Well as you said, shooting action for an extended period of time does really drain your batteries quite fast. Even on normal mode. For regular use, I think that 1-2 batteries for one day shooting will do it. The problem is, that there is no percentage in camera like for example Canon 1DX has. This way you can time your battery change more accurately. I hoped that X-T2 have it, but too bad we still have to figure it our from three bars...
Yeah, as Fuji only has one longer lens and it's over F4, it's quite unusable for Sports photography. I with they had at least 200 F2,8 (300mm equivalent on FF), but as it's gone from roadmap I don't have too much hope it comes in foreseen future. This is why I still have to hold on to my Canon gear.
To be honest, I don't think that the Fuji comparison is so obvious as D5 vs Leica. X-Pro2 and X-T2 share the same processor and sensor and AF system is just tweaked (ok, added some rows of DPAF points for X-T2). It really at the moment comes down to added features in software and some algorithmic magic that X-Pro2 should get via firmware update. Of course X-T2 is advertised more as sports and photojournalists type of camera, but X-Pro2 is still quite capable and suitable for sports (and uses the Pro sign as a flagship). For example I used it whole time while covering Rio Olympics. Just now I had a chance to put them side-by-side and confirm that X-T2 is at least at the moment much better in AF department.
I normally don't even bring external chargers along, as I can and do charge 3 batteries at the same time in-camera with a USB cable and the provided charger for the grip.
Of course, I also have one or two dozen of spare batteries available. Might come in handy for long assignments w/o access to external power, but even at the Le Mans event in July, none of the 200 VIP participants trying the X-T2 for a full day ran out of juice with their kit. That said, shooting action for an extended day can certainly require more than the 3 batteries, so bring a few spares.
People should indeed write Adobe and press them to interpret the maker notes metadata for the image rating.
Yesterday was so busy that I didn't have time to post new pictures. Here they are!
Men Pursuit @IBU Summer Biathlon WCH Otepää 2016 by Hendrik Osula, on Flickr
X-T2 + 50-140/2,8
Junior Men Pursuit @IBU Summer Biathlon WCH Otepää 2016 by Hendrik Osula, on Flickr
X-Pro2 + 14/2,8
Men Pursuit @IBU Summer Biathlon WCH Otepää 2016 by Hendrik Osula, on Flickr
X-T2 + 50-140/2,8
Men Pursuit @IBU Summer Biathlon WCH Otepää 2016 by Hendrik Osula, on Flickr
X-T2 + 50-140/2,8
As the competition is now over, I'm going to return the pre-production model and will be waiting for mine which I hope to receive soon! As I said previously, the X-T2 is a huge leap forward from X-T1 and also at least for me a step forward from X-Pro2. It just suits better for photojournalists as I am, especially for Sports and action stuff, which is my main subject. Battery grip makes it much more handier and also boosts performance quite significantly, which does make it almost DSLR like, just in a smaller body. X-Pro2 is in my opinion more suited for street photography or documentary, when you have to be less noticeable, but you still need fast AF with great image quality (which due to same sensor and processor is just the same as X-T2). Biggest difference between X-T2 and X-T1 for me is speed and I don't mean AF speed of FPS, I mean responsiveness and shutter lag. Using them side-by-side, you can feel the difference and how much faster you can take shots and miss them less with X-T2. Beside that there is also much more accurate and faster AF system. I saw biggest difference when using one point AF, where X-T2 performs much better than X-T1. X-T1 in my opinion can't track too well with one point and tends to miss to much. This is why I didn't use it too much on X-T1, but got used to it again using X-T2.
But everything isn't rainbows and butterflies still with X-T2. Main thing is still that batteries just don't last, even on normal mode. I used five full batteries in a day and had only three chargers to charge them so after three days of shooting and charging as much as I could meantime I finished last day with just one battery with juice in it . Quite a close call! Also I felt quite paranoid as when battery level went to one bar I felt that after next shot I will see the red sign. It just disturbs. I wish that Fuji could offer in some foreseen future new batteries, so I wouldn't have to fill my pockets with them every time I leave for shooting. Beside the batteries, I'm quite annoyed that rating system in Fuji isn't working in LR CC, so I couldn't mark the photos I would like to edit as I'm used to do on my Canon and also the time data on Fuji files are recorded somewhat wrongly as the photos are mixed up in LR when sorted by shooting time. This really slows down my workflow. These are minor things, but are important for working pros as I am.
Catto reacted to HendrikOsula in X-T2 and IBU Summer Biathlon World Championships 2016