Wildlife Photography with Fuji Cameras: My First Impressions

It’s been almost exactly 10 years since Fujifilm released the X-T1. The timing of the announcement was perfect. While Canon and Nikon were a bit slow to innovate in the APS-C segment, Fujifilm offered a relatively compact, durable, good-looking body with analog dials and a 16MP APS-C sensor. Now we stand a decade later, which is a very long time in the evolution of technology. Since then, four more generations have been born in the Fujifilm family, leaving us with the X-T5 and it’s siblings, the X-H2 and X-H2s. Today, I wanted to look at these current models through the prism of a wildlife photographer.

How Fujifilm Got to This Point

First, let me put the introduction of the original X-T1 into context. If you were shooting with a Nikon back then, maybe you had a Nikon D300 in your bag. You couldn’t have used a Nikon D500 for another two years. Those who preferred full-frame were probably shooting with a D700 or maybe even a D4.

I dare say that few of the people who used Fujifilm at that time were doing so for wildlife photography. It wasn’t just the cameras, which were not known for advanced autofocus or super-fast continuous shooting, but also the non-existent range of supertelephoto lenses.

That only changed in 2016, when Fujifilm delivered what it had been promising in its roadmap for some time. The Fujinon XF 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR lens saw the light of day and is still in use today. With Fuji’s APS-C sensor, this lens has a full-frame equivalent focal length of about 150-600mm. To me, this introduction is when Fujifilm really opened the door to wildlife photography.

There are now other Fuji lenses that I wouldn’t hesitate to use for wildlife photography. The XF 200mm f/2 R LM OIS WR, with its built-in 1.4x teleconverter, is probably the most enticing. There’s also the XF 150-600mm f/5.6-8 R LM OIS WR that was introduced in the summer of 2022. (This one has a full-frame equivalent of 225-900mm!)

What Makes a Good Wildlife Camera

Wildlife photography is a fairly specific genre, and a lot of good cameras aren’t geared toward such subjects. Many photographers still think of Fuji X cameras as primarily made for street and travel photography.

To me, the perfect camera for wildlife photography should have the following features:

1. Rugged, weather-resistant body
2. Well-designed, ergonomic controls that allow you to change settings quickly without having to search through menus
3. Good colors, fine details, and acceptable noise even at high ISO
4. Fast continuous shooting
5. Fast and reliable autofocus
6. Fast writing to memory cards and a deep buffer
7. Long battery life
8. Effective image stabilization (lens or camera based)
9. Compact size and light weight
10. An adequate selection of suitable lenses

There we go. Ten points – and therefore ten chapters in which I will discuss the suitability of the Fujifilm X-Mount system for wildlife photography.

1. Build Quality and Durability

A wildlife camera has to withstand a lot. Rain, dust, mud, melting snow running down the camera and lens… it should be able to survive all these hardships unscathed. The manufacturer promises that “thanks to its thorough weather sealing, even the harshest conditions won’t get in the way of this camera.”

In my time testing Fuji cameras, I used the X-T5 and X-H2s, so I will focus on them for this article. The worst conditions I exposed both cameras to was light rain and temperatures just above freezing. Nothing to make the average camera’s knees buckle.

However, the friend whose X-T5 I borrowed had used it in the tropics of Costa Rica and in the freezing conditions of the Arctic island of Svalbard. It must be said that the camera looked and worked as if it had just left the studio. The X-H2s is supposed to be even better in this respect.

The only durability weakness I see is the X-H2s’s fully articulating rear display. The X-T5’s dual-axis screen gives me more confidence. On the other hand, the ability to flip the screen forward is an advantage. Well, there are always tradeoffs.

My verdict at this point is that both cameras should easily withstand the hardships that the average nature photographer puts on them. Maybe I would need to be more cautious with one of Fuji’s entry-level cameras, but their high-end gear is clearly up to professional standards.

2. Ergonomics

Coming from Nikon, I expected that learning to use the X-T5 and X-H2s would be like learning a new language. The button layouts and handling are completely different. And I did find that to be the case with the X-T5, but I found the X-H2s to be easier to use.

