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Jul 29, 2023

Fujifilm X

Fujifilm's latest mirrorless body has arrived, but is it worth considering over

Fujifilm's latest mirrorless body has arrived, but is it worth considering over the popular X-T5? We find out.

The Fujifilm X-S20 is the successor to 2020's X-S10. It has a hybrid design with a flip-out screen, similar to the brand's X-H series but at a more affordable price point. The sensor is lower resolution than the X-T5 but when it comes to other specifications, the cameras go toe-to-toe.

The Fujifilm X-T5 is possibly the brand's most popular mirrorless body. It has classic Fujifilm styling, complete with retro dials and a tilting screen that's ideal for street photography. The design puts photography first, but it's certainly no slouch when it comes to video performance.

Fujifilm has just launched its latest APS-C body, the X-S20. It comes in at a price of $1299, but despite being one of Fuji's more affordable cameras, it packs specifications that give the X-T5 a run for its money.

Outwardly, the two cameras look quite different, and the gap in price is substantial, too. However, the comparable capabilities tell a different story.

So, can you save some cash and go for the new X-S20 or should you stick with the tried-and-true X-T5? We've investigated the spec sheets, and here's what we've found.

The Fujifilm X-S20 was announced on May 25 2023, it's available to preorder now and will be landing with customers on June 29 2023. The recommended retail price is $1299 as a body only, a bit of a step up in pricing compared to its predecessor, which launched at $999 in 2020.

The Fujifilm X-T5 was released in November 2022 and has been available to purchase ever since. It retails for $1699 as a body only.

The design of these two cameras differs quite drastically. For starters, the X-S20 is much smaller than the X-T5 and almost 70 grams lighter. It's not the biggest difference in the world, but worth considering if you like to pack light.

The shape is quite different, too. The X-S20 has a much slimmer body, with a grip that protrudes much more, whereas the X-T5 is thicker throughout, and the grip sticks out less as a result.

The other differences are quite plain to see. The X-T5 has Fujifilm's signature retro dials across the top of the camera, allowing you to manually select your ISO, shutter speed and EV compensation with their own dedicated controls.

The X-S20, on the other hand, opts for a more modern hybrid design - which will feel a lot more familiar to shooters coming from other brands. This means you get the usual mode selection dial and three programmable wheels elsewhere.

The rear button layout is similar on both cameras, but the X-S20 simplifies things a bit, removing the direction buttons that are found on the X-T5. Both models feature an AF selection joystick and support touchscreen input.

The other major difference between these two bodies is in the design of the LCD. The X-S20 offers a full flip-out LCD, which we're used to seeing on modern hybrid cameras. The X-T5 opts for a three-way tilting design, instead.

Some people love tilting screens, they're especially good for stealthy street photography, but we'd say the flip-out style is more versatile overall. Particularly if you like to shoot videos, and film yourself vlog-style.

For the most part, the connectivity is the same on both cameras. They both have a USB-C port, micro HDMI, 3.5mm microphone socket and use SD cards for recording - though the X-T5 has dual SD card slots, while the X-S20 only has one.

There are some other significant differences, too. The X-T5 lacks a headphone socket, and if you want to monitor audio, you'll need to use a USB-C dongle, whereas the X-S20 has a dedicated headphone port. However, it does away with the remote trigger port, instead bundling it into the same 3.5mm socket, and you can choose between them in the menu.

We think this is a smart move, as you'll rarely need to use a remote trigger and headphones at the same time, so the design saves space without sacrificing much functionality.

The X-S20's USB-C port is slightly different, too. It can be plugged into a computer and used as a webcam, at up to 4K60, with no software or capture card needed. The X-T5 has webcam functionality, too, but you'll need to use Fujifilm's X Webcam app, which is a bit more hassle.

The LCD screens are the same on both cameras, aside from their articulation, which we covered in the last section. The electronic viewfinders, though, differ much more.

The X-S20 has a 0.39-inch OLED EVF with a 2.36 million dot resolution, 100Hz refresh rate, and a 31-degree diagonal field of view. The X-T5 has the superior EVF, which is 0.5 inches in size, has a 3.69 million dot resolution, 100Hz refresh and a 39-degree FOV.

In practice, this means that the X-T5 EVF will appear sharper and larger through the eyepiece, so it'll be easier to nail your manually focused shots while using it. However, the increased resolution also means that it'll drain the battery marginally quicker when in use.

The biggest difference between these two models, when it comes to stills photography, is that the X-T5 is capable of shooting at a much higher resolution - 40.2MP compared to just 26.1MP.

So if you know that you're going to need images for large format printing, or you just like the flexibility of cropping in after the fact, then the X-T5 is likely the way to go.

However, elsewhere, the differences aren't quite as clear-cut. The X-T5 offers faster burst shooting when using the mechanical shutter, but the X-S20 is faster when using the electronic shutter.

The X-S20 can shoot electronic bursts at up to 20fps with no crop, while 30fps bursts are subject to a 1.29x crop. Comparatively, the X-T5 can shoot up to a maximum of 20fps bursts, with a larger 1.29x crop, and caps out at 13fps if you want to avoid the crop.

It's also worth noting that the higher resolution sensor of the X-T5 means that it has a lot more autofocus points, though the X-S20 debuted with a more up-to-date autofocus system as a whole. The X-T5's firmware can be updated to benefit from the new autofocus modes, though, so there won't be too much difference in reality.

On paper, it might look like the two cameras can shoot at the exact same video resolutions, but there's a little more to the story than that. It's true that both max out at 6.2k 30fps (open gate) and both max out at 60fps in 4K, but the X-S20 needs a 1.18x crop at 4K frame rates above 30p, whereas the X-T5 has no crop.

A 1.18x crop is fairly manageable, for us at least, but what might be more significant is the fact that the X-S20 loses out on the 4K HQ mode. On the X-T5, this mode oversamples from 6.2K, to give a cleaner and more detailed 4K image.

The X-T5 has a digital zoom function that uses its high-resolution sensor to allow for up to 2x zoom with very little quality loss when shooting in 4K. The X-S20, with its comparatively low-resolution sensor, cannot do this.

What the X-S20 does offer, though, is a new vlog mode. This simplifies the controls for new shooters, and shifts more controls to the touchscreen so you can access them while filming yourself. It also adds a Product Priority autofocus mode, which makes it easier to show off products when filming a review.

Otherwise, the cameras both offer up to 10-bit 4:2:2 recording internally and can output ProRes RAW and Blackmagic RAW over HDMI. The IBIS system is the same on both cameras (as well as the X-H2 and X-H2S).

So, which one should you get? As always, that depends on what you need from a camera, and how you like to shoot. We're hybrid shooters, shooting equally as much video as photos, and to us, the X-S20 is the most appealing camera.

It comes at a lower price, has controls and a display that are more geared towards video shooting, adds a headphone jack, and even shoots faster bursts with the electronic shutter.

However, we can definitely see the appeal of the X-T5, too. Particularly when it comes stills photography. There's no competition when it comes to resolution, and if you need images of such a size, there's little that the X-S20 can do to compete.

The vintage-style controls and tilting display will appeal to a lot of shooters, too. Not only do they look cool, but they're very functional, especially once you've built up the muscle memory for changing them on the fly.

Prior to writing for Pocket-Lint, Luke had a long history in the PC gaming industry working on everything from marketing and PR to events and esports tournaments.Aside from PCs and gaming, he has a passion for photography and video and the technologies surrounding them, it started with filming his friends skateboarding on miniDV camcorders and escalated to cinema cameras and a University degree.These days he mainly uses these skills to make YouTube videos and can often be found strapping GoPros to racing drones in his spare time.

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