We have covered quite a few of those comparisons in earlier posts:
read here – DPReview TV: Fujifilm X-T30 vs Sony a6400
read here – Fujifilm X-T30 vs Sony A6400: DPReview Studio Scene Test, Cameralabs Comparison and More
read here – Fujifilm X-T30 Beats Sony a6400 in Autofocus Stills Tracking, but Sony A6400 Better for Video and Vice Versa
Today we have Maarten Heilbron’s comparison as well as a couple of other Fujifilm X-T30 reviews, including autofocus tests and comparison with the Fujifilm X-T20.
Chris and Jordan from DPReview TVcompared the Fujifilm X-T30 and the Sony a6400. Here are their findings:
the vast majority of people buy APS-C and not full frame in mid-priced mirrorless market range
Ergonomics and Controls Winner: Fujifilm X-T30
biggest advantage for the Fujifilm X-T30 are the dial controls and ergonomics
Fujifilm X-T30 front and back dials are much easier to use than Sony a6400 dials
Fujifilm X-T30 joystick is easier to use than the Sony a6400 joypad
Sony a6400 is weather sealed, Fuji X-T30 not.
Stills Autofocus Winner: Sony a6400
STILLS
Fujifilm X-T30 has improved compared to X-T20 with very usuable face/eye detection, as long as subject is fairly close
subject tracking not as sticky and slow response
Sony A6400 has the best autofocus system of all APS-C cameras, real time tracking is simple and intuitive, switches automaticall between subject tracking and eye/face AF
VIDEO
Fujifilm X-T30 has stepped up in a big way, with nice video results, if you customize heavily for the situation
Sony a6400 video is smooth, accurate and works great on its standard settings
Image Quality Winner: tie
Sony a6400 color profiles are boring and not fun to use
Fujifilm X-T30 has great colors and vibrancy and film simulations are great and fun to use, and you change film simulation with in camera RAW converter
Fujifilm X-T30 has better skin tones
With Fujifilm X-T30 it is easier to get great colors
Fuji sensor is newer, faster readout hence less rolling shutter, great if you use silent shutter or video
Sony has slightly better low light performance
in the end it’s a tie, but you have to decide whether you want slightly better RAW performance (Sony a6400) or great colors and easy of use out (Fujifilm X-T30)
Lenses Winner: Fujifilm X-T30
Easy win for Fujifilm X-T30, with lots of great lenses with great value for money
Sony ignores APS-C lenses, but you can get Sigma lenses
Displays Winner: Sony a6400
Sony a6400 has a fully upwards tilting screen
Sony a6400 has higher magnification EVF
Video Winner: Fujifilm X-T30
Sony a6400 has better design thanks to fully articulating screen
Sony a6400 has unlimited record time, whereas Fujifilm X-T30 is limited to 10 minutes 4K and 15 minutes 1080p
Sony a6400 has a 3.5mm mic jack, Fuji has 2.5mm jack
Fujifilm X-T30 gives you USB to headphone adapter option to monitor your audio
Sony a6400 has a significant crop when shooting 4K/30p, the Fuji X-T30 has no crop up to 30p
Fuji X-T30 way less rolling shutter than the Sony a6400
Fujifilm X-T30 has higher data rate (200 mbps) and 10bit if recorded externally
Overall
You must see what’s most important for your photography
looking at the categories, Fujifilm X-T30 is the winner, but they are very close overall
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
TOP: 27/2.8 vs 16/2.8 vs 23/2 BOTTOM: 16/1.4 vs 16/2.8 vs 35/2
Size Comparisons
You can now compare the size of the Fujifilm X-T3o and Fujinon XF16mm f/2.8 to any other camera and lens available in the camerasize database.
At the current stage, camerasize does not allow you to attach any lens on the Fujifilm X-T30. So you have to select the Fujifilm X-T20 to attach the Fujinon XF16mm f/2.8 on it.
Above you can see a comparison of the Fujinon XF16mm f/2.8 (in the center) vs the XF35mm f/2, XF23mm f/2, XF16mm f/1.4 and my lovely XF27mm f/2.8.
