A few disclaimers to start

The Fujifilm X-T5 is my main photography camera for weddings, engagements, family sessions, and personal work. However, I do use the Sony A7IV as a secondary camera at weddings specifically if I ever want more of the “full frame” look or for extremely fast moving subjects (more on that in the Autofocus section of this article)
I do not use the X-T5 for any professional video, so you’ll need to find another article for an in-depth discussion on the video capabilities
Fujifilm as a company and a camera system is on thin ice with me—skip to the end of the article for the reason why

My history with Fujifilm

I’ve been a professional photographer and videographer for about ten years now. Over the course of my career, I’ve had the pleasure of using a variety of different cameras from basically every system. I’ve loved a few, had middling opinions on many, and disliked many more.

I started in the Nikon DSLR system, which treated me well for as long as it could. When the Sony A7III was released in 2017, it was time for me to jump ship to mirrorless. I’ve been using Sony cameras professionally since then for both photo and video, but I’ve always kept my eye on Fujifilm cameras every time they announced something new. The colors looked great, the design philosophy was enticing, and there seemed to be a small but robust community around the system as a whole. However, Sony still offered much more bang for my buck for hybrid shooting. So I watched from afar.

The announcement of the X-T5 is what finally pulled me in. It had all the Fuji designs that I loved as well as more modern internals to allow it to stack up for professional work (in my eyes, at least). However, I bought a different Fuji camera to test the waters with.

I’m not on TikTok, so I had no idea how insanely popular the X100V was until I decided I’d like to buy one to try out the Fuji system. My experience with that camera is for another day; long story short, I was miraculously able to purchase one for myself and it didn’t take long to sell me on diving headfirst into Fujifilm. Time for the X-T5 to enter my kit.

I purchased a brand-new black X-T5 in January of 2023, along with two lenses (neither of which I own anymore; more on what lenses I currently use later in the article).

I also purchased a used X-Pro 3 in the summer of 2023 to use alongside the X-T5 at weddings, but sold it a couple of months after that—a story for another day.

The X-Pro3 was so pretty, but ultimately did not work for my style of shooting.

I then sold my beloved X100V to purchase a second X-T5, this time in silver. My plan was to use two X-T5s side-by-side at every wedding and every other shoot that would require such a thing. I did so for a while, but ultimately decided to sell the silver X-T5 and go back to an X100V. By this time, I had purchased my Sony A7IV for commercial photo and video work and could no longer justify owning so many professional cameras.

So as it stands now, the X-T5 is my go-to for most of my non-commercial and personal photography and the Sony A7IV is on my other hip when I need two cameras. They complement each other better than you might think. But that is yet another topic for another day. The X100V is almost entirely a personal use camera, but gets used sometimes at weddings and couples’ shoots as an auxiliary camera. Again, a topic for another day. You might notice a theme here.

Build quality and handling

I have no issues with how the X-T5 fits and feels in my hands. I have no idea how many photos I’ve taken with it over the past two years, but it’s easily in the tens of thousands. I’ve put it through its paces on 12-hour wedding days, personal travel, and much more. It still looks and feels fantastic after so much use. A few dings and scratches are certainly present, but I don’t baby my equipment. It’s a tool and I use it as such. In fact, due to the inherent nature of the retro design of the camera, every ding and scratch is a battle scar. It adds to its character every time.

Some long-time Fuji users have decried the quality of the X-T5 compared to its previous generations. Admittedly, I have not used any of the X-T cameras before this one so I can’t compare it to those, but I have used the older X-Pro3 and the X100V, which have both been hailed as far superior in build quality. For what it’s worth, the X-T5 feels just as good in my hands as those other cameras, so I have no complaints there.

