The Answer to Every Question

Yesterday's post was an "answer to every question" post—i.e., the answer to every question about what printer to get is either the P800 or the Pro-1000.

Other answers to every question: iMac; fruits and vegetables; Miata.

And just recently, is another one...Fuji X-T2? (Note that it's not in stock at the link.)

Kinda seems like it might be the coolest camera on the planet right now. I'm just getting that sense. Editor's intuition. I've pre-ordered an A6500 (I have till Dec. 6th to back out) and that is not the answer to every question, just a few specific ones....

Mike

(P.S. This is kind of a placeholder post while I beaver away on a "Camera Buying Guide" which will be entertaining with a light sprinkling of delightful outrageousness.)

Original contents copyright 2016 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Kenneth Tanaka: "After spending nearly a week with the X-T2 I became convinced of its added value over my X-T1. I received my permanent X-T2 just yesterday, in fact. I'm not sure the X-T2 is the 'coolest' new camera out there, at least to me. (There's a tie for 'coolest' new camera in my book between the iPhone 7 Plus and the Panasonic Lumix GX85. I just spent a week traveling with them and...wow. An excellent casual kit!) But the higher res, the dual-axis screen articulation, the new shutter, and several other very thoughtful new touches/corections make it an excellent update to an already-excellent camera line. If you're really curious I highly recommend renting one to see if it really merits the update for you."

Steve Renwick: "I think you missed a few key answers, to wit: Tri-X; Goldfinger; Sauté and add white wine."

Mike replies: When I was a high school photo teacher, my students had a T-shirt made for me that they gave me for my birthday. It said "Try a number 3 filter and make it daka!" I guess that was my answer to every question of theirs!

Comments

[Ken Bennett]

The X-T2 is pretty cool; I managed to get two of them right when they were released. The X-T2 ticks all the right boxes for me as a professional tool: it feels very quick and responsive, the autofocus is excellent, it's small and light, and it lets me attach a variety of simply excellent lenses.

But I still think the X Pro 2 is more fun to shoot for most of the work I do. Lately I've been out shooting my assignments with one of each unless I need more than two cameras (which does happen).

[James]

But Mike, you have that wonderful Fuji 14mm lens........

[Oh, I didn't yet claim that I'm going to be able to part with the X-T1. --Mike]

[Matt]

I'm testing one right now to see if maybe it's viable as a replacement for me for both my M43 system and my D750. So far I've been very impressed, though I've haven't really put it through its paces yet.

One thing that has been a small let down for me (not having used a Fuji before) has been the dials. Not so much the placement and function of the dials, but the feel of them. Having seen so many people rave about the "tactility" of Fujis, I had high expectations there.

While they're quite good, I think they're still a step below Olympus, who, in my opinion, has pretty much nailed down the perfect amount of resistance and springiness (not sure if that's the right word, but it's the best I can come up with right now) on their current crop of OMD bodies.

[Iran Ramirez]

Buying sony junk over an XT2? The A6500 will be worth $399 a year down the road, not saying it won't deliver the goods but for the love of... XT2 viewfinder alone is better than anything the A6500 can offer

[Steve Higgins]

Yesterday's post was an "answer to every question" post—i.e., the answer to every question about what printer to get is either the P800 or the Pro-1000.

Oh, good. I'll sell a kidney and buy one!

Steve (permanently skint pensioner) H!

[Stephen Scharf]

I've had my X-T2 for a little over a month now, and like Ken Bennet, it ticks all the boxes for me as a completely professional tool.

It's an excellent camera on a number of different levels with respect to performance, responsiveness, build quality, image quality, dynamic range, resolution, and on the whole, a quantum jump over the X-T1, not an "evolutionary" update. There also appears to be a TON of editing headroom in the files.

