X-T30 III (!!!)
and the XC 13-33mm!!
I have been BURSTING to talk about these beauties ever since I had some hands on time with them.
Fujifilm reached out to see if I’d help with their campaign, and that was probably the easiest, quickest yes I’d ever yes-ed.
Disclaimer: this post is not part of any agreement I had with Fujifilm, I’m just enthusiastic lol.
I’m no technical reviewer, but as someone who has spent many an hour down gear-review rabbit holes trying to make sense of specs without touching the thing, I thought I could offer some real-world comparisons.
I happened to have an X-T30 II of my own (black, pictured here), with the XC 15-45mm lens - a setup almost identical in footprint to the X-T30 III and the XC 13-33mm.
This also makes me unavoidably biased, as I was already having a great time with the II before the III rocked up with some quality of life improvements :)
The Sitch:
A bit about my use case: I’m relatively new to digital photography (and to Fujifilm), still experimenting a lot. I’m a JPEG-only shooter, no video, and aim for straight-out-of-camera goodness.
I’ll crop in post but don’t touch colour, so I care most about how tones render (especially deep, saturated ones) and how well files hold up to sometimes-aggressive cropping.
Portability is key, since I want a camera rolling around in my bag at all times.
Outsides:
Now, working from the outside in: the bodies, buttons, and build are, as far as I can tell, essentially the same size and shape between models (perhaps even exactly the same?).
But the X-T30 III now has a film simulation dial instead of the drive dial up top, something very useful to me, being able to compare film simulation changes without menu-surfing.
Also, note the subtle addition of the model name under the LCD screen.
The Lens:
(spoiler, I love this lens, what don’t I love about this package??) when retracted is physically smaller than the XC 15-45!
I cannot convey enough how excited I was to see a zoom lens that suits my needs so perfectly. My favoured focal length is 23mm, and I often wish I had juuuust a little more room on either side to experiment with as I learn, and this hits the spot range just nice.
Something to note, the lens needs a little twist-until-click action before it's ready to shoot, so expect an extra beat to be ready for the scene, unless you leave it extended.
Insides:
As for the insides - I love this sensor.
The images I got with this setup and some 6am light felt - man, the blues were unreal, the shadows so deeply satisfying, it was one of those days I wanted to keep going and going. . . until temps hit 40 celsius and I fled. anyway.
All the images you see here (and on the Fujifilm site) were made with the X-T30 III + XC 13-33mm set, and my own cremachrome recipe - Classic Chrome will always be my first-loved simulation, and it looks stunning on this X-Trans 5 // 26mp combination.
This body also brings us the addition of Nostalgic Negative and Reala Ace, the former becoming a quick favourite. I made a recipe based on this simulation and inspired by golden hour glow here if you’re interested!
Maybe you?
I think you’ll love this camera if you want a taste of digital photography, something for friends / family / holidays, if you love the idea of fiddling with dials and buttons to get a result just right.
The Fujifilm community on Instagram has been real fun to engage with, so I’m including that as a bonus.
However!
a new model dropping means the older models reducing in price, hopefully, so I would still absolutely recommend the X-T30 II if you see a great deal.
If you already had an X-T30 II, I’d say only upgrade unless you really want the film sim dial, otherwise stick with what you have.
All that to say,
I jumped into Fujifilm because of what I’d seen was possible SOOC, that little bit of film magic not having to edit RAWs (as I had thought all digital photography necessitated).
The time I had with the X-T30 III has only reinforced that, and I’m so grateful for the chance to work with the truly lovely people on the Fujifilm team. :)
thoughts? feedback? i’m all ears!