Video and comments on tests of the Fujifilm XT-3 camera body

By Stéphane Cami, AFC

par Stéphane Cami La Lettre AFC n°299

[ English ] [ français ]

Following up on the article published on our website about the tests of the Fujifilm XT-3 camera body with the new Fujinon MK 18-55mm and MK 50-135mm lenses, Eric Guichard, AFC, and I would like to share the video of these tests followed by my comments. As a reminder, they were presented at the CST Pavillion at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

These tests were shot with the XT-3 camera body set at 4K, 16.9, 25P (except slow-mo), recorded on an SD Card at 400 Mbps, 10 bits, 4:2:0, H265 codec, intra image ON, F-Log. Outdoor day at 640 ISO, outdoor night/evening according to the indications.


https://vimeo.com/336965152

In the park with the sheep
I wanted to test the ability of the camera and the zooms to capture details in the tree branches in high contrast, the detail of the grass (absence of aliasing and pixelation), the ability of the Log to render the bright parts and the details of the clouds and the high lights, the colour rendering of the grass and the ability to render the nuances of green.

00:30
Tests with fountains and château in the background. I wanted to test the camera’s ability to render the details in the architecture of the château, the absence of aliasing in the bars of the windows, the details of the architecture and the topiary.

I wanted to check the Log’s ability to render details in high contrast : the dark shadows of the sculpture and the shadows of the topiary, both in the high lights on the façade of the château and the sky, the ability of the file compression to render the movements of the water, the shininess, and the absence of artefacts.

00:51
Slow-motion shots of the fountain : tests at 25P at 120 fps on moving water. Quality of the image rendering on the complex movement of water droplets and cascading water. Full-HD rendering versus 4K.

01:34
Sunset on the Saint-Louis Cathedral in Versailles : observation of the sunbeams on the sensor with the zoom, the star effect of the sunbeams, the image rendering in strong backlight.

01:42
Statue of Louis XIV at sunset and the building on the Place d’Armes : testing the image noise by increasing sensitivity, there was not much noise whilst observing the sky and the paving stones, and a trial of the colour rendering in the evenly-coloured blue sky. Observation of the colour rendering on the building by increasing sensitivity, the ability to render the nuances between the inside of the house with warm light and the cool exterior.

01:58
Square at night in Versailles : testing an increase in sensitivity from 1,250 ISO to 2,500 ISO at constant T-stop. Rendering of the noise, the details, nuances in the night sky : behaviour of the Log in high and very low light.

02:12
Île de la Cité, Paris : behaviour of the image in reflections on water, finesse of the details, absence of aliasing, capacity of the zoom lenses for detail. Rendering of the vegetation and the detail of the leaves and the buildings of windows.

Tests with the sun as backlight, behaviour of the image on the reflections of the sunlight on the water, rendering of the sun, rendering of very bright lights on the clouds around the sun, rendering in the shadows on the passageway and pillars under the bridge with a very closed aperture, between T:9 and T:11. We film the sun, the behaviour of the zoom, the absence of diffraction and of flare.

03:10
Night, Île de la Cité : behaviour of the image in shadow, in even-toned colours, in reflections on water, in brilliances and glares. Rendering in Log under-exposure. Rendering of reflections on the water, the movements of the water.

Test with a strong increase in sensitivity, we note the increase in noise above 2,500 ISO, the loss of details at 3,200 ISO.

04:42
Test on face : Log rendering, rendering of skin tones, ability to render the nuances of facial skin, details on the hair. Renderings of the bokeh in the bright lights in the background.

05:00 
Comparison between the Fuji and the Alexa Mini : possibility of matching the Fuji Log with the Arri Log in colour timing. It works pretty well. The Alexa was set at 2K (I was working on comparative tests of a series of lenses for a project being shot in 2K).

We slightly zoomed in on the 4K Fuji image to bring the two frame values in line with one another so that we could make the colour comparison more eloquent.

(Tests performed and commented on in collaboration with Eric Guichard)

(Translated from the French by A. Baron-Raiffe for the AFC)