“With both substance and style, Fuji’s second attempt at an entry-level X-T camera succeeds.”
Great design
Large, high-res display
4K/30 video
Improved autofocus
Webcam mode
No in-body picture stabilization
Continuous AF could possibly be higher
The X-T200 is the entry-level digicam Fujifilm followers have lengthy deserved, and arguably what the X-T100 ought to have been. But after I complained in regards to the X-T100’s gradual autofocus in my video evaluation in 2018, I took a number of flack on YouTube.
“Dude what you expect for this camera? This is entry level camera [sic]. Lol,” mentioned one disgruntled viewer.
“OMG be realistic,” mentioned one other.
What folks gave the impression to be lacking is that autofocus efficiency issues no less than as a lot on newbie cameras because it does on skilled fashions.
Yes, there are high-end cameras designed particularly for taking pictures sports activities that may have autofocus efficiency above and past the remaining, however for probably the most half, knowledgeable or fanatic photographer is the one who shall be taking extra time with their exposures — they’ll afford to be affected person. This is why the Hasselblad X1D II 50C can have notoriously gradual autofocus, and nonetheless price $5,750.
You can discover $8,000-plus Leica rangefinders that haven’t any autofocus in any respect.
But an off-the-cuff photographer making an attempt to snap a photograph of their child or canine doesn’t have the posh of persistence. The digicam must work. Now.
The X-T100 regarded even worse after Sony introduced its Real-Time autofocus to the entry-level A6100. There is now not any excuse for an entry-level digicam with dangerous autofocus.
If the X-T100 fumbled, the X-T200 has picked up the ball and began operating. It brings again every thing I liked in regards to the X-T100 whereas fixing its greatest issues and including helpful options, like a dirt-simple webcam mode. This is Fujifilm’s finest effort but at making a premium digicam for an entry-level buyer.
At $600 for the digicam physique or $700 with a 15-45mm package lens (examined), it’s additionally an distinctive worth.
Design
It could also be an entry-level digicam, however the X-T200 is the photographic equal of dressing for the job you need, not the job you’ve gotten. Style continues to be Fujifilm’s major benefit over rival Sony, and I don’t suppose that’s some extent to be made frivolously. The feel and look of a digicam can assist encourage you to make use of it, and with all else held equal, why not choose the digicam that appears finest round your neck?
It isn’t all type over operate, both. The a number of command dials, which assist lend the digicam its retro look, provide loads of direct-access management however are simply ignored by anybody who finds their presence complicating. Compared to the single-digit X-T cameras, the X-T200 is definitely dumbed down, however you continue to have devoted dials for shutter velocity and aperture, negating the necessity for a modifier key as seen on many entry-level cameras, significantly DSLRs.
There can be a operate dial on the left shoulder that may be programmed for quite a few settings. By default, it cycles via movie simulations (coloration profiles, by some other title), however I discovered reprograming it to manage ISO made it way more helpful — and introduced it consistent with my private X-T2 which has a devoted ISO dial in that place.
Compared to the X-T100, it’s principally enterprise as ordinary, however there are just a few design adjustments price noting. The first is the built-in hand grip. Being so small, it’s not probably the most ergonomic grip on this planet, but it surely helps your hand discover a strong buy on the digicam. On the draw back, this considerably ruins the clear strains that gave the X-T100 such a traditional, minimalist look. That digicam got here with a screw-on accent grip.
The 2.36 million-dot digital viewfinder is unchanged, however that’s fairly strong for this class of digicam. The LCD touchscreen, nevertheless, is new. It measures 3.5 inches with a decision of two.78 million pixels in a 16:9 ratio, making it bigger and sharper than the X-T100’s. This display is shared with the X-T200’s sister digicam, the Fujifilm X-A7, and is without doubt one of the finest I’ve used on an entry-level digicam.
On the again of the digicam, you’ll discover the X-T100’s four-way button cluster has been changed with an autofocus level selector joystick. While I recognize its inclusion, I would like to have each the joystick and the buttons, however such a setup appears to be reserved for the single-digit X-T cameras. It additionally wouldn’t have match with the brand new, wider touchscreen, which additionally brings a brand new consumer interface — once more borrowed from the X-A7 — to switch a number of the performance of misplaced buttons.
