Fujifilm X-Pro2 Review

Image quality

Many of the X-Pro2’s test images were taken close to Chiddingstone Castle, Kent

100% crop from above; ISO 200, 1/3000sec f/4

We have tested numerous Fujifilm cameras with 16.3-million pixels so it’s refreshing to see a new 24-million-pixel APS-C X-Trans CMOS III sensor, which has never featured in an X-series model before. The question all photographers intrigued by the X-Pro2 want to know the answer to is how well this new sensor measures up against the 16-million-pixel APS-C X-Trans CMOS sensor of old. We inspected our lab results alongside the X-Pro1’s and quickly discovered the X-Pro2’s sensor surpasses its predecessor in some style.

Pushing the sensor to the extremes of its ISO range reveals users can shoot confidently between ISO 100-6,400 without fear of noise severely degrading image quality. Colour noise is extremely well-controlled and, although luminance noise makes its presence known at high sensitivities, the level of detail the sensor resolves up to ISO 25,600 is phenomenal.

Dynamic Range

The X-Pro2 puts in a respectable dynamic range performance and manages to exceed 12EV when it’s set to its lowest sensitivity setting. Increasing the sensitivity by a stop to ISO 200 sees the figure drop just below 12EV, with figures remaining above 10EV up to ISO 800. Beyond ISO 800, results drop to 9.3EV at ISO 1,600 and 8.1EV at ISO 3,200. It’s encouraging to see the figures remaining above the critical 6EV at ISO 12,800. The dynamic range only starts to drop below 6EV when the expanded ISO settings are used.

Fujifilm X-Pro2 Dynamic Range

Resolution

The X-Pro2 clearly benefits from the lack of a low-pass filter. The level of detail recorded by the sensor goes one better than that of the X-Pro1 and it resolves a maximum of 3,400l/ph between ISO 100 and ISO 400. Resolution drops ever so slightly at ISO 800 to 3,200l/ph and it manages to resolve the same 3,000l/ph figure between ISO 3200 and 6400. The level of detail the sensor resolves at high sensitivities is quite remarkable. It manages to resolve 2,800l/ph at ISO 12,800 and only drops to 2,600l/ph at ISO 25,600. Pushing the X-Pro2 to its limit resulted in 2400l/ph being recorded at its ISO 51200 equivalent setting.