Equipment, Reviews, Tests

A Small Test: Fujifilm X-Pro2 Mirrorless and Active Subjects

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I want to share the results of a little informal test I did today using my Fujifilm X-Pro2 (B&H | Adorama) mirrorless interchangeable lens camera and a Fujifilm zoom lens to photograph an active subject. First, here is an unremarkable photograph, aside from the fact that I would probably not have used my previous mirrorless camera to photograph this subject.

Fujifilm X-Pro2, ISO 400, f/8, 50-140mm lens at 140mm, handheld
Fujifilm X-Pro2, ISO 400, f/8, 50-140mm lens at 140mm, handheld

Read on to find out why I photographed this and what I learned from it.

Background

I first used a mirrorless digital camera way back before the 21st century began — before there were DSLRs there were a number of early digital cameras, and my first was an Apple QuickTake! I used several others from a range of manufacturers before I acquired my first DSLR in about 2003.

As a group, mirrorless cameras have had some problems. One of the most glaring has long been slow autofocus (AF) speeds. Those very early cameras were often just plain awful in this regard, but they got better over the years.

Until recently I used a Fujifilm X-E1 mirrorless interchangeable lens camera, and it was my primary camera for travel and street photography for about 3 1/2 years. Its AF was fine for most things, but I also had to learn to adapt to slow AF in low light and with low contrast subjects — and the issue was more acute with some lenses than with others. For this reason — and a few others, including electronic viewfinder (EVF) display latency — I would never have thought to use that camera for photograph active subjects.

My new camera

I recently upgraded to the Fujifilm X-Pro2 (B&H | Adorama), a 24MP 1.5x cropped sensor rangefinder style mirrorless interchangeable lens camera that offers an innovative hybrid optical-electronic (OVF/EVF) viewfinder. It is said to also offer improved AF speed, and that has been apparent to me as I’ve used the camera over the past few months.  The X-Pro2 autofocus quickly and accurately in many situations where I would have worried about AF speed with my old X-E1, to the point that I usually don’t think about AF issues when shooting street photography with the new camera.

The test

Earlier today we decided to head out on a little jaunt that was not about photography but which might take us to the Pacific Ocean coastline between Santa Cruz and San Francisco. I didn’t plan to do any photography, but at the last minute I grabbed the Fujifilm gear bag to bring along “just in case.”

After a leisurely lunch we had a couple of hours of free time, so we decided to head north up the coast on this beautiful, sunny July day. We weren’t the only ones — there were lots of other people out, including quite a few engaging in watersports such as windsurfing and kite surfing. We stopped to watch at one beach where there were scores of folks taking part, and I decided to take out my camera and see what I could photograph.

I mounted the XF50-140mmF2.8 R LM OIS WR lens(B&H | Adorama), switched to the X-Pro2 EVF (since the  OVF doesn’t work well with long zoom lenses), turned on image stabilization, raised the ISO to 400 for faster shutter speeds, and mostly shot at f/8.

While this subject is not the most challenging moving target, several things surprised me while I was photographing. First, I did not find that latency issues interfered with my ability to track my subjects. Second, the camera/lens combination seemed to do a reasonably quick and very effective job of acquiring focus.  (Of the 90 images I exposed, three were unusably soft, likely because I positions the AF point on the sky.)

A closer look

I don’t regard any of the photographs as being outstanding photographic work. (I would typically want a DSLR and a longer lens for this subject — this 50-140 is angle-of-view equivalent to only 75mm-211mm on full frame.) However, they do provide a good snapshot of image quality obtainable with this particular mirrorless system. I’ll use the photograph from the beginning of this article as my test case.

Here is a 100% magnification crop of a portion of the kitesurfer in that photograph.

100% magnification crop of a Fujifilm X-Pro2 photograph, 50-140mm lens at 140mm, f/8, ISO 400
100% magnification crop of a Fujifilm X-Pro2 photograph, 50-140mm lens at 140mm, f/8, ISO 400

For a subject in motion, shot with a handheld camera with the equivalent of a 211mm lens (on a full frame DSLR), this is actually a pretty darn good file… somewhat to my surprise.

What does it mean?

When it comes to the spectrum of subjects that might post challenges to an AF system, this particular image is higher than a photograph of a static subject like a tree and lower than a frame-filling subject approaching the camera at a high rate, like a runner or a car or a bird in flight.

Yet, I probably wouldn’t have tried this with my now-four-year-old X-E1, nor with much of any of the other mirrorless cameras of that vintage. To me, this is clear evidence of the steady progress that mirrorless camera designers are making with newer autofocus systems and lenses. I do not believe that mirrorless cameras, even very good ones like my X-Pro2 and the recently announced X-T2, can yet match the better DSLRs for really challenging subjects, and I’m not remotely considering doing, say, my bird photography with this camera. Yet, the range of subjects of which such cameras will work very well keeps expanding.

Here is a short list of other articles I’ve written about the Fujifilm system, plus a list of current Fujifilm products. If this article is helpful to you as you make a decision, consider purchasing though these links. Doing so helps support this website and you’ll pay the same prices as if you buy directly.

An extensive of Fujifilm X-series gear follows. (I have not used all of the equipment in this list — equipment I use is indicated with an asterisk.)

Cameras/bundles

Accessories

Prime Lenses

Zoom Lenses

  • XF10-24mmF4 R OIS — B&H | Adorama
  • XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR — B&H | Adorama
  • XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS — B&H | Adorama
  • XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR — B&H | Adorama
  • XF50-140mmF2.8 R LM OIS WR* — B&H | Adorama
  • XF55-200mmF3.5-4.8 R LM OIS — B&H | Adorama
  • XF100-400mmF4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR — B&H | Adorama
  • XC16-50mmF3.5-5.6 OIS II — B&H | Adorama
  • XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS II — B&H | Adorama

Teleconverters (compatible with 50-150mm and 100-400mm lenses only )

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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