Well, I just got back from the Fuji event
and I have to inform you guys that I'm switching to Fuji,
and it's not just because of all this sweet swag.
It's because of this, the X-T3.
Let's get Undone!
[offbeat music]
♪ Gerald Undone ♪
♪ He's crazy ♪
Okay, so I'm not actually switching to Fuji,
because truthfully I don't even know
what that sentence means, I just said it to
annoy all the angry fans of other brands,
but this is a serious camera and, in my opinion,
Fuji's first fully viable video option,
and that's probably an understatement.
I think I can prove that when we get into the specs
in just a minute, but before we do,
I want to get out of this Fuji garb because I look ridiculous,
and I also want to show you a little vloglet I made
to share the awesome day that I had at the Fuji event.
So, from now on, everything you see will have been shot
on the X-T3, save for a couple of GoPro shots,
and while you're watching that, I'm even going to switch off
the GH5 with the X-T3,
so we can film the rest of this video on it too.
My approach to testing the Fuji for the event
was to do the camera no favours,
so I turned down the offer to use a gimbal.
I shot entirely handheld with no accessories.
I used only the 18 to 55mm kit lens
for the majority of the footage.
I didn't allow myself multiple takes to get the perfect shot
and I used the default untuned settings for the AFC.
So basically, I let the camera handle the focusing itself.
Basically, I was trying to capture footage
that would show the absolute minimum of what you can do
with this camera and despite that, I was still
really impressed with the sharpness and performance.
[upbeat techno music]
♪
[chopper wings flapping]
[techno music]
♪
[brakes screeching]
♪
Okay, let's pause here for a second
because I can already see where this is going.
[whiny voice, words on screen]
[normal voice] ...and you'd be correct.
Alright, see you in the next video.
♪
Nah, come on, that's ridiculous.
While I will admit that the event was pretty sweet
and I was happy to go and I still have a little bit
more of it to show you, it doesn't really play
into my review that much because the specs don't lie.
So, let's get into the specs right now and I'll tell you
about the ones that are important to me and we'll
talk about some value considerations along the way.
So first up, the obvious one, this camera has 4K60,
and you can record that internally
for up to 20 minutes, you can record up to 30 minutes
for all the rest of the modes, as per the usual
and the 4K60 has an additional crop
of 1.18x that the other modes do not.
That's not a huge deal, but you will notice a slight
change in your field of view if you're pretty used to having
no additional crop, but we are getting
a full oversampled readout so there's not going to be
any line-skipping or pixel-binning,
so we're going to have reduced noise and reduced moiré.
You can record 10-bit internally,
including 4K60 and not just in Ultra HD 4K,
so 3840 by 2160,
but also DCI 4K in the 17:9 aspect ratio,
you can use all those settings as well.
And, I don't think there's anything on the market
in this format that can do that right now. I mean,
my trusted GH5 can do 4K60 and it can do 10-bit internal,
but it can't do both at the same time.
And we're getting that larger sensor with the APS-C,
so we're going to get better low-light performance
with ISOs up to 12800, but I found the 6400-8000 range
was very usable, so depending on taste, you're gonna get
much better low-light performance at those codecs.
[smooth jazz]
♪
Now, in order to achieve this,
the X-T3 is using the more efficient H.265 codec
for the more demanding 10-bit modes,
which H.264 being available for 8-bit.
The 10-bit is slightly limited, internally, at 4:2:0.
but 4:2:2 is available over HDMI,
regardless of whether you're using H.264 or H.265.
The ALL-Intra and the 400Mbps codecs
are also available at 24p and 30p.
It also has 120p slow motion modes over 1080,
but in all of these recording modes, it still breaks up
the files into 4 gigabyte chunks, which is something
that I wish was improved upon in this release.
Also, these 10-bit H.265 clips are gonna be
much harder on your computer.
I noticed significantly worse timeline performance
using them, versus, say, using
the 10-bit H.264 clips from my GH5,
but this has nothing to do with Fuji and everything to do
with better recordings needing better compression
which needs, you know, better computer hardware
and/or software implementations from the editing suites.
The X-T3 has a new sensor, the X-Trans CMOS 4,
which comes in a 26.1 megapixels
and has lower base ISOs.
160 is now the base ISO if you're using a regular curve,
and 640, if you're using f-log,
but Eterna is also available as it was ported over
from the X-H1, which is a pretty good
straight-out-of-the-camera flat profile that you can use.
♪
[music stops]
I enjoyed the Eterna a lot more on the X-T3
than I did on the X-H1, which was one of my complaints,
I didn't really see what all the fuss was all about,
and I think that this sensor is handling its colour business
in a way that is making for a more pleasing image
for my taste, so much so, that I might actually be
starting to become a fan of the famous Fuji colours.
I'm not a big autofocus guy but I was pretty impressed
with the performance on the X-T3.
