Fujifilm X-T3 First Impressions

 

Fujifilm X-T3, Sigma CONTEMPORARY 30mm f1.4 DC DN

Sigma really needs to shorten their lens names ;-) The name is longer than the lens, which is rather compact for an f1.4 lens even in APS-C. 

Yes, it's a little ironic that in acquiring a Fuji system to get access to a much broader selection of APS-C lenses than Z mount offers, I start with a lens that is available in Z mount, the 30mm f1.4 is one of 4 Sigma lenses available in Z mount (the 16/1.4, 56/1.4 and the new 16-300 are the other ones), but there's an additional 6 such lenses from Sigma in their Fuji lineup, including the 100-400 Contemporary that I had in Sony mount last year and liked aside from the apparently Sony-specific OIS issues. 

Likewise, Tamron just announced a new 16-50/2.8 in all 4 modern APS-C mounts, but their 11-18/2.8 that I am far more interested in is not offered in Z mount, in fact it's the sole lens on Tamron's Fuji lineup that isn't offered in Z mount (Tamron offers a total of 14 lenses for Z mount, including 3 APS-C lenses, and 5 in Fuji mount, but the fifth Fuji offering is the 150-500 which is a full frame lens also available in Z mount). Tamron does not offer a particularly broad set of APS-C lenses in general.

I've had the X-T3 now for a day, and had it out for one short outing and it's already shot 65% as many frames as the Z7 did this year. That's more a showing of just how little the Z7 has been used since I got the Z5ii, and it didn't really pick up at all when I got the Zfc or replaced the Z5ii with the D7500. 

Now as to the X-T3 itself, it's pretty much exactly what I expected, an improved X-T2. AF is definitely better than the X-T2, I was expecting it to be slightly worse than the EXPEED6 bodies, but I'd rate it as a bit better, but a little finicky. Mostly that's just that it's different and I need to get used to how to control it, just like some of the other UI differences between the two bodies. 

Ergonomics are generally better than the Zfc, notably the little thumbrest on the X-T3 that the Zfc lacks, but also the grip extension on the front, I had to get a 3rd party grip for that on the Nikon and it's good but not great. That grip addition actually makes the Zfc and X-T3 just about the same size and weight, which doesn't hold up well. The X-T3 also gives me better port covers, a much better EVF, proper sealing and more robust build, and the threaded cable release/soft release that the Zfc inexplicably lacks. Both suffer from Chiclet buttons, but the X-T3 has a joystick for AF points which is a win. The X-T3 also has more controls available to customize. Finally, the X-T3 offers both a wired remote port and a headphone port to the mic, USB-C and Micro HDMI ports on both bodies. The flip-twist screen on the Zfc is better for my video setup, but inferior for still use where I continue to prefer the dual-tilt setup on the X-T3. The X-T3 was instantly comfortable in my hands, much like the D7500, and that is a good place to start. The only real annoyance is that Nikon's Delete/Play buttons on the EXPEED6 and older bodies are the same spot as on the Fuji X-T bodies, but in reverse order. I have to check regularly that I'm hitting the right ones. Expeed7 moves the play button to the other button cluster so it's not the same disruption. But my Z7, Zfc and D7500 all have this issue compared to the X-T3, same as my D750 had with the X-T2 when I had that pairing. Neither is right, but it's way to easy to hit delete by mistake when swapping between Fuji and all but the newest Nikons. 

Frankly, I would have bought an X-T3 in preference to the Zfc back in April if one had been available, and now I have done so and unsurprisingly I prefer it overall. 

In hindsight, I wish I'd waited for an X-T3 to show up rather than jumping on the Zfc, although I have enjoyed the Zfc experience, it's a lot better than its reputation, but the DX lens gripes are very real. Unless the specific set of DX +FX lenses work for you, look elsewhere than Nikon for an APS-C system. The real question I think is do I trade the Zfc for a b-cam in Fuji mount or for glass. 

Zfc at 6 Months

 Nikon Zfc, 7Artisans 35mm f1.4 APS-C

I bought the Zfc in April, so I've now owned it for 6 months. 

I've not used it as much as I'd hoped, but that's not its fault. In fact when I've been shooting, it's definitely been enjoyed, enough that it drove my hard look at APS-C working for me as a primary system meant in terms of system choice (see my recent posts pondering a serious swap to Fuji, to make Zfc style bodies my primary set).

Overall, I'd hoped the Zfc would be a digital FM10 and it has delivered spectacularly on that promise. The Zfc is similar in size (slightly taller and thinner) and weight (about 25g heavier) to the FM10. Throw a roll of film in the latter and weight is basically the same. Some have complained about build, well frankly a ~450g camera of this size is always going to feel as it does, somewhat light in build. That's due to the density more than anything else.

But can it be a main body? Maybe. I need to spend some time shooting with the Zfc and zooms to validate that. It's 100% a capable EDC body for me, but it lacks IBIS and has a notably worse EVF than the Z7, as well as the worse battery life. Given the relatively small size of the Zfc, I would need to move to a native zoom option (probably one of the 16-50/2.8 options). In terms of capability and IQ, aside from IBIS, it gives nothing up to the Z7 in DX mode. It's slower than the D7500, but trades AF speed for accuracy, and of course has usable handheld live view. 

