Sony to Fuji
In 2010 I picked up the Sony NEX-C3, which would be the first of many Sony mirrorless cameras that I would go on to own. From there, I made the progressions like a lot of people and moved on to the a6000-series before eventually landing in full-frame territory: the Sony a7C (the OG). I’ve shot with the a7C exclusively since 2021. Four years and a small but satisfying collection of “banger” shots later, I felt ready to try something new. The a7C itself felt a little uncomfortable to use for my growing interest in photography over videography. I wanted a dedicated photography camera, but I wasn’t quite ready to get rid of my collection of E-mount glass. So, I did what I usually do and scoured YouTube for videos to convince me one way or another. Spoiler alert. I got a new camera.
Before I get into what I’ve come to enjoy about the Fuji system and my gear specifically, I want to list a few of things that I really think worked against the a7C being better for me at photography. These are by no means dealbreakers. As with any camera, they’re just trade-offs.
EVF size
Kid-sized grip
Lack of front dial
Moving to Fuji
I was feeling a little GAS-ey, so I did what most people do and loaded up my YouTube queue with the usual photography suspects. The goal was to nail down what I wanted in my first camera system change in over a decade. I stumbled into the Fuji YouTuber rabbit hole and started to notice a lot of them saying things like “Fuji color science”,“film simulations", and “custom Fuji recipes”. I liked what I was seeing. After more research, I narrowed my camera choices to the X-T series. Now I just needed one more push: a sale! Too bad Fuji cameras don’t really seem to go on sale very often. In the end, availability ended up being a bigger factor than price. Eventually, I landed on the X-T5.
Top 10 reasons why I chose the X-T5
Weather sealed (like the a7C, I didn’t want a step down here)
40MP sensor to allow for some generous cropping if/when needed (this would be the highest MP sensor I’ve ever owned)
Dual SD card slots (a first for me, but something I wanted in case I started getting more serious about my photography, which has definitely happened)
Giant EVF (those of us with less than perfect vision will appreciate the EVF)
Fun and useful dials (strictly a personal preference)
Better grip than the a7C (another personal preference I suppose)
Smaller lenses than the full-frame equivalent for an overall lighter kit
Retro look (I will say that I generally like rangefinder-styled cameras better, but I dig the retro stylings here)
1st party lens reputation (in particular, the 33mm f1.8 and 18-55 kit lens)
Film simulations and custom recipes (I’ve basically found a handful I like and rotate as needed, but I’ve also started doing more RAW editing after reviewing the JPEGs)
I haven’t had the X-T5 long enough to really have a finalized opinion of it, but I have taken it out almost every day for six months straight at this point, so I do have some general thoughts. Let me start off with the cons, which might not be much of a suprise.
Cons
Autofocus seems a little less reliable that I’m used to with my a7C, but this is also a skill issue on my part. I will say that I’m no slouch on manual focusing, so I just feel that Sony autofocus feels more reliable and does what I expect it to, whereas the Fuji will sometimes struggle to lock onto my subject. For example, the X-T5, when paired with the XF 70-300 f/4-5.6 has trouble locking focus when there is a lot going on in the background, like layers of tree branches or leaves, for example.
Lenses don’t have any custom buttons, which are becoming more and more common on the E-mount system. I miss having an extra custom button on the left side of a lens. This isn’t a real issue, but my favorite E-mount lens is the Sony 40mm f/2.5 G, which - you guessed it - has a custom button on the left side of the lens, AND it has a declickable aperture ring.
The Fuji menu system, while an arguable step up from the a7C menu, is still pretty terrible. The entire menu system is a bit easier to figure out than the Sony in my opinion, but even then, not by much. I basically just limit main menu interaction as much as possible and rely on the Q- quick function menu only.
Pros
Things that I appreciate most so far after using the Fuji X-T5 for almost 6 months everyday.
First party lenses all have aperture clicked aperture rings for the most part. I use the Fuji only for photography so a de-clicked aperture ring is useless for me. That said, even among Fuji’s lenses, the build quality varies pretty wildly. For example, I have the XF 33mm f/1.4 R LM WR and the XF 18mm f/1.4 R LM WR. These two lenses basically follow the same design, but the 33mm aperture ring has a nice amount of resistance. The 18mm, on the otherhand, has an aperture ring that almost feels de-clicked. They don’t feel like they were built by the same company, but it could just be my copy. I’ve seen other people mention the same thing, but YMMV.
Dials a-plenty. I like the retro look of the Fuji dials. I love that I have a front dial finally. The entire camera was purpose-built for photography.
Dual SD card slots is a game changer for me. I’ve already had one SD card fail on me but having the cards set as backup meant I didn’t lose any photos. I now worry constantly about card failure on my Sony (just kidding, sort of…).
The EVF is very useable for people with glasses. I don’t struggle at all with using the X-T5’s EVF. I rarely use the screen nowadays. This is my second SLR-style camera with center-positioned EVF. The first one was a Canon Kiss X-4 from 2010, so, it’s been awhile.
Overall lightweight kit. Technically, the X-T5 (557g. 130 x 91 x 64 mm) is larger than the a7C (509g. 124 x 71 x 60 mm). However, since the Fuji is a crop sensor, you get a wide range of good lenses that are generally going to be much smaller than what you get on full frame. Case in point, the Fuji XF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 is 1.3 lb / 588 g while the E-mount Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 G2 is 1.2 lb / 540 g. Completely different zooms, I know. But I can get a 35mm equivalent of 107 to 457mm while the Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS weighs a solid 3.1 lb / 1395 g and comes in at an equally hefty price of around $2,700 before tax. My wallet and my back both thank me at this point.
So that’s it for now. I’m planning to do a follow up after getting a full year’s worth of use out of this. I have some trips lined up where I’ll be putting in some quality time with the X-T5, so I’ll hopefully also have some good photos to share.
Thanks for reading. Cheers.