Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Fujifilm X30 12 MP Digital Camera with 3.0-Inch LCD (Black)

Much better shooting experience and JPEGs than I expected

Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2016

There are lots of other reviews so I wont belabor the same points.
However, take a look at some of my photos - I was very pleasantly surprised!
No, its not full frame or APS-C quality - but its a tiny lightweight body with a very bright fast lens, great focal range, and I can say the EVF is vastly better than the one on my Canon EOS M3 (mirrorless SLR), and on the Canon G5X (tried it in person) - bigger viewing area, more color depth, much less lag.

I'm not sure if its the intentional removal of the optical low pass filter or just magic, but the photos seem much better than I was expecting from a 2/3 inch sensor. I have a one inch G7X and I like this camera's out of camera JPGs much better. These photos are straight out of camera. Sharpening +1 and Noise reduction -2 in the menu.

21 people found this helpful

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Dhrubo Gupta

It takes great pictures so no complaints on that score

Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2018

Verified Purchase

Had this camera for over a year. It takes great pictures so no complaints on that score. However, noticed a tiny bubble on the coating on the lens periphery. It does not affect any of the photos - buts it is there and an unexpected defect in a Fuji product. Pity, as I really like the camera.

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DojoMark

Great Take anywhere Camera for a Pro or Anyone wanting Full and Easy to get to Exposure Controls

Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2015

Verified Purchase

As a professional photographer I love this camera as an everyday camera that I can take out with me for vacations, parties, travel, street photography, and for the type of photography that doesn't need to be reproduced as larger files or prints. Actually, I haven't made any prints from the camera, but I've heard that it anything larger than 11x14 is about as large as you want to go. I've been shooting with this camera for about 5 years now. I love it because it has all your controls right on the camera. You don't need to go deep into the menus to make changes for shutter and aperture. ISO is quick to get to in the menu. Exposure comp is handled by a dial on top of camera. That is really useful. It has a viewfinder like a real camera should. It is electronic but I do like it. It's small and compact and and gives the photographer full control. The little on camera flash comes in handy too..

Things that need improvement are as follows. The video record button I hit often on accident since it's right next to the shutter release. This gets annoying. I am sure there is a way to disable it but I haven't looked into it. Speaking of video, the video quality is npt that good. My I-Phone does better in low light and probably in good light too. Battery life isn't that good either. But that is kind of expected with all these mirrorless cameras with electronic viewfinders. But that's not that big of an issue if you have extra batteries. Speaking of batteries, the battery door I've opened up on accident a few times. It needs a better lock.

This camera would be the bomb if it had a bigger sensor, even if it had to grow a little larger it would still be a great camera. And if it had interchangeable lenses that would be even better, but Fuji already has other cameras for that.
But a larger sensor and better low-light quality and better video would make this camera the best travel and streey photo camera out there.

As a $500 camera it's great for street photography or vacation photography. It's not too small where it's hard to hold. It's a good size and feels solid much like my Contax T2 film camera, but with even more control. I don't want a pocket camera and if you have a nice-looking camera like this, I don't mind caring it around my neck. It's like wearing a nice watch. It's still light enough where it's not going to irritate your neck or shoulders from carrying around all day. I've been waiting for this type a camera for a couple of years. And almost bought the X20, but decided to wait for the X30. For me, I love the retro look and styling of the X30. Now I bought this is 2015 when it first hit the market for about $500. I still love taking this camera out along with one of my old film cameras when doing street photography. Not sure if Fuji will come out with another version of this or not, but if they do and it has a larger sensor, then I might be all over it.

18 people found this helpful

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Dmitry

The worst camera I've ever tried

Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2015

Verified Purchase

I bought this camera because the external microphone plug.

So this is the worst camera I've ever tried. It may be average for photo, but for video it is the worst camera ever.

Autofocus behave very strange in both video and photo modes.

It is kind of OK in photo mode, behave just little bit strange, for example when you press shooting button just half way and holding it camera continue focusing and unfocusing nonstop, so when you press the button image can be shoot unfocused.

In video mode - autofocus is slow and in 70% cases start failing and can't recover itself, so you have to stop recording and start again to force it to start working again.

Camera records the worst video quality I've ever seen, and this is not about the type of video file or resolution, or frames per second - something wrong with camera itself, may be sensor may be software. The video is very dark and very noisy when even mediocre cheap camera like Canon sx260 within the same light environment records excelent bright videos.

