This last Saturday I had a quick adventure to Los Angeles, and it was my first time using my brand-new Fujifilm X-E5. In fact, the picture below, Sky Harbor Tower, was frame 0001. I had plenty of experience with the X-E5 already because Fujifilm had loaned me one shortly after it was announced, but I had to give it back after a couple of weeks. While I’ve had my X-E5 for a week, I didn’t have an opportunity to use it until this trip.
I charged the battery the day before, and set the camera up, programming 11 Recipes into it. The ones I chose for C1-C7 are Kodak Portra 400 v2, Kodak Pro 400, Kodachrome 64, Kodak Tri-X 400, Superia Negative (Film Dial Recipe), Reala Ace, and 1970’s Summer. I set Xpro ’62 as the “Nothing Selected” Recipe in the IQ Menu. On the Film Dial, I programmed Pacific Blues into FS1, Kodak Vericolor VPS into FS2, and 1960 Chrome into FS3. I don’t know if I’ll keep those 11 for awhile or switch some of them out—I’m still deciding—but those are the ones I had available in the camera on this trip. I didn’t use all of them this time around, only five.
The purpose of this trip was to lead a Fujifilm X half photowalk with Samy’s Camera and Fujifilm. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve already seen the X half pictures. I flew in that morning from Phoenix and flew out of LA that night. It was a quick adventure. I had a lot of fun, and it was great to meet some of you in person and photograph with you.
A lot of times when I travel I take way too much gear with me. I go back-and-forth, actually. I’ll take a ton of gear and feel overwhelmed and burdened by it, so I’ll slim it back to a real minimal kit, but it will slowly get larger and larger and larger over time as I think I might need this or that, then the cycle repeats. I’m at the minimal kit spot right now. The only gear I brought along was the X half and the X-E5 with the 23mm f/2.8 pancake lens, plus one spare battery. Everything else stayed home. This seemed to work out quite well, but I’m sure pretty soon I’ll pack more gear into the bag before heading off on an outing somewhere, and it will once again begin to get bulkier and heavier. I have to remind myself: oftentimes, less is more.
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Fujifilm X-E5 in black:
Amazon, B&H, Moment, Nuzira
Fujifilm X-E5 in silver:
Amazon, B&H, Moment, Nuzira
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Useless article. The author was more interested in showing off his gear, his recipes and exhibiting his photos more than explaining to us HOW THE ACTUAL CAMERA WORKED AND OPERATED.
What did he like about the camera? Was it logical & easy to operate? How was the viewfinder? Did you use any of the viewfinder options? I could go on. He COULD have mentioned any of these!! He had the camera a WEEK. Why did Fuji publish this?
First, calm down. I guarantee there is nothing on this website or any other photography website worth getting this angry over.
Second, I did explain the camera in my review, which is linked in the article, and also found here: https://fujixweekly.com/2025/07/30/review-fujifilm-x-e5-pancakes-recipes/
This “Quick Trip to LA” article is not a camera review. Gear reviews only constitute a very small portion of this website—I typically only do a couple a year, if even that. If gear reviews are what you are looking for, this website isn’t the best resource for that, simply because that’s not the primary purpose of Fuji X Weekly.
Third, the reason why Recipes were emphasized in this article is because that is what this website is known for. That’s the bread and butter of Fuji X Weekly. That’s why people come here. More readers are interested to know which Recipes I programmed into the camera and used than (say) what my experience with the viewfinder was. That’s the audience of this website. And, honestly, it probably is more practical information—camera specs are way over emphasized nowadays, and don’t really matter much at all anymore; you’d be hard pressed to find any camera manufactured today that isn’t exceptionally good. To get right to the point of your complaint: the X-E5 is exceptionally good, just like every other camera available by every manufacturer. So take your exceptionally good camera (whatever it is) and create with it, instead of worrying so much about the small differences in viewfinders, which matters very, very little. I just saved you a whole lot of time, and you can thank me later.
Fourth, this website is not associated with the Fujifilm corporation. Fuji didn’t publish this, I did. My name is Ritchie, and I created Fuji X Weekly.
Fifth, this is my website, and as such I can do whatever I want with it. If you don’t appreciate it personally, that’s fine. As John Lydgate said and Abraham Lincoln quoted, “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”
The fact of the double exposure here gives me an idea that would be a fun option on the Xhalf–the option to use the advance lever for double exposures, rather than dyptics.
There’s so much potential in the core design of the camera. It’s a tad underpowered, and came out at the “perfect” time to get slammed hard by asinine tariffs, but I think there’s a lot going for the premise.
Well, to be clear, the picture titled “Multiple Exposures” is not actually a multiple-exposure picture, it’s a single exposure of Tom’s multiple-exposure picture that hangs on an outside wall of the camera store. If you are unfamiliar with Tom’s work, check him out on IG (@bewaremyfuji), you will not regret it. His in-camera (and often unedited) multiple-exposure photography is insanely good.
I do think it would be cool if the advance lever (when not in the Film Camera Mode) on the X half could be custom set to different functions. Activating Double Exposure would be a good use of it, and I’d probably use it more than for diptychs.
The X half is a ton of fun and the concept is exceptional. Fujifilm might have been the only major camera maker brave enough to even try it. But the camera isn’t perfect. I hope there is an X half II someday that addresses the shortcomings.
Congrats for your brand new X-E5! And thank you for sharing these pictures. I have a couple of question about the camera and especially compared to the X-E4:
– There is a lot of posts (Reddit, Youtube) where I can see people saying the X-E5 feels slower when switching on/off or when clicking on play to look at photos.
