Fujifilm X-T20 Field Test

Fuji X-T20 Field Test

Upgraded X-Trans camera balances great performance with a friendly price

by Jeremy Gray | Posted 05/22/2017

Fujifilm released the X-T10 interchangeable lens X-series camera in 2015 and has followed it up with the X-T20. The X-T20 uses the same retro-inspired look as its predecessor, but includes many new features and is positioned as a mid-range option in Fuji's line of interchangeable lens X-series cameras, slotting in beneath the X-Pro2 and X-T2 but above the X-E2(S), X-A3 and X-A10 cameras. While more expensive than the X-E and X-A cameras, the X-T20 continues its predecessor's tradition of borrowing many features from Fuji's flagship cameras, namely the X-T2 in this case, without breaking the bank.

I Field Tested the X-T10 during the summer of 2015 and came away impressed. However, I lamented on the lack of a touchscreen and the small buffer depth, and both have been addressed with the X-T20. To see how the X-T20 fared in the field, read on.

Design & Ergonomics: The stylish Fuji X-T20 handles very well

The Fuji X-T20 is a pretty compact camera. Its dimensions are 4.7 x 3.3 x 1.6 inches (118 x 83 x 41 millimeters), and the body with a battery and memory card weighs 13.5 ounces (383 grams). While subjective, I think the camera body is stylish. It maintains the same blocky, retro look as its predecessor. If you thought the X-T10 looked good, you'll surely feel the same about the X-T20.

The front grip is very small, although the material is textured which helps keep a good hold on the camera, but I do wish that the grip was a bit bigger. It's a tough balance between maintaining a compact form factor and providing grip comfort. I think the X-T20 might have gone a bit too far in the form factor direction, and I don't have large hands. The X-T20 is fine when using small lenses like the 18-55mm kit lens, but when shooting with larger lenses, such as the 100-400mm, the front grip feels too small.

Looking at the connections on the camera, its battery and SD card slot (that only offers UHS-I support unlike the X-T2, which has UHS-II support) are on the bottom and inaccessible when a tripod mount is attached to the camera. It is also difficult to open and shut the battery/card chamber cover with one hand. Further, I noticed that the tripod connection is not in line with the lens mount -- that isn't necessarily good or bad, just an observation.

For users of previous Fuji cameras, especially the X-T10, the X-T20 layout will be familiar. There's a shooting mode dial on the left portion of the top deck of the camera. On the right side of the top deck are dedicated shutter speed and exposure compensation dials. Personally, I'd prefer an ISO dial rather than the shooting mode dial, but for the class of the camera, the dial selection makes sense. Regarding the shutter speed and exposure compensation dials, the user does have easy access to additional options that aren't on the dials. For example, if the shutter speed is set to 1/2000s on the dial, you can additionally select 1/1250, 1/1600, 1/2500 and 1/3200s shutter speeds by rotating a control dial. If you want additional exposure compensation, which is available up to +/- 5 EV, you can set the exposure compensation dial to 'C' and select throughout the entire range.

The shutter release feels nice despite being small because it has a good amount of travel distance; the distance between half-pressing for focusing and fully releasing the shutter feel distinct, which I like. There is also a switch around the shutter speed dial to move the camera into its fully-automatic SR+ Auto mode. My least favorite part of the camera's overall layout is the final button on the top of the camera, the 'Fn' button, which is tiny and difficult to press. It sits nearly flush with the camera body and is close to the exposure compensation dial; it is difficult to get at the button and hard to feel it while shooting.

The X-T20 uses a twin-dial control system; there's a front control dial and a rear control dial. Both can be pressed for additional functionality. I like the placement of the dials and the button functionality, but I do not like the way that the dials feel when rotating them. They rotate a bit too easily and feel somewhat loose.

On the rear of the camera, there is a standard assortment of buttons, including four directional buttons and the 'Q' button, which brings up the very useful Quick Menu. By default, the Quick Menu displays custom settings, ISO, dynamic range, white balance, noise reduction, image size, image quality, film simulation, highlight tone, shadow tone, color, sharpness, self-timer, AF mode, flash function settings and EVF/LCD brightness.

Regarding the four directional buttons, they have four functions by default -- up brings up the autofocus mode settings, right handles flash mode, pressing down brings up a display for moving the autofocus point and pressing left accesses the Film Simulation menu. These buttons' functions can be reassigned to a number of different options, including image size, image quality, RAW, Film Simulation, white balance, AF mode, drive setting and more. They can also be set to immediately control the placement of focus area, which of course means you then can't use them for quickly accessing the four functions.

