Trading up to Motion – High Powered Hybrid
For a hybrid creator where photography and video would be required, often on the same job, the X-H2 would be an excellent choice. This is a camera that can take high resolution pictures, and record video internally as ProRes HQ, 422, and LT in 8K, 6.2K, 4K and full HD resolutions. And 8K and 6.2K is also available up to 30 fps, so this model covers narrative use, while 4K and 4K DCI run up to 60fps, and slo-mo up to 240fps is possible in when shooting in full HD.
The camera body has a deep hand grip, with a LCD top panel to check critical settings. Essential for many pros, it runs dual card slots: CF Express for the heavy data rates, and SD with UHS speed class 3 or higher. Practically I love the fact I can run RAW files to the CF Express card and JPEGs direct to the SD, with my colour settings baked in.
Speaking of colour, the XH2 of course has access to nineteen Fujifilm colour simulations, many based on their original film emulsions. I really enjoyed fine tuning these, adding grain and manipulating them to taste. You can apply them to your film footage or use FLOG2 as a base for a later LUT. ProRes Raw and BRaw are also available externally via a full-size HDMI. While these are nice to have, for me the addition of internal ProRes is the truly major step forward codec wise.
For filmmakers thereās a handy headphone port and a 3.5mm mic input, which can also apply timecode if you have a splitter cable and a Tentacle sync. Meanwhile the USB Type-C input allows charging, which is a welcome innovation, meaning that the battery can stay in the camera and just get topped up.
The Fujifilm X mount opens up a range of glass, covering all budgets. Once again, MPB is great for finding affordable gems. Two small primes that jump out with good AF are the XF 27mm f/2.8 WR pocket prime (MPB price Ā£439, as new) and the XF 90mm f/2 R LM WR (MPB price Ā£509, excellent condition), for portraits with beautiful bokeh.
