Fujifilm X-Pro2 Review (2024)

In the five years since the introduction of Fujifilm's X-Pro1 ($0.00 at Amazon) , the mirrorless camera space has improved by leaps and bounds. The long-awaited X-Pro2 ($1,699, body only) takes everything that photographers love about its predecessor and improve upon it. The sensor resolution has been upped to 24MP, the EVF is crisper, and the camera's focus and shooting rate are significantly faster. If you love shooting with an optical viewfinder, and don't want to shell out the big bucks for a Leica M ($4,799.99 at Amazon) rangefinder, you'll find the X-Pro2 a joy to use. It's a very strong performer, though it faces very stiff competition in the premium mirrorless camera space, including our Editors' Choice, the Sony Alpha 6300 ($944.95 at Amazon) .

Design
The X-Pro2 ($0.00 at Amazon) is styled after a classic rangefinder camera, complete with a viewfinder placed in the top corner, rather than at the center as you find with mirrorless cameras styled after SLRs. It's finished in black, and measures 3.3 by 5.5 by 1.8 inches (HWD) and weighs 15.7 ounces without a lens. There's no built-in flash, but you can mount an external strobe or a PocketWizard ($105.00 at Amazon) in the hot shoe.

The camera handles quite well. An integrated grip makes it comfortable to use handheld, and its size makes it equally comfortable to use with a wrist or shoulder strap. The body has a natural rear thumb rest, but many photographers will add an accessory, like the folding thumb rest from Lensmate. I used the X-Pro2 both with and without the Lensmate add-on and found that, for the most part, I preferred the feel of the camera in my hands with it installed. But it can get in the way of controls, specifically the top control dials. It folds in half to give you better access, but if you frequently adjust shutter speed or EV compensation, you may find the Lensmate to be more of a pain than a plus.

When set to EVF mode, bringing the camera to your eye shows you just what the lens is seeing, complete with a depth of field and focus preview. The 2.4-million-dot EVF refreshes at 85 frames per second, delivering a smooth, clear image to your eye. A diopter adjustment is included, so you can tune the image to best match your eyesight, giving some eyeglass wearers the ability to use the camera sans glasses.

Switching to the optical finder gives you a clear, perfectly focused view of the world, complete with a frame line that adjusts based on the attached lens, and automatically moves based on the set focus distance, compensating for parallax. The finder has two level of magnification, a wide-angle setting (0.36x magnification) for 18, 23, 27, and 32mm lenses, and a tighter 0.6x magnification option for 35, 56, 60, and 90mm primes. It's a little more versatile than a rangefinder with a fixed viewfinder (like the digital Leica M series and its 0.72x finder), as the magnification changes based on the focal length of the attached lens.

The optical finder isn't a great choice for zoom lenses, however. Frame lines do change dynamically as you zoom, but by the time you move from the wide-angle setting to the telephoto extreme of a lens like the Fujinon 18-135mm , you're dealing with a very small frame line. But attaching a big zoom to the X-Pro2 defeats the camera's purpose; like the rangefinders it is styled after, this is a body that pairs best with compact primes.

And Fujifilm has some very good primes in its lineup. The most appealing for the X-Pro2 are the XF 23mm F2 WR ($449.95) and XF 35mm F2 R WR ($399.00 at Amazon) , both of which are quite small and feature weather-sealed designs that complement the sealed X-Pro2. When paired with a WR lens, the X-Pro2 is an all-weather camera. And, if you're using a prime lens, pressing the button at the center of the viewfinder toggle switch will preview the field of view of various other focal lengths, which can help you decide whether or not to switch lenses for a shot.

The toggle switch is on the front plate, between the lens mount and handgrip. Pulling it away from the lens switches between the optical and electronic views. When the X-Pro2 is set to manual focus mode and the optical viewfinder is enabled, pushing the lever toward the lens adds a small electronic window to the bottom corner of the finder. It shows a magnified view of the selected focus area, which allows you to adjust manual focus with precision, without sacrificing the optical view. It's a feature inherited from the X100T ($899.95 at eBay) , and while it's helpful if you frequently use manual focus, it's something I barely used, as the autofocus system in the X-Pro2 is outstanding.

