Fujifilm X-A2 Field Test

Entry-level or enthusiast?
With a design that's more oriented towards the advanced photographer than most entry-level interchangeable-lens cameras, the Fujifilm X-A2 intrigued me. Could the X-A2 give me a satisfying enthusiast shooting experience for a relatively modest price? Let's find out.

Size, Design & Handling.
Unpacking the Fujifilm X-A2, I discovered a reasonably compact and lightweight camera, but it's certainly not the smallest of the mirrorless models, especially considering the likes of the Panasonic GM5 or Sony A5100. That's especially true when it's paired with the XC 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 OIS II kit lens, which is bulkier than many competing mirrorless kit lenses. For me personally, that's a bit of a drawback since a big part of why I'm attracted to mirrorless models, compared to my old DSLRs, is the desire to lighten my load.

While the Fujifilm X-A2 has a bit more advanced control setup than most entry-level cameras, the same can't really be said for its performance, which is about par for this level of camera. On my first day fiddling and shooting with the Fujifilm X-A2, I found the control response -- how fast settings change and operations happen when you push buttons or turn dials -- to be perfectly adequate but not exceptional.

For reviews, I often shoot with 3-shot auto-exposure bracketing enabled, which brings me to an odd thing I noticed on my first walk with the camera. With the reasonably fast UHS-1 class SD card I was using, the X-A2 needs to pause for about 8 seconds after shooting a 3-shot bracketed RAW+JPEG burst. (The pause was about a second shorter with RAW only, and there was almost no delay when shooting JPEG only.)