Back in 2018, I briefly owned a Fujifilm X-Pro2. I loved that camera! It was so much fun, and the perfect compliment to my Fujifilm X100F. To this day it remains my absolute favorite interchangeable-lens model by Fujifilm that I’ve ever purchased. Unfortunately, I had to sell it.
You see, I didn’t have a lot of money back then to spend on (what was at the time) my hobby. I’m sure that many of you can relate. I found a good deal on a used X-Pro2, but I really couldn’t afford it. Using PayPal credit, I was able to hold onto the camera for about six months, but when the interest came due, I had to let it go. I had high hopes that I could find a way to keep it, but it just didn’t work out. The day that I mailed the X-Pro2 off to its new owner was a sad one (although I’m sure it was quite happy for them). I’ve thought about that camera—and the summer of 2018 when I briefly owned it—many times since. I’ve often wondered if I’d like it just as much today as I did then.
Thankfully, the kind folks at MPB, who are fans of Fuji X Weekly and Film Simulation Recipes, provided me with the opportunity to find out. MPB is the sponsor of this article—this is the first ever sponsored post on this website, by the way—and they loaned me a Fujifilm X-Pro2 to try out for two weeks. For those who don’t know, MPB is an online platform where you can buy, sell, or trade used photo and video gear. “At MPB, there’s something for everyone who wants to try something new, hone their skills, or pursue their passion—and it won’t cost the earth.” If you’re in the market for used camera gear, be sure to check out their website—you can learn more about MPB here. Thank you, MPB, for making this article possible!
Fujifilm released the X-Pro2 eight years ago, in 2016. It’s a rangefinder-styled 24mp APS-C mirrorless camera with a hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder. The X-Pro2, which resembles a classic film camera, is rock-solid, and feels like it could last forever, even if you tossed it around a little. In my opinion, the X-Pro series is one of the most beautifully designed camera lines of all time. The X-Pro2 was an instant classic when it was newly released, and will continue to be for many years to come.
I chose the specific Fujifilm X-Pro2 that I wanted to borrow from the MPB website the same as if I were buying it. When the box arrived in the mail, the camera was exactly as the website described. The camera functioned like it was brand-new; the body had a few minor signs of wear, which I was well aware of due to the gear-specific ‘cosmetic condition’ rating displayed on the platform. There were no surprises, and I got precisely what I was expecting to get. Did I mention that the X-Pro2 is a beautiful camera?
When I had the X-Pro2 back in 2018, I brought it along with me on some epic roadtrips. It went with me to the Black Hills in South Dakota. It traveled with me through Colorado and New Mexico, including The Great Sand Dunes and Taos. I have many great memories associated with the X-Pro2. Was how I felt more about those adventures than the camera itself? Or was the camera truly that great?
As I was removing the X-Pro2 from the box, many of those memories came flooding back. It was a great joy to hold it once again. This time, I wouldn’t be able to take it on any roadtrips. Would I feel the same without some travel experiences to go along with the camera? I wondered what I would think about the X-Pro2 all these years later—would it hold up to the test of time?
Back in 2018, I mostly used three lenses with the X-Pro2: Fujinon 60mm f/2.4, Fujinon 16mm f/1.4, and Meike 35mm f/1.7. Of those three, the only one that I still own is the Meike, so I used it extensively during the two weeks that I had the X-Pro2. I also tried a Helios 44-2, Pentax-110 50mm f/2.8, and 7Artisans 35mm f/0.95. Each of those four lenses have unique characteristics and strengths. The X-Pro2 is especially fun to pair with vintage and manual lenses, and I very much enjoyed that approach with it.
I shoot JPEGs, and rarely edit my pictures (aside from some cropping/straightening). I found that this approach works very well for me. The photographs in this article are all camera-made JPEGs that are not post-processed. The Film Simulation Recipes that I used with the camera six years ago were mainly Kodachrome II, Dramatic Classic Chrome, Vintage Agfacolor, Acros, Acros Push Process, and Agfa Scala. A few of those pictures remain personal favorites to this day.
Above: My Fujifilm X-Pro2 photos from 2018.
For this project, the seven Recipes that I programmed into the C1-C7 Custom Presets on the X-Pro2 were Kodachrome II, Kodak Gold 200, Kodacolor, Classic Kodak, Color Negative, Provia Slide, and Acros. The Kodachrome II and Acros Recipes require the same White Balance type but different White Balance Shifts, so I used the Kodachrome II shift with the Acros Recipe; however, towards the end of the project I replaced Kodachrome II with Analog Monochrome, and switched the Acros WB Shift to be correct for that Recipe. You cannot program a WB Shift into the X-Pro2’s C1-C7 presets (like you can with newer Fujifilm models), but if each Recipe uses a different WB type (or share the same WB type and WB Shift), you don’t have to remember to adjust the WB Shift when changing Custom Presets, and you get a better user experience.
