Fujifilm X-T200 review: Leibovitz on a budget

This is as close as you’re gonna get to Fujifilm’s affordable range without sacrificing the ‘X’ in the title. This little shooter takes Fuji’s versatile and lightweight form factor, and bulks it up with a bunch of useful features. Get ready for some 4K video recording, a revamped autofocus system that’s got face and eye detection, a brisk 8fps stills shooting speed, improved low light performance, a tilty touch display and, of course, Fujifilm’s beloved film simulation modes. All packed into the X-T200. 

Like its other siblings, the X-T200 borrows aesthetically from classic analogue cameras from back when it was an art to design the damn thing. The majority of its body is wrapped in a textured plastic resembling leather, with silver metal highlights along the edges. It’s a good looking camera.

The fake leather exterior actually makes for a reasonable grippy surface, so it’s a nice touch that makes the X-T200 not only look pretty but work functionally well from a design perspective. It’s also very light, to the point that we thought the battery hadn’t been inserted when we first used it. Nope, to our surprise, even with the 15-45mm kit lens attached, this is a really compact and lightweight camera for its class.

Press all the buttons

Okay, it doesn’t have that many buttons (actually very few, to be honest), but the X-T200 makes great use with what it has to work with.

That’s why the control setup feels easy to master and relatively familiar if you’re used to Fuji’s system cameras. On the top plate, you’ll find four dials — on the left, one to quickly flick between the on-board film simulation modes; and on the right, one dial for changing the shooting mode and two for adjusting settings.

On the back, you’ll find buttons well-placed for thumb access, if you have normal primate thumbs, of course. This is where you’ll control the menu and find joystick controls, and the 3.5in display, which adds some touch functionality to help with accessibility. It’s also handy if you don’t know which button to press. 

Because we’re in the influencerpocolypse, everything camera-tech is mainly aimed at people who film themselves doing things. The display folds out 180-degrees which is ideal for people who want to see their faces while filming. You also have the option of an OLED electronic viewfinder that can easily be used to compose and review pics — a nice-to-have on a cam this price. 

Steady now…

Anyone who likes to film handheld will love knowing that the X-T200 comes equipped with a digital gimbal, which is gyroscope-powered image stabilisation tech that’ll keep movements seamless and smooth. 

Although a nice feature, you’ll have to sacrifice quality for the smoothness, because the feature will cap video quality at 1080p video at 30fps. It also only works with certain lenses and it will crop the image drastically. It’ll also create a noticeable delay, so stabilisation is by far not the most useful feature in this cam. 

But when it comes to general daily shooting, the X-T200 really holds up well. The camera benefits from a fast-ish 8fps continuous stills shooting speed (with autofocus enabled), which is lekker for capturing those fleeting moments and moving subjects. Couple this with the overhauled hybrid autofocus system and you’ve got a system camera that feels nippy and easy to use. 

Connectivity is also worth a mention. You get Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy, a 3.5mm microphone jack (so videographers can plug in a shotgun mic for high-quality audio in seconds), a micro HDMI output, and a USB-C port (which supports charging). That’s quite a long of options in a midrange shooter that we can appreciate in principle. 

Just a splash of colour

Thanks to its nifty film simulation modes, the X-T200 produces impactful, sharp and punchy shots without the need for seemingly endless RAW editing after the fact.

One of our favourite features, is the ability to shoot 4K. Video always seem to reproduce super sharp with nice colour clarity, but it’s limited to 30fps. Honestly, you don’t need much more for amateur videography (which is the segment that anything Stuff does fall into).  Dial down to 1080p and you can shoot at a smoother 60fps frame rate (and up to 120fps in the dedicated slo-mo/high-speed mode) while retaining a decent amount of sharpness and clarity.

It also easily connects to a PC as a webcam through Fuji’s software, but that’ll cap your quality. If you’ve got a capture card, the X-T200 is brilliant for streaming, just keep a backup battery in case — but a charge will last you a good hour if you’re keen on that stuff. 

Fujifilm X-T200 Verdict

Straight-up, we’ll be the first to say that the X-T200 doesn’t do anything we haven’t seen a system camera do. It just works so well, without trying to be something it’s not. Expect to pay around R12,000 for this little shooter, which in the greater scheme, isn’t much for what you’re getting feature-wise. 

You don’t need much more when you’ve got razor-sharp, colour-accurate photos and sleek 4K footage from a compact, lightweight and easy-to-master camera that won’t break the bank. The X-T200 is the perfect upgrade from a point-and-shoot and will give you a taste of the higher-end X-range without the extra zero’s.