Fuji X-Pro3 first impressions

The images I see here from the XPRO3 look great. i look forward to getting my chance to handle it once I get into the local camera store.

Right now, there does not seem enough of an "upgrade" from the XPRO2 for me to jump on one new, although I would love to have the upgraded film simulation engine. I might consider selling the XE3 for the XT30 if I want to do that...but I really like that tiny XE3 and the range finder styled body. :)
 
I had my chance to handle the XPRO3 today.

As I had thought, it isi a nice camera, but not enough there for me to desire one over the XPRO2.

Some reviewers had mentioned that it felt more solid than previous iterations. I didn;t really get that, but then again I thought the XPRO2 was pretty solid to begin with.
The Optical EVF is definitely clear to see through, but being a glasses wearer, I cannot see the whole of the viewfinder on. Not a major thing as I can see enough...but i guess I don't get what was trying to be corrected or improved from the XPRO2.

I'm all for the XPRO3, but I believe that I'll pass on it and wait for another 2-4 years and see what surprises are in the XPRO4. To satiate my Fuji GAS, I'll probably be looking closely at the X100V and keep an eye on the used prices of the X100F.
 
Just playing around with XPro-3 while doing my ”social distancing“. Anyone liking HDR. I’m not sure about it yet.

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Bill: With one reservation I sense your barely concealed delight with the new acquisition. Concur OOC Fuji jpegs. I've been lucky enough to have been a Leica digital M shooter since the M-E back in 2014. I miss that M-E CCD image rendering (I know, a very hackneyed debate! - and the camera , it was stolen during house refurb) replaced with M240 - a meaningful and hefty bit of kit that comes close to replicating CCD in post. But here's the thing, maybe it's me but I rarely improve on 50/50 Leica OOC jpegs hit rate. But it wasn't until I got my hands on a Fuji EX-3 that I realised pretty near every OOC shot was fine - NO POST! Not believing my old eyes I fired up the RAW files to find the Fuji algorithms had done a fine job - little or no improvement to be had by PP tweaks. So for what it's worth - and it comes as a big surprise (to me) that comparing FF to APSC is not the issue I thought it might be. Judged by image alone it is astonishing they even bare comparison. So much so if I were starting out photo work today, knowing what I do I would probably plumb for the X-Pro-3.
 
ReneBee. Sorry for my late reply. You are absolutely correct. I've been loving the XPro-3! During the Pandemic I've been shooting birds with a 50-140mm with 2X teleconverter (normally I'm doing the street photography thing). A bit unwieldy with the X-Pro 3. This has pushed me to order a used XH-1 with battery grip. I'm hoping the in camera stabilization may help as much as giving me more to latch onto while using my bigger lenses.

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Forgot to post this one the other day
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I'm experimenting with my own setting. I call it "Grunge" - it's the nearest I can get to the Ricoh "HiBW" setting. What do you think?

Looking at Bill's old post (from the end of 2019) - in which he was playing around with getting a high-contrast look from his XPro3 which came close to Ricoh's high-contrast B&W settings... and I have to say, Bill - if you are reading this - I think you nailed it. Whatever you did to achieve this range of black & white tones - really works. It's a great photograph, too.

I'm guessing (wondering really) if everyone who wound up springing for the (relatively pricey, at the time of first introduction) XPro3 - wound up liking theirs, as much as Bill appears to have appreciated his?
 
Looking at Bill's old post (from the end of 2019) - in which he was playing around with getting a high-contrast look from his XPro3 which came close to Ricoh's high-contrast B&W settings... and I have to say, Bill - if you are reading this - I think you nailed it. Whatever you did to achieve this range of black & white tones - really works. It's a great photograph, too.

I'm guessing (wondering really) if everyone who wound up springing for the (relatively pricey, at the time of first introduction) XPro3 - wound up liking theirs, as much as Bill appears to have appreciated his?
Praise indeed...

I still have - and love - my X-Pro3... I confess I have been carrying my GRIII more frequently during lockdown but the Fuji has something very special.
 
