Review: FujiFilm X70

The new FujiFilm X70 compact camera was announced at the same time as the larger and more powerful X-Pro2. I reviewed that X-Pro2 last month, and it's truly excellent. But looking at both cameras born on that same day, in many ways it's the smaller, less expensive, and less "pro" X70 that's the more interesting camera.

It's FujiFilm's smallest compact shooter yet—so small it slips easily into a pocket. But that size is deceptive. This is a powerful camera with the same 16.3-megapixel APS-C size X-Trans CMOS II sensor you'll find in the rest of FujiFilm's X series. Having experimented with most of the micro four thirds compacts and the newer offerings like Panasonic's LX100, I can say without hesitation that the X70 delivers the highest quality image in the smallest package of anything in this size range. Especially consider that you get an APS-C sensor that fits in your in your pocket for $700, it's tough to go wrong.

The X70 might appear like a slightly stripped down version of the company's popular X100 series cameras. It is missing the optical viewfinder of the X100, but it actually blows the X100 out of the water in two very important ways: autofocus speed and image buffering. The X70 is extremely fast, as it borrows the AF system from the larger X-T10. It's not DSLR-fast, but try shoving the Nikon D800 in your pocket. Trade-offs are always necessary. The X70's single-point focus mode offers a 49-point focusing grid while the Zone and Wide/Tracking modes use a 77-point area to capture moving subjects. Both work well, and when coupled with the camera's impressively fast shooting speed, you'll rarely miss a shot due to the blackout on the LCD screen.

There are three manual focus modes, which is enough to handle a variety of situations. To switch to manual, you just flip the focus switch to "manual" and use the lens control ring to set the focal distance. The LCD display automatically zooms to help you judge the focus. This can be tricky in bright, backlit situations, but for street photographers who pre-focus at a fixed distance, it works just fine. There's also a handy (optional) depth of field scale along the bottom of the LCD.

The second method of manual focusing is Focus Peak Highlight mode, which outlines the subject in focus, much like what Sony pioneered with the NEX line. The third focus mode in the X70 is split screen mode, which taps the old manual focusing methods of SLRs in the '80s—somewhat ironic considering the X70's rangefinder-inspired design, but never mind that.

In all three modes the manual focus ring is exceedingly clever—spin it faster and the distance changes quickly, turn it carefully and it grows more sensitive, moving through the distance scale much more slowly.

The attention to detail in manual focusing possibilities reveals what seems to be one of the X70's target markets: street photographers, especially those who don't care about a physical viewfinder. Indeed, more than a smaller X100, the X70 feels like FujiFilm's answer to the Ricoh GR II, which has nearly identical specs but lacks the X70's articulating touchscreen. The X70's screen can flip up 180 degrees (selfies, yeah) and down 90 degrees, which makes it even easier to shoot discreetly from the hip.

This is also the first touchscreen for FujiFilm. It's a nice bright screen, 3 inches with 1.04 million dots and three modes for shooting—off, touch to focus, and touch to shoot. All three work as advertised, though I happen to prefer leaving it off. Actually, the touch-to-focus mode is handy for moving the focus point around quickly. It's not as nice as the X-Pro2's "nib" focus point controller, but given the space constraints of the X70, it's the next best thing. The touchscreen's usefulness also extends to playback mode, where gestures can be used to flip through images and pinch to zoom.

The X70 differentiates itself further from the X100 series in the choice of lens. The X70 comes with an 18.5mm f/2.8 lens (28mm in 35mm-speak). That's a bit wider and slower than the X100, which uses a 35mm f/2 lens. The X70 does offer some digital crop modes for 35mm- and 50mm-equivalent images, which saves you post-production work. I've always found 28mm an awkward length—it's not quite the landscape-friendly 24mm, but it's wider than the street-friendly 35mm. That said, the lens choice is a compromise that makes sense for the X70. It might be less well suited for any one thing, but it's a good general length when you might be shooting a little bit of everything.

The ergonomics of the X70 are quite good in spite of the camera's tiny size. The body is all metal and feels quite solid without being heavy. There are the usual slew of manual controls FujiFilm is known for, including a shutter speed dial, an exposure compensation dial that covers three stops in either direction, and an aperture ring on the lens (the latter can be assigned to other functions as well). My main complaint is that all of the buttons are relatively flat and can sometimes be difficult to push. The dedicated video button is the worst; it's nearly impossible to press.

Fortunately, FujiFilm offers the ability to assign pretty much any function to any button. So, I just swapped the Wi-Fi and video buttons. As with other Fuji cameras I've tested, video with the X70 is good, but not great. It can record 1080p movies at up to 60fps. The biggest drawback is that a fair bit of lens focus noise often ends up in your videos. This isn't a problem unique to this camera (it's fairly common among compacts), but it's definitely annoying and can only really be solved by using an external microphone.

The X70 sports the usual compliment of FujiFilm's film simulation modes, though the very nice Acros mode that debuted with the X-Pro2 is not present (it apparently requires the more powerful processor in the X-Pro2). The JPGs straight out of the camera are excellent, though I still ended up shooting primarily RAW (now that Google has made the Nik filter suite free, FujiFilm's film modes save less time than they used to).

You get both a mechanical shutter and an electronic shutter for shutter speeds up to 1/32,000 sec. The ISO range extends from 100-51,200, though after 6400 you'll be shooting JPGs only. There's very little noise (even in JPGs) up to 6400; after that you'll start to detect a bit of noise.

The X70 also features all the bells and whistles you've come to expect from today's cameras, including built-in Wi-Fi connectivity for quick transfers to your mobile device, a time-lapse recording mode, as well as support for all of FujiFilm's various bracketing options (AE, Film Simulation, Dynamic Range, ISO and White Balance).

In my testing, I found the X70 delivers some of the highest-quality images you're going to find in a case this compact. It excels as an all-around travel camera, a street photography camera, or as a pocket camera for times when anything more would be overkill.