The focus mode switch is also located on the face plate—it has S (Single), C (Continuous), and M (Manual) settings. There's also a front control dial, located in the upper right corner. Top controls are all located to the right of the centered hot shoe. A combination shutter speed/ISO dial occupies much of the real estate; a center button must be depressed to turn it out of the A (automatic) position, but the wheel turns freely otherwise, clicking into place at full-stop speeds from 1-second through 1/8,000-second. To change the ISO you need to grip and lift the wheel by its edges; turning the lifted wheel sets the ISO, which is visible in a small cutout window. It too has an automatic setting, as well as Low (ISO 100) and H (ISO 25600) marks, with standard settings (ISO 200-12800) adjustable in third-stop increments.

The power switch surrounds the shutter release, which is threaded to accept a standard release cable or a soft release button. Also on top are a dedicated EV dial (-3 to +3EV in third-stop setttings), along with a C setting for additional adjustment range (-5 to +5EV) via the front control dial, and the programmable Fn button. By default, Fn starts and stops video recording.

Rear buttons start at the top, with the View Mode sitting to the right of the viewfinder. It switches between the rear display, the finder, or an eye sensor that automatically switches between them. Next to it are dedicated buttons to adjust the metering pattern and activate exposure lock (AE-L), and the rear control dial. Playback, Delete, and Display/Back buttons sit to the right of the rear LCD. They're joined by a four-way directional controller with a center Menu/OK button. The up direction is dedicated to the Drive mode, but the down, left, and right controls are programmable.

A small joystick sits on the rear plate. It's used to directly change the active focus point. It's a very useful addition that was absent on the X-Pro1, as older Fuji cameras required you to press a direction button and then use the rear directional pad to manually select a focus point, a cumbersome process.

The final two buttons sit at the right rear edge. AF-L locks focus for a shot, so you can recompose an image without changing the point of focus. It's joined by Q, which brings up an on-screen menu that provides quick access to many shooting settings. You can adjust the focus area, white balance, noise reduction level, file format, film emulation, and image toning parameters (dynamic range, highlight and shadow clipping, color saturation, and sharpness). And you can save any group of those settings as a custom profile. The Q menu also allows you to change LCD brightness, set the self-timer, control external flash settings, and toggle face and eye detection settings, but those parameters aren't saved in custom profiles.

The rear display is a 3-inch, 1,620k-dot LCD. It's not touch sensitive, nor is it mounted on a hinge, but it is very sharp and bright. The X-Pro2 isn't really designed for video use—the Fujifilm X-T2, with its 4K capabilities and tilting rear display is better suited for that—and as much as I like tap-to-focus on mirrorless cameras, the focus selection joystick is so convenient to use that I didn't find myself missing it here.

Features
Fujifilm offers a number of in-camera film emulation modes for JPG shooters, as well as in-camera Raw processing that can apply any of the emulations to Raw shots after you've shot them. I adore the Classic Chrome look—which is Fujifilm's version of Kodachrome—for its muted tones for color, and the Acros black-and-white mode. Monochrome shooting is aided by the ability to apply the effect of a yellow, red, or green filter, without having to invest in physical lens filters.

You can also apply a varying amount of grain to images—Grain Effect settings include Off, Weak, and Strong. I prefer a grainy, rough look to images and left it on Strong for most of my shooting with the X-Pro2, but you can set it to match your taste. In addition to Classic Chrome and Acros, there are Provia (Standard), Velvia (Vivid), Astia (Soft), Pro Negative High Contrast, Pro Negative Standard Contrast, Monochrome, and Sepia settings. I'm normally a Raw shooter, but when I pick up a Fujifilm model I invariably find myself being very happy with the out-of-camera JPGs, as the film emulation modes deliver the look I want in a photo.

The X-Pro2 has Wi-Fi, which is ubiquitous to the point where its omission would be surprising. It's easy enough to transfer images and videos to your smartphone for social sharing via the Fujifilm Cam Remote app, a free download for Android and iOS devices.

