First off, why did I get this camera when I already have an extensive set of nikon gear for every situation I shoot? I will use a Samurai metaphor for this, because it's my blog, it's a new year, and I can darn it! I mean, what american child (at least who grew up in the 80s) didn't want to be a Ninja or Samurai at some point? Samurai were more than warriors, they were also artists and poets, and didn't at all find this duality confusing, in fact they embraced one as necessary to the other. As I wind down a multiple decade military career and transition back into the artistic side of my life, I find this idea resonates. Anyway, back to photography. The D4 and D800 combo are my katana and wakazashi, the short and long swords of the samurai. Those two weapons were their life blood, getting them through battles and challenges. However, for daily mundane tasks, the also carried another blade, the tanto. A smaller, more utilitarian blade. I needed something similar.
The D4 is amazing for low light, high speed action when I am shooting live performances or events. The D800 has massive resolution for portrait or studio shoots with plenty of controlled light. In a professional scenario I will reach for whichever of these two beasts is appropriate for the situation. But two convergent factors made me realize I needed a third niche specialist. First off, I commute daily between Carlsbad and Coronado Island in Southern California, driving along some fantastic beaches and scenery. Far too many times I have driven past amazing sunrises and sunsets and cursed because I knew that my iPhone and my waterproof P&S I carry around just weren't up to the task of properly capturing the shot, and I wasn't comfortable carrying around one of my primary cameras and leaving it in my car all day every day. Second, a couple of all day amusement park visits with family and friends demonstrated how much of a pita it was to use even the smaller of the two, the D800, as a walk around camera. Time to look for something more capable than the phone or my Stylus Tough 800, which is a great camera but a little old and lacks zoom range. Enter the X-T1.
There are three ways to purchase the X-T1; body only, kitted with a 18-55mm lens, or the one I chose with the 18-135mm. The 18-55 is a bit smaller and faster, but it would have given me roughly the same range as a 24-70 on my full frames, which is fine, but often not quite long enough for what I wanted. The 18-135 on the other hand, was roughly equivalent to a 27-206mm range on my big guns, thus it would be like I was carrying around both the 24-70 and 70-200s. That would get me through anything I would imagine myself wanting on a walk around, so the loss of a couple stops was more than worth the trade for me. Pictures say it all:
There you can see the X-T1 with both the 18-135 lens and external flash attached, compared to the equivalent amount of full frame gear it replaces as a walk around. (the camera itself has no built in flash, but comes with the small external one shown in the image) Weight is a small fraction as well. It fits quite easily into a man purse with all my other daily odds and ends, for this I use a Tenba DNA-11, which will be reviewed later.
For another size comparison, next to the camera you can see my iPad mini and a moleskin journal. So, now that the why is answered, how well does the camera handle and perform?
Well, it definitely is a learning curve, the interface is somewhat different from Nikon's, but it isn't too tough a learning curve for the basics. There are physical controls for the major shooting functions and it is rather quick and easy to take full manual control over the camera and change ISO, Shutter Speed or Aperture. Back button focus is also possible to set up on the camera. The menu system is pretty easy to navigate and there are even five programmable function buttons you can set up however you want. If you want to use some of the more advanced functions like off camera flash or fill flash to balance a bright background, be prepared to spend both a lot of time in the manual and possibly a little time on google. There are a few gotchas, like enabling mode "x" completely disables all options for setting "y" even when there is no obvious connection between the two, which can be frustrating until you learn all the ins and outs.
This is a small camera, again, that is its' reason d'être. I have I guess medium size hands, I wear a size 10 glove, or Large in the S-M-L-XL-XXL world. It isn't as easy to manipulate the controls with the camera at my eye as it is on my big Nikons, but it also isn't terribly difficult. The main problem comes with the fact that some of the dials are stacked, and it can be easy to accidentally move one along with the one you are trying to adjust. You have hard dial control for the following items: ISO, Shutter Speed, Exposure Compensation (camera, not flash) Metering Mode, Shutter Drive Mode, and Focus Mode. There are two sub dials that change function depending on which mode you are adjusting, giving you more granularity in selecting shutter speeds and apertures. The camera and lens combo actually feel pretty good in my hands, not really all that different from one of my older film SLRs like the Canon AE-1P that I started out with. It's also roughly similar size wise.
One of the best features of this camera by far is the EVF, the Electronic Viewfinder. I am starting to actually like the EVF better than the OVF (optical viewfinder) on my big guns. It has greater magnification than the nikons, is illuminated so you can see better in low light, and there is even an exposure preview mode, so that when you are shooting in something besides auto mode you can actually see the exposure you are going to get in your viewfinder as you change your settings. You can select to use the rear LCD only, EVF only, or have the camera automatically switch between the two when you put your eye to the viewfinder. You can also set the EVF to only turn on when your eye is on the viewfinder, to conserve battery. The LCD screen tilts vertically for holding the camera down low or up high, but does not swivel side to side.
