FUJIFILM X-T3 MIRRORLESS CAMERA
As a community us mountain bikers tend to really love taking photos while we are out on the bike. Sharing the good vibes and inflicting as much FOMO as far as possible is always high on the agenda. Usually that ends up just being on our smart phones, it’s easy, it’s small and we all have one already. The massive caveat is the limitations. Your images just aren’t looking as nice as you’d like. They all start to look the same with a lack of variety. Why can’t they look like the one’s that you see in AMB? You understand it’s the photographer and not the camera that makes images aesthetically pleasing, but you also know enough to know that’s rubbish when comparing a phone to a $8000 pro camera body.
It’s easy to see how the above thought process gets out of hand, but these days it doesn’t have to. Camera technology is really improving at a rapid rate. Quality interchangeable lens cameras were usually reserved for the pros and serious amateurs. However the advent of mirrorless cameras has been pushing the smaller sized camera systems and building a massive market with brands like Sony, Olympus and Fuji leading the charge. As a pro photographer you’re probably wondering what my interest is in the smaller systems is and it really comes down to weight and portability. Since so much of mountain bike photography is done from a bike, carrying camera gear can quickly become a massive drag, literally. Aside from the effects it has on your endurance and power, it also effects how you ride the bike and how much you enjoy riding your bike. An expensive 10-15kg on your back can really change the way you corner and tackle trail features.
When Fujifilm announced the X-T3 I was pretty intrigued, and through their support of AMB we were able to get one on test. I had heaps of pre-conceived opinions about how this camera could perform for mountain bike photography and was eager to see how successful it could be. It made perfect sense as a camera that your average mountain biker keen on photography could use on any riding adventure. Firstly the size of not only the body, but the lens system was the number one factor for me. Whilst the camera itself is not minuscule, it’s small enough and yet still easy enough to hold in one hand. Tiny cameras can feel horrible to operate, and the Fuji X-T3 certainly doesn’t. Also the range of lenses Fuji has on offer are all much smaller than their full frame counter parts whilst still enabling those super low, light catching apertures. Then there is the price, an X-T3 retails at about $2260 with lenses starting at $250, but I’d budget on spending another $2000 to get yourself a great selection of lenses. Fuji has also just announced the new X-T30 which is a slightly smaller and slightly lower specced camera for about half the money again. So there are options depending on budget. Finally the weather sealing in the X-T3 looks insane for a mirrorless camera. Arguably this is the single most important feature for shooting in the outdoors.
ON THE TRAIL
In use the camera was amazing, I used it in an extremely low-light environment and it performed adequately considering the difficulty in the environment. Focus was super-fast and easy. The on-screen exposure means you’ll always see how dark or bright your final image file will be. As well as incamera editing profiles, this makes it great for people new to photography who don’t want to stuff around editing on computers. With Wifi straight to your phone you’ll also have no problems sharing the stoke on the spot. If video is your thing the X-T3 certainly is not lacking. We were unable to have time to test it properly but going on the specs it’s easily the best camera for video from Fuji, with 4K resolution, amazing slow-mo and bit rates to make any teen get pumped on his sick shredits. RRP: $ 2260 FROM: FUJIFILM. COM. AU