– Also the shutter sounds seems louder and “maybe” more plaisant on the X-E4? But I could read the opposite too.
– Last, the shutter button is a bit mushy on the X-E5 while been harder on the X-E4, is that true?
Again thank you 🙂
To your questions:
1. The X-E5 is indeed slightly slower when powering On and Off, and when pushing Play, than the X-E4. I hadn’t noticed that myself, it apparently didn’t matter enough to me to even notice. However, if you put the two cameras together, it is obvious. Interestingly enough, I also just now did a comparison to the X-T5, and the startup time comparing the X-E5 to the X-T5 was identical, the powering off time was close but the X-T5 beat the X-E5 by just a little, and the X-T5 was quicker at displaying a picture than the X-E5 when pressing Play; however, the X-E4 beats them both. I’m sure there are a lot of factors, including the sensor (40mp vs 26mp), processor, settings (Boost, Sensor Cleaning, etc.), and probably the specific SD Card in the slot. But, yes, the X-E4 is a little quicker in those regards than the X-E5, and even the X-T5.
2. The shutter on the X-E4 and X-E5 do not sound the same. I compared the X-E5 shutter sound to the X-E4, X-T5, X-T4, X-T30, and GFX100S II, and it doesn’t sound exactly like any of them. The X-E4 and X-T30 were pretty close, and probably the closest of any two cameras. The X-T4 and X-T5 were similar, too, but there is a difference. The X-E5 is probably more similar to the X-T5 than the X-E4, but they definitely don’t sound the same. Which is more pleasant is going to be personal preference. My favorite of all of them is the X-T4, but the difference that makes to the use of the camera is pretty much nil.
3. The Shutter button on the X-E5 is more similar to the X100VI and X-T5 (although it’s slightly different on each of those three cameras); the shutter on the X-E4 is more similar to the X-T30. As far as it being “mushy”, I would say it is the same softness as the X100VI and X-T5, and the X-E4 is a bit more stiff like the X-T30.
I hope this answers your questions.
Yes, you’ve answered all my questions in great detail! Thank you so much!
This latest addition to the X-E family is really attractive. While I love my X-E4, there are enough improvements in the X-E5 to convince me to buy it.
I love my X-E4. It’s lighter and more simple than the X-E5. The X-E5 is still very similar to the X-E4, but it is clearly more premium, and there are advantages and disadvantages that come with that (mostly advantages).
When did they brought back the double exposure function? I had it on my X-E1, but subsequent models I owned(X-E2s & X-t30) lack it.
I think pretty much all Fujifilm cameras, including the X-E2s and X-T30, have double exposure mode. Here it is in the X-E2s manual:
https://fujifilm-dsc.com/en-int/manual/x-e2s/shooting/multi-exp/index.html
I’ve done it personally many times on the X-T30.
https://fujixweekly.com/2019/06/15/my-fujifilm-x-t30-faded-color-film-simulation-recipe/
https://fujixweekly.com/2020/02/25/my-fujifilm-x-t30-vintage-color-fade-film-simulation-recipe/
https://fujixweekly.com/2019/06/21/my-fujifilm-x-t30-faded-monochrome-film-simulation-recipe/
Hello Ritchie,
It seems you are preparing an article – a review of X-E5. (disregard the shameful note of Dave above)
I would like to kindly ask you to do following:
Please describe in details how does it work with the simulation/recipe wheel. My understanding is that you cannot assign separate settings of white ballance, highlights, shadows and other values to predefined sims. All of them have to share the same. And that’s why you created two universal recipes for X-T50. Right? Sounds like a workaround, but great idea though.
So Please kindly explain how to set the universal recipe, how to set up FSx how they are different from “C”, and what the hell is “none selected” ?? Plus how do I choose between “wheeled” and “C” modes. Do you need to go into a menu? Can you assign +/- R, B values with a White Ballance to a recipe or are they attached for this particular WB? Like on my old X-E3? Is there a difference in all those options between X-T50 and X-E5? (my favorites for upgrade)
You see I’m in mess from all this. If only Fujifilm could make this all easier. This may seem like a complicated question, where my English skills are making it worse 🙂 In simple words: I would like to know as much details as possible when it comes to work with recipes, what are possible ways and how you do it.
And please, do not answer me right here. I bet those details will better fit into the thorough review. I can patiently wait 🙂
Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll see what I can work on to help.
Wow 11 recipes. You make me confused about it 😄 nice blog post anyway 🍻
Yes, 11. What’s confusing is that they have to be in three places: Custom Settings presets (C1-C7), the IQ Menu set, and FS1/FS2/FS3 on the Film Dial. Would be nice if they were all in one place instead of scattered.
Hi Ritchie,
I have another question: if you hold the camera next to your ear, can you hear a continuous sound (which is quite difficult to describe, but similar to the sound of a small fan or a very faint motor)?
I can hear that from my new X-E5, but not from my old X-E4. I read that it could be IBIS (the X-E4 doesn’t have IBIS, so that could make sense).
Note that I have switched off the IBIS on the X-E5, but I can still hear it. I also try with and without any lense but sill I can hear it… It could be something normal though.
Thanks again!
I’ve just spent the last five minutes holding various cameras to my ear, including the X-E5. I didn’t hear anything from any of them, until I realized that it needs to be the bottom of the camera. Then I discovered that the faint sound can be heard on every IBIS model, and not on any non-IBIS model. So it’s definitely the IBIS. As to why you hear it even with IBIS Off, it’s probably not technically possible to completely power off the IBIS, or else the sensor would just be like a floating limp noodle, and not fixed stationary like on non-IBIS units.
Thanks very much Ritchie for confirming 🙂