Now that I have the X-T3, the Zfc's biggest challenge to staying in my bag is the system split issue. I don't have much in the way of native Z glass (1 AF lens and 3 manual lenses) so swapping it out for a Fuji body to complement the X-T3 starts to make sense, or even for Fuji lenses, getting me down to 2 bodies total. But the flip side is with the FTZ it does function as a backup body to the D7500, in particular putting the 10-20VR on the Zfc + the larger lenses on the D7500 works well. 

Overall, I like the Zfc the most of the 4 Nikon's I've had over the last 18-20 months, but still it's not quite love. 

The Z7 - Will It Survive?

Z7, Z 28/2.8 SE

 

My Z7 has one screaming issue, it's WELL used, almost 320k actuations on the clock. The main annoyance from this is the rubber port covers are swollen and do not close correctly, but I also have to remain concerned that the body will just die on me at some point. 

I've gotten my money's worth, the body was cheap (the cheapest of my 3 current bodies despite having a FAR higher original price and being actually in the middle in terms of design age, the D7500 is the oldest design, the now 5 year old Zfc the youngest, although both my Zfc and D7500 are very recent production, the Zfc bought new and the D7500 in mint condition with low miles and recent serial)

I was out recently shooting with it and it was behaving oddly, overriding my aperture settings in Aperture Priority mode (very much not what you want). Some research indicates this isn't unheard of on the Z6 & Z7, but nobody has been able to point at a setting which fixes this, only really to ensure you don't get in a situation where the auto ISO system wants to go to a lower ISO than it can select and decides to mess with you. 

That frankly makes me concerned that the Z7 may fail me when I am actually relying on it, which brings me back to it not being able to be the core of my system. I had never intended it to be anything other than a 'play' body for my manual lens collection, plus a secondary body to whatever I ran as primary, but right now I don't have a true primary body, just an EDC body (Zfc), an action body (D7500) and a adaptation body (Z7). All 3 could to some extent function as my main body with my current lenses, although the Zfc is the weakest here (as I have no native zooms and it doesn't handle nearly as well with adapted zooms as the Z7) and the D7500 arguably the best (since my core set of zooms are all F mount and align pretty well on the D7500).

The reality is that out of the now nearly 4000 images I've shot this year, maybe 100 were on the Z7. I have kicked my own pants and gone out and shot over the last few weeks. But I did it with the D7500 and the Zfc aside from one sole outing with the Z7 recently (from which the image above results)

So the Z7 and a few full-frame lenses that I've either not used at all this year or have an APS-C alternative in my current kit went in and an X-T3 and Sigma 30/1.4 came home. 

The goal here is both to sample Fuji without really impacting the kit I use and to gain access to Fuji's far better selection of APS-C lenses. Mid term, the Zfc is on the chopping block as it's in a lot of ways just a less good X-T3 and the only real thing it offers right now is the flip-out screen which works better on my video setup, but less well everywhere else. The D7500 and its core kit will stay for now, if nothing else it is a complete standalone kit which works well alongside both Z and Fuji X mounts.

I'd been leaning towards another XC35/2 as the first lens, but they only had the more expensive XF35, or a used Sigma 30/1.4 in stock. I went for the latter as it cost barely more than the XC35/2 and look forward to trying it out. 

October Goals Update

 

D7500, AF-S Nikkor 10-20mm VR G DX




This is a late year update on my Goals for 2026.

I have 3, namely:

1. Reach 10,000 images shot on one camera system without a system change

2. Take 7 major photographic outings

3. Get my post/like percentage up to 75% on Fred Miranda

Goal #1 is on not failed, but not succeeded. I'm about 50% of the way there, but I'll probably not tick over to 10,000 images on Nikon without a system change until 2027 barring a massive increase in shooting. What I think is realistic is reaching at least 1,500 shots per body by end of year (which would put my overall count at 6700+ towards the 10,000 image goal). I've now hit that point on the D7500, which is my most used body now since I spent some time shooting RC Car racing on Thanksgiving Weekend (coming home with a little under 1700 shots to go through). That makes the 6700+ goal much less of a stretch, I'm at 6300-ish now towards the 10,000 goal and 3500-ish for the year, but with some serious fall shooting I might even stretch closer to 8,000 images by end of year.


Goal #2 is on track, I need one more to call it done for the year, and I expect to do that in October.

Goal #3 is going to fail hard, for the simple reason that my post count is high enough (13,000+) and the rate of likes on the Nikon forum on FM is low enough that I'm simply unlikely to be able to get the 600 or so extra likes in the 90-ish days left in the year. The reality is I get 3 likes per photo post on average, and can do maybe one of those a day to avoid flooding the photo threads. In short, I did not do the math on this one and it wasn't ever achievable. In reality, 72% is achievable, but 75% is not. Note I'm at 71.1% today. I based this goal too closely on the like behaviour of the Canon and Sony forums, where I'd get 2-3x the likes per photo compared to the far pickier Nikon forum on FM.

