Thanks to our fantastic sources, 2018 was another incredibly busy and successful rumor year for FujiRumors, with 75 rumors shared (one rumor every 5 days) and a rumor hit rate of 92%.
I hope we could add a bit of fun and entertainement in the Fuji X and GFX world, and that you guys enjoyed the time spent discussing the rumors on this blog.
A trusted source told me (thanks), that the Fujifilm X-T30 will be released in the first quarter of 2019 (January-March).
This pretty much fits with what we expected in our Fujifilm X camera replacement timeline, where we speculated, based on Fuji’s camera refresh-cycle, when the Fujifilm X-H2, Fujifilm X-T4, Fujifilm X-T30, Fujifilm X-Pro3, Fujifilm X-E4 and Fujifilm X200 (or X100V) could be released.
According to a trusted source, the Fujifilm X-H2 will not hit the market in 2019.
This rumor seem to confirm our Fujifilm X Camera replacement timeline, which shows you when we can expect the Fujifilm X-H2, Fujifilm X-T4, Fujifilm X-E4, Fujifilm X-Pro3, Fujifilm X-T30, Fujifilm X200 (or Fujifilm X100V) based on Fuji’s camera refresh rate from 2011 to 2018.
So, the Fuji X-H2 is still a long way off, hence, if you want to get the latest and greatest in the most powerful package possible now, the Fujifilm X-T3 is the way to go. And if you want IBIS, ultra rugged body and ninja mechanical shutter, go for the Fujifilm X-H1.
And given that you guys now have a first reliable Fuji XH2 time frame, I decided to launch the poll again, where you can vote if you prefer to wait for the X-H2, or you go X-T3 instead.
Mathieu and Heather from Mirrorlessons have just published the complete Fujifilm X-T2 vs X-T3 comparison, and it’s arguably one of the very best you can right now find on the web.
Here are some key points:
BUILD QUALITY
X-T3 survived 90 minutes in the heavy rain photographing a soccer game
Refined sub-dials and command dials make them more comfortable to turn
More customization possibilities on X-T3 command dials
TOUCH SCREEN
X-T3 touch screen a bit slow and lacking responsiveness
POST PROCESSING
Capture One and Iridient render X-T3 files still better than Lightroom
Lightroom – unlike Capture One – adds lots of magenta shift by default to the X-T3 file to display the colours correctly (+65 which is very unusual). Perhaps it is a bug that will be fixed with the next update
IMAGE QUALITY and FILM SIMULATIONS
RAW Shadow recovery: both cameras perform well but the X-T3 file has less noise. The X-T2 exhibits some red colour cast
RAW Highlights recovery: X-T2 surprisingly retains a little more information
JPEG: The two cameras behave in a similar way including how they preserve highlights. The only small difference is that the X-T3 shows more noise in the dark areas but also more sharpness. This means there is less noise reduction applied than on the X-T2
Both cameras perform the same up to 12800 ISO, with perhaps slightly more noise in the X-T3 files but you really need to pixel-peep to see it
JPEG: more pronounced colour shift on the X-T2 the more you add noise reduction
SKIN TONES: With a manual kelvin temperature, both cameras shift towards a green tint but it is more contained on the X-T3.
White balance: the X-T3 produces a marginally cooler result for outdoor shots
Subtle changes in some film simulations
PURPLE FLARE and GRID ARTIFACTS
X-T3 doesn’t suffer at all from purple flare and grid artifacts
AUTOFOCUS
X-T3 autofocus breaths new life into older lenses
X-T3 much improved face and eye detection that rarely fail even in low-light environments
Car rally: the X-T3 only delivered 3 completely out of focus shots out of more than 200
Soccer: X-T3 has about the hit rate of the X-T2
Birds photography: keeper rate of 60/70%, or 85/90% if he includes slightly soft results. But when the bird flew closer, the AF was usually reactive enough to keep the subject in focus. Normally in this specific situation, the change in focus distance is too big and the action happens too fast for most mirrorless cameras to cope, but the X-T3 did better than most and proved to be capable of matching products such as the Sony A9 or Nikon D500
SPORTS MODE BUG
When using the camera in crop mode (Sports Finder or electronic shutter), some RAW files are not written correctly and end up with a vertical black band, making the photo unusable. The percentage is low (around 10 shots on more than 200). Maybe something Fuji can fix with a firmware update because it doesn’t happen when using the full sensor area
VIDEO
X-T3 less rolling shutter
X-T3 uses face and eye detection in 4K, the X-T2 only in 1080p
X-T3 superior video specs
FUJIFILM X-H2
The elephant in the room is called Fujifilm X-H2, which mirrorlessons thinks could be out “sometime next year” and they say it could be worth to wait a bit longer to get the superior ergonomics and IBIS of the Fuji X-H2.
And if you are interested, we have launched a few polls regarding the Fuji XH2 as well as a timeline on when we can expect the Fujifilm X-H2, Fujifilm X-T4, Fujifilm X-T30, Fujifilm X-Pro3, Fujifilm X200 and Fujifilm X-E4.
POLL 1: Are you waiting for X-H2 to upgrade/switch or did you get the Fujifilm X-T3 already?
POLL 2: If the Fujifilm X-T3 had IBIS, would you prefer it over the Fujifilm X-H2?
TIMELINE: Fujifilm X Camera replacement timeline from 2011 to 2018 and what this could mean for X-H2, X-T4, X-T30, X-Pro3, X-E4, X200