Fujifilm X-E1 Flash

Coverage and Range
Limited flash range, with somewhat narrow coverage at wide angle. Our standard indoor portrait shot required average exposure compensation.

Coverage. Flash coverage is a little narrow and uneven at wide angle (18mm), leaving dim corners in our flash coverage test image, though we've certainly seen worse. Coverage is more uniform at full telephoto (55mm).

Exposure. Our Indoor Portrait test scene is was well exposed with +0.7 EV flash exposure compensation at ISO 200, which is average for this shot. The camera's Slow-Sync flash mode produced a brighter image with no flash exposure compensation, though with a strong orange cast from the ambient room lighting.

ISO 200 Range. With the 18-55mm kit lens, flash exposures at wide angle are bright to about 9 feet, falling off gradually from there, and some exposures suffer from a reddish cast. At full telephoto, flash exposures start out a dim at 6 feet and decrease in brightness fairly rapidly with distance.

Manufacturer Specified Flash Test. The Fuji X-E1's built-in flash is rated with a Guide Number of 7m/22 ft. at ISO 200. That works out to about 7.9 feet at f/2.8 and 5.5 feet at f/4 and ISO 200, the maximum apertures of the kit zoom lens. In the test shots above, the X-E1 performs as Fuji says it will, producing well-exposed flash exposures at the rated distances with ISO set to 200. You can however see the reddish cast we mentioned earlier.

Our standard test method for flash range uses a fixed setting of ISO 100, to provide a fair basis of comparison between cameras. We've now also begun shooting two shots using the manufacturer-specified camera settings, at the range the company claims for the camera, to assess the validity of the specific claims.