It has this new 425-point phase detect system
that gives you full coverage across the frame
and isn't hindered at all in the video modes.
I felt pretty comfortable using it all day
with no tweaking whatsoever at the event,
and found that it held up incredibly well.
It's hard to draw precise comparisons to other brands,
but the way in which I used it, which was with the box AF,
as well as I had the eye and face detect on.
I found that it achieved focus, you know,
doing what I wanted or what I expected it to do about
85-90% of the time, which is, I'm fine with.
And, this video itself right now that you're watching,
I have the same settings on.
I have it on, just sort of, the balanced,
unchanged AFC settings.
I have it on AFC and I have eye and face detect on,
and so this video will be, sort of a testament
to whether you're satisfied with how well
the autofocus works in this type of shooting scenario,
which could be talking head, vlog, whatever,
it's been on the entire time.
Now, for the manual focusers like me, they have carried
over the option for linear focusing to be enabled,
which gives you much more precise and logical focusing
without the acceleration, and also, the AF On button,
once it's mapped, can be used to override focus
when in the manual focus mode for,
sort of, an instant snap focus.
There's also been a significant improvement
to the rolling shutter,
so you're going to get a lot less jelly,
and when using the electronic shutter for stills,
I was able to capture a spinning helicopter propeller
at full speed with very little warping in the blade.
I'm quite happy with the input/output
situation on this camera.
You've got two UHS-II SD card slots, and on this side
you have a removable cover that contains
the headphone jack Out, the mic in,
the USB-C port and micro HDMI port.
Now I would have liked a full-sized HDMI,
but compromises had to be made for size,
because this is modelled closely after the X-T2 body.
The most notable of those compromises for size
is the lack of in-body image stabilisation.
The bigger X-H1 has it, but sadly the X-T3 does not,
which was rather disappointing.
Now, I did find that if you're using wider focal lengths and
you have image stabilisation turned on on the lens,
you are able to get some
reasonably steady handheld shots,
but it's definitely nowhere near GH5 level,
and I think that you can see that
in some of the vlog shots from earlier.
Now, a huge step up from the X-H1,
when it comes to outputs though,
is the relocation of the headphone jack
into the body itself, off of the optional, vertical grip.
The grip is also not needed to achieve the maximum recording
lengths or activate any of the features of the Boost mode,
so thankfully on the X-T3,
the grip is exactly what it should be,
just an additional power source, which reduces
the total cost of the usable video machine even further
from the X-H1, which definitely needed
the vertical grip in order to function as a video camera.
Now, when it comes to power, one of the major
disappointments of the X-T3
was the lack of a new battery design.
It's still using the same battery from previous
generations, and although the X-T3 does have
a more efficient use of it, getting you maybe 15%
longer battery life, it would have been nice to see
a newer, bigger battery implemented in this one.
Now, there is always USB power, however,
through the USB-C port, where you can use power banks
and, possibly, USB AC adapters.
Now the grip, which is at an additional cost
and is not compatible with previous generations,
you're going to have to get the dedicated
X-T3 grip if you want it.
It does come with two more of the same batteries,
and it also comes included with a DC power source which you can
plug into the side of the grip here,
which will also make the grip,
sort of, double as a charger which will charge
the two batteries that are inside.
Now, during the event, I tested the batteries
for a more conservative use, ensuring to turn the camera off
between shots, only engaging the camera when I knew
exactly what shot I wanted to take and like I said before,
not doing much in the way of retakes,
and I found that I used two full batteries and was,
and was just barely into my third battery
after about an eight hour day of doing that.
Now, some of my cohorts though that were also using the camera
and doing a more aggressive style of, kind of,
capturing everything, switching modes,
they found that they were using more like
five to six batteries, so that would be, probably,
a more practical, sort of full day, aggressive shooting,
you know, power drain,
you might be looking more like five to six.
Now, right now we're doing a test to see
what an always on, always recording usage is like,
because this video is being recorded
without any additional power.
I don't even have the grip on, I've got both grips right here.
So far, it's been recording for 41 minutes
and we have only one bar left and it's red.
So that makes me think that we're going to get,
maybe, 45-50 total of an always on, always recording,
and we're also going to be able to use this to check and see
what the heating situation is like.
I did experience some heat, especially with the,
the larger codecs, but, uh, it was nothing
that ever turned into a problem because of the record times
and I've been noticing now that, obviously,
once I hit 20 minutes, I had to stop recording
and start again, so I'm, I'm stretching that out
and I imagine that if the record time wasn't capped
at 20 minutes, that we would probably see
some heating issues, but, uh, so far so good,
but obviously I'll let you know as we keep recording this
if we encounter any issues where the camera
has to turn off due to heat.
Or, let's do a little bit of a touch test now.
