I first got into photography in my teens, playing around with digital cameras while also learning the fundamentals of film photography and darkroom development.

It was a great way to have the freedom of digital while learning to value every shot, and get to grips with the fundamentals underpinning the photographic process.

From the exposure triangle to a whole history of terminology which came from what was once exclusively a bafflingly mystical process of physics and chemistry.

Back in 2010 when I started playing with film, it was still widely available here in the UK. Journey down your highstreet and pharmacy chains like Boots not only stocked colour and black and white, but developed it in-house. After just one hour you could get a stack of 36 prints and a CD of the scans. Luxury!

Fifteen years on, the allure of film remains but the price is prohibitive and convenience is non-existent. I don’t have space, time or patience to take my bathroom out of action for half a day.

This was the mindset that led me to moving to the Fujifilm system.

What I Was Looking For From Fujifilm

After years of shooting on an entry level Canon DSLR, I had slowly fallen out of love with photography.

I shot a lot while I was at university, but a year after graduating, I had quite a shocking realisation: for the first time in a decade, I had barely a photo to show for the last twelve months of my life.

I felt like I had done nothing!

That wasn’t strictly true, but it felt like even if I had done something or gone somewhere interesting, I had nothing to show for it.

It sounds dramatic, but I had taken for granted how many memories are only suspended in time by virtue of being captured on camera.

I needed to make a change. So I bought a Fujifilm X100T.

This little camera came with me everywhere, and made me excited to take photos again. The X100 line is known first and foremost for its small form factor, but it’s also very capable and took lots of lovely images while I had it.

I had a lot of love for this camera but my main gripe was that it felt a little like a toy.

It’s not that the built quality was bad, just that for me it didn’t feel very solid or substantial, somehow. And it may sound superficial, but the shutter sound was pretty much silent. After years of shooting bigger cameras with lots of metal and clunking sounds, the sense of momentum of having taken a photograph was lost.

For many people, the almost silent shutter is a great benefit. So please take this as an example of how this review is very personal and may not relate to your own circumstance.

I started looking at a natural next step, and the decision – for once in my life when it comes to technology – to buy the newest, most up to date option.

The Fujifilm X-Pro3

After five years of shooting with this camera, there are things about the Fujifilm X-Pro3 that I love and things that I don’t like so much. I don’t think there’s anything I hate.

A lot has been said about this camera online, and as demand for the X100 line grows astronomically, it makes sense that people are looking for other options. If that’s you, hopefully this review will help.

One of the biggest limitations of the X100 series is the fixed lens, so having the freedom to switch things up on the X-Pro3 was great.

I shoot mainly with the Fujifilm 23mm F2 after falling in love with this focal length on the X100T, but I also a Fuji 50mm and an adapter for some old Canon FD lenses I have.

Here’s a few shots with the Fujifilm 50mm F2 WR.

I also loved having an optical viewfinder with my X100T, and the X-Pro3 levelled this up with a bigger and brighter view.

So with some of the general points covered, let’s get into pros and cons.

Pros Of The Fujifilm X-Pro3

I’ve picked out four pros of this camera, but there are loads more.

It’s probably worth pointing out that I’m a fairly simple shooter in many respects. I don’t shoot any video. I don’t use face detect auto focus. I rarely use burst/continuous shooting modes (the X-Pro3 has a very respectful 11fps or up to 30fps in electronic shutter mode).

Before I get into the specifics, let’s just appreciate that this camera is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. It has a very similar look and feel to the X100 line (an indeed many of Fuji’s X Series cameras), but scaled up.

People often comment on the camera, and ask me if it’s film. There’s something to be said for a camera that makes you want to go out and shoot. I definitely didn’t feel that way about my Canon 1000D.

Ergonomics

For a long time it’s felt like the sensibility around physical dials and controls has been lost during the digital era of the last two decades.

That’s not to say we haven’t seen manual controls on digital cameras – please don’t send me images of the Nikon D700 or the Canon 1D – but most camera manufacturers have relegated control dials to a purely functional role, with no love for what can be a satisfying and tactile experience that serves the process of taking photographs and allows it to become easy and automatic.

Fujifilm’s X Series cameras, and in particular the X-Pro3, brings analogue-like manual controls together with a small but powerful camera body in a way that I felt was missing in the market.

The camera has two main control dials, two wheels, three custom buttons, several dedicated control buttons and a customisable quickmenu. There’s so much here that allows you to set the camera up in the way you like to shoot, and I don’t think I could ever go back to this level of flexibility.

