Earlier this week, I attended the launch of Fujifilm's latest X-series camera, the X-S20. I confess that there weren't too many people my age there, but as I get older, this is becoming more common. Of equal interest, there weren't many photo magazine writers there either, but a lot of bloggers and influencers! Yes, it's the new world order and the good news for us is that as Fujifilm and other manufacturers invent and modify their gear, we get the benefits, even if we're still using the camera predominantly for stills.
On the other hand, if like me you're doing a little video as well (because I confess it's a lot of fun), then a small camera is what's required if you're going to take something instead of your mobile phone. Let's face it, most of the stuff we see on social media is shot with a tiny phone sensor (referring to the physical size of the sensor, not the pixel count) and a wide-angle lens. Then when we suddenly see some footage shot with a real camera and a proper lens, the differences are obvious - at least to me. And this is the market the X-S20 seems to be aimed at - vloggers and influencers who want to create a better quality image.
Some of the new features are simply great for stills photography as well, beginning with the small size body (weighing 491 g) and the deeper handgrip, so you get that small camera, but it's not such a struggle to hold it! It makes me think of travel photography and shooting from the hip.
Officially, the X-S20 is a mirrorless digital camera equipped with the back-illuminated 26.1-megapixel, X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor and the high-speed image processing engine X-Processor 5. The use of the new high-capacity battery has more than doubled the number of frames it can capture on a single charge, now around 800, compared to that of the previous model, Fujifilm X-S10. The camera also features a five-axis in-body image stabilisation (IBIS) mechanism that offers up to a 7-stop advantage, plus AI-based subject-detection AF, capable of detecting, for example, animals and cars.
The X-S20 supports recording 6.2K/30P 4:2:2 10-bit video internally and features a 3.5mm microphone / earphone jack for connecting external accessories to conduct fully-fledged video recording. And a new Vlog Mode makes it easy to produce a range of content, letting the camera set the most appropriate settings.
We'll grab a review unit from Fujifilm and let you know how it goes in the field!
