I now have my hands on my very own Fuji X-T3 and I have to say, I’m excited. At first glance it looks almost identical to the X-T2 but the top dials are now slightly tapered and it now has a touch screen. Thankfully Fujifilm has listened to their customers and added a locking diopter adjustment. I leveled this criticism in my review of the X-Pro2 earlier this year so naturally it was the fist thing I fiddled with when I began to set up my camera.
The XT-3 feels nice in the hand and the machined mechanical dials have a very positive click. Anxious to put my new camera to use, I attached my XF 16mm f/1.4 Fujinon lens and took to the streets on a visit to San Francisco. The biggest difference I have found between the X-T2 and X-T3 is the autofocus. Autofocus on this camera is really fast, instantaneous, even with the stepper motor in the XF 16mm. It will be interesting to see how it performs with the big XF 100-400mm zoom. I’ll be testing that in the next few days.
The camera just feels snappy and the files using classic chrome look very nice. I’m anxious to see how the RAW files will look when the converters become available.
I played a little with the new micro-prism manual focus mode and I think it will be a nice tool to augment the focus peaking and I look forward to using it more with an assortment of lenses.
I’ve tried to take some sample images that show the dynamic range of the new sensor and processor, intentionally shooting scenes that blow out the highlights a bit and allow the shadows to drop. I think in RAW, these will be easy to recover.
I’m pleased to have a new small light camera and I’ve pre ordered the metal hand grip with Arca Swiss dove tail, it hasn’t arrived yet but the combination will be nice for the type of photography I do. I don’t see any downside to upgrading at this point.
I’ll have an updated travel photography kit in a few days based on what I’ll be taking on our upcoming Around the World Adventure. Very excited!
