Battle Time: Fujifilm X-T30 vs Sony a6400 Autofocus Test and More!

Fujifilm vs Sony

I got complaints from FR-readers, that they miss a good old Sony vs Fujifilm shootout.

Well, your desires are my orders, so here is one, and more specifically we are going to check out Sony a6400 vs Fujifilm X-T30 comparisons.

Let’s start with Michael de Maven (video above). Down below are his findings:

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The Birth of the Fujifilm GFX100: Documenting 8 Months of Development Process (Part 1)

Fujifilm GFX100

For the last 8 months Fujifilm let Cinema5D closely monitor the birth of their new flagship large format sensor creation, the Fujifilm GFX 100.

Now they published their first video covering the birth of the Fujifilm GFX100. Part 2 will follow later and bring us inside the Fujifilm factory.

Here is what we learn, and at the bottom some screenshots from the video:

Decisions and Developing Start

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Fujifilm Launches Innovative Mirrorless Digital Camera FUJIFILM GFX100

Fujifilm launches innovative mirrorless digital camera FUJIFILM GFX100

  • Equipped with the large format sensor with the world’s highest 102 million pixels resolution
  • Offering fast / accurate autofocus, in-body image stabilization and 4K video capability
  • Capturing and recording precious moments at world-leading image quality

Fujifilm GFX100 Pre-Orders

Press Release

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Fujifilm GFX100 Specs Leaked: 5.5 Stops IBIS, Dramatic Eye-AF Improvement, New Smooth Skin Effect and More!

Fujifilm GFX 100

The main specs of the upcoming Fujifilm GFX100, to be announced on May 23, have been leaked by nokishita.

Fujifilm GFX 100 Live Blogging May 23 on FujiRumors!!! Follow us on Facebook, Flipboard, Youtube, Instagram, RSS-feed and Twitter

Fujifilm GFX 100 Specs

  • Equipped with a backside illuminated CMOS sensor with 102 million pixels
  • High-speed image processing engine “X-Processor 4”
  • Achieves high-speed AF with up to twice the speed of the current model and excellent in moving object tracking
  • 3.78 million image plane phase difference pixels are placed on the entire surface of the image sensor (coverage ratio about 100%)
  • The accuracy of “face and pupil detection AF” has dramatically improved
  • In addition to face detection of objects farther away, it is also possible to achieve high followability even when the face turns sideways or is blocked by an obstacle.
  • Equipped with a 5-axis camera shake correction mechanism in the body that has an effect of up to 5.5 steps
  • Equipped with 4K / 30P video shooting function
  • Recording to an SD card 4K 30p 10bit 4: 2: 0, recording to an external media via HDMI 4K 30p 10bit 4: 2: 2
  • The first “GFX Series” to be equipped with “ETERNA” mode
  • In addition to rear liquid crystal monitor corresponding to 3.2 type 3 direction tilt, we adopt 2.05 type rear sub monitor newly
  • The newly installed 1.80 top screen sub LCD monitor can use “Virtual dial mode” to display dial design
  • Newly developed 5.76 million dots organic EL electronic view finder
  • View finder magnification 0.86 times, optional EVF tilt adapter “EVF-TL1” can be attached
  • It supports “16bit RAW” “16bit TIFF” recording
  • Newly developed Smooth Skin Effect, a new function that automatically performs skin retouching
  • We realize small size, light weight of thinnest part 48.9mm, approximately 1400 g (including two batteries, memory card, electronic view finder)
  • High dust and water proof performance and low temperature resistant structure with 95 places sealing
  • First to support “IEEE 802.11ac” as “GFX series”
  • Since two “NP-T125” can be mounted, approximately 800 images can be taken when using the rear LCD monitor
  • Power supply and charge from USB terminal is possible

They do confirm everything we leaked months ago in our exclusive GFX100 media slides leak, and summed up in our “everything we know so far about the GFX100” article. Not much new actually.

Stay in the Loop

FUJIFILM GFX 50R and X-T30 crowned Winners at the 2019 TIPA World Awards

 

Tipa Awards 2019

We already questioned a few times, if these awards make sense, by disclosing how the award business works. But for some reason many Fujifilm X and GFX still rejoice when they read about Fujifilm winning an EISA, TIPA or whatever else award.

So I don’t want to be the spoilsport here, let’s just ignore it all and rejoice once again :).

Oh, and btw, don’t take any award seriously, that does not assign a price to the stellar FUJIFILM XF 200mm f/2 R LM OIS WR.

