Fujifilm X-M5 hands-on review: honey I shrunk the system camera

Introduction

Social media was largely to blame for compact cameras having their Brat summer last year, with influencers helping undo some of the damage caused by two decades of snowballing smartphone sales. That rolled on into 2024, with Fujifilm’s X100VI seeing stratospheric sales success – but not everyone has the cash for a flagship, or wants a fixed lens. The X-M5 might just be the answer.

This is the new entry point to Fuji’s interchangeable lens line-up, which shrinks down to near pocket-friendly dimensions without skimping too much on the sensor – or forgetting millennial newcomers care just as much about video as they do stills. The firm’s celebrated film simulations also take a starring role. Launching on November 14 at $799/£799/€899 body-only, could this be just as much of a TikTok trendsetter, while still keeping long-time photographers happy?

Design & build: properly palm-sized

The Fujifilm X-M5 is one seriously compact camera. It’s shorter and narrower than an X100VI, and only just a little taller; that’s no mean feat given it still houses an APS-C sensor and Fuji’s F-mount mechanism for swapping out lenses. It weighs a mere 335g before you bolt on any glass, too. Without a lens fitted I’d almost call it pocket-sized.

Styling is pretty much what I’ve come to expect from a modern Fuji camera: a retro-influenced angular body, choice of black or silver colours, and just enough texture on the subtle hand grip to give you something firm to hold onto. While I’d pick the silver bodied X100VI every time, Fuji’s limited selection of matching silver lenses means black might be the better option for the X-M5. The 15-45mm f/3.5-5.6 power zoom kit lens is an exception, being available in both colours.

The top plate keeps things simple, with two command dials placed within easy reach of the shutter button. The familiar PASM dial is here too, while Fuji’s new darling – the film simulation dial – sits on the far left. There’s also a dedicated video recording button, and one for opening the Q menu which I thought was just a little too diddy to hit consistently; I’d have preferred this on the rear, which is otherwise pretty sparse.

There was no room for a built-in flash like on the long since retired Fujifilm X-M1 – but unlike the Panasonic Lumix S9, Fuji hasn’t also ditched the hot shoe, so you could add an external one if you needed.

At the rear there’s just a joystick and a scattering of buttons around the LCD viewfinder, which flips out for vlogging and tilts for high- or low-angle shooting. It’s great to see Fuji relocate all the ports to the right side of the camera, so connected accessories won’t stop the viewfinder from unfurling.

Features & battery life: dial it up

I’ll admit that during my brief demo session with the X-M5, I went to frame a few shots thinking it had an electronic viewfinder. Sadly it doesn’t have one – I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed for an eventual X-Pro4. Everything has to be framed using the LCD viewfinder, which was thankfully sharp and bright enough to use outdoors without any struggles. That said, an overcast London in October is hardly a tough test.

The other thing I’ve largely taken for granted on Fuji’s last few cameras is in-body image stabilisation, which doesn’t make the cut here. That was also the case with the X-T30II (which this effectively replaces as the baby of the line-up), so doesn’t come as a huge surprise, and Fuji has plenty of optically-stabilised lenses to choose from – including the kit lens – so I don’t see this as a dealbreaker.

Fuji has been catering more to videographers and filmmakers recently, so it’s no surprise to see a 2.5mm microphone input on-board. It’s conveniently placed right next to the hotshoe, too, so cables don’t have to dangle around the camera body. However, an additional in-body mic brings the total up to three, with greater wind noise reduction and background noise reduction than previous efforts, so you shouldn’t need to add an external mic for simple home movies.

There’s a microHDMI output at the side, along with USB-C for charging and file transfers. The latter can be used to send pictures directly to a phone using Fuji’s Xapp companion app now, as well as let the camera act as a webcam for your PC or Mac.

Open the battery gate (which can’t be done while the camera has anything mounted to its 1/4in tripod thread) and you’ll find a single UHS-II SD card slot for storage, and room for the smaller of Fuji’s two X-series batteries. The X-M5 is still able to squeeze out 440 shots in economy mode, though; that’s a 20% improvement over the X-T30 II, which uses an older, less efficient image processor. I didn’t drain it in several hours of shooting.

Performance: vlog on

Inside, the X-M5 has much in common with the larger (and more expensive) Fujifilm X-S20. That includes the The 26.1MP X-Trans 4 image sensor, which is a step below the pricier X-T50 in terms of pixel count. It has the same X-Processor 5 imaging engine, though, which has seriously clever subject detection and newer, faster autofocus algorithms.

Without a side-by-side comparison – and a stopwatch – it’s tricky to judge just how much of a difference these changes have made, but I had no complaints at how quickly it recognised people, animals and vehicles when using the relevant object detection setting, or how fast it locked focus with a half-press of the shutter button. These new algorithms will apparently make their way back to older models using the same hardware, though it’s not clear when.

Speed is on par with the X-S20, with a satisfyingly sprightly eight frames per second using the mechanical shutter. It’ll manage 20fps with the electronic shutter at full resolution, or 30fps with a cropped sensor, which is easily fast enough for the sort of street, travel and family photography many owners will use it for.

The video mode felt the most changed for me, coming over from my personal X-S20. It has a new UI for the dedicated vlog mode, which puts useful shortcuts to features like product priority autofocus, a subtle skin smoothing Portrait enhancer, and a 9:16 short movie mode that’ll be ideal for shooting Instagram reels, TikTok clips and YouTube Shorts.

It’ll shoot 6.2K footage at 30fps in 4:2:2 10-bit colour, as well as 4K60 and FHD120p resolutions. At 25 degrees celsius ambient temperature it’ll manage over an hour of 4K30 recording, battery and memory card permitting, and is compatible with Fuji’s external fan accessory if you’ll be working in hotter conditions.

Image quality: living in a simulation

The 26.1MP X-Trans 4 sensor isn’t fuji’s latest APS-C effort, but it was used to great effect in the X-S20, and based on my early sneak preview should be just as impressive here. That said, the following images were shot on a camera running non-final firmware, and have been resized from the original files, so aren’t indicative of image quality. Everything was shot using the 15-45mm f/3.5-5.6 power zoom kit lens.

On first inspection it seems like Fuji’s familiar colour science is present and correct, whether shooting in the standard Provia preset or picking one of the distinctive film simulations. The X-M5 has 20, including the latest Reala Ace. Seven have dedicated slots on the film simulation dial, and you can assign three more through the menus – but Fuji still doesn’t make it as easy as it could to access user-created recipes.

Low-light performance is the biggest unknown right now. I didn’t get the chance to test the camera out at night, to see how a lack of IBIS affects things.

Fujifilm X-M5 initial verdict

Don’t think of the Fujifilm X-M5 as an X100VI with interchangeable lenses. The price is a major clue this offering is more entry-level – but that doesn’t mean it’s at all compromised. Fuji’s tried-and-tested sensor and image processor combo appeared to deliver the clarity and colour I’d expect during my demo session.

The lack of EVF may dissuade photographers who can’t break the habit of bringing their camera up to their eyeline to compose a shot. For snappers migrating from a smartphone, though? Framing using a screen will be far more familiar. Having film simulations within easy reach will also appeal to the Instagram generation more than Sony’s more straight-faced (and ageing) A6400, which now costs similar money.

It’s more affordable than the functionally-similar X-S20, and half the price of a Panasonic Lumix S9, which could make it a top choice for budget-minded buyers wanting interchangeable lenses on a small scale.

Fujifilm X-M5 technical specifications