Sponsored. A hybrid camera aimed at content creators, the Fujifilm X-M5 takes both stills and video recording in its stride, as Deputy Editor Geoff Harris discovers in Barcelona.
Yes, it’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it – heading off to the ever-photogenic city of Barcelona with the Fujifilm X-M5 camera and a selection of lenses. I was actually in the city for the massive Mobile World Congress Show, so space was limited in my bag, but the X-M5 proved an ideal travel companion.
Unless you are lucky enough to fly business or first class, airports can be a hassle these days, but the X-M5 really is grab and go, causing no headaches at check-in or security.
The camera weighs only 355g and measures a mere 111 x 66 x 38mm, so it easily fits into a small cabin bag. The Fujifilm X-M5 is light on your wallet too, costing only £799, or £899 with the light and compact XC 15-45mm F3.5 – F5.6 kit lens.
As you’ll see later, this is very versatile and sharp lens that is also very easy to carry around.
Photo features that punch above the X-M5’s weight
It had been a while since I had used a camera without a viewfinder, but I soon got used to taking still images with the 3-inch, fully articulated touchscreen.
Being able to twist the touchscreen around comes in very handy for capturing more interesting compositions and angles, while also helping you to stay discreet when enjoying street photography. It’s very easy to set up the X-M5 for ‘one-touch’ focussing and image capture, which will be very familiar to smartphone users.
On the subject of autofocus, the X-M5’s face detection is so reliable, you can forget it is there – again, very handy for street photography or quick portraits. Continuous AF had no problem keeping up with these fast-moving flamenco dancers, for example.
There are more subject detection AF features available for animals and bids, too. For content creators on the move, being able to rely on the AF to capture the subject is a big help, enabling you to focus on framing the shot and finding other interesting subjects.
A small but intuitively placed joystick also makes it very easy to move AF points around, for when you want to focus directly on the eyes in a quick portrait, for instance.
While the X-M5 is very easy to set up and use, there are lots of handy dials on the camera body for quickly changing settings, so ‘menu diving’ is kept to the minimum. Less experienced photographers can stick with Auto or Program mode via the top PASM dial; if you prefer to shoot in Manual mode, as I do, aperture and shutter speed is easily adjusted, too.
Another neat feature is the IQ button on the top, which enables you to move quickly between your favourite settings – another big time saver.
Out of the camera, JPEG images are rich and detailed, while shooting raw enables you to really get the benefit of the X-M5’s 26.1MP sensor and wide dynamic range.
Fujifilm’s unrivalled range of film simulations are a big selling point of its X-series cameras, and these are also easily accessed via a dial on the X-M5. Not having to keep selecting the film simulation modes via a camera menu meant I felt more inclined to experiment with them while walking around Barcelona, yielding some pleasing and highly Instagrammable results.
I also really got into the Reala Ace film simulation for colour street shots: it has lower saturation than Velvia, but lots of character. Again, ideal for stand-out shots on social media.
If you want to tweak or customise the way a Film Simulation mode looks, this is very easy to do – and once you’re happy with how it looks, you can save your edits as a custom preset. This effectively gives you a way to create your own Film Simulation recipes. Navigate to the “IQ” menu, which is the first section that appears once you press “Menu”. Here you have a suite of image quality options you can tweak to your liking.
While there is a good choice of film simulations available via the top dial, content creators can also tweak or customise them to create a custom preset. Simply navigate to the IQ menu again, and there is a range of image-quality options.
A high ISO star that keeps the noise down
While you associate Barcelona with sunny streets and beaches, there were plenty of times I had to use the X-M5 in low-light conditions and again, the excellent ISO performance meant I didn’t need to worry unduly about this.
Noise is well controlled at sensible levels and I was happy to shoot at ISO 8000 and higher if necessary. If you are mainly sharing images on social media, noise at this level is hardly noticeable, so it’s a very impressive performance.
This, combined with a wide choice of fast Fujifilm lenses, means the X-M5 is just as happy shooting in strong daylight or a darkened restaurant or museum.
Great video results, whatever your level
While I am a less experienced video shooter, the X-M5 made it very easy to record quality footage. Choosing your preferred video format via the menu is straightforward, whether you want to record at 6.2k 30p, 4k at up to 60 frames per second, or Full HD up to 240 frames per second.
There is also the option to record vertical Full HD video while holding the camera horizontally. Again, face detection is very reliable when recording video and if you need to zoom in more, digital stabilisation takes the 15-45mm lens from an equivalent focal length of 23mm at the wideangle end to a handy 30mm.
If you are worried about the quality of the sound recorded by such a compact and reasonably priced camera, don’t be. There is a sensitive built-in microphone which I found it easy to adjust, along with a powerful wind filter and a new option for suppressing continuous background noise, such as traffic. See below for the sample video on YouTube.
Five alive
So whether you are more into stills, more into video, or like a mix of both, the X-M5 is a great choice for content creators of all levels. I really enjoyed using it in Barcelona and grew to love the tilting touchscreen, fast AF and attractive film simulation modes. Both lenses I used, the XF 8mm F3.5 R WR and the XF 10-24mm f4 R OIS WR, were also sharp, versatile and very easy to carry around. I am sad to give everything back!
Check out our guide to the best Fujifilm X-mount lenses too.