It's warm, it feels like, when you have a laptop on your lap
and you're doing some heavy stuff and you start to hear
the fans go and you touch close to the monitor
and it's got that kind of warm, where it's--
I wouldn't call it comfortable,
but it's not burning you, that's what we're looking at
right now with about 40-50 minutes of recording.
I'm also happy to report that the shutter button,
which of course, doubles as your video record button
is back to being a firm, clicky one versus that spongy
hair trigger that was on the X-H1.
It has over 60 points of weather resistance
and has the same, tilty-flippy screen,
so not fully articulating, but it is touch sensitive
and is pretty accurate and useful
when it comes to touch focusing.
There's no dedicated AF On button like I was
saying earlier, but there are two buttons here
that can be programmed, one which is AE Lock,
and one that is AF Lock.
If I had to be nitpicky, I wish that the buttons
were a little bit bigger, a little bit better placed,
especially the joystick I found to be quite small
and a bit of a strange reach, and I think that
there could have been a little bit better, you know,
thumb thought when it came to an AF On button.
Also, as I was saying earlier, F-Log is included,
which is of course, a nice feature to have included
for free because some companies
still charge you for it, Panasonic.
But, just I felt with the X-H1,
it's not the best log profile I've ever worked with,
but it's also not the worst,
sort of a medium difficulty to grade and you get,
you know, mediumly satisfactory results out of it.
This shot that you're looking at now
is recorded with F-log, and I also did two shots, uh,
of some exotic cars during the event.
One, that I shot with Eterna...
And then, a similar shot done with F-Log.
Oh yeah, and you see the red Ferrari in that clip?
I got to drive that thing.
[upbeat funky music]
♪
[engine revving]
Alright, so value conclusions,
the X-T3 is going to start shipping in a couple of weeks
and it's going to be $1,499 US, or $1,899 CAD,
and the obvious comparisons are going to be to the GH5
or the Sony a7 III, which are both more expensive.
Now, it's not full frame,
but it's also larger than Micro Four Thirds.
It has the best video modes of the group and it's
a solid performer in every aspect except for battery life.
And, it's not a perfect camera, I mean, I really wished that
it had an IBIS, I think that would have made it,
you know, even more compelling than what it is.
The GH5 obviously has this trumped when it comes to image
stabilisation and of course, battery life, and I also find
the GH5 screen to be a little bit more useful than this one.
This is a small camera and it feels quite light, now
that I've been used to the full frame mirrorless in the way
that I have my GH5 kitted out, so this seems like a great
gimbal camera option, and of course,
putting it on a gimbal would completely override
the lack of in-body image stabilisation,
but when it comes to focusing, image quality,
low light performance, colour science
and just pure functionality, it's pretty fantastic,
and it's the cheapest of the lot,
making it hard to beat from a value perspective.
This is a serious contender.
It's definitely the best APS-C video camera out there
and it's worth a serious look for a video shooter.
It's funny, my journey with Fuji this year
has been an interesting one.
I started the year out not being very impressed
with the X-T2 and making a video making fun of Fuji
for that botched firmware update
and that curious nature of that Instax market,
and I blamed my disinterest in Fuji on being
a video-first shooter and not really ever finding
what I needed in Fuji's highly photo-first product line.
Then, the X-H1 came out and Fuji wanted another shot at
impressing me with their most video-esque camera to date,
which of course, brings us to my most recent video,
in which I said basically that despite the X-H1
getting a whole bunch more things right,
I still can't recommend it based on its price,
its reliance on that vertical grip and in a market
where the alternatives from Sony are available.
So now, here we are with round three of Fuji
versus Gerald's video needs,
and I have to admit that they've done it.
They've made a camera that satisfies everything
I was asking for, and then some.
And, I think it's important to say so,
because it makes no sense to complain about
missing features or things you don't like in a camera
if you're not going to admit it when a company takes
what you say and turns around and nails it,
because otherwise you're just being a stubborn fanboy
and those attitudes never lead to innovation or progress.
So in short, would I recommend the X-T3?
Definitely!
Am I going to buy one? Probably.
Am I going to go crazy and sell all my camera gear
and take all of my Sony and Panasonic and Olympus stuff
and switch it over to Fuji and wear complete Fuji merchandise
everywhere I go and start making videos called,
"Why I'm Switching from Sony to Fuji"?
No, of course not, but I will take back
one of my sentences from earlier this year
when I said that Fuji has never really been the answer for me,
because as of making this video and with the X-T3,
Fuji is easily one of the best answers out there
for compact video shooting in 2018.
Anyway, that's going to be it for me.
I hope you found this video helpful, or at least
entertaining, and if you did, make sure you leave it the old
thumbs up and consider subscribing if you haven't
already, but if you did not find this video helpful
or entertaining, feel free to hit the dislike button twice.
[high-pitched] Alright!... I'm done.
♪