I have shot every Fujifilm APS-C sensor. Sixteen megapixel, twenty four, twenty six, forty, plus the little 12 megapixel compact. And Fujifilm accidentally made the best monochrome camera in Fujifilm history: the 2015 X-Pro2 with the X-Trans 3 sensor.
The magic formula is plain Monochrome with the red filter. Not Acros. Not any recipe. I am not a big fan of Acros.
Things pop. Faces pop. The micro contrast, the tonal contrast, it is just wonderful. I believe the X-Trans 3 is less processed, and the files have aged perfectly over ten years.
My X-Pro2 has about 250,000 actuations over ten years. Never serviced. It is a tank. They are worth about a thousand dollars now. Buy one under a grand on Facebook Marketplace, which is sketchier than the back part of a Walmart parking lot.
I shot the video’s photos on a freezing January day, testing autofocus run and gun New York style. Missed a couple. Better to sit on that spot and let the shot come to me. The graffiti and back alley shots show what this sensor can do.
My street lens is the 23mm f/2, 35mm equivalent. The best street setup I have ever had. Plain and simple. Even better than the X100 series.
What counts as straight out of camera? If I crush the shadows, is it still SOOC? The X-H2 is great for learning manual, by the way. Exposure triangle right at your fingertips.
I hate the word filmic. If you want to shoot filmic, go shoot film.
One amazing camera, one incredible setting, monochrome with the red filter. If you find it, grab it, hold on to it. I kept mine, unlike the serial buy and sell people. Though GAS did force me to sell the X-T4 and X-E2.
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