Introduction

Ease of Use

The new Fujifilm X-T30 III is outwardly almost completely identical to the 4-year-old X-T30 II model that it replaces, right down to the unchanged X-T30 name badge on the front

The only visual differences between them are the new dedicated Film Simulation dial on top, the shared Delete / Drive mode button on the rear, and the base-plate sticker on the battery compartment cover where "X-T30 III" is displayed. Otherwise, it's almost impossible to tell the two cameras apart when placed side-by-side.

At the heart of the X-T30 III is the same 26.1 megapixel APS-C sized “X-Trans IV” CMOS sensor as used in the previous model coupled with the latest X-Processor 5 processor, as also employed in the flagship X-H2 and X-H2S models.

The Mark III therefore provides exactly the same image quality as its predecessor but is able to offer more sophisticated auto-focusing and additional 6K video codecs than the Mark II.

In keeping with its mid-range status the X-T30 III is not weather-proof, something that's important to note if you're trying to decide between the various models in the X-series range.

The extended ISO range of 80-51,200 makes the X-T30 III well-suited to low-light shooting, especially as it can focus all the way down to -7EV, allowing you to hand-hold the camera in places where you'd usually be reaching for a tripod or other support.

The clever ISO Auto Control setting allows you to set a maximum sensitivity (up to 6400) and a minimum shutter speed (1/30th is a good starting point), with the camera over-riding your ISO choice if it thinks you're being too ambitious whilst maintaining a shutter speed that won't introduce camera shake.

This camera offers a highest quality rate of 6.2K/30p with a modest 1.23x crop recorded in 4:2:2 10-bit internally and also supports up to DCI 4K/60p recording with a 1.17x crop factor.

It can shoot Full HD 1080p/240p high-speed video mode, which makes it capable of capturing a fast-moving subject in slow motion up to 10x, and supports bit-rates up to 200Mbps.

It offers the latest F-Log 2 profile with up to 14+ stops of dynamic range and supports up to 60min recording time at room temperature as standard.

The X-T30 III has a 9:16 short movie mode which creates a 1080p vertical movie when holding the camera horizontally.

It also offers more powerful digital stabilization mode for video (1.32x crop) that can auto-correct rolling shutter in-camera and a portrait enhancer mode for both video and stills.

It supports the Long GOP and All Intra compression formats, digital image stabiliser, IS Mode Boost, different Main menu and Quick menu systems for stills and video modes, and 3.5mm MIC and headphone sockets.

There is a HDMI port for connecting the X-T30 III to a high-definition TV or external recorder, and you can adjust the level of the internal microphone and attach an external mic for better sound quality via the shared Mic/Remote port. 

Despite the increased emphasis on video recording, the X-T30 III still doesn't have a one-touch Movie Record button, which is instead assigned to the drive mode dial.

The X-T30 III features both built-in wi-fi and Bluetooth connectivity. The former option allows you to remotely control the X-T30 III via a 2.4Ghz wi-fi connection using a smartphone or tablet and the Fujifilm app, and transfer images and video from one device to the other. The latter option creates a constant, low-power connection between the camera and a smartphone/tablet to transfer images and video using the Fujifilm Camera Remote smartphone app.

The X-T30 III has quite a large, sculpted hand-grip at the front, although as this quite a small camera, you can only fit three fingers on it, with your little finger naturally curling underneath the bottom of the body. There's also a prominent grip on the rear of the camera for your right thumb, with the Q.menu button set into the top of it.

We're not huge fans of the position of the Q button, which proved to be overly sensitive and prone to being inadvertently pressed. There is a menu option to disable it completely, but we'd actually prefer a way of lengthening the press required to activate it to, say, 1 second, rather than turning it off altogether, as it's such a useful feature.

A textured faux-leather surface runs around the full width of the camera, with two small metal eyelets on either side of the body used for connecting the supplied shoulder strap. 

A metal tripod mount is positioned slightly off-centre from the lens and next to the battery/memory card compartment, so you'll have to remove the camera from the tripod to change the battery or the memory card.

Disappointingly the X-T30 III still only offers compatibility with Ultra High Speed UHS-I SDXC memory cards, whereas the X-T50 is also compatible with faster UHS-II cards.

Despite this, the X-T30 II offers a 30fps fast continuous shooting rate with full AF/AE metering and completely blackout free between frames, achieved by using the electronic shutter and maintaining the live view at 60fps.

The XT30 III has a much larger buffer than the X-T30 II for every burst shooting mode, though, especially when shooting JPEGs, and is the better camera for capturing action.

The main caveat of the 30fps mode is that the camera automatically enters the Sports Viewfinder Mode and applies a 1.25x crop factor, dropping the resolution from 26 down to 16.6 megapixels, although there's also a benefit in that you can still see outside the cropped area, allowing you to predict where the subject is moving into the frame.

If you do want the full 26 megapixel resolution, the X-T30 III can shoot at a "slower" 20fps without any cropping, or 8fps using its mechanical shutter, both again with full AF/AE metering.

To help with capturing the precise moment, the X-T30 III also a clever Pre-shot burst shooting mode, with the camera constantly filling the buffer while your half-press the shutter button, and then keeping the most recent ones taken 0.5-1 seconds before a full press of the shutter button, eliminating any camera and human-added delay. Note that this feature only works with the electronic shutter.

As already mentioned, the X-T30 III actually has two kinds of shutter, mechanical and electronic. When using its mechanical focal-plane shutter, it has a top shutter-speed limit of 1/4000th second in all shooting modes.