When reviewing the pictures after I returned the camera, I discovered that the Film Simulation Recipes I had used the most were Provia Slide, Acros, Kodak Gold 200, Kodachrome II, and Kodacolor (in that order). Provia Slide is a brand-new Recipe that I created on the X-Pro2, and it wouldn’t exist if MPB hadn’t loaned me the camera, and is a very positive side effect of their sponsorship. I’m quite happy with how several of these images turned out, even if I only had the local sights to capture.
Using Film Simulation Recipes on the Fujifilm X-Pro2 provides a film-like shooting experience and output, especially when combined with vintage or manual lenses. It’s an analog approach with the convenience of digital. Since the pictures don’t need to be edited, you can download them straight from the camera using WiFi and immediately share them—or send them off to be printed—right from your phone. That can save you a lot of time and hassle, while making the process more enjoyable and authentic.
Above: My Fujifilm X-Pro2 photos from 2024.
It was once again heartbreaking to mail off the Fujifilm X-Pro2. I very much wanted to keep it. The camera is just as great in 2024 as it was in 2018. I can’t help but think that 20 years from now the X-Pro2 will be sought after for the photographic experience and picture aesthetic that it provides. There aren’t very many digital cameras you can say that about. I feel like in today’s age where new camera models are constantly being released, and photographers just have to have the latest-and-greatest, it’s easy to overlook legendary cameras like the X-Pro2. And I do very much mean that the Fujifilm X-Pro2 is legendary—those who own it already know it, and those who don’t haven’t yet discovered it.
If you want to buy a Fujifilm X-Pro2, MPB has a number of them in stock right now. Or, if you prefer other Fujifilm cameras, they have many to choose from. If you have some gear to sell or trade in, they’ll give you a free (and non-binding) quote.
Will I buy a Fujifilm X-Pro2, this time to keep? I’d love to and I hope to, but I already own way too many cameras, so I’d first need to part ways with at least a couple that I rarely use. The X-Pro2 is extremely tempting. I don’t have an answer one way or the other yet, but the X-Pro2 is one that I certainly wish that I had.
Up next in this series:
Is the Fujifilm X-T50 + Fujinon 23mm f/2 a good alternative to the Fujifilm X100VI?
When I decided to switch to Fujifilm at the beginning of 2022 I bought an X-T1 because it was a high-end camera but relatively cheap, but about 6 months later I decided to buy an X-T2 just to get the extra pixels. To be honest I don’t really need those extra 8 million pixels (most people don’t IMHO!) so when I decided to try an X-Pro I went for the 1 (16MP) and am perfectly happy with it.
If X-Pro2 prices go down over the next year or two I might upgrade but I’m not holding my breath. I’ve got the latest firmware on the X-Pro1 and the AF is perfectly adequate for my purposes. Aside from image size the only feature of the 2 over the 1 which really appeals to me is the ISO dial, but as I’m not one of those “exposure triangle” people it’s not a big deal, just very slightly more convenient.
I hope you’re able to find a good X-Pro2 to buy and keep Ritchie. I wasn’t sure whether I’d like my 1 and bought it thinking that if I didn’t I’d be able to sell it for roughly what I paid. However, it’s now the only camera I use most of the time. My two X-Ts just sit in the cupboard. I suppose I should sell one or both.
I have an X-Pro1… it’s pretty beat up, but still functions well. I don’t have the same love for it as the X-Pro2, but it is a good camera, even in 2024. The X-Pro2 is a significant upgrade, though, IMHO.
I feel your pain. I too had to sell mine recently 🥶
I’m so sorry. 😞
I bought a beat-up X-pro2 last August. It has rapidly become my almost-exclusive camera. There’s just so much to like about using it. I hope you find one you can hang onto. The experience is unlike any other digital camera I’ve ever used (the x100-series is close, but not quite the same). I make better pictures with it because of how well the camera suits me and what I do.
The X100-series is the closest, and an X-Pro/X100 combo is tough to beat. I could be happy for many, many years with “just” an X100V (or VI) and X-Pro2.
I use an X-pro2/X100F combo for my documentary photography nowadays. It’s amazing.
That’s an excellent combo!
