Fujifilm X-T30 Review

Key Specifications

• Review Price: £849
• 26.1-megapixel APS-C X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor
• Shoots at 8fps in burst mode (or 30fps with electronic shutter)
• Films 4K video at 30fps
• 3-inch touchscreen with two-axis hinge
• Compatible with Fujifilm's X Mount lenses
• Weighs only 383g

What is the Fujifilm X-T30?

Fujifilm’s X-series are a family of APS-C mirrorless cameras that mix charming retro design with powerful stills and video skills.

The X-T30 is the range’s new middle child and arguably its sweet spot, given that it replaces the X-T20, Fujifilm’s best-selling X-series camera ever.

It isn’t quite pocketable, but the X-T30 is impressively small for an APS-C camera with an electronic viewfinder.

While it’s not significantly bigger or heavier than a premium compact camera, the X-T30 does pack in Fujifilm’s signature manual dials and virtually the same specs as the bulkier Fujifilm X-T3, which also benefits from compatibility with Fuji’s excellent range of X Mount lenses.

In fact, aside from marginally inferior burst shooting and video performance, it’s like an X-T3 that’s been blasted by a Shrink Ray.

So is it a better bet than the likes of Sony’s new A6400 or Canon’s EOS M50 for shooting smartphone-beating snaps and unleashing your creative genius? I spent an enjoyable three hours with one at its London launch event to find out.

Fujifilm X-T30 – Design

Trying to tell the Fujifilm X-T20 and X-T30 apart is like playing ‘spot the difference’ on hard mode.

There’s one big physical change from the X-T20, plus and a few minor ones. It might not sound much, but the X-T30’s new joystick (which replaces its predecessor’s d-pad) feels like a big improvement. On the X-T20, moving your autofocus point around the frame was a tad laborious, not to mention tricky with your eye to the viewfinder, so that little nib felt like a boon in my short time with the X-T30.

The main physical differences from the X-T3 are a new joystick and tweaked grip design to help counterbalance long lenses.

The joystick is a bit lower than on the X-T3, and it does mean there are fewer buttons on the back for you to customise, but on balance it’s a good thing for the overall shooting experience.

Elsewhere, Fujifilm has tweaked the shape of the thumb grip to help make it more balanced with longer lenses (I was only able to try it with shorter ones, so that’s still up for debate). The touchscreen is also now 1.3mm thinner, to help increase the gap to the EVF. You’re still better off disabling the touchscreen when using the viewfinder, though, to avoid accidental cheek shots.

The three-inch touchscreen is slightly slimmer than the X-T20’s, but has the same two-axis tilting mechanism.

The only real disappointment is that this touchscreen doesn’t have the same fully articulating mechanism as the one on the Fujifilm X-T100, which means it can’t flip round the front. If you’re a vlogger looking to shoot lots of video to camera, then something like the Canon EOS M50 still looks like a better bet.

But otherwise the X-T30 is a joyous combination of retro tactility and portability. Like the X-T20, it’s difficult to think of a better learner camera for picking up the photographic basics – tweaking its physical dials really helps to drum in the effect of changing your aperture or exposure compensation. Whether you like the retro flourishes or not, it’s just a real joy to shoot with.

That said, those who are coming from DSLRs and need dedicated dials for ISO and drive modes (which are lacking on the X-T30) will feel more at home on the more spacious, weather-sealed X-T3.