The grip is admittedly more shallow than virtually every other modern mirrorless camera, but I knew this going into it and therefore cannot complain. It helps to keep the size and weight down, which is appreciated. The smaller size of Fuji cameras and lenses compared to full frame was and still is a reason I use the cameras; a super deep grip would go against that philosophy. The only time I feel the shallower grip is when I mount a flash to the top. The whole thing immediately becomes top heavy and my wrist will get sore a lot quicker.

Speaking of the design philosophy, I can’t deny that it’s a huge reason I was interested in Fujifilm in the first place. Not every one of their cameras has this design, but they do a great job with the ones that do. The retro dials look and feel amazing and when I’m shooting, I’ll often get non-photographers asking me if I’m shooting actual film. Of course I say no, but I take their question as a compliment to my taste in cameras.

After reading that, you might be surprised to learn that I don’t even use the retro dials when shooting on my X-T5. I keep them on C, which means I can use the much faster command dials to set my ISO and shutter speed (aperture is set on the lens itself). I would love to use the dials more, but unfortunately they’re just a little too slow for shooting something like a wedding. Anyone who shoots weddings understands how dynamic a wedding day is and how unpredictable lighting changes can be; the ability to change exposure very quickly is essential for me, especially since I shoot all manual and do not rely on my cameras in any way to decide exposure for me. I relish the idea of slowing down in my personal work, but my muscle memory with the command dials is now such that it doesn’t make sense for me to not use them there as well. So the retro dials are more or less just aesthetics for me on this camera.

The EVF on this camera is fantastic. It makes the EVF on my Sony A7IV feel ancient, especially when I’m shooting both cameras side-by-side. The back screen on the X-T5 is also great. It matches the EVF perfectly and I absolutely love the vari-angle tilt screen. When I need to pull the camera away from my face, I feel confident in my ability to frame up my shot either vertically or horizontally. I much prefer this design to a flip screen like on the Sony A7IV—that’s great for video, but not so much for photos.

I should mention that the back screen on the X-T5 did get busted pretty badly one time in my bag. This is most likely my fault as I hadn’t packed my bag properly and items were floating around too freely. A lens slid around and slammed into the camera screen. I had to pay Fujifilm $400 and live without the camera for three weeks while it got fixed. It has not happened since and I’ve had no issues with the repaired screen.

The camera was still functional with the busted screen, but a working professional can’t have a camera looking like this.

Battery Life

I don’t have much to report in this section, so I’ll keep it short. The battery life on the X-T5 is great and I don’t have to think about it too often. Using it as one of two cameras on a wedding day, I rarely have to switch the battery out for a second one.

My only complaint with it isn’t even about the battery life itself—I just wish the on-screen display would show the battery life percentage instead of just those little bars. I don’t believe any Fujifilm camera shows percentage so I suppose I can’t complain. My Sony cameras show percentage and it’s much more convenient to be able to quickly look at my screen and know how much juice I have left.

Autofocus

This is a big topic. Over the past year or so, the Fujifilm community has been plagued with reports of career-ending autofocus performance on their higher-end cameras. If you took these photographers at their word, you’d think every single shot they get with their X-T5 and XH2S was a blurry mess because the AF system couldn’t keep up with their dog as he was sleeping motionless on the floor. Not so much the case for me.

If Sony’s hit rate with continuous autofocus is 95%, then my hit rate on the X-T5 is probably 85%. Not as good as Sony? Sure. Perfectly usable for me? Absolutely. The heaviest Fuji AF critics say that “usable” or “just fine” is unacceptable in a camera that’s supposed to be used for professional purposes and I disagree with this. The perfect camera does not exist—there’s only the best camera for you and your purposes. If you need the absolute fastest and most cutting-edge AF system in a camera for Olympic-level sports, I would probably recommend a Sony or Canon flagship camera. But if you’re a documentary-style wedding photographer like me or even a hobbyist taking photos of your cat, the X-T5 is still fantastic in the autofocus department.