If you want to customize a function button on the X-T20, all you need to do is hold the button down for a few seconds and the camera will bring up the custom function button assignment menu, allowing you to see what the button is currently set to and quickly change it to a different function. This works with the 'Fn' button on the top of the camera and the four directional buttons. Alternatively, you can hold the 'DISP/BACK' button to bring up a diagram of all the function buttons you can customize and reassign them from there.

The rear display is a 3-inch touchscreen with 1,040,000 dots of resolution and tilting capabilities. The display can tilt downward around 45° and upward just over 90°. The display is sharp and looks good. It can be a little difficult to use in bright light, but the display can be made brighter (by default you can increase brightness from the 'Q' Menu), which does help. The display layout can be changed by going into Display Custom settings. Here you can toggle on useful functions such as a live histogram and the electronic level, both of which are off by default. The histogram is particularly useful, especially if you want to know how your exposure is without needing to regularly be tweaking the display brightness for different ambient lighting conditions.

It is worth pointing out that the X-T20's predecessor, the X-T10, did not have a touchscreen. The inclusion of touch functionality is one of the best improvements that the X-T20 brings to the table, especially regarding overall usability.

In addition to the display, the X-T20 also has an electronic viewfinder. The 0.36-inch EVF has 2.36 million dots and uses OLED technology. The EVF has 100 percent coverage and 35mm equivalent magnification of 0.62x. It's a nice EVF, although the eyecup isn't very comfortable. The eye sensor is a bit inconsistent, too. When using the touchscreen, even if your fingers are a couple of inches away from the viewfinder, it will sometimes think you're looking through the EVF and turn off the rear display. There's a View Mode button just to the right of the viewfinder to toggle the view mode; I regularly found myself setting it to the "LCD only" mode when using the rear display. You can also enable focus peaking to help with manual focus. You can select from white, red and blue focus peaking colors, each with low and high strength options.

There is a built-in flash on the X-T20. It has a guide number of 16.4 feet (5 meters) at ISO 100 and a max flash sync of 1/180s. There is +/- 2 EV of available flash exposure compensation. The camera has a hot shoe as well. There's built-in wireless flash control, but the built-in flash acts only as a trigger.

The X-T20 is a very good camera body. The inclusion of touchscreen functionality is excellent and nearly everything else about the camera is familiar and works well. There are a few exceptions, such as the poor 'Fn' button, somewhat loose-feeling control dials and overly-sensitive eye sensor, but overall, the camera handles very well.

Fuji X-T20's higher-res sensor delivers great results

Whereas the X-T10 utilized a 16-megapixel X-Trans sensor, the X-T20 ups its resolution with a 24.3-megapixel, APS-C, X-Trans CMOS III image sensor. The X-T20 uses the same imaging pipeline as the X-Pro2 and X-T2 cameras, and the results are great.

The 24-megapixel X-Trans sensor delivers very nice, pleasing colors. Colors are accurate without being oversaturated when using default Provia film simulation. The camera's processing isn't overly aggressive and there aren't many noticeable artifacts around high-contrast details. Images were generally sharp and detailed, particularly at lower ISO settings, although images do appear a bit softer than some of its competition.

The base ISO of the X-T20 is 200, although it can be expanded down to 100. Native ISO tops out at 12800 and can be expanded to ISO 51200. ISO 100 can be useful for achieving slower shutter speeds, but I found that the image files weren't any better than ISO 200 and in fact seemed to have a bit less dynamic range, which is typical of expanded low ISOs.

At higher ISOs, not necessarily the expanded ones, the X-T20 does a very good job for a camera with an APS-C sensor. RAW images don't offer much benefit over JPEG images in the case of the X-T20 due to its very capable in-camera processing, which does a great job of maintaining fine detail without displaying a ton of noise. Through ISO 1600, image quality is very nice. At ISO 3200, the X-T20 shows more noise and an overall reduction in detail as noise reduction increases, but it's still quite good, as is ISO 6400. At ISO 12800, there is a lot more noise and beyond that, I don't think the expanded settings are worth using.

