Fujifilm X-H1 Handling & Feel

Review Date: June 4, 2018

Category: Advanced to Pro

Photoxels Editor’s Choice 2018 – Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera

HANDLING & FEEL

At first glance, the Fujifilm X-H1 does not appear too much different from the X-T2, except for a bigger handgrip. It retains the magnesium alloy body which is weather-sealed, making it dust-proof, splash-proof and freezeproof (-10°C / 14°F). Similar weather-sealing is applied to some of the dust-resistant and water-resistant lenses (look for the “WR” label) and to the Vertical Power Booster Grip, providing weather resistance across the system.

Fujifilm informs us that the body is now 25% thicker than previous models and that the lens mount has been redesigned to be more resistant to shock or damage than other models in the X Series. The grain size of the exterior coating has also been improved to achieve scratch resistance equivalent to 8H surface hardness.

The retro-styled direct controls design (shutter speed dial, aperture ring, ISO dial) of the X-series cameras is assuredly not for everyone. That’s how cameras used to be styled before the Mode dial was introduced. You may immediately (or slowly) fall in love with its simplicity and directness (as more and more photographers are) — or you may still (strongly, for some of you) prefer to use the Mode dial. It’s just a matter of style, though it has its advantages and a couple of disadvantages (e.g., lack of custom shooting settings). To accommodate shooters who prefer to change ISO using the Menu, the ISO dial can now be set to “A” but given a different meaning in the MENU: Set to COMMAND (instead of AUTO), you can now use the Front Command dial to select an ISO.

For X-T2 users, the most visible and practical design change is the sub-LCD panel on the top. It’s display is customizable and the display remains visible even when the camera is powered off. You won’t find an Exposure Compensation dial anymore; instead, there is an exposure compensation button (defaulted to Fn1) and you use the Rear Command dial to dial in the desired exposure compensation. You can assign another function to that button as you can assign Exposure Compensation to another of the six function buttons.

There are a few other visible, but subtle, physical design changes. The Drive dial and the Metering dial are both slightly taller, making it easier to rotate them. This also means that the Shutter Speed and ISO dials are correspondingly reduced in height, but are still easy to rotate. The Shutter Speed dial and ISO dial still sport a toggle lock/unlock release button in the center so that you do not need to hold the button down while turning the dial.

The resolution of the OLED electronic viewfinder (EVF) on the X-H1 has been satisfyingly bumped up to 3.69 millions dots. The magnification is slightly less than on the X-T2 (0.75x on the X-H1 vs. 0.77x on the X-T2), but it is still one of the largest and brightest view with a default 100fps refresh rate.

Looking at the front of the camera, on the left side of the mount, there’s the AF-assist Illuminator/Self-Timer lamp, the Fn2 button, and the Lens Release button. On the right side of the mount, there’s the Sync Terminal and the Focus Mode Selector. The Front Command dial is now located at the front of the large handgrip.

On the the top of the camera, viewing from the back, from right to left, there’s the Shutter Release button with the Power ON/OFF Switch around it on the top of the handgrip. Unlike on the X-T2, the Shutter Release button is not threaded to accept an optional wired cable release.

Gone is the Exposure Compensation dial; instead, there is an Exposure Compensation button (Fn1).

New is the sub-LCD panel whose display is customizable. It has a Backlight button.

Further left is the Shutter Speed Dial which goes from Bulb, Time, 1 sec., 1/2 sec. to 1/8000 sec., plus A. There is a Dial Lock Release button that toggles to lock/unlock the Shutter Speed dial. Underneath the Shutter Speed dial is the Metering dial.

On the top left of the camera, there’s the ISO dial which goes from A, L, 200 to 12800 (in 1/3 increments), H. The latter can be set to 25600 or 51200 in the Menu.

Underneath the ISO dial is the Drive dial, where you can select from Movie, BKT (Bracketing), CH (High-speed Burst), CM (Mid-speed burst), CL (Low-speed Burst), S (Single Frame), ADV. (Advanced Filter) and Panorama.

There are six Function buttons: Fn1 defaults to the Exposure Compensation button, Fn2 engages when you click the Front Command dial (and defaults to the Drive settings), the Selector buttons are also customizable as Fn3 (UP, defaulted to AF mode), Fn4 (LEFT, defaulted to Film Simulation), Fn5 (RIGHT, defaulted to WB) and Fn6 (DOWN, defaulted to Performance).

You also have four customizable Touch Functions (T-Fn): you simply flick the touchscreen LCD monitor UP-LEFT-RIGHT-DOWN with one finger to access T-Fn1 to T-Fn4: T-Fn1 (Flick UP) defaults to Histogram, T-Fn2 (Flick LEFT) defaults to Preview depth of field, T-Fn3 (Flick RIGHT) defaults to Internal/external mic level adjustment, and T-Fn4 (Flick DOWN) defaults to the Electronic level).

There is a Hot Shoe on top of the viewfinder hump. On the left side, there is a Diopter adjustment control. On the right side, there is the View mode button.

TIP: If ever you find that there’s no display on your LCD screen, you may have inadvertently pressed the View Mode button.

TOP PANEL DISPLAY
Fujifilm calls this the Secondary LCD monitor. It’s a beautiful monochrome display, defaulting to light (white) text and icons on a dark (black) background.

The Top Panel displays four settings as text (1 to 4) and four as icons (5 to 8).

The settings come already set at the factory as: (1) SHUTTER SPEED, (2) APERTURE, (3) EXPO. COMP., (4) ISO, (5) FILM SIMULATION, (6) WHITE BALANCE, (7) IMAGE SIZE, and (8) SHOOTING MODE.

