Little Sniper : The Fujifilm X-A1...
Behold...the Fujifilm X-A1 ! Aahh...alright cut the crap, hi again and welcome to my little site. After a long while owning the Sony a57, finally I've decided to let it go for good by replacing it with this powerful little shooter, the Fujifilm X-A1. Some of you may be questioning me, why? Why from a decent DSLR body shooter to this small little APS-C? The answer is simple, this little Fuji out performed all my DSLR line up without a single drop of sweat! Let's not start with low ISO and sufficient day light shooting...let's start with 1600ISO and above all the way until 6400ISO...non of my DSLR line up able to beat this little X-A1! Unbelievable but that's the fact!
No doubt, X-A1 is just an entry-level or non Pro Level line up from Fujifilm and it does not house the same sensor as its higher spec siblings, the Fujifilm X-Trans Sensor. It may sound a bit "off" but ohh, trust me, be it new sensor or old sensor, Fujifilm has been well known for their own tweak!
Let's start with its handling and design first...
No doubt, X-A1 is just an entry-level or non Pro Level line up from Fujifilm and it does not house the same sensor as its higher spec siblings, the Fujifilm X-Trans Sensor. It may sound a bit "off" but ohh, trust me, be it new sensor or old sensor, Fujifilm has been well known for their own tweak!
Let's start with its handling and design first...
Design and handling...
X-A1 is a very simple camera, it is small...easy to handle...and great portability for travelling folks. The design is straight forward, and with the flipping screen is truly an advantage especially we're in the middle of the crowd and they block our view, we can just simply lift up our camera, flip down the screen and shoot! The only disadvantage of flip design screen is, they cannot retract out and twist to our desired angle, that's all. So some of you may found it a bit difficult if you're used to twisting type of screen.
Other than that, the buttons and dials are well placed. Only down side is, for those who have big fat fingers, then you may find it a bit difficult to operate with. But for me, they are just fine since I'm Asian and I don't have big fingers :P As for the size and weight, it's quite acceptable and in fact quite fun to bring around with unlike the bulky and hefty DSLR. This is the best part of having a mirrorless system :)
As for the rest, it has a handy built-in WiFi for some quick file transfer to any smart device couple with another advantage, which is the Focus Peaking that give a great help for those who prefer to shoot Manual, that's it. No GPS, no touch screen capability.
X-A1 is a very simple camera, it is small...easy to handle...and great portability for travelling folks. The design is straight forward, and with the flipping screen is truly an advantage especially we're in the middle of the crowd and they block our view, we can just simply lift up our camera, flip down the screen and shoot! The only disadvantage of flip design screen is, they cannot retract out and twist to our desired angle, that's all. So some of you may found it a bit difficult if you're used to twisting type of screen.
Other than that, the buttons and dials are well placed. Only down side is, for those who have big fat fingers, then you may find it a bit difficult to operate with. But for me, they are just fine since I'm Asian and I don't have big fingers :P As for the size and weight, it's quite acceptable and in fact quite fun to bring around with unlike the bulky and hefty DSLR. This is the best part of having a mirrorless system :)
As for the rest, it has a handy built-in WiFi for some quick file transfer to any smart device couple with another advantage, which is the Focus Peaking that give a great help for those who prefer to shoot Manual, that's it. No GPS, no touch screen capability.
The lenses...
X-A1 came in two package, single lens package and twin lens package. They are the Fujinon XC 16-50mm and the Fujinon XC 50-230mm. Both are housed with plastic material with plastic mount but don't be let down by the described spec cause it uses ALL-GLASS optical to ensure best quality imaging result. What I like about these combination is design, size and weight of it.
It may be not a fast lens for both but, thanks to its effective O.I.S, I'm able to get good result at 50mm F8 with only 1/15sec shutter speed on still shooting :)
X-A1 came in two package, single lens package and twin lens package. They are the Fujinon XC 16-50mm and the Fujinon XC 50-230mm. Both are housed with plastic material with plastic mount but don't be let down by the described spec cause it uses ALL-GLASS optical to ensure best quality imaging result. What I like about these combination is design, size and weight of it.
