst being a crop sensor, has all the features of the Sony A7 iii that everyone has been raving about.
4K
Essentially the X-T3 has the same feature set like the Sony A6500 but is newer and brings 4k at 60p to the table – something that still remarkably few cameras are doing. What is great is that the Fujifilm X-T3 price is under £1500 making it great competition in this price sector and in a good position for photographers and videographers to take a gamble. The 4k 60p mode has a 1.18x crop but that is so small it is hardly worth worrying about.
I say take a gamble because Fujifilm has been under the radar for quite a while (at least in my eyes). That’s not to say they are not any good, they are one of the big photography companies from back in the day so I would like to expect great things and its great to see them bouncing back with some good products.
My Sony a6500 can only do 4k 30p. I know you may be saying not many people have 4k, but it would be a mistake to rule it out. Firstly you future-proof your videos made. Secondly, you have the ability to crop into your footage and not lose definition. trust me, cropping on 1080p you do notice. Having 60p at 4k means you can do some good slow motion in 4k. In an ideal world 120P would be ultimate and one of the reasons I got the a6500 so I have it albeit at 1080p.
Sensor
The Fujifilm X-T3 uses a new X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor and X Processor 4 combination which gives it a 26.1MP sensor size. Most over cameras in this price bracket tend to use a 24MP sensor. Will this make a huge difference, probably not but always better to have more than less.
10-bit
The upgraded sensor means that it can now handle 10-bit 4k video. 10-bit is not common in lower priced cameras (under £2000) so it is a great feature to have. Unless you are a professional and have a use for it then you will be unlikely to notice any difference as most TVs/Screens will not support it. Though this may offer some advantage with colour grading.
Auto-focus
The camera is said to support auto-focus in 4k mode. This should be a standard yet a lot of cameras seem to forget to do it such as the Canon M50.
Video Codec
There is support for the slightly newer H.265 video codec. This essentially handles the compression of the video data allowing the camera to record at 200Mbps. For comparison my Sony A6500 only does 100Mbps. This would mean you would need to start upgrading your memory cards to handle the faster data rates. These cards will, of course, go up into a new price bracket just as the ones you currently need are coming down in price.
Rolling shutter
Rolling shutter is said to be hugely improved on this camera, almost half the effect that appears on Sony cameras such as the A6500. This was one pet hate I have to live with on my new sony. As long as I slowly pan, I will be fine.
Inputs
It has a microphone input and headphone input, this should be the standard these days ever since Canon started to include this on their mid-range cameras such as the Canon 80D.
Photographers
Dual Card Slots
You will be pleased to hear this has dual card slots. Not as important for videographers, but if you are doing professional photo shots such as one-off occasions like weddings if your card freezes up and you miss a moment or worse lose the data of the moment, there will be tears all around.
Viewfinder
The digital viewfinder has 3.69M dots, this is a high resolution which will definitely help when working with detailed shots. This is nearly a lot more than the 2.36M of my Sony A6500.
Burst mode
The Fujifilm X-T3 is a beast when it comes to speed burst photography. It lets you take 20fps which makes my Sony A6500 11fps look bad – and trust me 11fps is great.
Reasons not to buy this camera?
Most Sony cameras these days have something called 5-axis image stabilization or IBIS. This is not available on the X-T3. IBIS works like optical stabilisation but rather than built-in to the lens it is in the camera. This takes the worry out of buying lenses with no stabilisation and helps remove shakey hands-on video and photos.
No flip screen – It flips in every way you could want for photography but for videographers that want to monitor what they are recording from the front, this is not possible.
Size – whilst this isn’t a super big camera, it is still significantly bigger than the likes of the Sony A6500 which you can slip into a man-bag (without a lens on) quite easily. It appears thicker and taller. Plus all the extra dials on the top which are great for control add to the bulky size.
Fujifilm X-T3 release date
The camera was released on 20th September 2018. It costs less to buy than their previous X-T2 model. This is a nice idea and something Sony should consider. In fact, this has twisted Sony’s hand a little as at the time of writing Sony’s new crop sensor mirrorless has not been released yet so they have reduced the cost of the A6500 significantly to compete.
As for getting my hands on one and providing test shots/video. I think you will need to support my blog and Youtube channel for a few more years before I get offered that sort of deal. But if I did get offered a test camera- trust me you would get a full-on review.
Will you consider buying the X-T3? drop a comment below and let us know what you are thinking of buying.
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