The main reason is that my muscle memory and the established stereotypes I’ve built up with Nikon cameras. I’m used to adjusting every setting with the same couple of dials, either by rotating the dial on its own or by holding down various buttons while rotating the dial. This was how the X-H2s worked, too, whereas the X-T5 has separate dials for everything. Not a worse approach, just one that took some time to learn (and more like the Nikon Zf than any of my other Nikon cameras).

There are probably more things to get used to, but there is one ergonomic feature on the X-T5 that didn’t suit me very well, and I’m afraid that time wouldn’t change that. The X-T5’s grip is too small to use with longer lenses. SmallRig’s external grip has improved the situation considerably, but the ergonomics of the camera are designed more for shorter and lighter lenses – it feels more like a street, reportage, and landscape photography camera.

The X-H2s, on the other hand, is baked from a slightly different mold. Once I had the camera set up to my liking and habits, it didn’t take long for me to feel at home as a wildlife photographer. The grip is substantial, and the ergonomics are more familiar for users of other brands. Of course, you won’t quite turn the Fujifilm X-H2s into a Canon, Nikon or Sony, but the transition will certainly be easier than with the X-T5.

3. Image Quality

The Fuji X-T5 has a 40.2 megapixel sensor, and the X-H2s has a stacked 26.1 megapixel sensor. These are both on the high end for an APS-C camera, especially the X-T5. By comparison, the highest of Nikon, Sony, and Canon’s current mirrorless cameras are 20.9MP, 26MP, and 32.5MP respectively.

Let me add another interesting tidbit: The pixel density on the X-T5’s sensor is so high that if we were to scale it up to full frame size, we would get a massive 93.4MP! There is no full-frame camera that comes close to this. Such resolutions are the domain of medium format cameras (e.g. 102MP in the Fujifilm GFX100 II). As a wildlife photographer, this allows you to put more pixels on a distant subject than with almost any other camera.

At low ISO values, the 40MP sensor showed its full potential. The resolution was truly amazing. It felt on par with my 45-megapixel Nikon Z9. Of course, even in this paradise, the devil lurks. The X-T5’s sensor will not forgive you for the slightest mistake in focusing or holding the camera. Looking at a photo at 100% magnification, every imperfection is immediately visible.

One would expect that a 40-megapixel APS-C sensor would have a hard time with high ISOs. I used it in dim conditions that often necessitated high ISOs, even up to ISO 12,800. And how did those photos turn out? Not perfect, but surprisingly good.

The images retained impressive color and detail, and the relatively high level of noise was removed pretty easily in DxO PureRaw, which I used to pre-process the photos. In fact, I would consider this application (or something similar) an almost mandatory accessory for wildlife photography with APS-C cameras.

Now let’s focus on the sensor in the X-H2s. As I’ve already written, it has a stacked sensor, a technology that found in today’s best cameras, such as the Nikon Z9, Sony a1, OM System OM-1, or Canon R3.

What is the advantage of a stacked sensor? In short, its readout times. It is still not a global shutter sensor that captures the image of the entire area at once, but its readout speed is so fast that even with an electronic shutter, rolling shutter problems are practically eliminated. The frame rate can be higher, and you even see its advantages in the viewfinder, as I will discuss later. So one advantage after another for the wildlife photographer.

Any disadvantages? If there are, I haven’t found them yet. Like its 40MP sibling, you get great colors, plenty of dynamic range, and acceptable noise on the X-H2s. The difference in detail between them favors the X-T5, of course, but 26 megapixels is still enough to allow substantial cropping without ill effects.

4. Speed

I’ll pick up where I left off in the chapter discussing the differences between the two cameras’ sensors. It is the stacked sensor of the X-H2s that allows Fuji to put the letter “s” on the end of the camera’s name – standing for “speed.” In the case of the X-H2s, this is reflected in several ways.