The app also supports remote control. If the camera is set to manual mode, full manual control is available via the app. But if the body is locked into shutter priority or aperture priority mode when you start the remote, the remote app will be locked in kind. You do have the ability to tap to focus in any mode, and you can always change the film simulation mode, set the white balance, toggle the self-timer, and start or stop video recording via the app.

The X-Pro2 supports dual SD cards, with both slots taking advantage of the speed delivered by UHS-II media in slot 1. Slot 2 is rated for UHS-I. It features a bevy or ports and connections, including a standard hot shoe, a PC Sync flash socket, micro USB, micro HDMI, and a 3.5mm port for a wired microphone or remote control. In-camera battery charging is not supported. A dedicated external battery charger is included; it features a removable cord rather than an integrated plug.

Performance and Image Quality
The X-Pro2 is a speed demon. It starts, focuses, and fires in about 1.4 seconds, locks focus in about 0.1-second, and can track subjects and capture images at 8.2 frames per second. The high burst rate is matched by a strong shooting buffer. You can manage 27 Raw+JPG, 29 Raw, or 255 JPGs before the shooting rate slows.

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The autofocus system is a huge step up from the X-Pro1. If you take the time to apply a free firmware update, it uses the same algorithm as the X-T2. While I think the XT-2's body is a better match for a telezoom like the excellent Fujinon 100-400mm ($1,899.00 at Amazon) , the lens can track subjects with the same adroitness on the X-Pro2 as with the X-T2. The X-Pro2 doesn't offer the same level of customization as the X-T2, which allows you to discretely set the tracking, speed tracking, and zone area switching sensitivity, and to select from another of case types to best match the action you're shooting, but the X-Pro2 does incorporate face and eye detection, a plus for street photographers.

With default focus settings enabled, I managed a superb focus hit rate when shooting action in the field along with the Fujinon 18-135mm lens. The camera wasn't quite as amazing when I switched to the testing lab, as out of the box it missed several shots in our standard continuous focus test, which shoots at targets moving toward and away from the camera. With a simple change, setting the AF-C Release/Focus priority to Focus rather than Release, the X-Pro2 nailed every shot on this test, while maintaining its 8.2fps shooting rate. This may not be the first camera you think of when it comes to tracking moving action with a telezoom, but it's adept at the task nonetheless.

The X-Pro2 is the first Fujifilm X model to use a new 24MP image sensor. It maintains the X-Trans color filter array we've seen in past models. It's a more complex design than the Bayer sensors used by most digital cameras. The 6-by-6 color filter array used by the X-Trans chip is more complex, creating more natural looking grain at higher ISOs. It also eliminates color moiré in images, so there's no need to add a slight blur to images via an optical low pass filter (OLPF).

I'm a fan of the X-Trans look, although it can be troublesome for certain Raw conversion software to handle. Our standard Raw converter is Adobe Lightroom, and while Adobe has improved its X-Trans development by leaps and bounds when compared with early efforts, it still lags behind some other options. You'll notice that Raw files, converted in Lightroom, don't look quite as crisp as JPG counterparts in the crops included in our slideshow. The best results I've gotten from X-Trans Raw files is from Iridient Developer, a Mac-only Raw converter. It's worth trying (a free trial version is available) if you use an X-Trans camera and work on a Mac.

Of course, there are advantages to shooting in Raw—I was able to reign in highlights and open up shadows in the shot below from the Raw file. The JPG blew out the background completely and left the subjects in dim light in more shadow than I'd like to see. The X-Pro2 delivers incredible dynamic range when working in Raw, which allows you to save shots with extremely mixed lighting like this one.

Fujifilm sells the X-Pro2 as a body only. I shot our ISO test scene using the Fujinon 90mm ($949.00 at Amazon) prime at f/5.6. Imatest shows that noise is kept under 1.5 percent through ISO 12800 when shooting JPGs at default settings. At the top ISO 25600 setting the camera shows about 1.9 percent noise in images. Both are excellent results, but a pure number doesn't tell the entire story, as in-camera noise reduction affects how much detail is retained when you push the camera to its highest sensitivities.