It’s a shame it’s not as pocketable as the X100 series, but that comes with the ‘pro’ territory. In any case, stick a pancake lens on it and it’ll fit in bigger coat pockets easily.

Everything feels solid, satisfying, and ready for whatever you throw at it. The grip is a bit bigger and more scuplted compared to the softer, small curves of the X100 series, making it easier to hold.

Colours & Shoot Settings

Fuji is well-known for its fantastic colours and their film stock profiling, and for good reason.

I used to shoot RAW exclusively, but honestly I grew tired of sitting in Lightroom all the time. So part of the reason for switching to Fuji was so I could shoot jpgs. I think of this as being more akin to the experience of shooting film, unless you develop and scan film yourself.

I’ve used both of Fuji’s Classic Chrome and Classic Negative profiles extensively, and the amount of customisability on top of that is amazing, allowing you to set up your own custom profiles.

Not long after getting the camera I set up a Tri-X simulation – I think it was this Tri-X 400 recipe from Fuji X Weekly. It’s the only black and white profile I’ve used since.

But there are plenty of other film profiles, like Eterna, a flat profile perfect for filming, and Velvia which features punchy, saturated looks, more like slide films like Ektachrome. I’d love to experiment with more of this kind of look, especially after seeing a fantastic video on Ali Okeefe’s channel One Month Two Cameras about the photography of Kaj O’Connell. Check out the full ‘an american cloud’ series on O’Connell’s website.

Here are some shots using a custom Cinestill 800T recipe from Fuji X Weekly which uses Eterna as a base:

There are some very interesting deep-dives into the science behind Fujifilm’s colour profiling and the way their simulations behave.

From my own experience, it does seem there is more to it than Fuji tweaking some sliders like you might in Lightroom. For example, I noticed that when you shoot Classic Negative at correctly metred exposure, it has really strong shadows and contrast, with muted colours.

But as soon as you overexpose by a couple of stops?

Suddenly the scene not only lightens up, but the tone of the image is much warmer, especially skin tones. Your subject will magically start smiling as well (results may vary).

Another feature I love is Fujifilm’s dynamic range settings. From what I can tell, it does some form of intelligent exposure stacking, while still only taking one shot.

It means that you can get detail in both your shadows and highlights even in challenging light, without having to switch to RAW. Note however that it does drastically reduce contrast, and saturates colours a fair bit.

Viewfinder

One of the biggest stand out features of the X-Pro series is its focus on more of a rangefinder-style experience.

Notably it is not a rangefinder but it does sport an optical viewfinder. It’s bigger and brighter than my X100T was, so an immediate improvement. I love being able to toggle between EVF and OVF.

Another improvement over the X100T was an innovative new feature which allowed you to see a small electric ‘popup’ to preview whatever your focus point is at, helping you check focus. I think has now been added to newer models in the X100 line. It’s pretty unique, and a great idea, even if I don’t use the OVF as much as I would have liked to in theory. More on that in the first point of the cons section below.

When I bought this camera I thought I’d use the optical viewfinder more. For me there was a big draw for that more manual experience – free of screens and with the benefit of seeing outside your framelines. So yes, in theory, I love that idea. But the absolute luxury of an EVF means that I use the OVF a lot less than I expected. The EVF is big, bright and quick. It allows you to perfectly set exposure and see an exact preview of the image’s colour, which is especially useful when you’re shooting in black and white.

Of course if you expect to shoot RAW most of the time, I’d argue you can use the OVF without worrying about perfect exposure.

The quality of the EVF means that the fact this camera has a ‘hidden’ live-view screen doesn’t bother me. It’s also worth noting (especially as I’ve never seen anyone mention this) you can set the EVF to show you a preview of the photo immediately after taking it. I’ve always used this.

And on the topic of the flip-out screen, if you do want a break from using the viewfinder, shooting waist-level with the screen horizontal is good fun. It’s also useful for checking focus when you’re holding the camera up high.

Weather Sealing

This is not an exciting nor glamorous point, but I’ve come to appreciate the absolute confidence a weather-sealed camera (and lens) gives you.

From a rainy day in London, to snow in the countryside, to shooting under a waterfall in Iceland, weather sealing is an absolute godsend. A friend of mine opts for a Fuji over his old Sony whenever he shoots in cold conditions because it fares much better.

The thought of buying an expensive Leica and knowing that it isn’t weather sealed horrifies me.

And more generally, the build quality is great. The camera sports titanium top and bottom plates, and I’ve had no issues with any of the dials or controls on the camera. That being said, I had a few other issues which I’ve covered in the cons section.

