Fujifilm X-A2 Image Quality

Review Date: May 4, 2015

Category: Beginner Amateur

Photoxels Gold Award - Beginner Interchangeable Lens Camera
Photoxels Gold Award – Beginner Interchangeable Lens Camera

IMAGE QUALITY

Outstanding quality photos. The Fujifilm X-A2 is targeted to beginner amateur photographers and features a 16.3MP resolution APS-C (23.6mm x 15.6mm) CMOS image sensor. The image quality, especially low light, is outstanding.

We find the overall image quality of the Fujifilm X-A2 to be excellent at ISO 200 with low noise and excellent image detail. Image quality is very good up to ISO 3200. Noise starts to be visible at ISO 6400 but is very usable up to ISO 25600, though at these higher ISOs, images suffer from some loss of detail.

FUJINON Super EBC XC16-50mmF3.5-5.6 OIS II

16mm [24mm equiv.]	50mm [76mm equiv.]

The Fujifilm X-A2 has a Fujifilm X mount that accepts interchangeable lenses. The Focal length multiplier is approx. 1.52x. The X-A2 can be purchased with an XC16-50mmF3.5-5.6 OIS II [24-76mm equiv.] kit lens, probably the best zoom kit lens currently available. In the above picture, we show the coverage for the XC16-50mm. The OIS label designates an Optically Image Stabilized lens.

Auto Macro with XC16-50mmF3.5-5.6 OIS II

Closest focusing distance for the XC16-50mm is 15cm at wide-angle and 35cm at telephoto. (That’s measured from the sensor, so it’s about 7cm from the front of the XC16-50mm II lens at wide-angle and 27cm at telephoto). A new Auto Macro AF functionality means that you do not need to do anything to access this close-up feature.

AF is fast and works very well in good lighting. In low-light, the camera will lock focus in about 1 sec. with the help of the AF-assist illuminator.

Auto White Balance Indoors

AWB	Custom WB

As the above two pictures show, the Auto White Balance (AWB) is not quite accurate indoors under artificial lighting [I have two energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs on the ceiling]. The Fujifilm X-A2 allows WB to be easily set manually and this brings out the real colors. AWB works very well in natural light.

ISO Comparisons

ISO 200


ISO 400	ISO 800


ISO 1600	ISO 3200


ISO 6400

Extended ISOs


ISO 100


ISO 12800	ISO 25600

You can set the ISO on the Fujifilm X-A2 from 200 to 6400, plus the ability to have extended output sensitivity equivalent to ISO 100, 12800 and 25600. You can set AUTO ISO mode to limit to AUTO and specify the default ISO (from 200 to 6400), the max ISO (from 400 to 6400) and specify the minimum shutter speed at (and below) which the camera should raise the ISO (from 1/4s to 1/125s). [Note that in RAW, the ISO ranges from 200 to 6400.] The 100% crops above (area delimited by the white square) demonstrate that noise from ISO 200 to ISO 3200 is under control. Noise starts to be slightly visible at ISO 6400 but is still very usable up to ISO 25600, though with visible loss of detail. Overall, an outstanding performance!

CA (Purple Fringing)

The XC16-50mm lens suffers from some slight CA in very high contrast shots when viewed at full resolution. In the above photo, the red square at top middle and displayed at 100% crop at bottom right shows some purple fringing.

Long Exposure

Long Exposure – 29.5 mm [44 mm], Shutter-Priority, Spot, 30 sec., F4.7, ISO 200, Self-timer (2 sec.), Custom WB, Tripod used

Our Long Shutter Speed test is a torture test for digital cameras. Here we test whether (and how well) a camera can lock focus, provide accurate WB and obtain a correct exposure in extreme low light situations. The Fujifilm X-A2 with the XC16-50mm II lens passes this test very well.

The Fujifilm X-A2 allows the use of a long shutter speed of 30 sec. in M mode. This allows us to take some nice Night Shots. For this shot, it locks focus easily with the help of the AF-assist Illuminator. I use shutter-priority to set the shutter speed to 30 sec. and the camera automatically selected F4.7 as the best exposure.

For longer exposures, use Bulb mode for up to 60 minutes. For such a long exposure, interval and time lapse modes would have been perfect, but are unfortunately missing.

Overall, the Fujifilm X-A2 makes it very easy to capture great shots, even at high ISOs. The XC16-50mm II kit lens makes a great first zoom lens and don’t forget that you can attach any of the excellent and highly praised XF prime and zoom lenses on the X-A2. If image quality is your most important criteria in choosing a compact camera, and you are not interested in a bulky, heavy and complicated DSLR, then you need to get your hand on an X-A2 and give it a hands-on trial. You’ll be simply amazed at the image quality that you can get in such a compact and lightweight interchangeable lens camera.

Next: Fujifilm X-A2 Photo Gallery

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