Am just starting to use my recently acquired (and lightly used) X-Pro3, little by little, but haven't come anywhere near close to being able to either explore its features, or metaphorically put it through its paces. Am shooting everything in jpeg, with the in-camera 'classic neg' film simulation. These shots I took during an impromptu stop by the side of the highway, on my way into town to do some shopping.

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The FOR SALE sign has been on this truck for a few years, I think.

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But the once richer light-turquoise-colored paint gets more and more faded every year.

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But I like the way the colors are coming out in 'classic negative'.

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I am not sure if it is worth to share my first impressions now that this camera is two and a half years on the market already. But maybe it is of interest anyways. The X-Pro3 is my first X-System ILC, the positive experience from my X100V purchase let to an expensive and unwanted GAS attack, which resulted in the X-Pro3 and a trio of primes a few months after I got the fixed lens compact.

To be honest there aren't many negative things I could talk about. The camera doesn't feature IBIS, coming from Olympus that's kind of a bummer, but to my own surprise and don't miss IBIS too much - something I already noticed prior with my X100 - as I simply accept it when I pack the camera. I prefer the ISO-dial design of the X100V, which doesn't need to be held up while changing the ISO but instead needs to be clicked down into place. A disappointment are actually the strap lugs: It seems to be a Fujifilm thing to only install tiny lugs on their cameras, I might've understood that on the small X100 models, but not on the big X-Pro. My Sailor Strap neck strap, which easily fits my small Pen-F, the bigger E-M1 and seemingly a bunch of Leica rangefinders is a pain in the a** to attach to the X-Pro3. Even when going through the hassle it barely moves at all. But that's about it, on to the good things.

The camera feels and handles great, the buttons and dials are firm, clicky and tactile, a positive surprise from the X100V, which in my opinion had rather mushy buttons. The ergonomics are great, the added thumbrest on the rear and partly the molded grip on the front is a big plus compared to the compact sibling. For me it's mostly due to the thumbrest on the rear, something I already loved on my Olympus Pen-F. The Q-Menu button is in a better position and I like the additional function button which is right above it.
I generally enjoy the rear screen of the camera, it can be quickly folded down to allow simple waist or ground level shooting - the only downside when compared to the Pen-F's fully articulated screen: Shooting at ground level in portrait orientation is essentially impossible. The gimmicky "film" display is in my opinion a neat little touch, both for information as well as asthetics.
The hybrid viewfinder, just like on the X100V, is in my opinion great and one of the main reasons why I bought the camera after all. While I do use the EVF at least 90% of the time, there are situations where I either really like having the OVF or use it as a challange for fun. The OVF seems to be most usefull in the ~18-60mm range. My 16mm is already quite a bit wider than the OVF, while my 90mm is already fairly challanging due to the small frametimes - it can be done, but not as good as the 50mm and I wouldn't want to go any longer than 90mm.

Bottom line: The X-Pro3 is pretty much everything I expected - a fun to shoot camera, which feels and handles great. I applaud and appreciate Fujifilm for trying something fairly different with the X-Pro line and particularly with the XP3. The camera is different in a good way and I hope Fujifilm is going to keep the line alive in the future.
 
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I am not sure if it is worth to share my first impressions now that this camera is two and a half years on the market already. But maybe it is of interest anyways. The X-Pro3 is my first X-System ILC, the positive experience from my X100V purchase let to an expensive and unwanted GAS attack, which resulted in the X-Pro3 and a trio of primes a few months after I got the fixed lens compact.

To be honest there aren't many negative things I could talk about. The camera doesn't feature IBIS, coming from Olympus that's kind of a bummer, but to my own surprise and don't miss IBIS too much - something I already noticed prior with my X100 - as I simply accept it when I pack the camera. I prefer the ISO-dial design of the X100V, which doesn't need to be held up while changing the ISO but instead needs to be clicked down into place. A disappointment are actually the strap lugs: It seems to be a Fujifilm thing to only install tiny lugs on their cameras, I might've understood that on the small X100 models, but not on the big X-Pro. My Sailor Strap neck strap, which easily fits my small Pen-F, the bigger E-M1 and seemingly a bunch of Leica rangefinders is a pain in the a** to attach to the X-Pro3. Even when going through the hassle it barely moves at all. But that's about it, on to the good things.