However, the X-A7 doesn’t have a viewfinder. With that digicam, you’re all the time staring on the LCD display, and contact controls, subsequently, make extra sense; you possibly can see what you want to contact. But when your eye is to X-T200’s viewfinder, you possibly can’t use its contact controls. Physical buttons, which you’ll be able to navigate by really feel, would have labored higher.
This is an admittedly small criticism. The X-T200 presents extra management than most of its clients will need or want.
Image high quality and options
I recognize the extent of management for handbook mode, however the reality is most individuals who purchase the X-T200 will most likely depend on automated publicity, no less than to start with. Fortunately, that additionally works properly.
Fujifilm’s Advanced Scene Recognition Auto mode (denoted by the SR place on the mode dial) is designed to adapt to the scene and topic. I discovered it did an excellent job with each focus and publicity, balancing highlights and shadows in a high-contrast scene. Portraits (on this case, selfies — hooray for social distancing) had been completely uncovered.
JPEGs, each intimately and coloration, look improbable straight from the digicam, which is not any shock from Fujifilm. You can get extra from the information when you shoot RAW, however informal photographers gained’t be left wanting for sticking with JPEG.
Flipping the display into selfie place will robotically activate face- and eye-recognition autofocus in any publicity mode (it’s also possible to flip this on for non-selfies throughout the menu system). It labored very properly, with the main focus field staying glued to my eye or face even after I moved the digicam round shortly.
While it carried out admirably for single photographs, it’s barely much less dependable for steady taking pictures or video when the topic is transferring towards or away from the digicam. Still, I feel efficiency can be simply tremendous in most real-world conditions. The digicam shoot at 8 frames per second for roughly 16 RAWs or 25 JPEGs, which isn’t dangerous for the category.
There are additionally quite a few sub-modes to the self-timer for triggering the digicam based mostly on what it sees. You can set it to take an image if it sees a face, a smile, a “buddy,” or a gaggle. I couldn’t precisely take a look at the final two, however the face and smile triggers work fairly properly, though it didn’t all the time acknowledge my smile (perhaps it may inform I used to be faking it). I’m additionally undecided how helpful it’s to journey the shutter the second a face seems within the body, however perhaps you’ll discover a use for it.
More impressively, various superior options are included that I wouldn’t count on on a digicam this degree, like each interval taking pictures and in-camera time-lapse motion pictures. There’s additionally a sophisticated publicity bracketing mode that permits you to set as much as seven exposures with steps starting from 1/3 to 3 stops. There is even a commander mode for the built-in flash, enabling wi-fi management of distant flashes.
These usually are not options the newbie photographer is probably going going to hassle with, but it surely’s good Fujifilm included them. It means you need to get loads of use out of the X-T200 for a while to come back.
Video
Now providing actual 4K at 24 or 30 frames per second, the X-T200 is definitely good for video. The X-T100 provided 4K, however solely at 15 fps, making it mainly ineffective.
And that’s not all. The X-T200 may shoot Full HD at 120 fps for slow-motion playback. Clean HDMI output — albeit with out 10-bit coloration or the flat F-log profile of higher-end Fujis — makes it appropriate to be used as a webcam. A excessive dynamic vary (HDR) film mode helps protect coloration and element in excessive distinction scenes, though it’s restricted to 1080p.
There’s nonetheless no sensor-shift stabilization, however the optical stabilization within the package lens works decently for video. There are additionally two types of digital stabilization, known as Digital Image Stabilizer and Digital Gimbal. The latter is the extra excessive, however ends in a extreme crop of the video. In apply, I didn’t discover both to be that helpful — however maybe with a nonstabilized lens, commonplace digital stabilization would assist. Unless you’re filming whereas operating, I might keep away from the Digital Gimbal because it sacrifices an excessive amount of decision.
For causes I don’t perceive, the bottom obtainable ISO in film mode is 400 — in comparison with 200 for stills — which can be problematic for taking pictures exterior in direct daylight. But you possibly can no less than shoot video in full handbook publicity by turning the mode dial to M, then urgent the devoted file begin/cease button. If you as a substitute rotate the mode dial to the crimson film mode icon, you’ll be restricted to automated publicity.
