It’s been a minute (and eleven years) since Fujifilm had anything to do with the ‘M’ series of budget mirrorless cameras. We think we know why – it has something to do with adding a few more zeroes to Fuji’s bank account. Now, it’s rejuvenating the line-up, entirely skipping the X-M2, 3, and 4 and jumping right ahead into the X-M5, which is set to turn up on South Africa’s shores in November.
Jarvis, turn on “Vlog” mode
Fujifilm’s letting the X-M5 loose on those buyers who are still stuck apologising for their smartphone camera in the Instagram comments and want to jump into official camera territory without first wiping out their family’s life savings. That’s the idea, anyway. It closely resembles Fuji’s mid-ranger X-T50 but lacks a viewfinder and the in-body image stabilisation (IBIS) features that made the X-T50 a R26,000 piece of kit.
Fujifilm makes up for that by adding the X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor – hitting “approximately” 26.1MP. Also along for the ride is the company’s X-Processor 5 processing engine, which last appeared in the X-T5. Fuji reckons it’s the perfect “hybrid” camera, making it “just as capable at recording video as it is at taking beautiful images.”
Despite the X-M5’s image-taking prowess, Fuji is leaning heavily on the X-M5’s video abilities to clear these off the shelves. It’ll capture 6.2K/30P, 10-bit video at 4:2:2, though that can drop down to 4K/60P and 1080p/240P if that’s more your speed. A “Short Movie Mode” has been included, too, offering 9:16 with the caveat of shooting no higher than Full HD. That’s alongside the “Vlog” and 20 “Film Simulation” modes.
Read More: Fujifilm X100VI review – Small camera, big deal
Users won’t need to carry a mic around, either. Or at least, that’s what Fuji tells us. The X-M5 is loaded with three mics and a steady-state noise reduction function, blocking out white noise around you. Until we’ve had a chance to put Fuji’s claims to the test, we’d recommend hanging onto that mic for the foreseeable future.
That’s all crammed into the lightest body under the X-Series, weighing in at 355g – and small enough to stick in a jacket pocket. That means a couple of things, like a considerably weaker battery (NP-W126S Li-ion) that’ll roughly hit 440 frames in economy mode, and 45 minutes of 6.2K footage. The fully-articulating LCD on the rear has also seen a nerf, packing in a resolution of 1.04 million dots.
Fujifilm South Africa hasn’t offered anything more concrete than a tentative November release in South Africa for the X-M5, and a price tag of R16,000. Make that R19,000 if you’d like to get your hands on the accompanying XC 15-45mm lens as part of a kit. Also arriving shortly are two new lenses; the Fujinon XF500mmF5.6 R LM OIS WR and Fujinon XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR II supposedly interesting birdwatchers (an oxymoron). If you can stomach the respective R64,000 and R22,000 price tags, that is.