I use single-point continuous tracking autofocus on the X-T5. That means I have one AF point in the middle of my screen, lock it onto my subject with back button autofocus, then keep the back button held down as I recompose or otherwise track that subject. It works very well. I do have eye/face tracking toggle mapped to a custom button right next to the shutter button if it starts to act too schizophrenic and locks onto the wrong faces (or worse, objects that aren’t even faces) and that solves the problem immediately.

For what it’s worth, I’ve never once updated the firmware on my X-T5. I’m pretty sure it’s on the same firmware that came stock with the camera when it was first released. I have yet to see a good reason to update it.

Bottom line here: top-of-the-line autofocus is not a deciding factor for me when deciding on a camera to purchase and use. I’m shooting weddings and lifestyle, not NFL games.

Image quality

This is where the rubber meets the road. You can have the absolute fastest and prettiest camera of all time, but if the image quality sucks, you’ll never use it. Fortunately, this is not an issue with the X-T5.

The image quality and the infamous Fuji color science is what attracted me to the camera system in the first place and is a major reason I’m still with the system. I do believe the whole idea of “color science” is vastly misunderstood and overrated for virtually every camera consumer and I’ve always said that you can get whatever colors you want on any camera you’re using. I still believe that to an extent, but not even I can deny there’s something undeniably unique about the results I get from the X-Trans sensors in my Fujifilm cameras.

Contrary to popular belief, Fuji colors are actually much easier to replicate on other camera systems if you know what you’re doing in Lightroom. These days I can quite easily match my Sony colors to my Fuji colors in editing. What I can NOT match 100% is that special something from the Fuji X-Trans sensors.

This is a little hard to describe so bear with me as I attempt to do so.

Everyone knows Sony’s main appeal is a very sharp and accurate look in their files—some photographers even refuse to use the Sony system because the files look too clinical. To each their own.

Fujifilm, on the other hand, has always had the opposite approach. There’s a reason these cameras appeal so highly to any photographer who bemoans the death of film photography (which hasn’t actually died, but a topic for another day). Fujifilm cameras and their respective lenses don’t just have the retro appeal on the outside—the vintage styling is preserved in the quality of their images as well.

The JPEGs and RAW files I get from the X-T5 have a quality about them that is somehow simultaneously softer than its full-frame counterparts, yet still quite detailed. There’s a texture and character to these images that I still haven’t been able to replicate on any other camera system. It hearkens back to a much simpler time in photography when no one was zooming in 300% in Lightroom to count the individual number of grain spots and bemoaning the fact that the focus was slightly more on their model’s eyelashes instead of the dead center of her pupils.

My editing style these days is slightly filmic with some modern touches of sharpness and clarity, so the results I get from my Fuji cameras fit me like a glove. I won’t pretend it’s quite AS sharp or detailed as I see from my Sony full-frame cameras but that’s exactly why I like my Fujifilm photos.

All of this being said, I’m actually not a big fan of the 40mp sensor inside the X-T5. I much prefer the older X-Trans IV sensor in my X100v. This is almost entirely because of the file sizes. I know I might be in the minority here, but 40mp is simply overkill on a crop sensor camera. 24-26mp is not only acceptable for me but preferred. I rarely crop in on my images and 40mp greatly slows down my file management and editing process. It also eats up much more storage space on my hard drives. Storage is indeed cheap these days, but the fact still remains that I would be using less storage if I used a camera with smaller file sizes. Fujifilm still does not allow the user to reduce the file sizes in-camera for RAW shooting and that’s a big shame. I would immediately change it to a 26mp output if given the option.

I shoot RAW and edit all my photos from my X-T5. Film recipes are a huge part of the Fujifilm community and for good reason. The possibility of shooting great-looking filmic images and not have to edit is certainly appealing and a lot of people do exactly that. I do have some recipes plugged into my camera just for fun, but I mainly just use them as a preview of what my final image will probably look like. Wedding photography still requires editing, especially if you miss exposure like I sometimes do. RAW flexibility will almost always beat the convenience of JPEGs for me in both professional and personal shooting.

