Autofocus
Fuji was wise to announce the fourth firmware version of the X-T1 ahead of the X-T10’s announcement. I could just imagine the uproar if these AF features didn’t make their way to the X-T1. Fortunately, they are, so we can keep our pitchforks and torches safely stowed, until we start wondering about the X100T I suppose.
It also makes this portion of the comparison awfully easy to write. The X-T10 and X-T1 win, and the X-E2 loses. Here’s what the X-T10 has, and what the X-T1 soon will have that the X-E2 doesn’t.
UPDATE: Fuji have confirmed, that the X-E2 will in fact see another firmware update. It is presumed that Multi-Point AF, Zone and Wide tracking will be included, among other things, like Classic Chrome, however the full feature set has yet to be confirmed. Estimated timing is “towards the end of this year (2015)” This page will be revised once announcements and details have been made official. Good news for X-E2 owners though.
Multi-Point AF
I had forgotten how much I missed this feature. It’s been a few years since I sold my D700, but even my D300 before it had this capability. Essentially when a Zone is set, and Single Focus Mode selected (the camera acquires and maintains focus once until the focus is explicitly acquired again by the user or a picture is taken), the camera will intelligently select what it thinks should be in focus, or, in very low light, grab onto whatever is most contrasty. The nicest thing about it is the camera will show you what it has focused on, by way of green illuminated focus points.
Zone and Wide Tracking
The whole Zone thing is not available on the X-E2, nor is wide tracking (for now, see update above), which is essentially the same thing, except the camera looks at the entire frame as opposed to a user-selected Zone.
Continuous Autofocus
As mentioned in my X-T1 review, I mostly wouldn’t bother with Continuous AF on the X-E2. The X-T1 blew it out of the water then, and the lead has only been extended. With Zone and Wide Tracking, you can watch as the camera acquires focus as opposed to hoping for the best, and then getting frustrated when the “Multi” AF Mode grabs onto the wrong thing.
Continuous Shooting
This is one area where the X-T1 still rules the roost. As evidenced by the audio clips below, the X-T1 will let you shoot fast for much, much longer. This comes down to buffer size first, and card speed second. I personally have yet to bother with UHS-II cards as continuous shooting simply isn’t that important to me, so the Continuous Shooting of the X-T1 could be even greater as neither of the other cameras are UHS-II compatible.
For the audio files below, I used the same UHS-I SanDisk Extreme SD Card, rated at 45MB/s. Keep in mind I’m working with a preproduction unit with the X-T10 so things could change, but this will give you a good idea of how long your burst will last, and the approximate rate of capture afterwards. The initial burst of the X-T10 actually sounds the fastest. Also note that the X-T1 could have merrily kept shooting JPEGs a good while longer, but I cut the clip short.