Here are all the winners:

Cameras

Lenses

Other Awards

The Fujifilm winners:

Press Release

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Fujifilm Manager: “Full Frame? Users Want Choice, and We Chose APS-C and MF. Smaller IBIS Needed”

Fujifilm Manager Interview

Just yesterday DPReview published their Fujifilm CP+ interview, with lots of interesting topics to discuss. Make sure to check it out here (including the hundreds of comments).

Now the Thai youtube channel กล้องกล้วยกล้วย interviewed Fujifilm manager Mr. Makoto Oishi.

It’s a 49 minutes interview in Thai and constantly translated into English. Too cumbersome and no time? Don’t worry, it’s all summed up down below for you :)

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Fujifilm X-T30 vs Sony A6400: DPReview Studio Scene Test, Cameralabs Comparison and More

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.

Fujifilm X-T30 (save $300 with f/2 lens): BHphoto, Adorama, AmazonUS, FocusCamera
Fujifilm X-T3 (save up to $200): BHphoto, AmazonUS, Adorama, Focuscamera

Reviews

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Fujifilm X-T30 Beats Sony a6400 in Autofocus Stills Tracking, but Sony A6400 Better for Video and Vice Versa

Fujifilm X-T30 vs Sony A6400 – Part 1

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.

Down below are the key points of his comparison.

DEAL ALERT: Today only you can save up to 30% on selected SanDisk SD-card at BHphoto here.

Fujifilm X-T30 Review

  • less video features than Fujifilm X-T3
  • 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

NOTE: the Fujifilm X-T3 will get the same new AF algorithm in a firmware update in April. This means Tony Northrup’ eye-AF comparison between the Fujifilm X-T3 vs Sony A6400, Sony A6500, Sony A9 and Sony A7rIII will be obsolete soon and I hope he will retest it.

Noise and Image Quality

  • 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

Fujifilm X-T30 vs Sony A6400 – Part 2

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SONY User Tries FUJIFILM for the First Time, Didn’t Read the Owners Manual and Why You Know Your Gear Better than “Pro” Reviewers

Sony vs Fujifilm

Manny Oritz (former Sony ambassador, who left the program to focus on his youtube channel and to be able to cover more products) tested his first Fujifilm camera, the Fujifilm X-T3 and he has lots of great things to say about it.

  • Very responsive
  • Great weather sealing
  • beautiful color science, much better than Sony A6500
  • XF56mmF1.2 is a fantastic lens
  • Lightroom RAW processing not optimal [FR-NOTE: after his video, Adobe just offered a solution with the “enhanced detail” feature.]
  • Eye-AF is good but it’s better on Sony [FR-NOTE: major eye-AF improvement is coming for X-T3 in April].
  • Definitely a camera he could add to his current Sony kit
  • X-T3 makes you want to go out and shoot
  • The Fujifilm X-T3 exceeded his expectations in the field

A fair and objective review… but there is one thing I want to highlight.

Owners Manual Anyone?

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Fujifilm Publicly Asks Which X and G Lenses to Make Next, Shows Video Demo of New Fujifilm X-T3 April Firmware, Modular Compact GFX Body and More – X Summit

Fujifilm X Summit

Fujifilm hold the first X summit at the GPP in Dubai, an event aimed to listen to customer feedback in the best Kaizen tradition and discuss about the Fujifilm future.

For example, Fujifilm asked people which X and GFX lenses they should make next and which firmware update should come next.

Sadly there was not much participation (hardly 50 comments), so let’s see what happens if I share the same polls here on FujiRumors, the only Fujifilm community that can collect several thousands of votes within a few hours ;).

You find Fujifilm’s future X and GF lens survey down below.

Big news: just as we rumored a few days ago, the Fujifilm X-T3 will get a major firmware update, centered on autofocus improvements. It will come in April. Fujifilm showed a video demo of the improvements, and it was fairly impressive. Better face and eye tracking.

Here is the entire 1 hour and 48 minutes video summed up in key points for you. You’re welcome :).