To start, the X-H2s can shoot at 40 FPS compared to 15 FPS for the X-T5. The X-H2s also has a higher-end viewfinder, with 5.76 million dots of resolution and a top refresh rate of 120 Hz. With the mechanical shutter, I found that the image lagged a bit behind reality. But with an electronic shutter, the viewfinder image on the X-H2s is not only blackout-free, but more importantly, completely smooth and undelayed.

Meanwhile, the X-T5’s viewfinder is still very good but is a little lower resolution (3.69 million dots) and a 100 Hz refresh rate. I noticed just a bit more lag on the X-T5 when photographing wildlife, but still very little.

Very helpfully for wildlife photography, Fuji has a “Pre Shot” option. When you half-press the shutter button, the camera can temporarily store high-FPS photos in the buffer (taken with the electronic shutter). When the shutter button is fully pressed, the camera saves the images taken a few moments back in time.

Best of all, this feature is available for RAW photography on both cameras! You can get up to 40 FPS Pre-Shot photos on the X-H2s. On the X-T5, the maximum frame rate is 15 FPS. Rolling shutter is also a bit more of a problem on the X-T5, since Pre-Shot is only available for the electronic shutter.

5. Autofocus

Autofocus is perhaps the most-watched feature on cameras these days, especially among wildlife photographers. Both of these Fujifilm cameras have a special AF mode for detecting birds. How well does this feature work on the latest Fujifilm cameras?

The X-T5 and X-H2s had enough confidence to detect the eyes of even unusually-shaped birds like pelicans, flamingos, herons, and cockatoos. I would rate it similar to that of the flagship Nikon camera that I use, the Z9. The Nikon may have a slight edge, but the difference is not great.

However, no camera is infallible. Sometimes the viewfinder would report that it was focusing on the eye when the bird was in flight, but in reality I found that its wings were sharpest. In other words, the eye detection was working just fine, but the AF itself had not quite caught up. My success rate for birds in flight was higher with the full-frame flagships like the Nikon Z9, Canon EOS R5, and Sony a1 – though I still got some sharp ones with the Fujis, of course.

Did I notice any difference between the X-T5 and the X-H2s in terms of autofocus speed and reliability? Not really. However, if your domain is photographing birds in flight, I’d rather go with the X-H2s. With its stacked sensor, you can safely use the electronic shutter even on the fastest subjects. And as I mentioned a moment ago, its viewfinder is just a little faster than that of the X-T5.

6. Memory Card Support and Buffer Capacity

Neither camera that I tested is a slouch at high frame rates. Even 15 FPS on the X-T5 is excellent for a 40-megapixel camera and would have been considered flagship-level in the DSLR era. But there is a catch with the X-T5 – or, rather, three catches.

First, the X-T5 can actually shoot up to 20 FPS with the electronic shutter, but only with a 1.29x crop. Second, at 15 FPS and shooting lossless compressed RAW, the X-T5’s buffer fills up after only 22 frames. And third, the buffer will empty very slowly, as both memory card slots only support SD cards. Even the fastest SD cards don’t reach theoretical write speeds of more than 280 MB/s. You can be waiting around for several seconds after shooting even a short burst with the X-T5.

If your shooting style involves frequent use of high frame rates, the X-H2s is a much better choice. First and foremost, you’ll get up to 40 FPS from the entire sensor. You can also count on a noticeably deeper buffer, which reaches its limit at 170 lossless compressed RAWs. And, most importantly, data will flow out of the buffer at waterfall speed, as one of the two slots supports super-fast CFexpress Type B cards.

7. Battery Life

With the X-T5, you should be able to get about 580 shots on a single charge. The X-H2s, with its lower resolution sensor, is less “power hungry,” and you can expect around 720 shots.

Those are the theoretical numbers. In practice, battery life with mirrorless cameras is more about how long the viewfinder or rear LCD is on, rather than how many photos are taken. But I found good battery life with both cameras, even if I advise you to order at least a couple more for backups. A full day of wildlife photography from sunrise to sunset, taking thousands of images, was enough to require three batteries.

8. Image Stabilization

There are times when a tripod is useless. Sometimes you need to be chasing after your subject, and then quickly moving the camera just a few centimeters to frame your subject properly. That’s when you need to take the camera into your own hands.

