Don’t argue, just get one. Period. Fuji X-H1’s THE best interchangeable-lens APS-C camera Fuji made. Ever. And there ain’t many left, coz production stopped end of last year. But some shops still got some X-H1’s costing less than a grand, new! Y’all never gonna get such a bargain ever again! And I ain’t just talkin’, I got 3 of ‘em, crazy huh? Yeah, but the internet’s saying the X-H1’s no good … nonsense, I tell ya. Total BS, all that what you’re reading online, please take a look to find out why!
Two of a kind, captured on X-H1 with XF 90mm F/2 R WR @F/5.6, 1/240, ISO 400, developed in Capture 1
Thing is, at the moment Fuji’s going down the wrong rabbit hole. Their new X-T4 may be a fantastic featured camera but that damn selfie/vlogger fold-out LCD screen don’t cut it for me. And their new “pure photography” X-Pro3? That one’s got 2 new, useless features in one go: A crippled OVF and a “hidden” LCD screen. Jeezus … Done. I’m just NOT interested. Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitively not in a position to tell Fuji what to do (and I ain’t got no illusions whatsoever that they’d listen to me anyway …) hell, for all I know they may have found out that their future success & prosperity lies in offering:
Selfie/vlogger style video-centric cameras to the masses, and
Leica-esque fashion editions to a niche hipster crowd, made financially viable by compromising more mundane features only important to real photographers …
No problem. Go for it Fuji, but then you’re gonna lose me as a loyal customer - not that they’d care about that anyway, mind you … but they’d probably also lose a whole bunch of honest, serious still photographers in the process and that could cause a dent in their business! It would be such a shame, though. Creating no-nonsense cameras for serious photographers, with focus on still imagery was always Fuji’s heritage (“DNA” in business-speak). For me they were until today the only brand left, which was creating real photography tools, combining modern digital imaging technology with a traditional ‘exposure triangle’ user interface (aperture, shutter, ISO) based on tangible mechanical dials with always visible settings (even if the camera’s turned off). All the others have turned to churning out “computers”, where key settings pertaining to creating the photographic image are buried in multi-layered menus. Sometimes it seems that for some modern cameras taking the picture is more of a kinda afterthought, like “and oh, by the way it does take a picture too, at least now and then …”
After only just having launched their latest 2 flagship cameras (X-Pro3 & X-T4), which IMO both have veered off from the traditional path by inconsistent featuring, it’s gonna be at least 2-3 years until they come up with the next gen. X-Pro4 or X-T5, or whatever. Then it’s gonna be anybody’s guess whether they’ll wake up & come to their collective senses in using that opportunity to reconnect to their heritage, or just hatch out another crazy un-photographic “innovation”. So, y’all now got enough time to cure yourselves of GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) and just enjoy the good stuff Fuji’s blessed us with up to now (eg. X-Pro2, X-T3, X-H1 and X100V … ;-) and you don’t need to worry about your kit becoming obsolete any time soon!
All this seems kinda like a Déjà vu of my experience a long times ago with Nikon: I was running around in the 80’s as a journalist with 2 battered, fully mechanical Nikon F2’s and 4-5 primes. Man I loved that gear (weather resistant? Hell no, it was bomb-resistant! ;-) And then Nikon went along and launched the electronic F3. Oh man, was I pissed - in that era I sure didn’t trust no electronics (like many of my pro photographer buddies of the time, btw!) - they always seemed to run out of juice when you had no fresh button battery cells on you, forcing you to “limp” along with the 1/60 sec emergency mechanical shutter speed. For me Nikon just went downhill after the mighty F2 …
Façade in shadows, X-H1 with XF 90mm F/2 R WR @F/8, 1/600 sec, ISO 400, developed in Capture 1
Meanwhile, since the end of the last century the advent of mass produced highly integrated digital circuitry, including microprocessor based functions, has made electronic cameras extremely reliable (no moving parts, no wear & less production faults due to fully automated wafer fab’s). Way more reliable than their mechanical counterparts of yesteryear ever had been, in fact. You just gotta make sure you always got enough charged batteries on you (and that there’s somewhere an electrical outlet at hand to charge ‘em). An electronic camera w/o batteries = dead in the water! No juice, no pictures (and your fancy camera just became an expensive paperweight! ;-)
Back to the X-H1: For me it is simply the best interchangeable-lens APS-C camera in the market. Like my Nikon F2 was so long ago, the X-H1 seems to be the last of a golden age, with all that coming after her being under par in my opinion. Now, what is it specifically that puts the X-H1 above the others? For me it’s the balanced combination of 5 (not more, not less) key features:
Best visual interface: Fluid 0.75x mag. EVF with high eye-point & lightning fast tilt-able LCD
- ideal for flexible, fast subject viewing & composition, making image pre-visualization a joy!Perfectly positioned ‘feather touch‘ shutter with zero time-lag & traditional exposure dials
- allowing me to capture the decisive moment instantaneously, discretely and intuitively!Slightly increased body size (vs. other APS-C cameras), with a larger highly ergonomic grip
- perfectly fits my medium sized hands & the pronounced grip makes for totally safe holding!IBIS (in-body-image-stabilization), allows 3-4 stops slower shutter speed than 1/focal length
- perfect for street & scenic twilight photography w/o tripod, when the light is most beautiful!Super robust, weather resistant body (25% thicker chassis compared to eg. X-T3)
- tight, ‘bomb-proof’ perception, infusing confidence & liberating me to focus on my images!