The X-H1’s top panel can be customized: MENU – SET UP – SCREEN SET-UP – SUB MONITOR SETTING – STILL MODE or MOVIE MODE – select desired settings to display.

Text settings available for STILL MODE are: SHUTTER SPEED, APERTURE, EXPO. COMP., ISO, MOVIE MODE, FRAMES REMAINING, REC. TIME, NONE.

Icon settings available for STILL MODE are: SHOOTING MODE, PHOTOMETRY, DRIVE MODE, FOCUS MODE, WHITE BALANCE, IMAGE SIZE, IMAGE QUALITY, BATTERY LEVEL, CARD SLOT OPTIONS, SHUTTER TYPE, FILM SIMULATION, DYNAMIC RANGE, MOVIE MODE, NONE.

Text settings available for MOVIE MODE are: SHUTTER SPEED, APERTURE, EXPO. COMP., ISO, MOVIE MODE, REC. TIME, NONE.

Icon settings available for MOVIE MODE are: SHOOTING MODE, PHOTOMETRY, FOCUS MODE, WHITE BALANCE, BATTERY LEVEL, CARD SLOT OPTIONS, FILM SIMULATION, NONE.

TIP: You can change the default background color to white: MENU – SET UP – SCREEN SET-UP – SUB MONITOR BACKGROUND COLOR – select WHITE.

Note that if you select BLACK as the background color (displays better in daylight), pressing the Secondary monitor backlight button to the left of the Top Panel toggles (and brightens) the background color to WHITE. Press it again to toggle the background color back to BLACK.

ISO
The ISO (Sensitivity) dial sits atop the Drive dial and features a Dial lock release to prevent accidentally changing the selected ISO value. Engraved on the ISO dial are: A, L, 200 to 12800 (in 1/3 increments), H.

“H” can either be 25600 or 51200, depending on what you selected in: MENU – SET UP – BUTTON/DIAL SETTING – ISO DIAL SETTING (H) – select from 25600 or 51200.

“L” can be one of three values, depending on what you selected in: MENU – SET UP – BUTTON/DIAL SETTING – ISO DIAL SETTING (L) – select from 100, 125 or 160.

“A” can either be AUTO or COMMAND, depending on what you selected in: MENU – SET UP – BUTTON/DIAL SETTING – ISO DIAL SETTING (A) – select from AUTO or COMMAND.

TIP: AUTO is self-explanatory but COMMAND deserves some explanation. When you set “A” to COMMAND, the camera is now in Manual ISO mode but, instead of using the ISO dial to select an ISO (you can still do it), you can now also use the Front Command dial to manually select an ISO. Note that, whereas the ISO dial rotates freely both clockwise and counter clockwise, the Front dial rotates only one direction from ISOL100 to ISOH51200 (in 1/3 increments), then ISOA1, ISOA2 and ISOA3. From ISOA3, you can’t go directly to ISOL100. Likewise, from ISO 100, you can’t go directly to ISOA3.

To set ISOA1, ISOA2 and ISOA3, you need to go to: MENU – SHOOTING SETTING – ISO AUTO SETTING – select AUTO1, AUTO2 or AUTO3 – for each, set its DEFAULT SENSITIVITY (200 to 12800, in 1/3 increments), MAX. SENSITIVITY (400 to 12800, in full increments) and MIN. SHUTTER SPEED (AUTO, 1/4 SEC to 1/500 SEC).

On the back we have the 3.0-in. LCD with 1.04M-dot resolution and that can tilt in three directions. You can tilt it the usual up and down when shooting in landscape. Slide the locking mechanism up to unlock a second axis, allowing you to turn the screen sideways to the right in landscape — or upward for low-angle portrait shooting. What I really like about this clever design is that the screen remains more or less positioned on the optical axis of the lens. The LCD is now touch-enabled.

The control buttons are slightly bigger, but not big enough to easily press them with thick winter gloves on. On the top left side of the LCD are the Delete button and Playback button. On the right side of the LCD are the Focus Lever, the Q button, Multi Selector (with the four customizable Fn3, Fn4, Fn5 and Fn6 buttons) with MENU/OK in the center, and DISP/BACK button. On the top right of the LCD are AE-L (defaults to AE Lock only), the AF-ON button (defaults to AF-ON) and the Back Command dial (click it to access a function; defaults to Focus Check).

The tripod mount at the bottom of the X-H1 is centered with the lens. You should also be able to change the battery with the camera mounted on a tripod (depending on your tripod head).

Included in the box is the same rechargeable Li-ion battery NP-W126S used by the X-T2 and that can take about 310 shots on a fresh charge in Normal mode. A battery charger BC-W126 (with power cord) recharges a depleted battery in approx. 150 min.

The Fujifilm X-H1 uses the SD / SDHC / SDXC memory card and has a dual SD card slot, accessible on the right side. Both Slot 1 and Slot 2 are compatible with UHS-II standards for excellent write speeds.

The Fujifilm X-H1 handles very well thanks to a larger handgrip. It is slightly larger and heavier than the X-T2, but still much lighter than a DSLR. The addition of in-body image stabilization, the toughening of the body and mount, the enhanced DCI 4K movie capability, the weather-proofing of body and lenses and the enhanced Tracking AF make it an appealing option for the professional photographer deciding on settling on a mirrorless system.

Next: Fujifilm X-H1 User’s Experience

---

Related Links:

– Fujifilm X-H1 Press Release
– Fujifilm X-H1 Specifications
– Fujifilm X-H1 Sample Images
– Fujifilm X-H1 Special Site
– Fujifilm X-H1 Catalogue

---

---