Images are crisp with no evidence of loss of quality through ISO 800. Details are slightly smudged at ISO 1600 and 3200, and more noticeably so at ISO 6400 and up. Detail isn't as strong as the Sony Alpha 6300 at higher sensitivities; the Alpha's output is crisper through ISO 6400, it's a toss-up at ISO 12800, and I'd say the X-Pro2 wins the day at ISO 25600.

In terms of Raw image detail, the X-Pro2 keeps up with the Alpha 6300 through ISO 3200. But the Alpha shows more detail and contrast at ISO 6400 and 12800, with the gap closing and ISO 25600 results ending in a tie. The Sony has an extra gear, an ISO 51200 setting the X-Pro2 doesn't support. The Alpha 6300 is the best APS-C camera we've seen at high ISO, so the fact that the X-Pro2 doesn't quite measure up to the high mark set by the Alpha 6300 shouldn't be considered a deal breaker—I'd still qualify its image quality as excellent.

Where it lags behind more noticeably is in video capture. Footage is recorded in 720p or 1080p resolution at 24, 25, 30, 50, or 60fps. Video quality is a big step forward when compared with other Fuji cameras that use the older 16MP X-Trans sensor. Details are crisp, autofocus is quick, and there's no evidence of moiré. But the X-Pro2 is a 1080p camera in a 4K world—and competing models, including Fuji's own X-T2, as well as the Sony Alpha 6300 and Sony Alpha 6500, support video capture at 4K quality.

Despite the resolution limitation, the X-Pro2 does have some solid pluses as a video camera. You can apply any film look to video footage, and there is a microphone input. The internal microphone picks up voices close to the camera with clarity, but also picks up background noise, a typical result for an in-camera mic. When paired with a stabilized lens handheld footage is smooth and steady, but the X-Pro2 doesn't offer in-body stabilization, a feature that's included with two of the competitors on the horizon, the Alpha 6500 and the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II.

Conclusions
I absolutely adore the Fujifilm X-Pro2. It's compact, sealed for use in inclement weather, and backed by a strong lens system with many top-quality, affordable options. It also delivers the best image quality we've seen to date in an X series camera, offers a control layout that makes it very easy to take control exposure, and includes a hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder that sets it way apart from rest of the mirrorless camera pack. Modern electronic viewfinders, including the one in the X-Pro2, are fantastic. But there's something special about bringing a camera to your eye and seeing a crisp, bright view of the world in the eyepiece. The X-Pro2's optical finder makes it special.

But despite my admiration for the camera, I'm not naming the X-Pro2 our Editors' Choice. The Sony Alpha 6300 betters it in many ways, including a faster 11.1fps shooting rate, 4K video recording, and an attractive $1,000 price point, making it a more well-rounded alternative. That's not to say the Sony is perfect—the company's APS-C lens system isn't as full of strong performers when compared with Fuji, although the Alpha 6300 can mount full-frame Sony FE lenses, which goes a long way to bridge that gap.

Of cameras currently on the market, the Fujifilm X-T2 is the strongest threat to the Alpha 6000. It's $100 less than the X-Pro2, built just as tough, and should deliver the same image quality, more customizable autofocus, and 4K video. (I've yet to review the X-T2, which, but it's the next camera we'll be looking at from Fujifilm.) Also looming on the horizon is the Sony Alpha 6500, which should at least be the equal of the Alpha 6300 in terms of image quality and autofocus speed, and adds in-body image stabilization, a larger shooting buffer, and a touch screen, all for $1,400. And there's the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II, which hasn't received official US pricing yet, but promises to shoot Raw images at 18fps with tracking and at an incredible 60fps with locked focus and exposure.

The X-Pro2 is the clear choice for any photographer who wants to get as close to the rangefinder experience as possible without shelling out the big bucks for a real mechanically coupled Leica rangefinder. The optical finder is a real treat, especially when working with a compact prime lens in the wide to standard angle range. And if you're anything like me, the various film emulation settings will keep you reaching for the X-Pro2 again and again.