I was wrong and I’m delighted about it! Fujifilm Announces the X-E5.
A year and a half ago, I wrote a piece about the Fujifilm X100VI and how it was (at the time) the last of the rangefinder style cameras. When I wrote that piece, Fuji had discontinued the XE-4 and the X-Pro3, and there was no immediate sign of replacements. I had speculated that Fuji had ended these lines as the X-T Series and X100 lines were more popular. As an X-E4 owner, I was saddened but resigned to the fact. But luckily, I was wrong and today, Fujifilm announced the new X-E5.
For a small camera, I really like the rangefinder style of layout. Here’s what I wrote before about this:
I’ve always had a thing for the “digital rangefinder” style of camera, and all of My Fujifilm cameras were of this style. My first Fuji was the X-Pro 1, but I returned that as it was so buggy. My second was the aforementioned mentioned original X100. After that, I got the X-E2 and then the X-Pro2. The X-Pro2 died on me, outside of warranty, and I never bothered to get it fixed because it was going to cost too much. Finally, my current camera is the X-E4.
For me, and the type of photography I do with a small camera like the XE series, the rangefinder style is my preferred form factor, as it seems to maximise the space with the smaller body size.
Incidentally, some people object to calling it “rangefinder style” but that is the generally accepted way of describing this style of camera.
I’ve shot a great deal with my Fuji X-E4 from the streets of New York City to the northernmost point here in Ireland, and the camera was a great little work horse. It had a few issues, and at least one of those has been addressed with the design of the X-E5.
When shooting video with the X-E4, you really did fell the lack of IBIS, as even with stabilised lenses it still had issues. Now that the X-E5 has IBIS, this shouldn’t be a problem, although the camera overall is probably less suited to video with the 40mp sensor. Fuji giveth, fuji taketh away!
The other issue I always had with the X-E4 is when shooting with the screen facing up (to shoot at waist level) if you got too close to the camera, the sensor, which was in the eyepiece would cause the screen to flip - as this is how it would switch the display if you tilt it right around so that its front facing. I have no idea whether this was fixed or not, but it was a widely known problem so hopefully.
As for the film simulation dial, I like the implementation of it. It’s a nice design and a nice throwback to older film cameras. I don’t really change film simulations that much when shooting, but I appreciate that many people do.
The relative price increase over the X-E4 seems like a lot, mind you. Most of the YouTubers and others, who got early access to the camera, were eager to point out that Fuji was repositioning this as a mid-range camera. I guess between inflation, and the new features, this is to be expected. Either way, I’m glad my original prediction was wrong.
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