Fujifilm X-S20 for Wildlife Photography 

Right on! Thanks for the comment. Zone is where it’s at!

Glad it was helpful!

Awesome! So glad it was helpful 😊

Glad it was helpful!

Hey, thanks so much! And that you for all your service helping people receive emergency care. Appreciate the question. I think the X-S20 is a pretty solid nature and wildlife camera. The technology in it is great. The subject recognition works well enough to nail many good shots. You would probably want to pair with a landscape lens (maybe xf 18-55) and a wildlife lens (either 100-400 or 150-600). It is not weather sealed so you would need to be careful around inclement weather. Either way, happy shooting and stay safe out there. And alternative option would be Olympus OM-1 and I might be included to look at that. It’s much better weather sealed and lighter.

Thanks so much. I’ll check out the Olympus :)

I am a 67 year old retired old Brit git and was one of the first people to get the X-S20 in the UK. I use it with the 70-300mm lens and the 1.4X teleconverter. It is a small and light system that is very portable that has a maximum full frame equivalent focal length of 630mm. I can walk a mile to a castle grounds and take loads of photographs and am not bothered by the weight. Since buying it I haven't updated the firmware and leave it on birds for most of the time. I was able to catch a dragonfly in flight and that looked good. For exposures, I use manual shutter speed and aperture with auto ISO. In this setting the dial on the left is used for exposure compensation. Because it is easy to overexpose swans, the LIVE VIEW HIGHLIGHT ALERT is enabled so any potential overexposed regions are highlighted by flashing and this can be corrected using the exposure compensation. The jpgs are really nice and very rarely process the images, unless I want to reduce the resolution for emailing them. I am planning on taking that system to Spain next year for a birdwatching holiday. The 18-55mm kit lens that you can get with the camera is surprisingly good and has had some very good reviews. Getting that lens and the X-S20 could be a good starting point.

Yes, I believe the AF mode is saved in the custom modes so you can move quickly between AF modes using C1, C2 if you’d like.

Thanks for watching. I don’t love the EVF but it’s far from horrible and doesn’t really get in the way. Lack of weather sealing is a bigger issue in my mind. Wouldn’t take this out in rain or inclement weather, also I’m much more careful changes lenses because there is no sensor protection. I think it’s an ok trade off though for the price point.

I tend to shoot manual with auto ISO. I set the aperture to wide open and the shutter speed to the minimum I can use to freeze action (typically between 1/500 and 1/2000s). Hope that helps!

Merci !! @@MatthewRaifman

I don’t myself! I have it on the Nikon z8 and just haven’t gotten as into it. I recognize the power of it, but typically don’t take the time to switch over in the field. I probably should!

This is a challenge on x mount. I wish they’d put out a 400 f/4 prime. I adapt my canon ef 500mm f/4 to Fuji using a fringer adapter

@@MatthewRaifmanAh right thanks only got the Tamron 18 to 300 but looking at the SIGMA 100 to 400 for FUJI X mount

Yeah I would look at a few and compare: Fuji 150-600 Tamron 150-500 Sigma 100-400 Fuji 100-400 Or, best birding option probably adapt the Nikon 500mm f/5.6 with Fringer adapter.

Good question. With color space, it’s not so much about powerful but the number of colors. Adobe rgb has more colors, but you have to consider your end product. For these shots, I am sharing to social media (where is an srgb colorspace) so it makes sense to photograph and edit in the space colorspace that you are sharing in.

Hey! I hope you are doing well. I think it is worth it to get the xs20. The eye detection and general AF is much better and I think you’ll appreciate it. It’s a different shooting experience (dials vs no dials) but for wildlife, I don’t think there is much difference for a few reasons. I haven’t shot the 70-300 but I’ve heard it is t particularly sharp at 300mm where you’ll be all the time. 600mm full frame equivalent is a good spot to be for birds. It’s hard because I don’t want to nudge you to pay more than you’d like, but I think for birding the 100-400 or 150-600 are much better options. But they are heavier and cost more so you have to factor that in. Hope that is helpful!

@@MatthewRaifmanThanks for the reply Matthew. I did some further research and I think I’m going to get the Tamron 150-500. I saw that the Sony a6700 is comparable to the Fuji S-X20 except it supposedly has much better AF and weatherproofing. Fuji still has a better battery and colours and of course the film simulations. Do you think it would be worth buying the Sony instead or are the issues with Fujis AF overblown? PS. I checked out your instagram and I will definitely be giving you a follow!

@@dylanmazur3348ah yes, ok that’s a different question. If you are after the Fuji look with its colors and film simulations, then there is no alternative. Fuji is the way to go. But if you want a top notch AF wildlife kit, I wouldn’t recommend Fuji yet. Sony, Canon, and Nikon all have better autofocus capabilities and you can definitely see the difference. Fuji has come a lot way and it works fine but it isn’t at the same level. Yes, I think if you are considering other brands I would look at: Canon R8 or R6ii and RF 200-800 (bit heavy) Sony a7iv and 200-600 (similar weight as 200-800) Sony a6700 crop is as good AF but you’ll have a crop sensor instead of full frame. Otherwise it’ll perform great. I probably would go canon or Sony if you want best autofocus. For what it’s worth, I’ve shot all these brands. I use Nikon and Fuji now but mainly Nikon for wildlife.

I have the X-S20, the 70-300mm lens and the 1.4X teleconverter. It has taken some very good photographs and it is a light and portable system. I tried the 100-400mm lens in a shop and realised that it would be too heavy for extended photography sessions. I just put it on bird subject detection. But for exposures, I set it to manual shutter speed and aperture, and use Auto ISO to control the exposure. In order to prevent overexposure of the highlights that can happen with white birds such as swans, LIVE VIEW HIGHLIGHT ALERT is enabled and I can control the exposure compensation with the function dial. It works very well.

Always!