So sorry you are still missing an X-Pro2. I also got mine from MPB, and I was fortunate enough to find one in excellent shape except for a joy-stick control that occasionally (very rarely actually) skips, for which they discounted an otherwise nearly perfect camera a good $300, making it not just more affordable but irresistible to me!
I tried it out with some cheap TTartisan manual lenses in Fuji X mount to see how it would work as a manual focus camera, and it did very well, so I am slowly acquiring better Voigtlander M-mount lenses to use with the Fujifilm M-mount adapter, which allows for programable lens corrections. The Voigtlander X-mount lenses with electronic communication chips do not work with the X-Pro2 and other older Fujifilm bodies, unfortunately, otherwise I might have gone that route.
I already have some Voigtlander Nikon F-mount lenses that give me nice manual focus lenses for my old Nikon Df, and for my Nikon Zf with an FTZ adapter. On a Fringer NF-FX adapter the results are unpredictably mixed, sometimes sending partial lens info to the Fuji camera and sometimes not, but the VF lenses can always be used as fully manual dumb lenses. The new M-mount lenses are also usable on the Nikon Z cameras with a Voigtlander (close focus) adapter, albeit as dumb lenses again, to give me a full-frame alternative to the Fujifilm APS-C cameras.
Meanwhile, more of my Fujifilm XF AF lenses are going back to MPB for resale, to help finance my shift back to more manual focus photography, where I came from.
I love the experience of manual lenses… thankfully there are tons to choose from nowadays (and constantly more), and many are quite affordable.
Please please please Fuji, make an X-Pro4…….🙏📷👍
I’m really surprised we’re (apparently) not getting one anytime soon.
Some time ago I purchased an X-T2 and while I think it is a better camera in terms of overall performance, the X-Pro 2, for me, is perfect for my style of shooting. Also, the X-Pro cameras look great and are a real head turner. From time to time I like to adapt a Voigtlander 15mm f4.5 (M39) for some manual street shooting which makes for a great combination.
Hope you get to find another X-Pro 2 for yourself soon. Such an amazing camera.
I hope so! It is such an amazing camera.
Hello Ritchie,
My first real digital camera was an X-T20 that I had for several years, the GAS hit me : XT3, XT4, Sony A7IV, Leica that I sold to come back to Fuji. I found a pretty Graphite version for 700€. Paired it with the Fuji 50mm f2 and several vintage lenses that I had already like the Pentax K 50mm f1.2 / 28mm f2.8 and lately the Mitakon 35mm f/0.95. Like you said the Xpro series is the most beautiful series of digital cameras with Leica M models which by the way Fuji created thanks to Leica’s legendary M series. They even have a dedicated adpater to put on M lenses…
This is a keeper for me definitely, I don’t see why you would need more from a camera even in 2024.
I have created a RAW film simulation with H&S set to -2, DR200 and using B&W Acros for composition to get max dynamic range.
My other prefered film simulations you created are EKtar 100, Classic Chrome, Everday Astia Ilford HP5, Kodacolor Velvia & Portra 160. I am a Fuji X Weekly Patron using your app 🙂
I was lately thinking about adding a film camera for the analog experience. I know you shot on film before, are you still doing it? And do you scan your films & post process them?
Seems to me that this approach is basically doing digital but in a more expensive way?
I haven’t shot film in a couple of years. Actually, I have one partially shot roll in a camera that I need to finish and develop. I have a small stash of 35mm rolls that I’m just sitting on. I do have a number of film cameras collecting dust. For film, I prefer darkroom printing over scanning, but over the last—I don’t know—approaching eight years maybe, I have had a lab scan them whenever I have had them developed. I don’t typically edit the scans, aside from maybe some cropping. Analog photography is an expensive (and sometimes very frustrating) hobby, which is why I don’t do it much anymore.
Exactly my experience in all respects. I now only use my film cameras for relaxed scenic photography but more for the experience and connexion with past memories than for the results, since frankly the Fujifilm bodies and lenses give such great results with my favourites among your recipes (Kodachrome 64 and Classic Neg). But I need to give myself a little project for my remaining rolls of Portra and Ilford FP4 Plus and HP5 Plus.
A quick question if I may, Ritchie: I have set Clarity back to zero in your Classic Neg and other digital film recipes – only because I can’t work with the delay in fast-paced street shooting. Do you have a ‘ready reckoner’ on how the Clarity adjustment figures convert to slider adjustments after the event in Adobe Camera Raw (or LR assuming they are the same)? Many thanks. Tom
I don’t use Adobe Camera RAW or Lightroom (anymore… and for a long time now), so I’m not the person to ask. Fujifilm’s “old” recommendation is to set Clarity to 0 and add it later by reprocess in-camera or with X RAW Studio. I would just suggest, for those Recipes that require a negative Clarity, is to use a diffusion filter in lieu of Clarity, something like a 5% or 10% CineBloom, or 1/8 or 1/4 Pro Mist. I hope this is somehow helpful.