There's no built-in ND filter, so if you want to use a very fast lens in very bright sunlight, then it's a good idea to buy an actual glass ND filter. The X-T30 III also has the same flash-sync speed of 1/180th second as the previous model.

The X-T30 III also has a completely silent electronic shutter which provides a much faster top shutter speed of 1/32,000th second. This allows you to continue shooting wide-open with fast aperture lenses in the brightest of conditions without having to resort to fitting a glass ND filter or using an external flash and lights.

There are some important caveats with the electronic shutter though - the ISO range is restricted to 200-6400, you can't use the pop-up flash, and the slowest possible shutter speed is only 1 second. 

To make the camera even less obtrusive, when the electronic shutter is selected, there's a Silent menu option which turns off the speaker, flash, AF-assist lamp and most importantly the shutter-release sound, instantly making the X-T30 III perfectly suited to more candid photography.

The X-T30 III's AF system offers 425 AF points in total and 2.16M PDAF pixels and it can also focus down to -7EV when used with particular (but not all) lenses.. The X-T30 III is also one of the few cameras on the market to offer 100% coverage of the phase detection AF area, allowing you to literally focus anywhere that you want.

The key difference is that only the X-T30 III can automatically detect animals, birds, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, airplanes, trains, insects and drones, thanks to the latest X-Processor 5's AI deep learning capabilities.

The Fujifilm X-T30 III uses exactly the same sized viewfinder as the previous X-T30 II, a 0.39-inch OLED unit with 2.36-million-dots, a display time lag of just 0.005 seconds and a fast 100fps frame rate. 

The 3-inch touchscreen display on the rear is also mostly the same as the one on the X-T30 II, with the main improvement being that it now has greater 1.61-million-dot resolution. It can still only be tilted up and down, making it ideal for shooting from more unusual angles, but not so suitable for vlogging.

You can use it to set the AF point, or even fire the shutter release. On the right hand side of the screen you’ll see a small icon which if you press it allows you to choose between using the screen to set the AF point, or to have it focus and then take a picture. If you prefer, you can turn off the touchscreen functionality altogether.

On top of the X-T30 III is a control dial for setting the shutter speed, with settings ranging from 1 second to 1/4000th second, an Auto option, a T setting for longer exposures (2 to 30 seconds, set via the circular command wheel) and a Bulb mode for exposures up to a whopping 60 minutes in length.

Alongside the shutter speed dial is another dial for changing the exposure compensation, with a range of +-5EV and a Custom setting.

On the left there's a new dedicated Film Simulation dial which provides quick access to selected simulations plus three user modes, just like on the X-T50 and X-M5. There are 20 film simulations in total, up from 18 on the X-T30 II, including Reala Ace and Nostalgic Neg. Underneath that is a switch for releasing the pop-up flash.

There's a small lever on top of the X-T30 III for turning on the dedicated Auto Mode. This enhanced mode is taken from the X-S20 and uses advanced scene recognition to select the optimal exposure and white-balance settings and also automatically detects and tracks subjects using deep-learning AI-based autofocus.

While this switch makes it easy to enter full Auto mode, we did find ourselves accidentally turning it on quite a lot, as the switch is very similar to the On/Off switch and also positioned very near to it.

Four other controls complete the X-T30 III's top-plate. The small but responsive shutter release button is encircled by the On/Off switch, and there's a thread for a traditional mechanical cable release.

Alongside is the rather tiny Fn button, which by default provides quick access to the Wi-Fi options, but can be customised to suit your own needs from 12 different settings. 

Further customisation is available via the 7 Custom Menu options, which let you create, save and recall up to 7 sets of user-defined settings, and no less than 7 configurable function buttons. 

Finally there's an external flash hotshoe for suitable dedicated external units, along with the built-in flash which has a guide number of 5.

The X-T30 III has a logical rear control layout. Above the LCD screen and to the left of the viewfinder are two buttons for image deletion / drive modes and image playback, while on the right is the AE-L button, rear control dial and the AF-L button.

Beneath those is the Quick Menu button, set into the rear thumb grip. This provides quick access to lots of frequently used shooting settings including the ISO speed, White Balance, File Size and File Quality.

Underneath is an 8-direction Focus Lever, which is exactly the same size and works in exactly the same way as the one on the X-T4, although crucially it is positioned a little too low down the body, making it more awkward to find in a hurry.

Underneath the Focus Lever is the Menu button, which accesses the eight Shooting and Set-up menus, and finally the Disp/Back button which is used for changing the LCD display or going back. 

The Fujifilm X-T30 III uses exactly the same NP-W126S battery as the X-T30 II, which offers a CIPA-rated battery life of up to 325 shots on a single charge when using the LCD screen. The X-T30 III manages to eke out a little more life and offers up to 315 frames or 425 in Economy mode (versus 390 on the XT30II).

Both cameras can also be powered and charged via the USB-C connection, which is useful if you're out and about and have a compatible power-bank to plug the camera into.

You can also use a USB-Type C cable to connect the X-T30 III to a computer to use it as a webcam without having to use any software, unlike the X-T30 II which has to use the Fujifilm X Webcam app.

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Fujifilm X-T30 III camera, which were all taken using the 26.1 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Fujifilm X-T30 III enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Fujifilm RAW (RAF) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movies & Video

Product Images

Main Rivals

Listed below are some of the rivals of the Fujifilm X-T30 III.

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