This is my second part of a Real-world review - Fujifilm XF 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR. This time with the latest Fuji X-T2 body. I preorder the body and it arrived in September 2016 for collection from my next door camera shop YLcamera Jaya33 Petaling Jaya. The body alone cost me a whopping RM6,750.00 with free 3 nos batteries and 2 nos 32gb Sandisk UHSII cards. So I won't be short of juice nor shots.
In the weekend of Hari Raya Haji I was up and ready to go and test the combination by shooting the hyperactive montane birds in Awana Genting. If you have shoot montane bird before you will know how challenging it is especially during a bird wave; birder would be happy to get 50% of his/her images sharp even if you are using a DSLR camera.
I will be comparing it with my experience of my ole faithful X-E2 on its AF responsiveness speed, ISO noise, ease of operation and sharpness on the new 24 mp sensor against the 16mp sensor of the former.
The first birds I saw on the start of the trail were a Black-thighed Falconet high up a canopy whilst the Streaked Spiderhunter and Grey-chinned Minivet were on the adjacent tree. The shots were about 90-100 ft high against the bluish clear sky in the wee morning at about 7.45am. The XT-2 Exposure Compensation dial comes into play without having to leave the viewfinder as you turn to +2 the dark silhouette of the bird get some details in the EVF. Though the details is soft you can still identify the birds.
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| Distance of bird 150 ft away. Tv 1/500 Av 5.6 Exp +2.0 ISO500 (Auto) |
Good light and perched bird is not an issue even with my 2013 X-E2 body
But the new improved 24MP X-Trans CMOS III sensor give more details and resolution for cropping and ISO control compared to the ole X-E2.
The buffering between shots is fantastic upto about 8-9 shots when buffering Jpeg Fine+ Raw reading which my X-E2 would struggled from one shot to the other.
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| Distance of shot: 30-40ft Tv160 Av5.6 Exp +0.33 ISO640 (Auto) Jpeg Straight out from Camera |
On the other extreme - the Fire-breasted flowerpecker picture below was a tiny speck in the EVF frame whilst shooting from a distance of 70 ft or so. I still manage to shoot it with the digital zoom of the EVF I can pinpoint the focus on the bird from the other elements in the frame. This is quite useful which many other camera may miss the shot.
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| Crop 50% shot from a distance of 70 ft. |
It is open season for migrant birds arriving here in Awana in the month of September. The Tiger Shrike is one the early bird to arrive besides the grey wagtail which was also sighted here. Again shooting against harsh back light at about 80 ft. The X-T2 still manage to focus though not effortless.
The Blue Nuthatch is all too familiar in birdwave that you can encounter in Awana. There were at least 6 Nuthatches flying all over me as I concentrated on the nearest bird coming close to 30-40ft. Below was a juvenile and was been fed by its parent. that shot was triggered at Tv 1/500.
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| All other shots of the Nuthatch was taken at Tv1/160 Av5.6 Exp Comp 0 ISO640(Auto) |
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| Cropped 50% |
On the way out the Tiger Shrike once again appeared in front of me just 30 ft away. This time there is no problem in getting the shot except the harsh sunlight spoiled the picture.
The female Red-headed Trogon was a bit soft whilst shooting down the ravine at more than 100 ft away. The Jpeg picture is a bit soft not because of ISO noise but the limit/reach of the 600mm and cropping.
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| Fully cropped to 80% Tv1/60 Av5.6 Exp0.33 Iso1250 Edited |
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| Actual framing distance of the Trogon @ 120 ft away |
The Large Hawk cuckoo is another bird that is common to see here during the migration season. I manage to get the above shot even though there is clutter of foliage in front of the bird and the bright background thanks to the digital zoom feature in the X-T2. Usually as a birder we will try to show from the position when the bird is first sighted as any sudden movement to another position most often cause the bird to fly away. Slowly changing position to an opening position in low light condition I manage better shots at Tv1/100 Tv5.6 Exp 0.33 Iso1000 40 ft away.
My finding of the combination of the gears are as follows:-
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| 120 ft |
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| 120 ft |
1. I am very impressed with the improved focusing speed of the X-T2. I can visualise the bird much faster because of the brighter EVF resolution boosted to 2.36 million dots. It still lack behind Dslr optical viewfinder though marginally. Overall I manage a 50% sharp pictures out of the 300 shots during my half day outing as compared to 20% if X-E2 is used.
Not because of the gear but the distance of the birds from me is beyond the 24MP resolution. It cannot churn out sharp photos if the bird is more than 60 ft away. Here are 6 full frame cropped vertically of birds in the distance. The Chestnut-naped Forktail was shot wrongly @ Tv250 in low light and edited.
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| 70ft |
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| 80ft |
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| 60ft |
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| 70ft |
2. Low light focusing (like the LHCuckoo) as well as harsh lighting (of the Tiger Shrike ) condition is no longer an issue. At times you still have to press a few times more to get the bird into focus.
3. The digital zoom upto 4x is a winning feature to overcome shooting in heavy foliage environment with manual focusing in hand I can now capture lifers in most of my shots as compared to 0% if the X-E2 is used.
4. For hyperactive birds that jump in and out of your focus I am very impressed the X-T2 focusing speed is good enough to get the pictures (see Blue Nuthatch) whilst the X-E2 would had struggled.
In conclusion I must say the combination of the Fujifilm XF 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR & Fuji X-T2 is a potent gear for birding photography. I have changed my preception that EVF mirrorless camera having no chance in shooting active birds. Now if Fuji can produce a 600mm f4 Telephoto lens at a price below RM10,000 I will invest in one just so I can reach the birds at 60-80ft range.
Latest announcement is that Canon is jumping into the bandwagon with the coming of the Canon M5 with a 24MP sensor. I did not upgrade my EOS 7D to the Mark II because the improvement is so little in terms of ISO improvement and sensor megapixels which I think is important for bird photography. Maybe can consider this M5................
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