Fujifilm X-T3 long term review

It’s almost 2023, so I thought I would look at the Fujifilm X-T3 and give a long term user review on this fantastic camera. You don’t need in-depth specifications, just an honest look at day to day heavy usage of one of Fujifilms finest cameras.

The Fujifilm X-T3 camera was released in 2018 and was Fujifilm’s flagship camera. That means it’s around five years old now, so can it remain a flagship style camera in 2022/23 and beyond?

Build Quality

The X-T3 measures 132.5mm x 92.8mm x 58.8mm. It is a small mirrorless camera, with a small grip, because that is the style it was designed to be and the reason you would buy this (and other) X-T cameras. There are plenty of cameras out there with bigger grips, so this gives you an excellent choice for your preference. I have added a leather half-case to mine (as I do with all my cameras), which gives a little protection, plus gives you a few millimetres extra to the base for your pinky finger to rest, and expands the grip a tiny bit.

The build quality is extremely good, and in my years of use, the camera has been knocked and banged and it has been really robust. The camera has a nice weight at 539g so it’s not too heavy, but heavy enough to know you’re carrying a camera.

There are numerous dials and buttons on the camera, and this is the appeal of the X-T range, as you can adjust all your settings with rarely going into your menu system. It’s very tactile, and thankfully all the buttons and dials feel great to use, with just the right clickyness.

All the buttons are fully customisable, so you can customise to your liking. It’s features such as this which really make a camera yours, knowing you can set it up exactly as you want.

Electronic Viewfinder And Screen

The X-T3 has a good quality EVF that has 3.69 million dots for clear display and no noticeable lag (measured at 0.005 seconds). It runs at 100fps when in boost mode, and slightly less when not in that mode.

The rear panel is a touch screen 3 inch display with 1.04 million dots. It’s bright enough at its highest setting for outside use and has nice colour reproduction.

The rear screen on the X-T3 has a tilt mechanism meaning you can take both low and high shots by tilting the camera, plus you can take low shots while in portrait mode, as the screen also flips in that direction.

Sensor Performance

The X-T3 features a Fujifilm 26mp BSI X-Trans IV sensor. It was a step up from the Fujifilm X-T2 which was X-Trans III 24mp sensor in terms of megapixels. The latest X-T5 (and X-H2s) have the new X-Trans V with 40mp sensors just to let you instead where sensor size is going. This jump to 40mp is a very recent one, and it’s got some people very excited.

I’m not a pixel peeper in any way, but I do see the results of sensors, and having used Fujifilm since the X-Trans III cameras (X-T2) and I’ve been watching the way that Fujifilm sensors have been performing over the years.

The X-T2 was the pinnacle of low light ISO performance, plus it gave a very unique look to its images. The X-T3 has slightly less low light performance than the X-T3, which you do notice when you swap from X-T2 to X-T3. And, as the pattern suggests, the X-T4 and X-T5 are a decreasing scale of low light performance. There’s not much in it, but low light capabilities seem to be getting slightly worse, and the X-T3 is a solid middle ground.

The X-T3, just like all Fujifilm X-Trans sensor cameras has a very unique looking noise pattern, and coming from other cameras you will notice this pattern.

Colour reproduction on the X-T3 is very nice, it’s a bit different to the X-T2, but it still retains the colour science we know and love from Fujifilm.

Autofocus

It is important to talk about autofocus. Fujifilm cameras are often dismissed because of their focus system, but that is because they are very much misunderstood. Unlike Sony or Canon cameras which you can basically point the camera and you don’t have to adjust any settings by default, Fujifilm have settings and modes that you need to tweak to get the best performance based on what you are doing.

When I was shooting with the Fujifilm X-T20/2 I was shooting birds in flight with little to no issue. The step up to the X-T3 meant I could still get birds in flight, but the focus was improved. The improvement was most noticeable in the eye detection, which was really a step up from the X-Trans III cameras. The X-T4 shared the exact same focusing as the X-T4, while the X-T5 has an improved autofocus system.

The below images are taken with the X-T3 in various autofocus modes.

As I said, autofocus is more fiddley with a Fujifilm camera. You need to understand what mode to use and when (I have this guide on photographing birds here, plus a guide to a focus mode I really enjoy using here). However, in day to day use, when you’re just out and about, the focus system works perfectly. Just understand you will need to switch modes for our activities.

And finally, on the subject of autofocus, the lens you are using will also affect the speed and accuracy of the autofocus.

Film Simulations and raw files

Being a Fujifilm camera, the X-T3 is loaded with film simulations (Provia, Velvia, Astia, Classic Chrome, Pro Neg Hi, Pro Neg Std, Eterna, Acros and Monochrome ) and although they generally don’t look as nice as the X-Trans III versions, they are still beautiful. Of course, you can also tweak these simulations and create “recipes” just as in other Fujifilm cameras (see images below for an example of some recipes, or browse the website).

For editing, the jpeg images are extremely flexible, and allow you to adjust them in software later with little to no issues.

The raw files are generally around 24mb in size (or 50mb if you use the fully uncompressed option, although there seems to be no benefit in using this option, as the results from both lossless compressed and standard are identical – the clue is in the name “lossless”)

Fujifilm raw files are great to edit, you’ll have over 12 stops of dynamic range to play with, and some of the best base colours from the sensor to create beautiful images.

Battery life

A lot has been said about the battery life of Fujifilm cameras, but in all honesty, the battery life is perfectly fine, and batteries are so small that you can keep spares in your pocket. Only once have I ever had to change batteries on a day shoot, and that was because I was using burst mode while photographing birds at a birding event!

You’ll get between 500-700 shots per battery (around 400-600 on a third party battery) easily when out as long as you don’t leave your camera always on. Leaving your camera on constantly will be the biggest drain on batteries.

I wrote this article here on saving your battery should you wish to really squeeze battery life and compromise performance.

Conclusion

The Fujifilm X-T3 has been my main camera for the last two years, and it has had heavy, weekly use. I use it alongside an Olympus E-PL8, plus I use other cameras while out and about such as the X-T4.

As far as bang for buck goes, alongside the X-T2, the Fujifilm X-T3 is the best value X-T camera that you can buy right now. It just does everything right, from the screen that’s designed for photographers, through to the capable autofocus, excellent low light performance, amazing build quality and most importantly, it’s reliability.

We have all seen issues with the X-T4 being reported, and even the new X-T5, but the X-T3 has always been a reliable camera. Fujifilm really captured the imagination with the X-T3, they refined the X-T2, improved the bits that needed improving, and created the best X-T camera.

It’s come to a point, that if anything was to happen to my X-T3, I have no desire to get the latest models and would invest in another X-T3.

Overall, if you’re thinking of getting a larger X-T camera, the X-T3 should be your number one choice. If you’re after a smaller X-T camera, the X-T20 is still my choice.