I traded my X-T30ii in for the X-T50...

Hello friends,

It’s about time that GAS strikes me again. Buuuuuut this time is the last time, right?

I’ve been eye-ing the Fujifilm X-T50 for a while. I actually wanted it from the get go but my budget didn’t allow for it, so I settled for the next best thing.

But I kept looking over the fence, mostly because the X-T30ii doesn’t have IBIS, which I sorely missed. So I finally pulled the trigger a few days ago.

This didn’t cost me any money, which made the decision a lot easier. I just traded the X-T30ii plus my Canon G5X mark II that was collecting dust for a few years now.

(I had that for a while so I can “use it to make vlogs”, which I literally never do. I think I just like the “idea” of making videos more than actually doing it, if that makes sense 😂)

Anyways, here are the good, the “whatever”, and the ugly.

The good

0. The feel

This is probably the most random “good” thing ever, but the X-T50 “feels” quite a bit better for me. There are probably a few things that contribute to it. The rounder finishes. The build that feels a bit more substantial (without adding weight). The grip and the ergonomics, while not perfect (I’ll go into more details below), is definitely improved from the X-T30ii.

1. IBIS

The main reason. I just really want it. It was an important part of my run and gun photography “style” (I just hate tripods, mostly. Calling the shit I shoot “style” is quite a reach)… and it’s the one thing I sorely miss when I switched to a Fuji system.

I don’t shoot videos, but I’d argue IBIS is more important for photography than videography anyways.

I don’t even shoot night time that much, funnily enough. I never intentionally go out and shoot at night, except when I’m on trips. I prefer sitting in the comfort of my home playing video games in the evening, if possible. Still, when I do, I do miss having some form of stabilization very much.

Sometimes I wish I didn’t like the Fuji bodies and the film sims this much. I could have had an A7II or something for a whole lot less money, and it would be full frame with IBIS and all the tech I’ve ever wanted for a whole lot less. I even have a set of vintage Canon FD glasses that would pair perfectly well with it.

… But I’ve also always looked over the Fuji fence. The sweet build and design with all the knobs and dials. And the amazing sims would allow my incompetent ass to have some photos with good colors for once. I think I’d probably hate full frame anyways if I actually use them. The added weight of the lenses are just not worth it to me.

For what it’s worth, IBIS on the X-T50 is very good. Much better than anything else I’ve ever used. I found out that I can handheld up to 2 seconds with it (4 seconds even if I’m very steady or have something to anchor my body). That is all the slow shutter speed I’ll ever need in my life for waterfalls and motion blur and nighttime shots.

So… here we are.

2. Nostalgic Negative (and Reala Ace, I guess)

The new 2 film sims are a nice bonus. I always wanted to try Nostalgic Negative, though it’s never a big enough reason alone. I really wish Fujifilm made a more “extreme” look for this (like Classic Neg and Eterna Bleach Bypass). But they dialed it back and it’s a bit too “normal” sometimes.

Aaaand… Classic Negative is my soulmate anyways 🤷.

I don’t even have a Nostalgic Neg recipe that I’m dying to try. But I have a few that I like, will probably try them soon. As soon as I get over my kick shooting my Harman Phoenix recipe 😂.

3. Button placements was improved

Finally a dedicated AF-On so I can back button focus, AND it’s placed in proper location. On the X-T30ii, I had it remapped to the Q button, just because the other buttons are quite hard to press when using the camera one handed.

I actually don’t have to fiddle and remap anything in this camera, aside from one for changing recipes, so hats off to Fuji on this.

4. Electronic levels are finally built into the main screen

FINALLY. 

This is so dumb that it didn’t exist in the X-T30ii. Everyone else have literally been doing it for at least 10 years, and yet for the X-T30ii, I had to map a separate button just to switch on the electronic level, which would lose the other information on the screen, and would go away after every shot.

Having things leveled is quite important to me, since I like shooting buildings and structures a lot, so this probably will actually saves me a lot of time and hassle over many hours of shooting.

5. Megapixels.

I was going to put this on the “whatever” column, because in truth, I didn’t really care for it. 26MP is more than I’ll ever need (and I still stand by that statement).

I’m not thrilled about the file sizes either.

Buuut, I started shooting it, and I think I kinda like it in the end. I guess I’m still a peeper sometimes 🤷. I do crop in a lot (aaand I usually crop my photos to 4:3 because I like the aspect ratio more, but sometimes 16:9, and sometimes 24:9 for the ultrawide shots). It’s nice that the cropped in shots retain more details.

Funny story: I turned on Smart Preview in Lightroom so that I can edit these 40MPs jpegs faster (yup, even editing jpegs are a bit of a struggle when they are 40MPs). And then I forgot about it the next day. And so I looked at a bunch of “soft” photos and I kept wondering if my cameras/lens have a problem 🤷. So my dumb ass almost threw away a day’s work until I remember about Smart Previews 😂.

(Is this even funny? Well it’s funny to me at least, though I’m already imagining all of you laughing AT me for my unfunny stories).

The whatever

1. Ergonomics

The X-T50 feels a bit more substantial, a bit larger and more sturdy (despite the same weight).

I initially thought ergos are improved, but in the end it’s still about the same. I don’t even have large hands (smol Asian hands here), but I’m still not very comfortable holding it for a long time. I had a bunch of wrist injuries before so I’m quite sensitive with ergonomics and weight. In the end I still use a neck strap instead of a wrist strap about 80% of the time, so whatever I guess.

The ugly

1. Film sims dial

This is just so dumb. It’s not how any of us use the sims, and Fujifilm clearly doesn’t know it. I set it at C and duct taped the dial in so I wouldn’t accidentally bump it. I already bumped it by accident at least twice by now, and I hate it. (why was my classic neg greens so… yellow today I wondered…)

The tape kept falling off though, so I’m looking for a new solution if you have any suggestions.

Why can’t it just be an ISO dial? Because then nobody would buy their bigger X-T siblings?

2. The switch that… switches the camera to “full auto” mode

Just, why. What is this for? Do they honestly thought their main demographic for this camera is people who has never used a camera before but will spend 1500$ on one?

…

I like the X-E and the X-T with two numbers line. (X-Tx0? X-T00? This naming convention 🤦). Maybe I’m alone here, but I like them a lot more than the “pro” bodies (X-T with one number, X-Pro, etc), because size and weight is more important to me than “pro” features like dual card slots and weather resistant.

Clearly Fujifilm doesn’t agree with that. These line of cameras I like are probably for “beginners” in their eyes who can’t be trusted with advanced technologies like changing ISOs and shooting manually, so they throw in these “blings” instead, I guess.

Maybe I’m just nitpicking, but seriously, I just hate it when a whole dial in my camera is more than useless to me.

Conclusion

Beside those little baffling “annoyances”, all in all, the X-T50 is still a very nice and capable camera. And I’m looking to the stuff I’ll make with it. This is probably the end game for me for the foreseeable future, so at least I can stop having GAS now and focus on creating art… Until Fuji release a new one with film sims so mindblowingly better than Classic Negative, I guess 🤷.

Until next time,

Peter.

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