This camera does a Jekyll-and-Hyde like transformation though, where, in combination with the Vertical Power Booster Grip, it turns a beast of a photojournalism camera. I shot my first complete professional motor race with it the first weekend I received it, and in combination with the superb 50-140/2.8 and the 100-400, it completely exceeeded my expectations for everything from paddock, pit lane and racing action. The AF performance, battery reserves, handling with bigger lenses, and image quality are very impressive.

Shots from the Indy Car race at Sonoma Raceway are here:

http://www.fujix-forum.com/threads/x-t2-rips-through-sonoma-raceway-at-the-indy-car-races.61602/

http://www.fujix-forum.com/threads/indy-car-pit-lane-shots.61917/

With Profoto adding TTL lighting support for X-cameas in 2017, I'm going to go out on a limb and predict the X-T2 will be a game changer for many pros migrating from DSLRs to mirrorless ILCs.

[Oskar Ojala]

After reading all the raves about the XT2, I had to go to a store and try one just to feel how it is. Felt like a nicely balanced camera, though the tracking focus wasn't that special in a store setting. Didn't feel envious as a non-Fuji user, but could see that the camera has appeal to many.

[Andre Y]

I'll be contrarian here and say that the X-T2 did not work well for me at all shooting dance in a studio under lighting conditions requiring 1/200, f/1.8 at ISO 800, ie. not great light but not very dark either. Using boost mode and the 90/2, I found the AF unreliable and indecisive, and the camera itself laggy. I tried the various AF customization settings, and they were all unsatisfactory. The camera even allows completely out-of-focus photos to be taken with focus-priority release set.

By comparison, a Nikon D500 in the same environment sang, even with a 3rd party lens like the Tamron 85/1.8, was fast, decisive, and responsive, giving me a far higher number of keepers. Unlike the X-T2, the D500 just got out of the way. A D810 that I shot as 2nd camera to the Fuji did far better than the X-T2 as well.

[Joe Kashi]

As to the A6500, the Sigma 30mm and 60mm Art series lenses pack a lot of bang for the buck for E mount cameras. The 19mm Art is OK, but weaker at the edges. For roughly $200-$240 per lens, they're a best buy for A6x00 users.

[Rob L.]

I was going to rent an X-T2 to play with, but realized how horrible that would be, as I'd then have to go back to my X-T1 and hate everything about it. Going to forget about that siren until someone sneaks into the house and puts cash into my wallet.....

(And Lens Rentals is in my town...it's such an easy temptation....)

[David Dyer-Bennet]

Yeah, one reason they still make different kinds of cameras is that they're actually good at somewhat different things.

[Paulo Bizarro]

So which one is the coolest lens on the planet?

[I don't know; which would you say? --Mike]

[Tom Bell]

I love the look and feel of the Fuji .... but I remain ...indeed am increasingly .... Unconvinced by the xtrans sensor. Now that for instance the Pentax K311 has abandoned the filter on its 24 mp sensor ....it seems to me there is no advantage in terms of true sharpness either at low or high iso.

The fuji would be more tempting to me with a Bayer sensor given the Fuji treatment.

Meanwhile I stay with Pentax and my little X100

[Homer Office]

RE: "The coolest camera on the planet right now".

Maybe not. See "Inside the Development of Light, the Tiny Digital Camera That Outperforms DSLRs" at IEEE Spectrum ( http://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/gadgets/inside-the-development-of-light-the-tiny-digital-camera-that-outperforms-dslrs )

The creator of the new Light digital camera explains how he made it work. (I.e., 10 cameras in one phone-sized package, producing images at 35mm equivalents of 28, 50, 70 and 150 mm fields of view, at up to 52 MB each.)

A good read.

"Our first-generation L16 camera will start reaching consumers early next year, for an initial retail price of $1,699... if consumers could afford a 600-mm camera, travel with it easily, and take high-quality pictures with it, that would be incredibly cool. That’s my next challenge."

[Nigel]

Arguably the coolest camera and lens(es) on the planet, outperforming the Hubble...
http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/99-percent-invisible