Fujifilm X-M1 Performance

Mixed performance from the Fuji X-M1.

Power on to first shot, and switching from Play to Record and taking a shot were a little slower than average. Buffer clearing times were quite good for its class with a fast UHS-I card.

The Fuji X-M1's full autofocus shutter lag was slower than average for a compact system camera in our tests, and slower than most point and shoots as well. The Fuji X-M1 produced full-autofocus shutter lag (with the subject at a fixed distance) of 0.381 second using Area AF mode (center). Full AF shutter lag increased to 0.429 second using Multi AF mode. With the built-in flash enabled, the X-M1's full AF shutter lag in single (center) AF area mode was 0.496s to account for the preflash metering.

Manual focus shutter lag was quite fast though, at 0.091 second, and prefocused shutter lag was quick, at only 0.055 second. This is faster than most DSLRs and faster than many CSCs as well, though not as fast as some models with electronic first curtain shutters.

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance.

Single-shot cycle times were a little sluggish for a CSC. We measured 1.13 second when shooting large/fine JPEGs, 1.21 second for RAW files, and 1.28 second for RAW+JPEG files.

"Continuous 5.6 fps" mode speeds were decent for its class, at about 5.7 frames per second no matter the file type. The Fuji X-M1 also offers a "Continuous 3.0 fps" mode, but we didn't test that mode. In both modes, focus and exposure are locked at the first frame.

Full resolution buffer depth was fair at 16 JPEG frames with our difficult to compress target. You'll likely do better with typical subjects. When shooting RAW or RAW+JPEG files, buffer depth dropped to 11 frames. Buffer clearing was a fairly quick 6 seconds after shooting a max-length burst of JPEGs, 9 seconds for a RAW burst, and 11 seconds for a RAW+JPEG burst, though buffer depths weren't very deep.

Re-cycling the flash after full power discharges took an average of 3.1 seconds, on the slow side of average.

Note: We no longer test USB transfer speeds since most folks use a card reader these days.

Bottom line, the Fuji X-M1's performance was mixed in our testing, with somewhat sluggish powerup, slower than average autofocus speeds, and mediocre single-shot cycle times. On the other hand, manual focus and prefocused shutter lag were pretty good, and burst mode performance was decent, though nothing to write home about. Overall, the X-M1's performance should do fine for a wide variety of photography as long as it's not sports or fast action where the subject is changing distance from the camera rapidly.

Battery Life
Average battery life for a compact system camera.

The Fuji X-M1 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack for power, and comes with both a single battery and a dedicated charger. The CIPA rated 350 shots per charge is about average for a Compact System Camera these days. As is usually the case, we recommend getting a second battery for your X-M1 if you plan any extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))