Quality of the camera mechanics is pretty good, but I don't care about this.

I returned it. I will try Canon EOS M, it is also small and also has an external microphone plug.

5 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Does everything with fun feeling

Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2015

Verified Purchase

Outstanding camera. Takes me back to feeling of yashika, early Leica, and Nikons. Just don't get caught up in all the bells and whistles. bBasics are all you need. I started to return due to whirring sound and jeating, but later read this was normal. I compared side by side to sony a6000 and found it easier to use, totally quiet, more intuitive, and a better menu system. Image differences were minor and many times better in fuji with 1/2 megapixels. No comparison with EVF and autofocus, Fuji handsdown. Only complaint is I wish wheel clicked instead of rolling. I highly recommend for people raised on film cameras wanting something easy to carry and totally silent.

4 people found this helpful

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RW Powers

I love this camera

Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2020

Verified Purchase

I've spent a lot more on cameras but this is probably my favorite, Tilting screen. Viewfinder. Good auto focus. Great Film (color) Simulations. Can take 3 photos at once (your choice of film simulations, exposure, etc). Easy to hold but not too small. Great manual controls but also wonderful on auto. I compare against my M43 and APS C Sensors and really see no or little difference in image quality when compared to this w/just a 2/3" sensor.. I have several Fuji cameras, most much more expensive. Why is this still my favorite ? Maybe because it is the camera I usually have on me.

One person found this helpful

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KR503

Very Little Flexibility in Zoom Range, Otherwise Great Camera for its Type

Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2015

Verified Purchase

This has a pretty darn good sensor (the main reason I got it) and it will shoot RAW and allow me to do manual focusing (which was also a necessity for me). I also NEED a viewfinder -- I think trying to take a picture by looking on the LCD screen is very difficult and not very satisfying, especially in broad daylight. The design is okay, or good, even. It's a little heavier than I would have liked, but I think most of the cameras in this category are about the same weight. My problem with it is one thing only: the very small zoom range. I feel the lack of flexibility every time I shoot, so I'm thinking of selling this camera. If the zoom isn't of concern to you (and of course it's a fixed lens, you can't swap lenses), you'd actually probably love it. I was trying to get maximum picture quality and a viewfinder, and I shopped on those criteria alone, but now I'm sorry I don't have more zoom flexibility. I know they opted for the better sensor rather than the better zoom range, and I thought that was the choice I wanted to make also, but in fact I really want a camera that does both!

2 people found this helpful

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aethyr

I Love this camera!

Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2014

Verified Purchase

Below are my thoughts on the Fuji film X30. Keep in my mind I have not bought a new
camera since 2006. The last camera I purchased was a Sony DSC-H2 and I still own it.
I am including this information so that you may understand my lack of knowledge in
regards to the latest and greatest cameras on the market. I did however look at the technical specifications of my old camera in comparison to the X30. I was happy to see every single specification on this new camera was literally twice that of my old camera. For example, shutter speed, mega pixels, sensor size are all double my old camera. In fact every specification is either double or almost double and in many cases did not even exist on the older camera. So in my mind this means that this Fujifilm camera must be twice as good as my old camera. Remember it has been nearly 9 years since I purchased my previous camera at the cost of $380.00. On a side note, my United States dollars were worth twice as much back then as well. Needless to say, I always thought my old camera was very good and took great pictures.

How does this new purchase compare. First, the camera is built like a tank. When you hold it in your hand you feel like you are holding a precision instrument and it is very beautiful and sexy. The ergonomics are extremely good and I love the way it feels. The only thing that takes a little time is not confusing the two front rings. I would also prefer not to turn the camera on with the control ring. I wish there was an on and off button instead. I know the camera is called a compact but it is not extremely small and will not fit in your pocket. I would also never carry it in my jacket either, as it is a little bit heavy.
The extra weight is nice as it feels very solid and could double as a weapon.

The battery life is great. I used it for 3 hours in high performance mode and I still had around 85% of power. I could have easily used it for 8 hours. This will be very useful once I start making time lapse films with it. Time lapse mode is also very easy to set up
and automatically turns the lcd and evf off to conserve power. Now I need to find a program to compile the footage into a movie file. It would be nice if the camera had that function built in like the Panasonic GX7 ( however that camera cost 200 more dollars).