Feels like I’ve been re-united with my legendary Nikon F2 (albeit with a modern heart!). See below image: I could capture the moment immediately when I saw it, framing it by quickly folding out the LCD screen (lifting the camera up to my eye would’ve ruined the spontaneity & lost the image), and having IBIS on board meant I could still capture a sharp image despite the bad lighting conditions!
Evening coffee, seen with X-H1 and XF 35mm F/1.4 R @F/2, 1/45 sec, ISO 800, developed in Capture 1
At first when I got my first X-H1 begin 2019 I thought it’s not really a pretty camera. But meanwhile I’ve come to appreciate its rugged, no-nonsense design & grown to love its intuitive & fast operation. And the sound of the mechanical shutter. Just gorgeous. It’s heaven! (Yeah, I know that don’t get you better images, but it sure makes the process of creating ‘em more enjoyable & satisfying!) In fact, I’ve grown so happy with my X-H1 that I now got 3 of ‘em (yes, three! The last 2 acquired recently for less than 800 bucks a pop - my favorite dealer seems to have built a secret stash of them somewhere when Fuji’d announced the phasing out of the X-H1 ;-)
OK OK, I hear some of youse out there sounding off about what kinda nutcase I must be buying ‘borderline obsolete’ cameras, where production’s already stopped … Let me me say this to that: I don’t give a rat’s ass! I don’t need the latest and the greatest, I need a photographer’s camera. A no-nonsense image taking tool w/o aspirational, fancy (video-centric) features that get in my way. That’s the X-H1 right there for me. You don’t like my advice? No problem, I’m not forcing you, it’s a free world after all. Do what you want, go somewhere else & be happy! Why having several of the same cameras? Think that’s an old habit from my analogue film days: I needed 2 cameras to allow me to use high & low sensitivity film in parallel to adjust to changing lighting conditions (and have a backup in case of some mechanical malfunction). In the digital age it’s more because I hate changing lenses to prevent dust entering the camera and ending up on the sensor. Those of youse know me know I’m kinda paranoid about that. The shrinks even got a name for it: “amathophobia”, derived from the greek words “amathos” = sand, and its diminutive form as dust & “phobos” = fear, i.e. “fear of dust” (and with me that psycho condition’s highly specialized: I just get it in relation to a camera sensor. Any other kind of dust, I couldn’t care … ;-)
So I keep 2 of my favorite primes, the XF 23mm F/1.4 and the XF 56mm F/1.2 like permanently glued to my X-H1’s. All fits in a compact Lowe Pro Inverse 200 AW belt pack weighing in at just about 3 kg (including spare batteries, cards, etc.). Not too bad!
Ok, I think that those of you patient enough to follow my ramblings up to here might fancy a small reward now! So, below I’ll share my preferred X-H1 function button allocations, optimized after many hours of trial & error playing around with the camera ;-). Note that the X-H1 has the highest number of customizable function buttons of all Fuji cameras (13), coz it’s got a D-Pad AND a touch screen LCD (both with 4 function slots)! This setup is also aligned with the setups of my X-Pro2’s and my X100V, allowing me to have an as much as possible standardized user interface across all my camera types (X-H. X-Pro, X100 and GFX):
See here the function button allocations more in detail:
Fn1: EXPOSURE COMPENSATION. toggles the exposure compensation via the front dial on/off
Fn2: FACE/EYE DETECTION SETTING. brings up face/eye detection menu (joystick to select)
Fn3: IS MODE. cycle IS (image stabilisation) mode from continuous to shooting only to off
Fn4: PLAYBACK. playback button on the right-hand side of the camera (like X-Pro2 & X100V)
Fn5: AF MODE. select AF-mode (SINGLE POINT > ZONE > WIDE/TRACKING > ALL)
Fn6: ELECTRONIC LEVEL. for quick check if camera’s level to prevent needing to crop in post
T-Fn1: SHUTTER TYPE. quick change of shutter type, eg. from electronic ES to mechanical MS
T-Fn2: ISO AUTO SETTING. quick change between 3 auto ISO settings (also via rear dial)
T-Fn3: D RANGE PRIORITY. don’t often need this but good to have
T-Fn4: NATURAL LIVE VIEW. I use ACROS-R film simulation, this is good to see the shadows
AE-L: AE LOCK ONLY. used to lock the auto exposure when needed
AF-ON: AF-ON. to activate back-button autofocus
R-DIAL: FOCUS CHECK. quick zoom in to check the focus
With these function button allocations I have an intuitive & fast user interface fully aligned with my way of making images. Please try it out & let me know if & how this works for you!
Summarizing, the X-H1 is IMO the best interchangeable lens APS-C camera Fuji ever made. It has no-nonsense ergonomics perfectly optimized for pro level still photography. The larger grip facilitates a cramp-free & safe holding even for longer photo sessions. The highly customisable intuitive user interface allows you to set the camera up so it gets outta your way when crafting your images. Last but not least its robust design will ensure you’ll always have a reliable photo companion with you for many years of photographic fun! Get one … If you still can, you won’t regret it!
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Take care & be safe!
Cheers
Hendrik
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