wee bit disappointed with low light capabilities on the X-T30 so far..

[jezzockthelad]

Hi lads,

I have been saving up for sometime to upgrade camera from my ancient and scuffed Nikon D3300 to a X-T30 and this week I finally purchased it! I bought the 15-45 kit lens and was particularly looking forward to a camera which could handle low light better than my previous one. However the photos and videos have recorded have had so much noise in them, even at 3200 and with the noise reduction on -4 - the images seem very grainy. Reminds me of my Nikon which was also very grainy when I used the kit lens but its low light capabilities improved greatly when I bought the 35mm f1.8G for it - that setup actually got me some great nocturnal images for only 99 quid. So is it worth buying XF 35mm f2 R WR Lens for the x-t30?  I should say 35 is my favourite focal length and do dislike the zoom but my priority just now is a less noisy image. 

cheers

(and sorry if I sound like a novice here)

[ShoreOak]

Hi

Shooting in low light can certainly be challenging, but the XT-30 ( as with all Fuji cameras ) is more than capable when shot correctly. If you're using the kit lens and shooting handheld then you may not be able to have a long enough shutter speed in order to expose the image correctly which then means a higher ISO ( more grain).

The 35mm F2 would make definitely make a difference in some situations as it allows more light to enter when used at F2 but I think the more important thing personally is to work on technique and understand what contributes to the final image.

Have you tried using a tripod? That would be a real help with lower light situations.

 

[George_P]

Grandfather used to say, one is never wise enough, so we are all novices at different levels, aren’t we. A few things that maybe could help: NR at -4 is the lowest NR, I think. Why -4 ? Also, I think it only affects JPEGS, not RAWs. Do you shoot Fine+RAW ? Do you use some Post Processing software, which one ? Or are we talking about JPEGs ? You can make different versions in-camera and try out different settings after the shot. Did you not switch on Grain by any chance ? Don’t combine Grain with Acros, it has its own way of doing things. What is your setting for Sharpening ? How low is the light that you have in mind ? Are these long exposures ? Does Long Exposure NR become relevant or not ? Fuji is generally highly regarded for low-light capabilities and the look of low-light images. The grain is considered “organic” and “film-like” by many. Maybe you are doing something wrong. 

Anyway, I have the 35/f2 and it is a great little lens, esp. for the price. The 35/f1.4 is even better for low light (if the lower DOF is not an issue at 1.4), although slightly more expensive, bigger and focusing slower (which is probably irrelevant). Depends what you want to use them for. Let us know how you got on. Cheers. 

[Herco]

The 15-45 kit lens is definitely the 'weak' part in the setup. The 35/f2 will be an improvement in sharpness and -mostly- contrast and is a great little all-round lens. Whether it will reduce noise in low light images, I'm not entirely sure about. That is to say, when used at the same aperture resulting in similar ISO. When you open up the 35/f2 all the way to f2 you'll have of course a 2,5 stop advantage. So the ISO 3200 with the XC15-45 will become less than ISO 800 with the XF35.

However, the X-T30 should be capable of pretty clean images at ISO 3200. You mention that you set NR to -4, but I'm wondering about the setting for Sharpening. Fujifilm usually uses aggressive sharpening and I tune it down to at least -2. Remember: noise reduction and sharpening are kind of each others opposites. It could be helpful to tweak them to get best results for your in-camera jpegs. 

In case you shoot raw and do post processing on the computer it helps to find the best software. Fuji raw files require a different approach. My best results (by far) are with Capture One. Their default settings are already quite good, but with a little tweaking I was able to 'safe' a Manhattan evening skyline that gave me headaches in Lightroom. You might also want to check-out the website of Thomas Fitzgerald. He wrote some helpful tips about jpeg settings in Fuji cameras and processing Fuji raw files in both LR and Capture One.

[Nicky]

Hi Jezzockthelad, I followed the same upgrade path as you. I've just been comparing some wedding party shots taken on my Nikon at ISO3200 to some shots taken recently on my Fuji at ISO5000. I'm very surprised you are disappointed.

Edited August 27, 2020 by Nicky

[Nicky]

For comparison

https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilm-x-t30-review/6

 

Try comparing images from the Nikon D3200

Edited September 11, 2020 by Nicky
Decided not to share wedding shots from gallery

[YOUTA]

On 8/21/2020 at 3:53 AM, jezzockthelad said:

Hi lads,

I have been saving up for sometime to upgrade camera from my ancient and scuffed Nikon D3300 to a X-T30 and this week I finally purchased it! I bought the 15-45 kit lens and was particularly looking forward to a camera which could handle low light better than my previous one. However the photos and videos have recorded have had so much noise in them, even at 3200 and with the noise reduction on -4 - the images seem very grainy. Reminds me of my Nikon which was also very grainy when I used the kit lens but its low light capabilities improved greatly when I bought the 35mm f1.8G for it - that setup actually got me some great nocturnal images for only 99 quid. So is it worth buying XF 35mm f2 R WR Lens for the x-t30?  I should say 35 is my favourite focal length and do dislike the zoom but my priority just now is a less noisy image. 

cheers

(and sorry if I sound like a novice here)

use fast lenses , shoot wide open ,so you can shoot at lower iso which can ultimately get you less noisy pictures , lens like FUJIFILM XF 50mm f/1.0 R WR Lens , or use third party lenses which has lower apertures ( the ones less than f2 f1 is better but in third party options there is even lower) . or you can use speed boosters coupled with full frame camera lens which i heard other photographers say will improve low light photography ,by letting in more light thus enabling to shoot at lower iso .hope this helped , have a nice day !

[Wildan Anky]

Hi I'm also X-T30 user.

I do feel 15-45mm kit couldn't be reliable in low light condition. Recently, I've just bought XC 35mm F2 and so far I've quite satisfied since the lens are cheap but have same lens quality with the XF ones. You do lose the aperture ring and weatherproof (since X-T30 is not weatherproof maybe you wouldn't mind this).

[Nicky]

I tend to think Jezzocthelad does not really own an XT30. Surely he would have been back here, and maybe posted a few examples. Lens choice is irrelevant. The low light/high ISO performance of the XT3/30 is massively superior to that of the Nikon 3200. Not surprising, the sensor is about 3 generations younger.