The images below are 100 percent crops from JPEG images straight from the camera, shot with the 18-55mm kit lens at 55mm (83mm equivalent), f/8, and using Provia Film Simulation with default picture and noise reduction settings. To view the corresponding RAW images, click the links in the captions.

Overall, image quality from the Fuji X-T20 is very good. The camera's new higher megapixel sensor helps deliver detailed images with rich, pleasing colors and tones across an impressive ISO range. Its high ISO performance might not be able to match the pacesetters in the APS-C category, but it comes close and does so at a consumer-friendly price point and with excellent in-camera processing.

Upgraded X-T20 offers nice, fast autofocus performance

With 325 autofocus points, the autofocus system in the X-T20 is much improved over its predecessor, which had only 49 AF points. The new hybrid autofocus system is said to offer more than just additional points and zones, but also faster autofocus speed and better overall performance.

In the lab, we did find that it was faster than its predecessor. What about in the real world? The X-T20 certainly feels snappier than the X-T10 did and having a lot more autofocus points helps too. The X-T20 delivers fast, reliable autofocus performance in a wide range of situations. It can't be ignored that the X-T20's touchscreen display helps too. Being able to quickly move the autofocus point around the display is a very useful feature.

Autofocus modes include single point AF, zone AF -- which has been upgraded from 49 to 91 autofocus areas in a 13 x 7 grid with three grouping options (3 x 3, 5 x 5 and 7 x 7) -- and Wide Tracking AF. Additionally, there is Eye Detection autofocus and an Auto Macro function.

Continuous autofocus performance, toggled on by rotating a dial on the front of the camera from S to C, works quite well. Similar to the X-T2, the X-T20 includes five different continuous autofocus presets. The first preset is designed to be an all-around option, and the other four are focused on specific types of photography. Option 2 ignores obstacles and tries to maintain focus on the subject, Option 3 is for subjects prone to rapid changes in movement speed (like motorsports), Option 4 is for suddenly appearing subjects and Option 5 is for erratically moving subjects, such as sports photography.

Overall, autofocus performance is good with the Fuji X-T20. There are numerous useful autofocus modes and moving the autofocus point around the touchscreen display is a nice feature.

The X-T20 uses a 256-zone TTL metering system and includes multi, spot, average and center-weighted metering modes. Both exposure and white balance metering proved to be quite good, and the dedicated exposure compensation dial makes it easy to compensate when need be. Further, the spot metering mode is linked to the active autofocus point, which is a nice feature.

With that said, there were times when the metering system delivered puzzling results. Take the image below, for example, which was captured in a setting with consistent light. I utilized Auto ISO in aperture priority mode with multi metering, but the camera delivered a fairly dark, underexposed image overall. To preserve the white areas on the bird, the camera, in my opinion, was too conservative. Granted, if you're shooting RAW, it's easy enough to deal with the underexposure during post-processing, as you can see further below.

With two customizable Auto ISO setting presets, the X-T20 has good Auto ISO functionality. You can select the default sensitivity, maximum sensitivity and the minimum shutter speed, and have different parameters assigned to each Auto ISO preset. It would be nice if you could adjust how the camera prioritizes image quality versus shutter speed as focal length changes, but being able to set two Auto ISO modes independently is still useful.

Thanks to its X-Processor Pro image processor, the Fuji X-T20 delivers very good overall performance. Its autofocus speeds are similar to the X-T10's, but the X-T20 offers a "High Performance" mode which increases autofocus speed and EVF/display quality at the expense of battery life. With this mode enabled, the camera does feel snappier in real-world use and I found that its improved autofocus speeds are worth the battery life trade-off.

Considering continuous shooting performance, the X-T20 can record images with the mechanical shutter at just over 8 frames per second with full AF and AE. With the buffer full, JPEG images are still captured at a reasonably quick 5 fps, which is still a nice speed and useful when you're regularly depleting the buffer. Shooting lossless RAW images with the mechanical shutter delivers essentially identical speeds but a smaller buffer of 29 frames, which clears in nine seconds. When shooting RAW images, the camera slows down to around 2.5 fps when the buffer is full, which I consider too slow for capturing action sequences. I found the RAW buffer depth sufficient in the field, and the buffer clearing time wasn't bad. Ultimately, I never felt like I was waiting on the camera to be able to capture an image.