When that happens, what can you expect from the Fujifilm cameras? Both cameras list in their specs a performance of up to 7.0 stops of image stabilization when using the XF 35mm f/1.4 R. I’ve shot with lenses considerably longer than that, and my results were as follows.

With a fully zoomed 100-400mm lens, I was able to get reasonably sharp results up to a shutter speed of 1/30s using the higher-resolution X-T5. Even going down to 1/15s caused a big increase in unsharp photos. With this lens and a focal length of 400mm (600mm equivalent), I consider 1/30s to be the breaking point. This brings us to a performance of about 4.0 stops.

That’s not the claimed 7.0 stops, but in my experience, the claimed numbers never actually apply in reality. For comparison, I can get about 1.0 stop better with the Nikon Z9.

To be fair, though, I’d like to remind you that the X-T5 has a very high pixel density – among the highest of any interchangeable lens camera ever made. Any small amount of camera shake will show up mercilessly in a loss of sharpness at the pixel level. Testing the X-H2s in the same way, my rating was about 1.0 stop better before it started to harm pixel-level detail.

9. Dimensions and Size

Here I will only praise both cameras. A couple of times, I picked up my photo backpack and doubted that the camera and lenses were really inside. It was a big change from my Nikon Z9, and even from the Nikon Z8.

In terms of numbers, the X-H2s kit (including battery and memory card) with the 150-600mm f/5.6-8 lens weighs just 2265 grams. That’s a set you can easily carry around with you all day. While the maximum aperture is rather dim, the equivalent focal length is 900mm!

Technically, the X-H2s is about 100 grams / 0.22 pounds heavier than the X-T5, but both cameras felt interchangeable to me. I suppose that’s because the lenses, tripod, and tripod head tend to be the main factors in weight as a wildlife photographer.

10. Lenses

As I wrote in the introduction, Fujifilm has taken note of the growing popularity of wildlife photography and has put increasingly more effort into attracting such photographers to their brand.

The two such lenses that I have used the most are the Fuji XF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 and the Fuji XF 150-600mm f/5.6-8. The even more enticing option is the Fuji XF 200mm f/2, plus Fuji’s 1.4x or 2.0x teleconverter.

Unfortunately, those are the three main wildlife photography lenses available today for the Fuji X system. While there are a few other long zooms that come to mind (especially the 50-140mm f/2.8 and 70-300mm f/4-5.6), Fuji certainly does not have the telephoto lineup to match the full-frame lens lines from Nikon, Canon, and Sony.

Also, the 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 and 150-600mm f/5.6-8 are not perfect lenses, either. While they are plenty sharp and focus quickly, the maximum aperture of f/5.6 is already outside my comfort zone on APS-C. Let alone f/8. As a predominantly “forest photographer,” I would prefer to shoot at f/2.8 or at worst f/4 on APS-C.

I know that I’m far from the only wildlife photographer who wants a more extensive lens lineup, and there are patents and rumors that indicate we could see a better option soon. Personally, I’m hoping for something like a 400mm f/4, or Fujifilm’s variation on the OM system’s 150-400mm f/4.5 theme. The wider maximum aperture could also be the last domino to fall for autofocus speed, allowing low-light bird-in-flight photography more easily.

These are the last missing pieces for Fujifilm to become a fully respected player in wildlife photography. Their cameras really deserve it.

Conclusion

I hope you found my review interesting and that it helped you find answers to your questions about the usability of the Fujifilm system for wildlife photography. If you want to buy any of the tested cameras or lenses, you can thank us for the work that went into this review by using the affiliate links below:

• Fujifilm X-T5 at B&H
• Fujifilm X-H2s at B&H
• Fujifilm XF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR at B&H
• Fujifilm XF 150–600mm f/5.6-8 R LM OIS WR at B&H

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I would be very interested to hear from you Fujifilm wildlife photographers who have more experience with this system than I do. How do you like shooting with this camera brand? What features made you choose it? Let me know your thoughts in the discussion below the article.