Quick take: Four years and over 70,000 shutter actuations later, the Fujifilm X-T5 is still one of my favorite cameras to shoot with. Autofocus no longer chases bright backgrounds, 40 megapixels resolves fine even with old lenses, and the dials make the camera disappear in your hands. What would get me to buy an X-T6: a faster readout sensor, modern multi-subject autofocus and a battery grip.
Should You Wait for the X-T6?
With the X-T6 rumored to drop any minute, I wanted to answer two questions. Is there any reason for me to upgrade? And if you've been eyeing the X-T5, is it still worth buying? To find out, I went back through four years of shoots: the Baltimore Harbor, the DC cherry blossoms, a mural in an alley too narrow to shoot head-on, my buddy's band and an autocross.
How I Got Here
In September 2018 I went all in on video with the Fujifilm X-T3, the first APS-C mirrorless camera that could shoot 4K 60p 10-bit internally. My career really took off with a pair of X-T3s, the 50-140mm and the 16-55mm, and I was known as "the Fuji guy" for years. My commercial work eventually moved to a pair of Canon R5 Cs, but I never sold my Fuji gear.
When the X-T5 teasers showed that familiar silhouette, I was in. My expectations were low, honestly. I'd never used IBIS on a job because the jitters made cameras unpredictable, and unpredictable is a no-go at live events. Then I held the X-T5, and the IBIS was incredible for photo and video. It was so good it pushed me to pick up the X-H2S too.
Autofocus: It Stopped Chasing the Background
The biggest change in Fuji autofocus over the past decade is that it no longer jumps to bright backgrounds. On the X-T3, face and eye detection were good until something brighter showed up behind your subject. Then focus would pulse back and forth. I still shot sports on the X-T3 for six or seven years, so it wasn't unusable, but every camera has quirks you have to learn.
Babs at the Baltimore Harbor: indoors and out, it never once pulled to a brighter source behind her. I'd put it on par with my Canon R5 C.
Rebecca in the cherry blossoms: about 40 degrees with wind knocking the blossoms off the trees, so missing focus could have meant waiting a year. Even with branches and petals across her face and her walking toward the camera, it stayed locked on.
The weakness: multiple subjects. Like all current Fuji bodies, it jumps between people instead of sticking to one. For photos it's not a big deal. For video, especially talking heads, it can ruin a take. That's the first thing I want fixed in the X-T6.
Image Quality and Color
When the X-T5 launched, people claimed older lenses wouldn't resolve on the 40MP sensor. I tested that with Babs using the 16mm F1.4, which was over a decade old by then. It resolved just fine, and so did the 33mm F1.4 and the 50mm F1.
I usually live at 75mm and longer for that flattering compression, but my friend Hunter Hart's wide portraits inspired me to try the 16. Most of my keepers from that shoot ended up on the 16mm. Thinking wide lenses weren't for portraits was just me putting myself in a box.
Fuji has the best JPEGs in the game, and the grain looks like real grain because the film simulations are modeled on actual Fujifilm stocks. Funny enough, I mostly stick to Provia, warmed up a bit, and most of these photos are unedited.
One honest nitpick: X-T5 RAW files aren't quite as flexible as Canon CR3s in extreme contrast. It's never ruined a photo, but I've noticed it.
Handling: The Camera Disappears
The mark of a really good camera is that you stop thinking about it. On that cold, windy cherry blossom day, the whole kit was light and I never thought about settings. Shutter speed on the right, ISO on the left, lock it and go. I don't shoot my X-H2S, R5 C or Lumix S1II that way, so it has to be the X-T5's dials.
A small body with IBIS also lets you try unconventional things. For a Gaza mural in a DC alley too tight to shoot in one frame, I rode out on my bike with the X-T5 on a monopod and shot it segment by segment, then stitched the frames. You can't do that confidently with a heavy camera on the end of a stick. People have asked for prints of that image many times.
The Camera I Bring Along to Events
It's also a great daily camera. I shot around Paterson Falls and the old art factory near me, and it makes simple throwaway photos look great. At events, it rides on my hip with the opposite lens of my main camera:
Autocross: my main camera had a 300-600mm F4, which wasn't mobile or wide enough as cars came toward me. The X-T5 with the Sigma 50-120mm handled wider shots, and 40 megapixels covered the far ones.
My friend's band, Troubleman: my main camera had the Sigma 100-300mm, so the X-T5 with the Sigma 17-40mm was my wide camera for photos and quick video clips. I actually liked those images more than the R5 C's.
What I Miss From the X-T3
Readout speed. Cramming 40MP into APS-C means rolling shutter on whip pans and fast action. Track your subject well and you'll still get the shot, but I always hoped for an "X-T5S" with the X-H2S's stacked sensor.
The battery grip. I never shot the X-T3 without one, and its absence on the X-T5 is a strange omission, even with the bigger battery.
For video, it's way past what most cameras offered not long ago: 6.2K open gate, high bit rates and F-Log2. I'd like F-Log2 C for skin tones, better continuous autofocus and the X-H2S's 4K 120p.
What Would Make Me Upgrade
A faster readout sensor and a better electronic shutter: silent, full 14-bit RAWs, little to no distortion and less wear on the mechanical shutter.
Modern autofocus, especially multi-subject tracking.
A battery grip. Probably not happening, but I can ask.
I don't need more megapixels, and none of us really do. Honestly, I'm not sure how much better Fuji can make it. If I still only had my X-T3, I could have gotten every shot in this video.
Final Thoughts
Four years later, everything people love about Fujifilm is in the X-T5: the small size, IBIS, 40 megapixels, solid weather sealing, dual card slots and a much better app than the X-T3 days, though I still think all camera apps are bad. Most of all, it's fun to use. If you've been wondering whether to buy one, even as your only camera, it has my endorsement.
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