X and G Mount – starts 27:48

Why no Full Frame

  • All brands go to mirrorless, and to different mounts and sensor sizes
  • Medium Format makes it easier to design lenses for higher resolution. But also needs more power
  • Barney from DPReview says there is no perfect format. It depends on what the customers wants
  • Every format has Pros and Cons
  • Focus is APS-C size. Provides fast system and enough resolution
  • For higher resolution, go GFX
  • Fuji’s R&D challenge is to make APS-C quality better and GFX smaller

X mount

  • X-mount design: sensors are getting better and so sensitive, that they have to deliver light through the lens in a very precise way
  • More light, less digital correction
  • Value Angle: Long technical explanation. In short: the wider the value angle, the more precise and easier they can send light to the sensor
  • Fujifilm compares the value angle of X-mount to full frame, and they show that X-mount has much wider value angle (screenshot below)
  • Canon and Nikon full frame mirrorless have smaller value angle
  • The Value angle of Sony full frame is very narrow
  • Wider value angle gives more flexibility for lens design. Allows for more light and less digital correction

FUTURE CONCEPTS – starts 41:57

XF33mm f/1.0

  • XF35mmF1.4 vs XF33mmF1.0: the XF 33/1 needs to be twice as big, since it needs to let in and correct twice the light
  • XF33mmF1 has more than twice lens elements than the XF35/1.4
  • to correct aberration on the XF33mm f/1.0 you need around 7-10 glass front elements
  • the XF35mmF1.4 has only 7 elements overall
  • the backside of the XF33mm f/1.0 has about 8 to 10 glass elements
  • overall the XF33mm f/1.0 has more than twice the lens elements
  • the 7 to 10 glass elements on the front of the 33/1 weight about 200 gram
  • challange is to move heavy lens elements precisely during autofocus
  • Toshi was not satisfied with the size of the lens, but he understands the challenges of developing it. However, he invites engineers to make it still as small and light as possible

XF16mm f/2.8 and XF 16-80mm f/4 working protoypes

  • XF16mmf/2.8 announcement soon
  • XF16-80mmf/4 will follow. Launch later this year. Lens feels really light

Future X and GF lenses

  • Fujifilm asks people which lenses Fujifilm should develop next – FujiRumors added the polls down below
  • Tilt shift lens is very likely to come next for G mount system
  • Zack Arias agrees with FujiRumors and he does not want a 35/1.4 MK II because he does not want the 35/1.4 magic to go lost
  • development costs of new lenses are very high

FUTURE GFX CONCEPTS and GFX CAMERAS – starts 59:39

GFX Concepts

  • Mirrorless should be free from all legacy
  • Fujifilm shows design mock-ups of GFX
  • they show a very small cubic and modular GFX, where you can attach a grip unit and viewfinder unit. So you can build the GFX according to your style (full video here and original full video here)
  • the modular GFX is just a mockup, but Fujifilm hopes it won’t take long to create such a small device
  • Medium format size can be reduced a lot, but there are challenges, for example a smaller shutter unit and better battery efficiency
  • with global shutter Fujifilm can make it smaller

The clear message here is: don’t worry, we are going to make the GFX system a whole lot smaller. So invest into GFX, and we will deliver you also a super-compact body one day.

GFX 100

  • Fujifilm shows a working prototype of GFX100 and they take a sample on stage, including pixel peeping
  • at 100MP the benefits of medium format shine, because it’s easier to design lenses that resolve 100MP for MF than for full frame or APS-C
  • hand-holdable medium format camera thanks to IBIS
  • GFX100 will cost around $10,000, but final decision has not yet been made
  • Coming before June

COLORS and IMAGE QUALITY – starts 1:17:46

  • They explain their color science.
  • The steps are: signal, measure, calculate, tune, target color
  • there will be new film simulations and they asked people which should come next (FujiRumors has already expressed its opinion)

FIRMWARE – starts 1:27:25

  • 250+ total firmware updates made since the original X100 has been introduced
  • They show upcoming firmware of X-T3 with significant autofocus improvement. Better face detection, better tracking, better eye AF. Coming in April. Check it out in the video embedded above or on youtube at 1:28:35
  • Fujifilm also said they will give us the opportunity to switch between faces with the new firmware
  • survey about which firmware should come next
  • they official mention Kaizen as their philosophy

Q&A

  • Fujifilm is studying the rating system
  • Adobe X-Trans support: Adobe says that for them to get good results with X-Trans is difficult, it’s a lot of work. Fujifilm will support Adobe for better processing
  • People ask for complete Camera Remote App redesign
  • Fujifilm is working on improved camera remote app

There will be more X summits, and you can interact at slido here, and of course you will be the first to know, if you follow FujiRumors on Facebook, Instagram, RSS-feed and Twitter.

Which Fujinon XF Lens Should Fujifilm Make Next? - max. 2 selections

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Which Fujinon GF Lens Should Fujifilm Make Next? - max. 1 selections

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