I have taken a few sample videos with the camera at it's highest level and I was extremely
impressed with the video quality. It really looked great and the image stabilization was not bad. It was much better then I thought it would be. I am also very happy it has an external microphone input. There is one thing that I don't like at all. The camera will only allow your full high quality size video clips to be around 14 minutes long, which is ridiculous. The length should be based on the size of card you are using not some fascist length restriction. I have not tried the lower quality settings yet or the slow motion function.

As for picture quality, I am very impressed. The camera takes very good pictures and has many different modes and functions. The vivid mode is very extreme and unrealistic but looks great. The classic chrome mode is very impressive as it really does look like film and it is very realistic. I was disappointed in the sunset scene mode as the camera had trouble focusing and kept giving me a big red AF and would not always take the picture. At present I am experimenting with black and white modes and am trying to find the best settings for monochrome. I have taken some great black and white photos but some are too gray and I need to figure out the sweet spot with the settings, any hints would be helpful. This is the first camera I have had that had real useable manual functions, my old camera had a manual mode but it was not worth using at all. The manual controls are so pleasing that I find my self using them just as much as the auto functions. The built in meters and on screen help such as peak meter make it a pleasure to use. I must admit it is much more advanced then my previous camera and it will take a while to learn the various settings so that I can get the best out of it. I wish there was a book on it, similar to the book available about the x10. The manuals suck on this camera and might as well be thrown in the trash as they offer nothing in the way of useful information. They should have included the full manual in the box instead of the basic manual. Then again the full manual is not very good either. One last thing I should mention I think the menu system is weird and could be more user friendly or perhaps there is just so many functions that it seems a little over whelming. I still feel it could have been organized a little better. Same goes for some of the function switches and or buttons. For example, why does panoramic mode have it's own slot on the mode wheel. It should have been stuffed in with the other scene modes and then could have put something else there like movie mode and then a drop down to set movie mode settings before you begin shooting.

I have been using this camera for 3 days and as I get a better impression of the camera I will come back and update my review. As of right now I am really enjoying this camera, I hope it continues to work out. When I compare it to my old camera, I have to say it is certainly better but at the same time the old camera worked just fine and took great pictures and many of the pictures look just as good. So what does that say about our current perception of digital reality? Do we have to continue increasing the size of everything? I wish I had a chance to try out an X10. It might have been just as good and would have cost significantly less. If your looking to buy a camera and don't have a lot of money just look and see what some of the best cameras were a few years ago and I am sure you can get them super cheap now and I am sure they work great. Don't buy into all the tech. speak.

-----------------Update-------------------
I have owned the camera for maybe a week and a half now. I am learning more everyday. I love the camera. I love the manual mode.I love the Q menu. I love the EVF and I love the ergonomics. I really wish fuji put the full manual in the box instead of online. I could really benefit from having it with me while taking photos. I guess I am going to have to print it out, which sucks since it is over 200 pages and filled with a lot of useless stuff in between the important parts. I really hope someone writes a real manual. I used a Hoya R72 Infrared Lens on the camera today and I took some really interesting pictures with it. I could use some tips on infrared such as settings and taking actual pictures as well as post production. Regardless of my ignorance I took some very cool pictures with it so far. One thing I am having a problem with is night mode. When in night mode I can't seem to take a picture of the moon. It will never focus it just refuses to focus. I don't know if that is common or if I need to change some of the settings or something. One more reason why a good manual would be nice. I noticed a fireworks mode but I seriously doubt it works, so far I have not been able to focus on much of anything in low light. For example, sunset mode gives me AF more then actually taking the shot. If someone out there has some information on what I might be doing wrong feel free to respond. I would love some tips or pointers. I am quickly creating a list of questions like what is the difference between sp1 and sp2? And many other things. Everyday I seem to learn something new and each day I find myself enjoying the camera more but I do have questions that I am compiling and I hope I will be able to find some answers.

6 people found this helpful

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Bob Edwards

Brief comparison of the X30 and the Panasonic LX100 - Updated.

Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2014

Verified Purchase

I had an X30 for a few days but I had to return it because the zoom had a problem. Having had an X10 and an X20 before, I also felt a bit underwhelmed by the X30 to be honest. It didn't feel that much different. So I started focusing on the LX100 because I really liked the narrower depth of field from the bigger sensor and the wider 24mm lens.
Yesterday, my local store got a few in stock today and, after playing with it at the store, I noticed two critical issues with the LX100: The lovely mechanical zoom of the X30 is replaced by an electric one on the LX100. Coming from many years of SLRs shooting, this just feels really cheap and toy like. Second, I read the comparison review between the two and the Sony and canon on that French site mentioned elsewhere on these reviews. And I noticed one real big problem with the LX100: it seems to completely blow the highlights! A quick, unscientific test at the store seems to confirm that the X30 handles highlight areas much better than the LX100. I would think that this will be improved with a firmware update but, until then, if you have a lot of sun peaking through the clouds in your images, this can be a problem.
And one final observation: Something about the texture of the X30 body feels like very a high quality instrument. The LX100 feels much more "unfinished" with much more exposed polished metal.
The LX100 has two big advantages. But the X30 feels like a very well sorted camera where every little detail has been ironed out. So I will end up getting another X30 after all...
Only four stars because of the smaller sensor. But that is only an issue because of the greater depth of field and for those who need to make enlargements past 11x14.

December 2014 update. After using the X30 to test out instagram's capabilities as a storytelling medium (@bostruye) for 6 weeks, here is an update.
Overall, the X30 is an excellent portable imaging tool. The longer zoom range has come in very handy many times. And, although I use the viewfinder 90% of the time, the flip screen turns out to be surprisingly useful when you need to shoot very low or very high. Thumbs up for that.
But two shortcomings have become very apparent: Focusing in low light is oftentimes very hap hazard with lots of hunting and too many missed shots. And low light images are definitely overly noisy. So right now I would say that the X30 remains the better choice as an overall swiss army type of camera. But if you do a lot of evening or interior shooting, the larger sensor and faster lens of the LX100 will do a much better job. So instead of being competitors, I feel like those two cameras are actually quite complimentary. Determine what will be your primary shooting conditions and make your decision based on that.

27 people found this helpful

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Josh

Excellent camera (but I may have a defective one)

Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2016

Verified Purchase

I love this camera! I've used other Fujfilm cameras like the X100T, X20, and X-E2S, The X30 is really great. It's an excellent compromise between a point and shoot and DSLR or fixed lens camera like the X100 series.

You can use a variation of auto modes like aperture priority, shutter priority and full auto. There's a manual shooting mode which works the way you'd think. Manual focus is controlled with the ring around the lens. In auto focus mode, the ring adjusts aperture but you can customize it to do something else. When you're shooting in manual mode, turning the dial on the rear of the camera with your thumb will change shutter speed or aperture. Switching between the two controls is accomplished by pressing the small, round button on the front of the camera. Zooming is smooth like any traditional zoom lens; You twist it to zoom in and out.

The EVF is great. I actually like it more than the one in the X-E2S, although it might be the same so maybe it's just placebo. I do feel like it's less harsh on the eye though.

Photos come out really great in my opinion. The camera really does put out really nice jpegs. I shoot in RAW+JPEG(F) just in case I get a really good shot that I might want to develop later. It's nice to have Classic Chrome here too, but you'll get less black and white options than what's on the X-E2S which - for example - offers two extra film simulations that result in better contrast with clouds.

The camera feels solid, it's heavy, but the metal feels different than what's on the X100/S/T and the X20. It feels like the X-E2S. They're all made using magnesium but the X30 just feels different. It's difficult to explain.

And yes, battery life is great. The camera does not come with a wall charger. You have to plug the camera in to charge the battery. However, if you buy extra batteries (which most people would and should do) you'll probably get a charger with them.

My only concern is the noise I hear in a quiet room. I've looked it up and people have said it's the image stabilization motor, but I'm not so sure of that. I've never heard it in any other camera. It's audible during video playback. Also, there is a soft "clunk" when zooming past 50mm. I think I might have a defective model and I will be exchanging. I love shooting with the camera, so I hope I just got a dud. If the replacement has the same issues I don't know if I'll give up on the X30 or keep it anyway. It's the perfect camera for me at a manageable price.

7 people found this helpful

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Fujifilm X30 12 MP Digital Camera with 3.0-Inch LCD (Black)

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