My Fuji X70: from Austria to the US Southwest
Instead of merely complaining about a desire to carry something lighter for day-to-day photography situations, I decided to do something about it a couple of weeks before my month-long visit to Austria in May 2018.
I looked online for a mirrorless compact camera, but I didn’t need the latest or a top-line model. I preferred an older model with a lot of online reviews and user comments, and I decided on a compromise among three criteria: cost, weight and size, and image quality.
Feather-light fixed-lens prime
I honed in on a Fujifilm X70 which is an APS-C format, 16-million pixel, fixed-lens prime with focal length 18.5mm (28mm full-frame equivalent)1 and maximum aperture of f/2.8. The lens cannot be removed or switched out for another lens; that removes any possibility of exposing the camera interior and minimizes dust contamination.
About the short-lived release of the X70, Ritchie Roesch also wrote:
… (Released in the first quarter of 2016, the X70) was the short-lived baby-brother to the X100T, with an 18.5mm fixed-lens. Sony suddenly stopped production of the X-Trans II sensor, which the X70 used, and that killed the camera. The X-Trans III sensor was too hot to place inside the small X70 body, so (a possible update to an) X80 never happened. (Fujifilm discontinued the X70 model in the 4th quarter of 2018.)
I wasn’t concerned about availability, because I was confident of finding a second-hand model in the marketplace. I began looking online in March 2018; I found and purchased a “lightly used” silver X70 from a local user on Craigslist in early-May.
I’ve used a full-frame Canon 6D mark 1 camera (6D1) since January 2014, and I knew what sacrifices with the X70 would entail: no viewfinder of any kind (only the back screen), fixed focal length, and limited dynamic range in low light. But what I gained were weight and portability. On days when I only carried the X70, thoughts about weight and relative inconvenience of carrying a larger camera bundle vanished, as I realized the greater potential for a quicker image and less-noticeable presence in a wide variety of situations.
Likes & Dislikes
What I like about the X70:
- Small and fits inside jacket pocket
- Only 340 grams (12 oz.), without LH-X70 lens hood, adaptor ring, filter, leather case
- Articulating touch-screen, for (unusual) low angles
- Intuitive and easy-to-adjust controls for aperture and exposure
- Very silent leaf-shutter
- Beautiful JPG colours straight from the camera
- Easy to use “panorama mode”
What I don’t like about the X70:
- No optical or digital viewfinder; get images holding the camera up like a mobile phone
- Digital screen always ‘on’, drains battery quickly and hard-to-see on a bright day
- Too easy to accidentally activate touch-screen setting of Focus-Shot-Off
- Noise pattern visible starting at ISO 3200
- No on-board GPS, but that lack of a perk is easy to overcome
- Built-in video button is very difficult to engage; reassigned another button as “video”
As of posting (October 2018), I’ve had the X70 for 5 months, and I’ve “flipped the image number counter”. That means I’ve already snapped over 10-thousand exposures. Ultimately, the temptation to “go light” proved true, fulfilling my own prediction. My usage of the X70 versus 6D1 was 77%-23% in Austria in May 2018, and 42%-58% in the American Southwest in October 2018 with a significant number of 6D1 images of animals at the Desert Museum in Tucson.
I’m not bothered by the single 18.5/28mm focal length. If anything, 23/35mm for me is a little long, and much of what I’ve photographed with the 6D1 has been closer to 24mm (than towards 105mm or beyond). I’m not giving up on the Canon system, because of the branded glass I’ve assembled since 2009. But if I move to another system, I’d consider the Fujifilm system.
Front of my X70 camera: aperture ring set to f/11 (iPT6 pic).
Top of my X70, with settings: exposure 1/500-sec; exposure compensation zero. Instead of the default strap, I purchased a “Leash” camera-strap made by Peak Design (as shown in iPT6 pic).
X70, from Vienna to New Mexico
All images were produced in-camera in both JPG and RAW (Fujifilm RAF) formats with the default or Provia film simulation. I produced “black and white” images in post-processing.
6pm at the Hauptbahnhof (Central Station): Vienna, Austria – 15 May 2018.
“Afternoon light, in the 6.” 6th District (Mariahilf): Vienna, Austria – 16 May 2018.
Waiting for the U4 at Hütteldorf station: Vienna, Austria – 20 May 2018.
Michaelerplatz: Vienna, Austria – 20 May 2018.
10000th picture with X70, near Junction US-89A/US-89: Bitter Springs, AZ, USA – 13 October 2018.
Northwest on highway US-89A: near Marble Canyon, AZ, USA – 13 October 2018.
East on highway US-60 at the continental divide: near Pie Town, NM, USA – 19 October 2018.
Very Large Array (VLA) on the Plains of San Augustin, NM, USA – 19 October 2018.
More about Fujifilm X70 at: DPReview | Fuji vs. Fuji | Wired | YouTube
1 I also have the silver Wide Conversion Lens WCL-X70 which simply screws on top of the X70’s fixed-lens. The WCL-X70 converts the camera to a 14mm (21mm equivalent) focal length which is a lot of fun for an even wider field setting. Take Kayo (aka bigheadtaco) reviewed the WCL-X70 for FujiLove.
Aside from “iPT6” labelled images of the X70, I made all other images above with a X70 in May and October 2018. Alle Fotoaufnahmen sind mit Wasserzeichen versehen worden. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-bWd.
Fotoeins Fotografie 
22 Responses to “My Fuji X70: from Austria to the US Southwest”
Thank you for your post Henry, I really appreciated it, since by now I have from several photographers who got this Fuji camera, for the same reasons. I will look into to it, how I could use my Nikon lenses with it. Have a great and creative week.
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Hi, Cornelia. Because it’s so easy to carry around, you take pictures with X70 the same way as you would with a smartphone, because the camera has no optical viewfinder. The BIG exception is that you can adjust aperture, exposure, and ISO, which provides more versatility than a typical smartphone. And because the X70 is “stuck” at 28mm (full-frame equivalent), I have an idea in my head what pictures will look like. That’s what you have to keep in mind, depending on what glass or lenses you have on your other (Nikon) camera. Thanks for your comment and for stopping by!
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Thank you much Henry, for all your information on this camera. What is the ISO on that, does it go up highly? Well anyhow I have to explore this camera as another option to keep handy.
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You’re welcome, Cornelia. On the X70, the recommended ISO is between 200 and 6400, but ISO can be set as low as 100 and as high as 51200. Thus far, the highest ISO I’ve used is 20000.
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Oh wow, that’s great , thank you so much, Henry
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You’re very welcome, Cornelia!
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Great shot of the train station Henry 😉
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Thanks, Lorelle! 🙂
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