Fuji X-Pro2 First Shots: Flagship Fuji rangefinder-styled body struts highest resolution X-trans sensor
posted Thursday, February 4, 2016 at 5:56 AM EST
About 5 years ago Fuji dropped a rather unusual bomb on the digital camera world when they debuted the X100, a camera that literally looked and felt like it walked straight out of the early 1960's. It was quirky to use, had some real operations issues, and took quite a lot of flack for the retro design from some corners of the camera world. This was of little consequence to Fuji of course, because they had a bigger problem on their hands in that for some time they couldn't even keep up with growing consumer demand!
Then a year later we saw the next big leap for X-series cameras in the form of the X-Pro1. Not only had Fuji eliminated most of the issues that had plagued the X100, but they gave X-series fans interchangeable lens freedom as well. Fast-forward to present day 2016, and we now have the second coming of the X-Pro line, and it's sporting an all-new imaging pipeline.
Moving up from 16.1mp to 24.3mp, this higher resolution X-trans CMOS III sensor is now paired with their new X-processor Pro engine. The result is claimed to be both an increase in image quality as well as a healthy performance boost. We will, of course, be taking a close look into both of these claims for you and more, but while you patiently wait for those results we present to you more adventurous readers our trademark test lab First Shots.
With these images from our Still Life test target, you can really get a good feel for the image quality delivered by any camera we've ever tested. But what's even more interesting is to use our Comparometer to view images from competitors side-by-side. Want to know how the X-Pro2 compares to the Nikon D7200 at ISO 6400? The Comparometer has you covered!
Below are a few side-by-side comparisons we've made at 1:1 to whet your appetite, starting with a base ISO comparison against the original and highly acclaimed X-Pro1.
The apparent difference in image size of course is due to the rather sizable difference in resolution. But even viewing them at different relative sizes it's easy to conclude that the newer X-Pro2 yields vastly superior fine detail. You can fairly easily read even the zip code towards the bottom of the image, where that's much harder to discern on the X-Pro1 image.
And moving on to more modern-day competition and raising the ISO stakes, below are comparisons at ISO 3200 against the Nikon D7200, with its similar sensor size and resolution, as well as the Sony A7 II, with its much larger full frame sensor but still sporting the same resolution.
The X-Pro2 is able to glean perhaps a bit more detail in the mosaic tiles of this image with slightly less default sharpening applied, and yet displays less noise in the tricky flatter shadow areas behind our test target at the top right of this crop. A nice job for ISO 3200 indeed.
The full frame Sony A7 II clearly yields more fine detail here at ISO 3200, but does have just a trace of "mottling" of the noise occurring in the flatter area at the top right of the image.
Dive into our Comparometer to continue with your own comparisons, see our X-Pro2 Samples page for quick access to all currently available lab images, and check back with us for more as we continuing reviewing the Fuji X-Pro2 for you!
[UPDATE 2/11: See our initial real world gallery sampling here!]
(And you regulars out there already know what to do.... if you find an interesting "aha" comparison out there in the Comparometer, please advise the rest of us in the comments section below! Newcomers please keep it family-friendly. No sense calling each other names just because we prefer different cameras.)
The apparent difference in image size of course is due to the rather sizable difference in resolution. But even viewing them at different relative sizes it's easy to conclude that the newer X-Pro2 yields vastly superior fine detail. You can fairly easily read even the zip code towards the bottom of the image, where that's much harder to discern on the X-Pro1 image.