I do use the film emulation profiles in Lightroom as my base for editing and I love that this is an option. They may not perfectly match the in-camera simulations, but I’m fine with that as long as I love my final results. And I do.

Dynamic range and low-light performance

I almost lumped this section in with Image Quality above, but decided it was worth its own as I have a nuanced take here.

Wedding photographers will often find themselves in less-than-ideal lighting scenarios—super dark churches, unevenly lit outdoor tents, family photos with the sun directly overhead, etc. Having a camera that can handle these types of situations is very important for me. You might think the most obvious solution is to provide my own lighting for every wedding so I’m always in control. Unfortunately, such a setup is not quite so simple for me. Many of my weddings are in different states from where I live, meaning I have to fly with all my equipment. If you’ve ever had to do so, you know how stressful and cumbersome that whole experience can be. So bringing light stands and strobes and softboxes is not feasible for me.

Knowing this, I always do what I can to work with the light I have. I often find this to be a fun creative challenge as well as it actually being quite fitting to my documentary style. Most photojournalists aren’t bringing a three-point light setup to shoot a protest, courtroom, or remote village in Rwanda. Knowing how to get great images with the lighting you are given is a valuable skill that every photographer should have.

That was a very long prelude to my main point here: the Fujifilm X-T5 is more than enough for my low light and dynamic range needs. While full-frame cameras may have some inherent advantages in this department due to sensor sizes, Fujifilm has made great strides in this department.

I have never cared about noise or grain in my images; in fact, I often add my own in Lightroom to images that look too clean. I like the texture that soft grain can add to an image and the X-T5’s handling of high-ISO digital noise is superb. Colors are retained quite well and the digital noise that is present looks so much like actual film grain that it’s actually quite pleasing to my eye. I will always shoot at whatever ISO is needed for the situation, relative to my shutter speed and aperture of course. This means that if I need to shoot at 12,800 ISO to properly expose my subject, I will.

I will never use AI denoise on any of my photos. Everything ends up looking mushy and fake and any actual character and individual voice in the image gets lost.

If you find that grain or noise is detracting from the quality of your photos, you might not be taking good photos in the first place.

Miscellaneous issues

Very rarely, my X-T5 will freeze up entirely and the only way to fix it is to remove the battery and put it back in. It works fine again afterward.

More often (and more anxiety-inducing), if I’m shooting very quickly, an error message will flash on the screen indicating a failure to write to the second card slot. It’s always the second card slot and it’s always when I’m filling up the buffer quicker than usual. This is concerning as it prevents me from shooting for about 3 seconds (meaning I’m potentially missing important moments) and the last two or three photos I shot were not recorded to the second card.

This could potentially cause me to lose out on images entirely if something were to happen to the card in the first slot, thereby defeating the purpose of having two card slots in the first place. I have not found a fix for this.

The lenses I use

I will attempt to keep this section short as I would like to keep this article mostly about the X-T5. Eventually, I will have dedicated written reviews for each of these lenses. Those articles will be linked here when they’re released.

All three of these lenses are weather sealed, feel very solid in the hand, and match perfectly with the aesthetics of the X-T5.

Fujifilm 18mm 1.4

This is my most recent pickup. I had been doing most of my wide angle work on Sony but I wanted a wide on Fuji to round out a trio of primes. This lens is an extremely strong performer and also the only real option for working professionals as myself who need something reliable and sharp. I used to have the older Fuji 16mm 1.4 when I first got into the camera system, but eventually sold it as I had constant issues with its autofocus performance and overall sharpness.

The 18mm 1.4 stays on my X-T5 for a lot of my shooting. It’s perfect for documentary-style photography as it allows me to get more into my frame and tell some great stories.