Webcam mode
We’ve seen webcam performance turn into more and more vital within the wake of the present coronavirus pandemic as extra folks do business from home and depend on videoconferencing rather than in-person conferences. The elevated demand for improved video high quality has led to shortages of HDMI to USB adapters, just like the Elgato Camlink. Camera firms have rushed to supply their very own options for purchasers questioning the right way to use a devoted digicam as a webcam, and Fujifilm was one of many first to do that with its Webcam X software program.
However, only a week after this evaluation initially printed, Fujifilm introduced firmware model 1.10 for the X-T200 that provides native USB webcam assist, no software program required (the X-A7 was additionally up to date with the identical performance). The firmware replace provides a brand new choice to the USB Mode choice throughout the Connection Setting menu, merely known as “USB Webcam.” When activated, the X-T200 will present up as a webcam in supported apps when related to a pc, on each MacOS and Windows, with out the necessity for a driver.
I examined it out in Zoom, FaceTime, and FastTime on MacOS and it labored with out a hitch, providing vastly improved video high quality with naturally out-of-focus backgrounds, higher coloration, and a lot better dynamic vary in comparison with the built-in webcam. Autofocus responded shortly and saved my face and eyes sharp even after I moved nearer or farther away, and I additionally appreciated with the ability to zoom the lens out and in to get the proper framing.
One factor to remember is that solely the video sign is handed via USB, not audio. You’ll nonetheless must depend on your pc, headset, or standalone USB microphone for audio, however in my testing, audio from the built-in mic on my MacBook Air appeared to remain completely in sync with the video feed from the X-T200. There could also be a delay of a few frames, but it surely’s definitely not sufficient to note.
The different “downside” is that USB Webcam mode locks the digicam into auto publicity and autofocus (with eye-detection enabled). It additionally forces the movie simulation to Provia (commonplace). You can use publicity compensation, however if you wish to manually set the aperture, shutter velocity, or ISO — or select a extra artistic coloration profile — you’re out of luck. For individuals who simply want fundamental webcam performance, it is a non-issue. Those demanding extra management, like for skilled livestreaming, will sill want one thing just like the Blackmagic Design ATEM Mini Pro.
Despite its limitations, I’m happy to see Fujifilm has responded so shortly to adjustments in buyer wants and delivered a easy and free answer that makes the X-T200 much more helpful. I hope Fujifilm finds a solution to deliver webcam mode to further cameras, because it’s a characteristic increasingly more folks may benefit from immediately.
Our take
The X-T200 is precisely the digicam it must be. While its efficiency could also be imperfect, it’s far above the frustrating-to-use X-T100. It’s a succesful and chic machine for the informal photographer, sized completely for journey, with a webcam mode that makes it equally helpful once you’re caught at dwelling.
Enthusiasts might wish to save up for the X-T30, which sits between the X-T200 and the flagship-level X-T3 and X-T4, however I used to be nonetheless pleasantly shocked by the wealth of superior options included within the X-T200. Not solely is that this an amazing first digicam for newbies, but it surely additionally gives ample room to develop into for anybody who aspires to show their photographic passion right into a ardour.
Is there a greater various?
The Sony A6100 is the plain comparability. It’s the winner with regards to autofocus, however in any other case, the X-T200 is the nicer digicam to make use of. The Sony’s display, at 3 inches and fewer than one million pixels, is far much less detailed. It’s the identical story for the EVF, which has simply 1.44 million pixels. The X-T200 simply seems like a extra premium product, even when it doesn’t outperform the A6100.
How lengthy will it final?
Unlike the X-T100, the X-T200 is positioned to final for a number of years. From a specs standpoint, I don’t see loads a room for significant enhancements past small refinements and continued autofocus tweaks.
Should you purchase it?
Yes. For most individuals, the X-T200 is all of the digicam you want — however I might advocate investing in some higher lenses.
Updated June 22 to incorporate impressions of USB webcam performance added in firmware model 1.10.
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