After the last few years using exclusively Fuji cameras, bar a short test with a Ricoh GRiiix, I am sorry to say I’ve switched back to Sony. There are a few reasons for this, but this is in no way a justification or a reason why I think they suck, merely my thoughts on the subject as a few people have asked. This won’t be a very elegant post, just a few points I feel are worth raising.

Auto Focus

“Why don’t you just manual focus like a real photographer?” I hear them shout back to my pathetic moaning. The truth is, when I got my first Fuji camera after selling all my Sony gear about 4 years ago, I thought the autofocus sucked. It didn’t. Granted, it wasn’t as good as I was used to with my Sony A7iii, but after a bit of experimentation I got used to its quirks and found it pretty reliable for the types of photography I wanted to do.

Since getting the XT5 I felt a decline in performance from the autofocus, particularly AFC, which affected my enjoyment. In street photography there can be fleeting moments and I missed quite a few of them because of poor or slow autofocus. Recent firmware updates have promised to fix this but have indeed made it worse! This came to a head around a month ago when camped out waiting for a shot I had lined up. After more than 45 minutes of waiting for subjects, the autofocus kept letting me down.

It was as they call it, the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Build Quality

There has also been a significant decline in build quality. My trusty XT3 felt like a masterpiece and was a delight to use. As was my X100V. Solid, reliable and nice to use. Whereas the XT5 had creaky doors covering the ports and seemed to be made for the scratchiest plastic they could find.

It never let me down in the short time I had it, but it didn’t fill me full of confidence, and I know others have had problems with cracking, whether sealing and other minor issues. Fujifilm seems more concerned with purposely restricting manufacturing than actually making good cameras.

I Miss The Joy

There are things I will miss from Fuji Cameras, particularly how enjoyable they are to use with top dials for settings, but they lost the joy I had when first using them due to the above issues. I don’t make any money from my photography, and these frustrations got in my way of having a good time when out and about.

Sony cameras often feel too sterile and boring. Perfect for a pro workhorse but missing something special. However, the A7CR that I picked up, with a 50 mm prime, feels at least a little like a Leica and has brought me back at least some enjoyment.