Real Life Honest Fujifilm X-T2 vs X-T1 Comparison and Review

I did it. I bit the bullet and sold my beloved Fujifilm X-T1 for the new X-T2. I contemplated very hard to justify buying the new camera.

Here are my reasons for trading my X-T1 for the X-T2:

1. My two year old X-T1 workhorse still had good market value. While I believe it will last me at least another year, trading it before it breaks down would save me a considerable amount of money. The rubber parts are already coming off which was quite a turn off
2. My sister-in-law's wedding was two days away and I have volunteered to be the videographer. Yes, I don't have any videography experience, but the X-T2 video capabilities were touted one of the best. So I had a 2 days crash course.
3. With the Ringgit plummeting and prices of Fujifilm lenses just raised by 30% here in Malaysia, I was afraid that they would do the same for the bodies. 

Because I use my camera for actual client photoshoots, I am looking at my X-T2 as a monthly lease, which I would probably sell in 2 years time as I did with my X-T1. Because Fujifilm releases just one (or two) flagship every 2 years unlike other brands my investment is relatively safe. Also, buying into their flagships is a sure way to get the most regular Kaizen firmware updates. Trust me, I know because I had an X-T1 and an X-M1.

Now, here are my brief thoughts and tips in my few days of using the X-T2:

1. Although they look the same, it's actually significantly heavier than the X-T1
2. Love the box it came in, more elegant than the X-T1's box
3. X-T2's menu looks prettier and interface a little different
4. I can't tell the difference between boost mode and non-boost mode in the EVF in practical situations, but I can confirm it works (use the EVF and look at a spinning fan and you'll see the difference). Boost does nothing to the LCD
5. It takes a bit of getting used to to open the LCD to portrait swivel because there's a lock there
6. The focus lever/knob's usefulness is partially negated by the fact there's so many new focus points now. It takes too much effort to move from one focus point to the other. I now use zone focusing instead, which seem to work better than on my X-T1
7. So many things to click now. There are 9 customisable buttons and there's the clickable focus knob, front and back dials are now clickable too
8. Double click on focus knob in preview mode to switch SD Card slots
9. No more holding stupid button to turn the ISO dial
10. The accessories door looks like better plastic material compared to bendy doors from X-T1
11. Shortcut to format my SD Card! Hold delete and press back command dial
12. Two SD Cards slots, with a setting for one for pictures, the other for videos or RAW files
13. AF-C tracking that actually works. Shot my sister-in-law's walk-in with the 56mm f1.2 wide open with sharp photos. Impossible with the X-T1
14. Rear/2nd curtain sync with third party flashes. Tested working with my YongNuo 560IV. Finally!
15. Max 1/250s flash sync speed vs 1/180s on X-T1
16. File sizes are now averagely 15MB vs 5MB with the X-T1. :( [Update: I now use the medium size photo settings for non-critical photo shoots. The effective pixel resolution is 12MP, which is more than enough for social media and even 4R prints)
17. My LCD screen seems yellower than my X-T1 and X-M1. Darn!
18. Shutter lag is definitely much shorter. Everything's snappier
19. AF-L doesn't work the same way as the X-T1. In the X-T1, pressing that would make the camera auto focus and the lock focus. In X-T2, you need to half-press the shutter to focus first before you use the AF-L to lock it. Or you can configure the AF-L to become a focus button but you can't get them to do both
20. I can't tell the difference between a 24MP photo from a 16MP photo. They both look great to me
21. ISO6400 is good, but not that much better than X-T1 [Update: after shooting more with ISO6400 and ISO12800, I realized that ISO12800 on the X-T2 is actually better than the X-T1's ISO6400. Really impressive]
22. Classic screw type shutter button like all the other X-series bodies, now can be hipsterized with metal shutter release buttons and use a retro looking mechanical shutter cable 
23. USB charging. The good - bring your powerbank to charge your camera! The bad - charging is only available while the camera is off, unlike a mobile phone where charging continues even when the phone is turned on.
24. The video function really is much better that the X-T1, especially because the dedicated button on the X-T1 is so darn small
25. Lenses with focus clutch like XF14, 16 and 23 is nicer to manual focus on video mode than the other fly-by-wire lenses
26. Dedicated 3.5" audio jack separate from the 2.5" remote jack
27. Live audio levels now display on the video screen
28. Ability to change focus point while in video mode, by using AF-C and focus knob. But it's not perfect as there is no way to control focusing speed
29. Using a 64GB Sandisk Extreme XC1 U3 V30 microSD card works well to store 4k movies without noticeable lag. Stores up to 70 minutes of footage.
30. Max video frame rate for 4K is 29.97fps. So no slo-mo effects.
31. Flickering under Malaysian florescent light when using any video frame rate other than 25fps and 50fps [Edit: flickering, not rolling shutter effect]
32. Adobe Premiere Pro on my MacBook Pro 15" 2015 does not like X-T2 4k movie files. iMovie and Final Cut Pro is the better choice

So is it worth the upgrade? 

• If you are planning to do video work, then it's bang for the buck, coz the latest Sony A7SII would be much more expensive (to be honest, I can't catch up with all the A7 series naming convention. Sony, please stop churning flagships like dirty laundry!). Yeah, it doesn't have body stabilisation and yeah it's not full frame. So? Get a gimbal. By the way, I found out the hard way that manual focusing while moving the camera is almost impossible without resulting in shaky videos. Better to use larger depth of field to get more things in focus, and hence a crop sensor may be a better choice than Full Frame (unless you have money to splurge on follow focus contraptions)
• Do you need that extra ISO boost? With the X-T2, I can comfortably use the 55-200mm f3.5-4.8 lens in dark situations and use up to ISO12800,  and save on weight and cost of the 50-140mm f2.8. 
• Do you need better AF-C tracking? If so, X-T2 definitely would be better
• Do you need better flash support? I.e. faster flash sync and rear curtain support for third party flash? Perhaps X-T2 is your answer

Summary

The X-T2 looks like the X-T1. But somehow feels like a more mature version of it. Everything has improved, and there's only a few annoyances like the LCD tint that hopefully can be solved with future firmware updates. Now I'm waiting for the X-E3 so I can replace my X-M1 with that (can't afford another X-T2 or X-Pro2, and I don't like how the X-T10 looks).

OK enough talk. Here's one photo I took as a guest of my sister-in-law's wedding, wide open 56mm f1.2 using Classic Chrome SOOC (with resizing done only). Tact sharp while they were walking in. Why just one photo? Coz I can't tell my X-T1 photos apart from X-T2 photos when it's displayed on the web.