Cons Of The Fujifilm X-Pro3

It wasn’t very easy to come up with significant drawbacks for the Fujifilm X-Pro3. The first I’ve included is the main one for me. The other points are relatively minor and have their own caveats.

This review is personal, so some of these things may not have any impact on your own shooting experience. Similarly, there may be other features or drawbacks of this camera that are simply huge turn-offs for others. The camera’s ‘hidden’ screen is a great example of a niche style choice that lots of photographers and reviewers hate.

And as I mentioned in the overview of my pros section, I don’t really push this camera too much. A con I could have included is the lack of in built image stabilisation (IBIS), but I don’t shoot video and I don’t often run into issues shooting in darker settings since the camera handles higher ISOs well. I’m also not too bothered by noise, as you might already have noticed.

That being said, here are some of the cons of the Fujifilm X-Pro3.

Manual Focus

For quite a long time after buying my X-Pro3 I didn’t think or lust after any other cameras. But recently, one of the biggest things I miss has been creeping back into my mind: manual focus.

As with lots of cameras nowadays, the X-Pro has a couple of features to help you with manual focusing, like focus peaking and visual prisms. Unfortunately, none of them work well enough for me to rely on manual focusing, especially with Fujifilm’s ‘focus by wire’ lenses. These lenses focus using electronic motors, so they don’t feel like focusing with a manual film lens.

It just doesn’t compare to seeing your focus in a big, bright film SLR viewfinder.

That being said, I have a friends who shoot Fuji cameras with vintage manual focus lenses, so it’s definitely an option.

This was taken with a friend’s Kamlan 28mm F1.4. Using the focus peaking feature works well for manual focus, but personally I don’t enjoy the experience.

Of course, if you’re using the OVF, you’re not able to check your focus at all, unless you enable the little EVF pop-up preview. I might try doing this more, but ultimately I don’t think it’s very easy to use.

With these challenges in mind, I stick to autofocus. It’s the main thing which makes me lust after a Leica M.

Battery Life

As with weather sealing, this is a bit of a boring one. But you’ll know the pain of running out of battery especially when there’s great light you’ve been waiting for all day.

The battery in this camera is pretty weak. It doesn’t last very long. But on the upside, the batteries are relatively inexpensive, and there are third-party options. So I just picked up a couple of spares to get me through a busy day.

You can also charge the camera via USB-C, which means you can power it with a portable battery, laptop or wall plug.

Multiple batteries are absolutely essential for trips and long shooting days. If you’re short, being able to charge in the car or from a portable battery is really useful.

Quality Issues

I’ve covered a lot of the great ergonomics of this camera in the pros section, but I have had a few issues in relation to build quality and malfunctions.

A common issue with this camera is a connection problems related to a ribbon of electrics that goes between the hinge of the flip-out screen and the body of the camera. Probably a year into having mine, I was hit by this issue. It caused my screen’s colours to go glitchy and to flicker intermittently, and in the end the screen just stopped working altogether, which was pretty alarming.

Around the same time, the latch on the battery compartment door started failing, making it difficult to open and close the camera, leading to sticking it shut with bluetack.

It cost me £200 to get both fixed by Fujifilm.

On a similar note, I haven’t been able to get the Fujifilm iPhone app working, so I never use the Wi-Fi feature to transfer photos from the camera. To get round this, I simply bought an SD card dongle that I can plug into my phone. Naturally this also works with any SD card (and any phone) which means friends can download photos, and you can download theirs. Low tech for the win.

Final Thoughts

After shooting with this camera for nearly five years, I still feel like I’m learning new things and finding new features I haven’t properly tried or explored.

For example, I found a whole article about its pre-shot electronic shutter mode, which allows you to get multiple shots in quick succession as your camera focuses, allowing you to get shots before you’ve fully pressed the shutter and a better chance at nailing focus.

Still, for all of its feature set, the X-Pro3’s manual controls and focus on the shooting experience means you don’t feel like you’re getting stuck in the technical aspects of taking a photo.

While I might keep my eye on the Leica M system (especially for its manual focusing experience) I know that if I did make the switch, there would be many parts of the Fuji experience I’d miss, from its colours to not having to pay £90 for a battery.

Ultimately, most of Fuji’s X Series cameras are similar in specs and image quality. So I’d recommend the XT, XE and X100 series – they’re all similar tools for similar purposes.

For me, the X-Pro3 came at the right time, and is the right tool for the job.

So here’s to the next five years… or until Fujifilm release an X-Pro with a rangefinder manual focus patch.

5 Years With The Fujfilm X-Pro3 – My Review