There is also an electronic shutter on the X-T20. This shutter allows for faster continuous shooting up to nearly 14 fps, but with smaller buffers depths, which is a bit of a double-edge sword. You can capture more frames of a fleeting moment, but that moment better not last very long. When using either shutter type, while the buffer is clearing, you can change camera settings but you cannot perform image playback. On the topic of image playback in general, the camera lets you scan through your images quickly, and I really like that by pressing in on the rear command dial you can easily zoom in on the focus point, which lets you very quickly check whether or not your shot was in focus -- it's a pretty nice, useful feature.

Battery life is average for a mirrorless camera. When using either the EVF or display, the camera is rated for 350 shots in standard performance mode and 260 shots in the "High Performance" mode. In my experience, the battery life, even with "High Performance" mode enabled, seemed better than the rated battery life, but an extra battery is still a good idea if you plan to do any extended shooting with the X-T20. I didn't have to charge the battery during days where I was shooting in the morning, some in the afternoon and then again in the evening. I'd feel comfortable with a single battery if I were shooting stills all day, but recording 4K video does take a toll on the battery. The X-T20's battery couldn't last like my Nikon D800 would, for instance, but for a mirrorless camera, I was impressed.

Overall, the Fuji X-T20 offers very good performance. Its buffer depths and clearing speeds can't match the X-T2, which offers UHS-II support, but the X-T20's performance still impresses and the camera is agile in real-world use.

The X-T20 includes various creative shooting modes. I think that many of them look tacky, but to each their own and it's no harm to include them. The Advanced Filters you can choose from are: Toy camera, Miniature, Pop color, High-key, Low-key, Dynamic tone, Soft focus, Partial color [Red / Orange / Yellow / Green / Blue / Purple]. They work as advertised and you can view samples of them in the Gallery.

Further, there's a Panorama mode. There are two options, medium and large JPEG panoramas, the former is 2160 x 6400 for vertical and 6400 by 1440 for a horizontal panorama, and the latter is 2160 x 9600 and 9600 x 1440. Below you can see a resized large panorama.

The fully-automatic mode, SR+ Auto, works quite well. It performs scene recognition and then adjusts the image accordingly. It records only JPEG images regardless of your shooting settings, so that's something to keep in mind, but for quickly capturing nice-looking JPEG images, it's a solid automatic mode.

There are five different types of bracketing available on the X-T20, and there are two shooting mode slots on the mode dial for bracketed shooting. You can do AE, ISO, Film Simulation, White Balance and Dynamic Range bracketing. The bracket modes are accessible via the Drive Settings in the Shooting Settings menu. AE bracketing is available up to +/-2 EV.

Per usual, the X-T20 includes a suite of Film Simulations. For those who are unfamiliar, Film Simulations are essentially image styles or picture controls that you'd find on cameras from other manufacturers, except that Fuji's Film Simulations are meticulously crafted to digitally replicate the look of some of their most famous films. These are not just simple adjustments to colors and contrast, but rather distinct tone curves and color reproductions. With the X-T20, you can select from Standard (Provia), Vivid (Velvia), Soft (Astia), Classic Chrome, PRO Neg. Hi, PRO Neg. Std, ACROS (standard, yellow, red and green), Monochrome (standard, yellow, red and green) and Sepia. ACROS is a new monochrome Film Simulation which offers rich gradation and high sharpness.

With built-in Wi-Fi, the Fuji X-T20 can connect to compatible smartphone devices. The camera doesn't have built-in Bluetooth or NFC, by the way. The connection process with my iPhone was the same as other cameras, requiring me to turn on wireless communications via the camera's menus before accessing the camera in my phone's Wi-Fi settings. After connecting, I opened the Fujifilm Cam Remote application and was good to go.

Within the app, there are four functions: Remote Control, Receive, Browse Camera and Geotagging. Whenever you use one of these functions, going back to the main menu requires disconnecting and reconnecting the camera, which is rather frustrating.

Moving to Remote Control, the functionality is generally good. The live view display is high quality and reliable, and you can move the AF point around the frame on your phone. You will be stuck in whichever shooting mode the camera was set to when the connection was established; in other words, you cannot change from Aperture Priority to Manual, for example. Within a particular shooting mode, you have control over settings such as aperture, shutter speed, exposure compensation, ISO, Film Simulation, white balance, flash mode and self-timer. You can also record video from the app as well.