Fujifilm 33mm 1.4

This is the best lens I own for the Fujifilm system. Sharpness, detail, and autofocus are unmatched next to the other Fujifilm lenses. There are some who even refuse to use this lens because they perceive it to be too sharp and clinical, therefore losing one of the main appeals of shooting Fujifilm cameras. While it doesn’t have as much character as my other two lenses, I disagree that it’s too clinical. In fact, any lens on the X-Trans V sensor will have character because the sensor itself has character.

This lens is great for mid-range portraits, lifestyle shots, or when I need the best autofocus I can get on the X-T5.

Fujifilm 56mm 1.2 WR

The newest refresh of lenses in the main prime lineup, the 56mm 1.2 WR has some of the best unique character out of all of my Fuji lenses. It does a great job of balancing that character with impressive sharpness yet still has a softer and more film-like look than my other two lenses. Compared to those other two lenses, the autofocus on this one is quite poor. It can still keep up with most of the shots I use it for, but I have to temper my expectations and be ready to switch over to single autofocus instead of continuous.

I use this lens for portraits, when I want the most bokeh I can possibly get, or when I need a little more reach during a ceremony or first look.

Final thoughts and recommendations

If you’re still reading at this point, I’m both impressed and thankful for your time. I will wrap this up as concisely as I can.

I can confidently recommend the X-T5 to anyone who’s already in the Fujifilm system—maybe you’re looking to upgrade from an older X-mount camera and needed one last push from someone who’s been using it for a while. Consider this to be that push.

The current flagship Fujifilm cameras—X-T5, XH2, and XH2S, are all quite strong cameras in their own rites, despite their flaws. The X-T5 in particular is simply a pleasure to use and it’s because of that feeling it gives me that allows me to overlook most of its flaws.

However, as I alluded to at the beginning of this article, Fujifilm as a whole is on thin ice with me. The insufficient firmware updates, their outright refusal to keep up with demand for their most popular cameras (looking at you, X100VI), and the subsequent insane price increases for all their used and refurbished cameras leave me in a tough spot with recommendations.

Fujifilm used to be the more affordable option to the full frame big boys. If you wanted to spend a lot of money on cutting edge technology, you’d go to Sony, Canon, or Nikon. Fujfilm was always there for those who wanted a more pure photography experience with a much lower financial barrier of entry. You used to be able to get a Fujifilm camera that was 5 years old with two lenses for under $1000. This is much harder now and the company seems disinterested in correcting any of this.

But most importantly, the technological issue of randomly failing to record to the second SD card is a major pain point for me. If I didn’t love the rest of the experience so much (as well as the final results, of course), I would have gone back to full-time Sony already.

Recommending Fujifilm cameras to newcomers used to be a lot easier. The system was never meant for absolutely everyone, but that potential audience is even smaller now.

If you’re looking for a more pure photography experience while still enjoying most of the modern conveniences of mirrorless cameras, you’ll probably be well served by the X-T5. If you prefer more modern style cameras, full frame, cutting edge autofocus, and photos that are sharper than a brand new kitchen knife to an unnecessary degree, look elsewhere. The X-T5 will disappoint you.

Fujifilm wedding photographers are few, but we are strong.

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Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed my opinions and the photos you saw here, feel free to follow me on Instagram. You’re welcome to send me a DM there if you have any more questions for me about the X-T5 or really anything else. You can also subscribe to my Youtube channel to watch a video version of this review as well as keep up with all other content I will be creating there.

A rare moment of me in front of the camera instead of behind, featuring my still-present black X-T5 and the no-longer-owned X-Pro3. Photo by Kalen Kemp

I don’t have Amazon affiliate links or presets to sell. I actually have nothing at all to sell you. I hope this was educational for you and aided in a possible purchasing decision. Documenting peoples’ lives and our own lives is increasingly important in a world where personal connections and family legacies tend to be forgotten more than they used to. No matter what camera you use to do so, I would encourage you to keep shooting and keep creating. We’ll never have too many documentarians and artists.

The Fujifilm X-T5 for Wedding Photography (long-term review)