So I'm likely going to go 1, 1, and 1 for 2026 goals.

Just Go Shoot

 

D7500, Tamron SP 90mm f2.8 Macro N-AF

I've been massively rabbit holing around what gear should I get for the future.

Then I ran a search on images taken in 2026.

1856 images. Mostly on the D7500 and Zfc. 

I don't need new gear. I need to actually go and make images. End of Story. I cannot justify spending money on gear I don't use. 

The answer is to get out there with these cameras I do have, make images and enjoy the process. And I need to quit focusing on anything else. The images are the goal, not having the perfect gear bag. 

If I buy something new, it needs to be because I identified a gap while in the field, not at my desk pondering and prevaricating about GAS. 

Just. Go. Shoot. 

Success, For Now

D7500, AF-S Nikkor 85mm f1.8 G

Well, after a recommendation from my wife (to spend a month using my current bodies before switching) and going over just what I would have to trade in for glass vs what I'd get in return, I'm standing pat for now on Nikon. 

A lot of this comes down simply to the breadth of my Nikon lens lineup. Which was part of the point of building an extensive lineup, to have a system that I cannot justify moving away from without a massive benefit coming through, not just 'is the grass greener'. 

What Nikon Delivers

 D7500, AF-S Nikkor 10-20mm VR G DX

And what do I get if I stay with Nikon.

1. Maintaining my investment. I own a fair bit of glass today, mostly manual focus lenses of various sorts, but also a small but solid set of AF F mount lenses - The 10-20VR, Tamron 17-50/2.8, 24-85VR, 85/1.8G, Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro, 80-400G and 300/4D. All but one, the Tamron 90mm, AF on all 3 bodies, with my D7500 supporting the screwdriver AF lens just fine. And of course my two lonely Z AF primes, the 28/2.8 SE and 40/2 SE. And of course I have 3 bodies (2 Z, 1 F mount) that all work pretty well for me. I would need to sell at least some of the glass to make this transition work (although Fuji does have a decent AF-S compatible AF adapter from Fringer that could let me continue to leverage my AF-S collection)

2. Easy path back to FX. In fact I'd never really have left FX behind as I've still got the Z7 and this keeps a mostly full FX lens kit for me (both manual and AF lenses). I can operate as wholly DX, wholly FX or a mix depending on which gear I put in the bag. 

3. Incredibly broad adaptation options, including AF adapters for Fuji X and Sony E mounts. This is the real kicker. Is the answer to my desire for access to Fuji's lens line simply shooting Fuji mount lenses on Z?

4. A path to possibly making my 10,000 images in one system goal, as well as my general 'Stop Chasing the Dragon' dream. The latter is probably the more important aspect. 

5. Blues. Those Nikon blues that I love and Fuji can't really deliver due to a combination of their general colour rendering choices plus XTrans's natural weakness in rendering blues vs greens. 

To be honest, I keep going around in circles. Fuji gets me direct access to higher-end APS-C bodies and a broader lens line, Nikon has better PASM body options (I can get a used Z8 for not much more than new X-H2(s) money and the Z8 stomps the X-H2s as an APS-C performance body and the X-H2 as a resolution body). Nikon plays into my current investment, lets me play with DSLR's and F mount lenses and I can add adapters for Fuji and Sony both. 

That brings me around to the question of if I do stay on course for once, where do I go?

My biggest weaknesses right now are in native UWA options in Z mount, I only really have 2 UWA options in the bag, the ZF 21/2.8 and the 10-20VR, and they are both F mount lenses (1 each of FX and DX). I'm leaning here to getting the Viltrox 14/4, which would give me a very wide & compact UWA for the Z7 and a native 21mm equivalent for the Zfc, then adding a 9/10mm, likely one of the 7Artisans offerings, for the Zfc. Has to be primes if I want native and reasonably priced, although the 14-30 is always an option at a notable cost increase. 

After that, I need to fill the gaps on the Zfc's lens lineup. The 35/1.4 and 55/1.4 work well, but the 25/2 doesn't handle as well and I'm still facing a gap between 25mm and 14mm here. TTArtisan 17/1.4 is probably the answer. I really do wish somebody did a good fast 22-26mm manual prime though, may end up with an AF lens in this slot. Then the long end, I'm looking at the 7Artisans 75/2 (compact, useful on both Z bodies, inexpensive and pretty good, plus not a direct conflict with my 85/1.8G) and their 60mm macro (gives me a native DX macro option for the Zfc). 

In terms of zooms, I may grab an inexpensive FX UWA (likely the 18-35G or 16-35VR) in F mount to round out the Z7 adapted kit. Then it would be looking at DX Z zooms, likely the 16-50/2.8 + 70-180/2.8 combo.

On the Z7 side, I could also simply get a Z 24-200 so I have a truly compact hiking kit with that lens and the 14/4.