Overall, the app and Wi-Fi capabilities with the X-T20 work well but are nothing spectacular. It's worth pointing out that if you have an Instax printer, you can print to it through the X-T20 over Wi-Fi. I don't have an Instax printer, so I was unable to test this functionality.

You can connect the Fuji X-T20 to an HDMI device such as an external recorder or HDTV. I don't have a 4K UHD television, so I cannot comment on how it works with those television sets, but I did connect it to my 1080p HDTV. When connected, the TV mirrors the camera's display for both playback and live shooting. If you are connected to an HDMI recording device, you can save video directly to that rather than the camera's SD card.

Playback allows for clean HDMI output, which is nice for showing off your images. If you want images shot in portrait orientation to display correctly, you need to go the camera's screen settings and turn on auto rotate playback. Further, when the camera is connected over HDMI, you can set it to automatically crop images into 16:9 ratio, although this will cut the top and bottom off the native 3:2 images. To view video over HDMI on your HDTV, you must press the down directional button to play or pause playback. This information won't appear if you have toggled the display settings to not show shooting info or button prompts.

Like the X-T2, the X-T20 is 4K-capable. It can record 4K UHD video (3840 x 2160) at up to 30 frames per second and Full HD (1920 x 1080) video at up to 60 fps. Further, the camera records 4K video using the full width of the image sensor, which is very nice.

The 4K UHD video quality from the X-T20 is quite impressive. 4K video is sharp with good detail, and the X-T20 records with a maximum bitrate of 100Mbps, which is quite nice. In the sample video below, I shot the footage using the 18-55mm kit lens with apertures ranging from wide open to f/8 and 1/60s shutter speeds. White balance was set to Auto, which you can see in the opening shot as the camera adjusts the white balance on the fly. Despite using a fixed shutter speed and ISO settings for each shot, there were a few times when the camera seemed to adjust brightness on the fly. All videos were shot with an ISO between 200 and 1600. Be sure to watch the video below in 4K if your computer and connection supports it.

On the topic of ISO, the ISO range when recording video with the X-T20 is 200 to 12800. High ISO video quality is pretty good, and I'd feel comfortable using the camera across almost the entire range, though maybe avoiding ISO 12800.

With on-sensor phase detect autofocus as part of its hybrid autofocus system, the X-T20 has pretty good autofocus performance while recording video although there are still some distracting adjustments even when shooting a stationary subject, which you can occasionally see in the Forest Stream video above.

The Fuji X-T20 works similarly when recording video as it does when shooting still images, meaning that you have access to the full range of standard shooting modes, including fully manual shooting. To access a fully automatic video mode, you simply move the switch on the top of the camera to 'Auto,' just as you would for the SR+ Auto still photography mode.

For photographers wanting full control over video, the X-T20 offers it. It is worth pointing out that unlike when shooting stills, you cannot access a live histogram during video recording, making nailing a manual exposure trickier for video than for still images. However, there is focus peaking available for video.

Overall, the Fuji X-T20 is a much better video camera than its predecessor, the X-T10. Not only does the X-T20 include 4K UHD video recording, something its predecessor lacked, but performance and features are generally excellent.

As a note, there were a few occasions when I was recording 4K UHD video and the camera displayed a lot of rolling shutter. Most of the time this was not a problem nor could I consistently reproduce the effect. It is worth mentioning, as it was quite strange, but it was not a regular issue during my time with the X-T20.

Fuji X-T20 Field Test Summary

What I like:

• Compact, stylish camera body with very good physical controls
• Great touchscreen
• Excellent image quality
• Fast, accurate autofocus
• Good overall performance
• Nice 4K video quality

What I dislike:

• Finicky eye sensor
• A joystick for direct autofocus point control would be nice
• Battery life isn't great, especially when using "High Performance" mode

The Fuji X-T10 took a lot of what made its siblings great while keeping the price tag relatively low. Fuji's new X-T20 continues this trend, and the features it borrows from the X-Pro2 and X-T2 are much better this time around.

With a great, higher-resolution sensor and improved performance, the X-T20 not only captures better images at faster rates and with improved autofocus performance, but it does so with a new touchscreen display and improved usability. Further, the X-T20 includes 4K UHD video, making it a very well-rounded Fuji X series camera with an impressively low price tag for what you get. I was a big fan of the X-T10 when I reviewed that camera, and the X-T20 takes it up a notch and is a good addition to an already impressive lineup of Fuji X series cameras.