Fujifilm X-T3 Review

Fujifilm X-T3

The Fujifilm X-T3 shares the flagship position among Fujifilm APS-C mirrorless digital cameras with the X-H1
Fujifilm X-H1. A faster 4th-generation X-Trans CMOS sensor made its debut inside the X-T3 while the X-H1 boasts the only built-in image-stabilization system in the lineup. The new 26 MP sensor in the X-T3 features 2.1 million Phase-Detection pixels and a special 1.25X crop-mode that makes it possible to capture 20 MP images continuously at 30 FPS.

Exposure lattitude on this mirrorless is class-leading with a standard ISO 160-12800 sensivity range, expandable to ISO 80-51200. Its Hybrid Shutter offers all combinations of mechanical and electronic modes that together span a timed shutter-speed range of 1/32000s to 15 minutes, plus Bulb exposures of up to an hour. The mechanical shutter can sustain speeds up to 11 FPS for 145 JPEG images or 36 RAW files.

The highly-mechanical design of the X-T3 blends analog and digital controls in an elegant and sturdy metal body that is fully weatherproof and freezeproof down to -10C. With dedicated dials for ISO, Shutter-Speed dials and Exposure-Compensation, plus dual control-dials, the X-T3 provides direct access to all essential photography controls.

Fujifilm fitted the X-T3 with an ultra-high 3.7 megapixels 0.5" EVF with large 0.75X magnification, 100% coverage and an essential Eye-Start Sensor. This new EVF refreshes at 100Hz and provides black-out-free view in Sports Finder mode that is possible with the fully electronic shutter.

This is an extremely feature-rich digital camera which also provides extensive video features, including Cinema 4K video capture, flat Eterna Film Simulation, F-Log color profile and the H.265 high-performance codec. Photographers will also find plenty of bracketing modes, an Interval Timer, Multiple Exposure and Dual SDXC memory-card slots, both supporting the UHS-II bus.

This camera review analyses the capability, usability, performance and image quality of the Fujifilm X-T3.

Fujifilm X-T3 Features

Fujifilm split their flagship APS-C mirrorless cameras into three series: X-T for professional photographers, X-Pro for street photographers and X-H targetted at videographers. With the X-T3, photography features have been pushed to new hights, while acquiring all video-specific features of the X-H1. In fact, the new Fujfilm X-T3 is so feature-rich that it only ommits one major feature, built-in image-stabilization. The other two minor features not present in the X-T3 are HDR and a built-in flash, both of which are easy to work around.

This camera offers a hybrid shutter which operates in Mechanical-Shutter, Electronic-Shutter and Electronic Front-Curtain-Shutter modes. Users can select any combination of these which sets the range of allowable shutter-speeds. Mechanical speeds reach 1/8000s, while electronic ones reach 1/32000s. There are 3 Auto ISO settings, all customizable with a starting and maximum ISO, plus a minimum shutter-speed. The sensitivity range of ISO 160 to 12800 is expandable to 80-51200 in 1/3 stops below ISO 12800.

As one would expect, the X-T3 has a full complement of manual controls. There are four metering patterns, one more than usual: Multi-Segment, Center-Weight, Average and Spot. White-Balance options are plentiful with Auto, Preset and Custom options, all fine-tunable in 19 steps along 2 axis. A Virtual Bracketing option saves 3 images with different WB adjustments with 3 step sizes to choose from along the Y-B axis.

Fujifilm has its own rendering engine based around Film Simulation modes with a number of parameters to adjust JPEG output as desired. Color, Sharpness and Noise-Reduction are each adjustable in 9 fine steps while Shadow-Tone and Highlight-Tone have 7 very coarse steps. None of these affect RAW output. For the unsure, there is a virtual bracketing mode for Film Simulation which takes one shot and saves it using 3 different Film Simulation modes chosen by the user.

This mirrorless features plenty of Bracketing modes: AEB, ISO, Film Simulation, WB, Dynamic-Range and Focus. There are so many AEB options that the menu reaches seven levels of depth. It can capture between 2 and 9 frames with steps from 1/3 to 3 EV selectable in 1/3 increments regardless of how many frames are selected. A bracket can be taken continuously or in single-shots and there are four ordering to choose from. Only the X-H1 offers this level of flexibility.

Drive modes include a standard 2s or 10s Self-Timers, plus an Interval Timer which can capture as many frames as will fit on a memory card. Users can select any interval from 1s to a full day and a starting delay of up to 24 hours in one minute increments. Multiple-Exposure can combine two frames. Time Lapse Video must be assembled by computer from images produced with the Interval Timer.

There are two major advancements introduced in the X-T3. The first is an exceptionnally fast continuous drive. Using a mechanical shutter, this digital camera can sustain 11 FPS at full-resolution for 145 JPEG images or 36 RAW files. Switching to an electronic shutter, 26 megapixels images can be captured at 20 FPS for 79 JPEGs or 34 RAWs. This camera also adds a 1.25X crop mode that captures 16 MP images at up to 30 FPS. This mirrorless makes use of its continuous drive and hybrid shutter to offer a Motion Panorama mode. This one creates a panoramic image of 180° or 120° while the camera is physically panned in any of the 4 cardinal directions.

The second major addition to the sensor is 2.1 million Phase-Detect sensors spread evenly over the entire sensor area. These sensors and normal pixels surrounding them form a hybrid 425-Point AF system sensitive to -3 EV with great accuracy and a tremendous amount of flexibility. Continuous AF is highly fine-tunable to track all sorts of subjects, faces and eyes, even with selectable priority for the left or right eye.

This Fujifilm mirrorless offers Dual SDXC memory card slots, both capable of handing UHS-II cards. These slots can be used in overflow, backup and format-separated modes. One cannot delete images from both memory cards at once, even if they are of different formats, which is possible on the X-H1..

Already the Fujifilm X-H1 introduced a number of first video features among APS-C cameras, yet the X-T3 pushes these even further. It supports Cinema 4K (4096x2160), UltraHD (3840x2160), Cinema 2K (2048x1080) and Full HD (1920x1080), all at speeds of 24 to 60 FPS. 1080p also supports 120 FPS high-speed video capture. Videos can be saved at 50 to 400 Mbps for the ultimate quality. This new camera offers H.265 and H.264 codecs with All-Intro and Long GOP variants.

There are tons of controls over audio, including 36-levels of gain for both external and internal microphones. A Level Limiter, Wind Filter and Low-Cut Filter can be each enabled independently. There are a number of settings for Time-Code plus control over lights which show that the camera is recording.

With all these features and plenty of external controls, the Fujifilm X-T31 is capable of any type of photography when paired with the right lens. There are over 40 lenses made for the X-mount, most of them by Fujifilm themselves. Rectilinear lenses cover focal-lengths from 8 to 400mm. There are no bright telephoto lenses though, so wildlife and some types of sports photography are out-of-reach from all Fujifilm mirrorless cameras at this time.