Fuji X-T2 first impressions.

[Akira]

Well, we are now back to the endless debate of mirrorless vs slr. No one is right or wrong, it is all a matter of preference. It is great to have the choice, and it also great that most of us obviously do not regret the ones they made. I certainly am satisfied.
Back to the X-T2 now!

Olivier, we are just comparing the battery life.  I've also loooooong been fed up with "which is superior" debate.

[Mike G]

I agree with Bjorn, although my earlier enquiry was to ask about the battery life of Olympus cameras as I've no experience of them! As on another couple of Fuji specific sites there have been moans about Fuji battery life! I was interested to hear if the "problem" was a particular Fuji matter or other brands such as Olympus were also affected and it seems so.

I'm really impressed by the X-T2 it is very responsive and to my amateur eyes the image quality is as good as it gets! Please don't forget this is purely my own opinion, yours may differ! The lock buttons on the the ISO and SS dials are are so much better than previously, the quality of the screen fonts has improved also the menus. The joystick is great and frees up the D pad buttons to be function buttons again, the speed of operation has also improved, AF is also much faster than the X- T1, all in all a very good update!

[Akira]

I haven' t had a chance to see the real XT-2.  The most curious about the camera is the mechanism of the 2-way tilt LCD!

[Frank Fremerey]

As I was locked out of my X100T-camera tonight due to the notorious "Frame Number Full" bug:

Is that issue finally solved now in the X-T2???

Now I remebered that you do nbot need a replacement battery but also a freshly formatted card you never used in you Fuji before...

It hit me a second time now since I bought the camera in January 2015 and my total stands at less than 17.000 clicks

[Hugh_3170]

One of the worst offenders in respect of battery consumption that I have experienced was my much otherwise loved Nikon F100. 

With the exception of a Kodak DC4800 P&S, which could only manage ~80 shots/battery charge, no other digital camera that I have used has been too bad.  They include D70s, D200, D700, D810, Df, Sony C3, Panasonic G3, and Olympus OMD E-M1 (although the Sony was the worst of this line up and the G3 is not up to the Nikons or the Olympus).  I have avoided add-on grips (except for the F100 (needed) and the D700 (got a good deal and could not resist)).

I have always purchased two extra battries with my digital cameras, and learnt the hard way early on that buying third party batteries is a complete and utter waste of time and money.  Carrying extra batteries is much less of a chore than carrying large amounts of film, especially if the film has to be kept cool in the summer months, so I just accept that having spare batteries with you is part of the deal with digital cameras.  The D200 and D700 were nice in that they both shared the same EN-EL3e battery.

[Airy]

Good point, some battery standardization could help.
Agree too on third party batteries : I purchased one for the OM-D; half price but half capacity = not a good idea.

[David H. Hartman]

When I bought my D800 it came with a spare Watson brand battery rated at 100mAh less than the Nikon battery. I've had no problems with it. When I bought a third battery I bought the Nikon battery. Since I dabble in video and with a VR lens I think of three batteries as a minimum.

I swap out batteries with 40-50% remaining as Battery University said this will extend battery service life.

Dave

[pluton]

In published interviews, the Fujifilm product managers in charge of the X system clearly stated that they had heard all the user complaints about battery life, but decided that a bigger body (to accommodate the bigger battery) was the greater sin.
Personally, I wouldn't have minded a slightly bigger body, since the Fuji cams are right on the dividing line between being small and too small.

[Mike G]

Keith, that is very interesting and obviously answers a few questions. As someone with fairly small hands I like the size, maybe the Fujifilm designers need a course of how to cram more stuff into the body.

[Mike G]

Frank, your reply begs the question why on earth didn't you empty the card?

[Les Olson]

I actually think that discussing 100-300g of weight differences is irrelevant unless one has very specific needs.

Whether 100g or 300g is meaningful depends on the camera design.  If you hold something tightly in your fingertips it gets hard very quickly, because the small muscles in your hand are adapted for fine movement, not sustained effort.  To carry the object in your hand you use the muscles in your forearm, and that is much easier because those muscles are adapted for sustained effort. 

The effect is that 300g makes a huge difference if you have to carry the camera in your fingertips because it does not have a proper grip, but much less difference if it does - ie, with small cameras, small differences matter more than bigger differences with bigger cameras that have bigger grips.

[Anthony]

I much prefer a small battery, as it keeps the camera light.  It is very easy to carry spare batteries if necessary.

My grip has not yet arrived, and will not do so before I go away.  It would have been useful, for the extra capacity, but I will manage fine without.  I am comfortable with the 100-400 without the grip. 

As Sten mentioned, I will have the X-T2 as backup, and with the 18-55 on it ready for close encounters.

[Mike G]

Anthony I hope you and your wife have a super holiday(not really jealous at all honest) also I'm sure you mean your X-T1 + 18-55 as the backup, and please don't get too close to anything that bites, stings or has bloody great claws. 

[Frank Fremerey]

Frank, your reply begs the question why on earth didn't you empty the card?

Because it does not help, Mike.

You need a freshly formatted card, fresh card, formatted externally.

And you have to  set the counter to start counting from Zero with every fresh card.

Stupidity at work.

Any other camera in the world makes a new folder. Finishing folder old with abc9999 starting folder new with abc0000 and so on. Only the X.Series blocks operation on an empty card. 10 pics on a 32GB card.

There are several pages describing this firmware bug.

[David H. Hartman]

Frank,

Outside chances: you might try formatting your SD card with the SD Association, SD Formatter and then formatting it again in your camera. Here is a link...

https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/

I don't remember why I got this format utility but it fix some problem I had with something along time ago. It is available for Windows and MAC.

Best,

Dave

---

Another thought: the SD cards have a protected area. The data that causes problems with your Fuji XT1 might be stored there. In that case you'd need a utility that can format that area. The SD Formatter doesn't work on that area.

The more I think about this the more I wonder if the problem is with data the camera has written to the protected area of the SD card. I tried a quick search but didn't find a program that addresses the protected area. I'd contact the SD association. One should be able to format this area. I'd hope they would help.

Dave