I love the colors in the shots you posted in rhis article. (And I cannot understand why Fujifilm are so ‘occasional’ with their X-Pro upgrades. To me the X-Pro range has all the magic of Leica but with several advantages especially for specs wearers and for genres needing autofocus.) Thanks for this article and pictures, Ritchie.
They should have released an X-Pro4 already, in my opinion. I appreciate your kindness!
Many, many thanks to you for this article – it has motivated me to buy an XPro2, the purchase of which I’ve just now finalized with my preferred secondhand camera dealer in Melbourne.
I paid a premium price for it, but it’s ‘as new’ with about 6000 actuations. So barely broken in.
Dealer threw in a few bits and pieces (Fuji and other brands) to sweeten the deal. So even better.
I’m (now an ex-) Nikon guy. Had a D90, still have two D700s and two D800s. And 13 lenses, no less. Ha! I’ll be disposing of all of those except one D800 and maybe 5 or 6 lenses, some time in the near future. Reason being, not quality (which is excellent) but too much weight to carry in my old age. I’m now past 70 and I value being able to cart a camera and a few lenses in my backpack without later requiring back surgery or a damn good massage to get me walking again. Time changes all…
Anyway, I bought into Fuji in 2021 with, initially, an XT1, in fact two XT1s, for me and my partner. Neither of us liked those, so we traded in for one XT2, which gave me better colors but the exposures were all over the place. Handed back in. An XE2 then came along and I grabbed it, for the (to me) amazing price of AUD $350. Woo hoo – it suited me perfectly, as much of that overused term (keeping in mind that “perfect is the mortal enemy of good enough”) as can be applied to anything in this world.
The XE2 made me realize that I preferred rangefinder cameras to DSLR-like mirrorless. Lesson learned. Too bad it took three cameras to teach me this, obviously I’m a slow learner…
Anyway, in November the duo – XPro2 and XE2 will go to, initially, Japan, then Brunei, then Laos, then Cambodia, then maybe Vietnam if I’m still able to walk and function and my bank balance hasn’t been completely wiped out. The ‘Pro will have a 23/2.0 Fujinon, the XE2 my 18/2.0. Also coming along for the ride will be my reliable ‘old standard’ 18-55 and the stellar 14/2.8 which I use, alas! not often enough, but intend to when I visit those Japanese temples and return to Angkor Wat in Cambodia after 50 years.
So to say again – thanks, FujiXWeekly, and thanks, Fuji, for all you’ve done for me!!
Oh, man! That’s awesome! Sounds like you have an amazing adventure in the near future!!
I bought my X-Pro2 in 2018, and I dread the day it breaks and cannot be repaired. But until that day, it remains my favorite digital camera. Partly because of the excellent hybrid viewfinder, partly about the reassuring metal body, and mostly because of the stunning image quality.
The X-Pro2 is a special camera. Hopefully it fully functions for you for many, many years to come!
I just ordered this camera and prices have skyrocketed.
Yes, I saw that … I think partly because the X-Pro3 was a step backwards in some respects (OVF, lack of function buttons).
Great that you got one; too bad that the prices have increased. I’m sure you’ll find it worth whatever it is that you paid, though.
I’ve been preaching for years, ever since the Xpro-1 days, that it’s one of if not my favorite designed camera ever. I hope the next iteration does not change at all aesthetically.
I would hope that Fujifilm keeps it mostly the same. The less they fiddle with it, the better, I think. Thanks for the input!
Hey Ritchie!
Thank you for this article! I’ve been shooting with an XE-4 +27mm f2.8 since 2021. It was my first Fuji camera and I carry it everyday to capture my kids and everyday life moments.
Recently I’ve been wanting a more tactile and less minimalist shooting experience in another camera body. I did a lot of research about what could be my next option and was really drawn to the x-pro line. This article helped me lock in on purchasing an X-Pro2 along with Fuji 35mm f1.4 to pair with it. It came yesterday and I love it! It feels amazing in my hands and makes me want to shoot. And I love the results I got with it. I used the Acros recipe and took some portraits of my friends along with some moments of my kids that feel like they’re from a movie!
Thank you again for this article and the insight on how special this camera is!
Awesome! I know you’ll like that camera. 😀