Another nice thing about the EVF is if you have the camera up to your eye and need to get to any of the deeper menu items (or anything in the quick menus that gives you simple access to some of the more frequently needed settings) those menus are visible in the EVF, so once you get the hang of the buttonology you can get to ANY setting and menu on the camera without taking your eye off the viewfinder.
As I mentioned above, there are several programmable buttons on the camera. There is a 4 way rocker on the back, similar to one you would use to adjust the focus points of a DSLR, I have this set up as quick access to flash exposure compensation, focal point selection, Auto ISO controls and switching in/out of macro mode. But you can set it up however you want.
The camera does not come with a popup flash built in, but it ships with a small hotshoe flash, that folds up/down on the hot show, so it becomes a quasi-popup flash.
When the flash is in the down position it's off, flipping it up activates it in whatever mode you have set on the camera. This flash also can serve as a Commander for optically slaved off camera flashes. If you are coming from another system, or have other flashes, they may or may not work with the X-T1 in manual mode. My Nikon flashes did, but my Phottix units didn't, nor did the Odin transmitter unit. It isn't strikingly powerful, but it's definitely good enough to do daylight fill or to get some good shots in the dark, and the ability to take full manual control of it lets you do decent balanced fill in daylight or night.
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| ISO 800, 1/60sec, F/8 TTL fill flash |
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| ISO 800, 1/35Sec, F4.3 TTL fill flash |
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| ISO 200, 1/160sec, F5.6 Manual fill flash |
So that's flash. Autofocus is great. It isn't nearly as fast as the big guns, but I was actually surprised at how capable it was. (one note- make sure you update your camera and lens to the latest firmware. When I first took it out I wasn't that impressed, then I discovered I was still on body version 1.0, so i upgraded to 3.0 and the difference was night and day!) The Auto face detection function worked really well for keeping track of a running 2 year old in a park, and using the 8FPS burst mode it was still able to track said speeding toddler and his mom playing on a swingset.
In case that isn't enough, it was also able to easily keep up with a flyer on the traveling rings.
The last shot I will use to illustrate the AF capabilities of this setup also leads into a look at its' high ISO performance. I casually zoomed in on a bird in flight around sunset on the beach, and here are the results:
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| ISO 800, 1/500sec F4.3, straight out of camera. |
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| Same image, no corrections, zoomed into 100% and cropped |
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| Same image, Luminance NR set to 50 in LR5.7 |
I found that while there is definitely some noise at higher ISOs, anything below 800 was fine for most purposes straight out of camera (coincidentally, this is the default max setting for Auto ISO) but anything up to 3200 was pretty good and could be easily corrected in Lightroom.
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| ISO 3200, 1/125sec F3.5 Straight out of Camera |
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| 100% crop no post processing |
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| 100% crop, luminance NR set to 35 in LR5.7 |
The last thing I will mention is the battery. Reviews mentioned that the battery doesn't last too long, so I also ordered a set of backup batteries and a charger from Wasabi Power. Wasabi Power is another great name to remember, if you aren't already familiar with them. I found out about them when I was looking for spare GoPro Batteries and a charger. Just like with the GoPro, the batteries are just as awesome as OEM, cheaper, and the charger is smaller, more portable, and better designed. But I digress. The book figure for the battery is roughly 400 shots. I am too lazy to sit and shoot that many frames in a row, even at 8FPS, so I haven't tested that limit, but I carried it around for a whole day of shooting my family, about 6 hours and 200 frames, and was only down to 3/4 power on the indicator, so battery life is totally good for my purposes. I do turn the camera off when I am not shooting, it powers on and is ready to go really quickly. I also keep the LCD off and set the EVF to eye sensor mode, both of which help with battery life. If I notice anything adverse I will update this review later on.
That's the basics. If I find anything overwhelmingly new I will update this post, but I have only been using this camera for a couple of weeks now. I do like the silent mode, good for taking pics of sleeping toddlers looking cute, but it is a little random that you can't have silent mode and force fill flash. There are features that I haven't touched yet, like the different film imitations (I shoot raw, so these don't apply to my shots). There is an option to use an electronic shutter either in combination with or in place of the physical shutter, which should add stability to long exposures. In electronic shutter you can also shoot at up to 1/32000sec. I haven't found anything really to require that high a shutter speed, but if that hummingbird flock ever comes back, I am ready. The Image Stabilization also is great, I can shoot handheld at much lower shutter speeds than I can with the 70-200 VRI Nikon.
So far I have been very pleased with the camera, it's definitely more than an adequate replacement for the D800 as a walking around, day to day carry camera. It's just fun to shoot with, and brings the retro feel from my first camera back along with the convenience of modern technology. It would even suffice as a third string backup if I had to use it for an event. It's a great purchase and I am sure as I get used to it and more fluid with using it I will be even happier with it. One thing I did add was a screen protector, this one is awesome in case you are looking for one yourself.
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