After starting at the top-end with its X Pro 1, Fujifilm has been steadily expanding its X-series mirrorless cameras to appeal to a broader audience. With its X-T1, Fujifilm has moved back towards the high-end, offering a fully-loaded mirrorless camera in a weather-resistant, SLR-style body. There’s plenty more where that came from – the X-T1 has one of the largest EVFs, numerous manual control dials and, for the first time on an X-series camera, an optional battery grip.
The guts of the X-T1 are very much like those found on the recently announced X-E2. The numerous key features of the Fujifilm X-T1 include 16MP X-Trans CMOS II sensor, EXR Processor II, weather-resistant body, ISO 200-6400, plus 100 – 51200 expanded, 2.36M dot OLED electronic viewfinder with 0.77x (equivalent) magnification, dual view in EVF showing regular view and focus peaking/digital split image at the same time, top-plate ISO, shutter speed, exposure compensation, drive mode and metering controls. The X-T1 also features six programmable function buttons, three-inch 1.04M dot 3:2 tilting LCD, eight frames per second continuous shooting with continuous AF (3 fps with live view) built-in Wi-Fi including remote control from a smartphone or tablet, full HD movie recording (1080/60p, 36Mbps bitrate), with built-in stereo microphone and a clip-on external flash.
The highlight on the X-T1 is undoubtedly its huge electronic viewfinder. Combine that with its excellent resolution and it’s truly a pleasure to use. The large EVF also allows for some neat tricks, such as dual view, which shows the full scene plus a magnified view in a smaller window to one side, with focus peaking or digital split image for manual focusing. The EVF also has a portrait orientation view, which keeps the camera settings at the top and bottom of the image when the camera is rotated 90 degrees.
Another feature of note is the camera’s weather-resistant body. Using more than 75 seals, the X-T1 is dust- and water-resistant and freeze proof to -10°C/+14°F. The X-T1 is also full of dials on its top plate, allowing for easy adjustments to ISO, shutter speed, and exposure compensation.
Fuji has made some big claims about performance, saying that the X-T1 has the world’s fastest AF of 0.08 seconds. The X-T1 s certainly an impressive improvement over early X-series cameras. The X-T1 can also shoot at eight frames per second with subject tracking – the best of any X-series model – and it’s also the first camera to support ultra-fast UHS-II SD cards.
Visit fujifilm-xt1.com for more information.