It may be not a fast lens for both but, thanks to its effective O.I.S, I'm able to get good result at 50mm F8 with only 1/15sec shutter speed on still shooting :)
Fujifilm Fujinon XC 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 Super EBC
The Fujinon XC 16-50mm is small in size and also quite a performer for a non pro kit lens (vs XF 18-55mm F2.8-4). They're about the same size as the m/43 Panasonic Lumix 14-42mm kit lens and they weight about the same too. Compare this lens with the rest of the lens that I've had fore and now...for e.g, Canon 17-85mm, Tamron 17-50mm 2.8, I really like this lens due to its wider 16mm focal length vs 17mm and the rest common kit lens 18mm. And they are sharp too without need to stop down much depend on what we're shooting at. At 50mm, result is still great at F5.6 but everything goes sharper when we stop down to F8.
P/S: Samples are all unedited. Straight OOC without resizing.
The Fujinon XC 16-50mm is small in size and also quite a performer for a non pro kit lens (vs XF 18-55mm F2.8-4). They're about the same size as the m/43 Panasonic Lumix 14-42mm kit lens and they weight about the same too. Compare this lens with the rest of the lens that I've had fore and now...for e.g, Canon 17-85mm, Tamron 17-50mm 2.8, I really like this lens due to its wider 16mm focal length vs 17mm and the rest common kit lens 18mm. And they are sharp too without need to stop down much depend on what we're shooting at. At 50mm, result is still great at F5.6 but everything goes sharper when we stop down to F8.
P/S: Samples are all unedited. Straight OOC without resizing.
Fujifilm Fujinon XC 50-230mm f/4.5-6.7 Super EBC
When we're on tele zoom, we ain't gonna talk about how sharp the result could be on the short end 50mm, but what we want is how well it can perform at end of 230mm...this is what a tele zoom lens for. XC 50-230mm share same material like the XC 16-50mm, it is fully composed with high grade plastic material and uses 58mm filter size. I didn't had much shots with this one but I dare to say, based on my experience on tele zooms that I've used before (e.g Canon EF-S 55-250mm, Nikon DX 55-200mm VR, Sony DT 55-200mm SAM and Minolta APO 100-300mm), this XC 50-230mm is another great performer for its price tag. I have never try the pro level XF 55-200mm yet but I do believe, this XC 50-230mm is not a bad lens to shoot with. The focusing speed is decently good, reasonably sized and most important of all, focus lock accuracy and sharpness especially at the long end 230mm is good! If you're having a X series Fujifilm camera and wanted to reach further but don't wanna burn your pocket, waste no more, this is the lens for you! You don't need to worry about the built although they are plastic because overall feel is very solid and tough.
The only down side of this lens is, it may not focus as close up as the XC 16-50mm can which is minimum 40cm from the object. The focusing may hunt a little too on flat/lower contrast area especially on a dimmer condition. Other than that, if given me a chance to rank this lens, I'll give it 3.8 out 5! If it's gotta be 10, I'll give it 7.8 out of 10! The bad points 2.2 is for the plastic mount & housing, slower aperture and focus hunt on dimmer low/flat contrast condition that's all.
P/S: Samples are all unedited. Straight OOC without resizing.
When we're on tele zoom, we ain't gonna talk about how sharp the result could be on the short end 50mm, but what we want is how well it can perform at end of 230mm...this is what a tele zoom lens for. XC 50-230mm share same material like the XC 16-50mm, it is fully composed with high grade plastic material and uses 58mm filter size. I didn't had much shots with this one but I dare to say, based on my experience on tele zooms that I've used before (e.g Canon EF-S 55-250mm, Nikon DX 55-200mm VR, Sony DT 55-200mm SAM and Minolta APO 100-300mm), this XC 50-230mm is another great performer for its price tag. I have never try the pro level XF 55-200mm yet but I do believe, this XC 50-230mm is not a bad lens to shoot with. The focusing speed is decently good, reasonably sized and most important of all, focus lock accuracy and sharpness especially at the long end 230mm is good! If you're having a X series Fujifilm camera and wanted to reach further but don't wanna burn your pocket, waste no more, this is the lens for you! You don't need to worry about the built although they are plastic because overall feel is very solid and tough.
The only down side of this lens is, it may not focus as close up as the XC 16-50mm can which is minimum 40cm from the object. The focusing may hunt a little too on flat/lower contrast area especially on a dimmer condition. Other than that, if given me a chance to rank this lens, I'll give it 3.8 out 5! If it's gotta be 10, I'll give it 7.8 out of 10! The bad points 2.2 is for the plastic mount & housing, slower aperture and focus hunt on dimmer low/flat contrast condition that's all.
P/S: Samples are all unedited. Straight OOC without resizing.
