dpreview – studio scene test of Sony A6400 and Fujifilm X-T30 added
Fujifilm X-T30
Fujifilm managers said that the X-T10 and X-T20 are Fujifilm’s worldwide best sellers. And it is pretty safe to assume that the brand new Fujifilm X-T30 will continue this success story.
The Fuji X-T30 is indeed a “little giant”. It offers almost everything the Fujifilm X-T3 offers, but for a cheaper price.
So time to dedicate to the Fujifilm X-T30 its own roundup.
Gerald Undone has often critiqued Fujifilm quite hard and never recommended to buy Fujifilm, except for the Fujiflim X-T3. He now reviewed the Fujifilm X-T30 and compares it to the Sony A6400.
Interesting to note that he gets better autofocus tracking results in stills with the Fujifilm X-T30 over the Sony a6400. But the a6400 is the better choice for video autofocus.
overheats much faster than X-T3 in video, hence shorter recording limit
X-T30 is a serious upgrade from X-T20
Mic/USB-C/HDMI ports are to close together. If you use one, you block access to the other. You don’t have this problem with Fujifilm X-T3
X-T30 battery life lasts 65 minutes when shooting 4K. You can 90 minutes when shooting 1080p
When used with external video recorder, the camera shuts down due to overheating after 31 minutes
to extend video-life up, turn boost mode off (it affects mainly brightness and EVF refresh rate), pull the LCD screen away from body, mount it on tripod (no hand-holding), less AF-C. He got up to 69 minutes recording this way
X-T3 is definitely worth the money if you shoot lots of video. But for shorter family/travel videos, the X-T30 is great
X-T30 Pros
Sony lenses tend to be a bit larger, hence X-T30 system is smaller
in video the X-T30 has higher bit rate (200 Mbps) whereas the A6400 shoots at 100 Mbps. But higher bit rate does not mean automatically better image quality
A6400 Pros
Sony A6400 tripod mount does not block access to battery door
A6400 has a better screen design (flippy selfie screen)
A6400 lasts longer when it comes to overheating and with high temperature setting enabled, it can last for hours
no recording time limits, so no external recorder required
true 120 fps at 1080p
3.5 mic jack (X-T20 has 2.5mm mic jack)
Sony wins for overall video recording usability
battery life is similar, but Sony is a little bit better (around 10 to 15 minutes longer recording time and 50 more stills)
A6400 Sony’s RAW buffer is about twice at large
Autofocus in Video
for Video, the Sony wins by a little bit
X-T30 offers eye detection in video (the Sony A6400 only face detection), but the X-T30 is just a tad slower to catch up to a subject when moving in and out from the camera. The Sony manages to maintain the focus better
Both are great, but side by side, you can see the X-T30 autofocus drift a little
You can improve this on the X-T30, by increasing autofocus speed, but then it makes focus transition a bit too jumpy. The Sony has a nice balance of offering nice transitions while still locking on the face
Autofocus in Stills
in burst photo shooting continuous focus, the Fujifilm X-T30 beats the Sony A6400. The Fujifilm X-T30 hit a 100% hit rate in his test, whereas the Sony A6400, even with more expensive full frame glass, hit about 80%. The X-T30 consistently nails focus
likely due to the lens he used, he got sharper results with the Sony A6400. He used the Sigma f/1.4 contemporary crop lens vs the Fujinon XF23mm f/2 [admin note: he uses Adobe, too. If he played with the RAW files, then Capture One Pro 12 or the new Adobe enhance detail feature would have given different results]
Fuji is 1 stop noisier, when equalizing the image brightness [admin note: comment about it below]
Conclusions
He recommends the Sony A6400 due to more flexibility: selfie screen, better battery life, better video capabilities, deeper grip etc.
X-T30 might be the better travel camera, since more compact
It’s again an interesting one, that also becomes very technical when it comes to analyzing the autofocus system and lets imaging-resource conclude that Fujifilm’s PDAF technology is arguably the most advanced on the market.
Down below you can find the key points and some images of the interview. The complete one can be checked out at imaging-resource here.
Market Future & Canon Predictions
Fujifilm totally disagrees with Canon’s prediction, that ILC business is going to contract by half over the next two years
Market will depend on innovation that will come
Fujifilm believes there is room for further grow
Some markets will decline, but other markets have still potential to grow (Asian market)
Full Frame
Customers should have different options
Currently full frame has 1/3 of the market by value
2/3 of market is predominantly APS-C, Micro Four Thirds, and some medium-format
other manufacturers focus on full frame, this might open opportunities for Fujifilm as long as they keep up innovating APS-C and MF
mainly X-T3 and GFX 50R helped Fujifilm to grow by 10% total volume growth
APS-C vs FF is not just about sensor size, but also the lens size, lens weight, overall cost, or the speed, the 4K movies
people judge the system more on the overall package
Fujifilm X-T3 vs X-H line
sold better than expected
Fujifilm X-T3 sold 40% better than X-T2 if you compare to same period since launch
X-T3 and X-H1 have cannibalized each other
with the new lower X-H1 price tag, X-T3 and X-H1 sit nicely next to each other
H-series and T-series will coexist for the future, but we need to clearly differentiate the lineup without confusing customers
Lenses
XF200mmF2 is not only for sports, but also for portraits for very creamy bokeh and concerts for example
GFX System
Fujifilm GFX 50R sales are above expectation and factory is very busy
Fujifilm GFX 100 design is almost final, very early firmware, and IBIS still does not work
GFX 100 megapixel autofocus: same sensor structure as the X-T3
GFX 100 has almost zero competition, because FF is only at 50MP and other medium format cameras are very expensive
Fujifilm thinks at multi-shot high-res shooting mode for GFX100, but has not decided yet
designing IBIS is a real challenge for big MF sensor
Fujifilm is still improving image quality via firmware
GFX100 launch in first half 2019 for around $10,000
Fujifilm GFX 50S most popular lens is the GF 32-64mmF4
Fujifilm GFX 50R most popular lens is the GF 45mmF2.8
GFX 50S owners have more lenses than GFX 50R owners
GFX owners complaint about the lack of more fast lenses for the system and Fujifilm is taking into consideration their feedback
Fujifilm listens to customers and tries to make their wishes happen, but sometimes their wishes become reality is very difficult and challenging
As bright as possible, as small as possible, as affordable as possible…
same team works on GFX and X. One R&D budget and depending on needs they are flexible to shift their focus
Autofocus
X-T30 has improved algorithm which will come to X-T3
CMOS sensor is always reading by lines. So it isn’t very suitable for horizontal phase-difference […] technically we can make a cross-type system but normally, subjects are more… and horizontally-arranged PDAF pixels support them better
Fujifilm could do vertical AF correlation, but hasn’t felt the need to do it
8% of pixels are phase detection pixels (high density), good for low-light and high-frequency subjects
signal and phase pixel are read separately
we used to have like 60 regions within each AF point, but now 240
depending on the light level, the X-T3 can “bin” PDAF pixels together (basically just adding their contents) to get a better signal/noise ratio, and so be able to determine focus even in very dim lighting. Depending on how you do this, you’ll trade-off some ability to see the finest details, but it can really help in very low-light conditions