The camera feels and handles great, the buttons and dials are firm, clicky and tactile, a positive surprise from the X100V, which in my opinion had rather mushy buttons. The ergonomics are great, the added thumbrest on the rear and partly the molded grip on the front is a big plus compared to the compact sibling. For me it's mostly due to the thumbrest on the rear, something I already loved on my Olympus Pen-F. The Q-Menu button is in a better position and I like the additional function button which is right above it.
I generally enjoy the rear screen of the camera, it can be quickly folded down to allow simple waist or ground level shooting - the only downside when compared to the Pen-F's fully articulated screen: Shooting at ground level in portrait orientation is essentially impossible. The gimmicky "film" display is in my opinion a neat little touch, both for information as well as asthetics.
The hybrid viewfinder, just like on the X100V, is in my opinion great and one of the main reasons why I bought the camera after all. While I do use the EVF at least 90% of the time, there are situations where I either really like having the OVF or use it as a challange for fun. The EVF seems to be most usefull in the ~18-60mm range. My 16mm is already quite a bit wider than the OVF, while my 90mm is already fairly challanging due to the small frametimes - it can be done, but not as good as the 50mm and I wouldn't want to go any longer than 90mm.

Bottom line: The X-Pro3 is pretty much everything I expected - a fun to shoot camera, which feels and handles great. I applaud and appreciate Fujifilm for trying something fairly different with the X-Pro line and particularly with the XP3. The camera is different in a good way and I hope Fujifilm is going to keep the line alive in the future.
It's always worth sharing your thoughts and opinions regardless of how long the camera has been out. Thanks for sharing.
 
I always like years-later reviews. As time goes on and used ones become available, it's good for those folks to be able to read how this camera has weathered the tides of changing expectations. I personally believe that for many we are past the "good-enough" event horizon unless you need less high ISO noise or faster tracking AF. Also, let's have a moment of honesty amongst us enthusiasts. The feel of a camera matters a whole lot to this group, and the X Pro 3 is a camera developed largely for that purpose.
 
The EVF seems to be most usefull in the ~18-60mm range. My 16mm is already quite a bit wider than the OVF, while my 90mm is already fairly challanging due to the small frametimes - it can be done, but not as good as the 50mm and I wouldn't want to go any longer than 90mm.
Thanks for sharing your experiences!

I just wanted to confirm one thing. Did you mean to say that the OVF (not the EVF) is most useful in the 18–60mm range?

- K
 
I just wanted to confirm one thing. Did you mean to say that the OVF (not the EVF) is most useful in the 18–60mm range?

- K
The 18mm is just a wild guess, for sure it's 23mm at the wide end, as you still have some space between the frame lines and the actual borders of the viewfinder. In fact if you want to take advantage of the "view outside the frame", 23mm would be the widest, I guess 18mm would simply fill the whole OVF.
 
Fujifilm seems to be in trouble in the US about the X-Pro3:
According to PetaPixel, a professional photographer filed a class action complaint against Fujifilm and their advertisement of the X-Pro3 having good reliabilitiy, while more and more reports of dead rear displays are emerging.


Personally my display is still ok, however I don't use the camera very often and even if, I don't flip out the screen too often. It still has me worried though, if this really is a design flaw, it's going to happen sooner or later. Next year my X-Pro3 will be out of warranty, in which case I'd have to pay in order to get it repaired.
 
If somebody is still in the market for a new X-Pro3, it seems like you might need to hurry up: First reported in late December '22, some stored started listing that camera as being discontinued, now US camera specialist B&H also list that one as being discountinued. I checked my go-to camera store in Berlin, which is also a bigger Fujifilm partner and they took all listings for the X-Pro3 down completely - they were still there a few weeks ago. I checked another shop in Hamburg which is also selling quite a bit of Fujifilm equipment and they also took down their XP3 listings.
 
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