Verdict
The X-A1 is a great mirrorless camera, yes it is. I'm not saying it is the best out there in its class but, its good high ISO quality is more than enough for anything else. Let's begin with the area that involve speed, it turns on quite instant and the AF speed is decently good. AF Tracking also just nice although does not have rapid lock. Of course, don't expect the AF speed to be as fast as the top line up from Olympus which is the O-MD EM5 but just like its more expensive siblings, the X-A1 able to give us excellent image quality although it is using the X Trans sensor.
No X-Trans, No problem! The X-A1 handle very well in Noise Control at higher ISO. I've got no problem shooting from ISO200 all the way to 6400. Sometimes I pushes it all the way up to 12'800ISO if I have to and it still gives me great good result although we can notice the noise is more already. As for the slow kit lens XC 16-50mm and the XC 50-230mm tele zoom, I've got no worries at all on low light condition thanks to the effective O.I.S which help a lot beside than pumping up the ISO.
Of course, I won't simply compare it with any other format like Micro Four Thirds or Full Frame because these are in total different league. But I dare to say, the OOC result is very very good.
Q-Quick Menu vs. Fn....
The layout of Q-Quick Menu is quite easy to run through with. All the important short cuts are placed there so you won't have difficult time accessing it. But, it is not "Full" enough. Especially Metering Mode, we've gotta dig into the General Menu and search it out to change the Metering settings which is quite hassle and takes time. Fn button is wonderful but limited! We can only assign one short cut onto it...so it's either we assign the commonly use functions like ISO - AE/AF - Metering - DOF Preview and so on...
My conclusion...
Is shooting with X-A1 a joy? Hell YES! Shooting with X-A1 is a pleasure! I preferred it anytime than my Olympus E-PM1 and Sony a57 (which I'm letting go soon). Do not misunderstand my words, both E-PM1 and Sony a57 are also a great camera, just that, I preferred this X-A1 more. E-PM1 is good but due to its aging sensor, I will couple it with the Sigma 30mm DN serve as a fixed-length Point & Shoot while X-A1 will be primary do-it-all shooter thanks to its good high ISO performance. The Fujifilm X-A1 is truly one of the best APS-C Mirrorless out there that I ever had!
The X-A1 is a great mirrorless camera, yes it is. I'm not saying it is the best out there in its class but, its good high ISO quality is more than enough for anything else. Let's begin with the area that involve speed, it turns on quite instant and the AF speed is decently good. AF Tracking also just nice although does not have rapid lock. Of course, don't expect the AF speed to be as fast as the top line up from Olympus which is the O-MD EM5 but just like its more expensive siblings, the X-A1 able to give us excellent image quality although it is using the X Trans sensor.
No X-Trans, No problem! The X-A1 handle very well in Noise Control at higher ISO. I've got no problem shooting from ISO200 all the way to 6400. Sometimes I pushes it all the way up to 12'800ISO if I have to and it still gives me great good result although we can notice the noise is more already. As for the slow kit lens XC 16-50mm and the XC 50-230mm tele zoom, I've got no worries at all on low light condition thanks to the effective O.I.S which help a lot beside than pumping up the ISO.
Of course, I won't simply compare it with any other format like Micro Four Thirds or Full Frame because these are in total different league. But I dare to say, the OOC result is very very good.
Q-Quick Menu vs. Fn....
The layout of Q-Quick Menu is quite easy to run through with. All the important short cuts are placed there so you won't have difficult time accessing it. But, it is not "Full" enough. Especially Metering Mode, we've gotta dig into the General Menu and search it out to change the Metering settings which is quite hassle and takes time. Fn button is wonderful but limited! We can only assign one short cut onto it...so it's either we assign the commonly use functions like ISO - AE/AF - Metering - DOF Preview and so on...
My conclusion...
Is shooting with X-A1 a joy? Hell YES! Shooting with X-A1 is a pleasure! I preferred it anytime than my Olympus E-PM1 and Sony a57 (which I'm letting go soon). Do not misunderstand my words, both E-PM1 and Sony a57 are also a great camera, just that, I preferred this X-A1 more. E-PM1 is good but due to its aging sensor, I will couple it with the Sigma 30mm DN serve as a fixed-length Point & Shoot while X-A1 will be primary do-it-all shooter thanks to its good high ISO performance. The Fujifilm X-A1 is truly one of the best APS-C Mirrorless out there that I ever had!
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