# Nikon 7200 vs Fujifilm XT20



## robinhood_1984 (Jan 6, 2018)

Hello.

I'm in the market for a new camera after quite a few years absence from photography. As per my post over on the beginners forum, I've had a DSLR camera in either film or digital form since 1999 but I'm certainly no expert, it was a means to an end to photograph things I was interested in, rather than for the photography itself so my knowledge on how to properly use a camera for a wider range of uses isn't exactly non-existent but I'll have an awful lot to learn as well.

My main reason for wanting a 'proper' camera again is that I'm becoming sick and tired of missing shots of my kids with my smart phone and my aging Sony A100 is very poor in low light and the auto focus really suffers in less than ideal light conditions too so something more modern and advanced is needed I think, as well as a huge improvement in my own abilities obviously.

After what seems like endless review reading, youtube watching and so forth, I can narrow down my interest to two contenders, perhaps three, namely either the Nikon D7200 and the Fujifilm XT20 and maybe, just maybe something like the Sony A6000 or its newer variants.

I just want the camera with the best overall image capabilities, while at the same time not being impossibly hard to learn how to use. I'm not put off having a DSLR by their size and weight, in some ways I like the large physical product as it just feels substantial, but at the same time I've been pretty impressed with what I've seen so far of the XT20. 

I'm after input of users of both cameras and especially those who've used both systems and what they think would be the best bet for a semi-novice and why. I live in New Brunswick, Canada and there is absolutely nowhere that I know of that stocks either camera, especially the Nikon so going to look and handle them myself is looking impossible. Some places do sell the A6000 but not consistently.

The Nikon and Fuji camera are in a similar price range here body only, the Nikon retails for about $1000CAD right now and the Fuji is a bit more at about $1100-1200 from what I can see. Obviously the Sony A6000 is a bit less at anything from $650-800 depending on sales etc.


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## astroNikon (Jan 6, 2018)

@jcdeboever 
Will have some input


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## jcdeboever (Jan 6, 2018)

robinhood_1984 said:


> Hello.
> 
> I'm in the market for a new camera after quite a few years absence from photography. As per my post over on the beginners forum, I've had a DSLR camera in either film or digital form since 1999 but I'm certainly no expert, it was a means to an end to photograph things I was interested in, rather than for the photography itself so my knowledge on how to properly use a camera for a wider range of uses isn't exactly non-existent but I'll have an awful lot to learn as well.
> 
> ...


I have found the Fujifilm X system very easy to use compared to the D7200, which I traded in for the XT2. To be transparent, I think I had a lemon D7200 and a bunch of bad focusing Sigma lenses. 

I shoot a fair amount of film and the Fujifilm operates similar, externally. That is important to me. I almost bought the XT20 but my hands are huge and the XT2 just felt better ergonomically, with the battery grip.

The XF glass is superbly made, and high quality standards are very apparent compared to other's. They render extremely well. There are also plenty of adapters if you have a particular lens you prefer. I use a couple of M42, and Canon FD lens on occasion. 

The low light capability is good up to ISO6400. I'm sure a higher gain would be accepted by most but I don't go past 6400. I think the XT20 may be the best camera for the money. 

Get extra batteries, that is the one down side to a mirrorless body. I can shoot street for a day with my XPRO2 on a battery and a half. Not sure but doubt the XT20 is much better. However, I shoot performance but don't use the LCD much either. 

At the end of the day, I think the XT20 is the best bang for the buck. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions on glass or anything.


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## SquarePeg (Jan 6, 2018)

Great finalists! 

I’ll try not to repeat what jc said above but I will say he knows what he’s talking about.  

I recently switched from a Nikon 7100 to the Fuji xt2.  Both excellent cameras but I’m crazy about the Fuji.  The jpegs are great right out of the camera so for me, that tips it in Fuji’s favor because sitting at a desk editing photos is not fun (or even possible when you’ve got little kids). 

Having used both systems, the Fuji is easier.  The electronic viewfinder shows you exactly what you’re going to get for exposure so more keepers and easier to master, IMO.  The Fuji AF system is pretty impressive - I confess that I never really understood the Nikon AF so probably a lot of user error from me.  

For lenses- Nikon has more options but the Fuji 18-55 kit lens is super sharp compared to the Nikon kit.


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## jcdeboever (Jan 6, 2018)

I echo the 18-55. Very under rated. I would even go as far to say, buy it used.


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## Ysarex (Jan 6, 2018)

Photographic Dynamic Range versus ISO Setting

For what it's worth the graph in that link gives the Fuji a slight edge in low light performance -- close to being a negligible difference.

I'd say the biggest difference between the cameras is their viewfinders -- traditional SLR versus EVF and all that goes along with those two choices.

Joe


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## Ysarex (Jan 6, 2018)

This may be entirely inappropriate to bring up at this stage but in the future depending on how you chose to work with the camera the unique Fuji CFA architecture may become a factor for you. All digital cameras record color by placing a color filter array in front of the sensor. 99 + percent of the current cameras use a classic Bayer array while Fuji X system cameras use a Fuji X-Trans CFA. If you use the camera to shoot JPEGs and don't get involved in raw file processing this distinction is meaningless. If on the other hand you get involved in raw file post processing you'll face a somewhat more complicated software choice with the Fuji than with the Nikon.

Joe


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## Peeb (Jan 6, 2018)

As an entrenched Nikon user, the 7200 appeals to me, but if anyone gave me a Fuji, it would get used regularly!


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## jaomul (Jan 7, 2018)

I have a d7200 (and have owned a few previous DSLRs). I find the d7200 to be the best camera I have used. It aquires focus fast and dependable in most situations, has lovely image quality and does well at high iso.

The fact that others say they consider the Fuji even better just confirms that it must be another great unit.

You should probably go to a shop and pick them both up and see which makes the better impression. It might be an idea to try figure out what lenses you may initially require, Nikon will probably be easier financially if you are happy to go second hand.

Some advantages to dslr is generally they should do continuous/ tracking focus a little better and battery life should also be better.

The mirrorless on the other hand shows exactly what you'll get through the evf, Fuji jpegs straight out of camera are very pleasing to a lot of people, the Fuji looks great and I don't believe they make a bad lens.


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## Derrel (Jan 7, 2018)

Fujifilm X-T20 vs Nikon D7200 vs Sony A6000 | DxOMark

They are not testing the Fuji X-Trans sensor models...

Two hybrid cameras versus a semi-pro d-SLR...

Each models has a handful of better-than-the-others specifications.

Three nice rigs.

I'm wondering about the Fuji's stated viewfinder magnification of 0.64x versus the D7200 at 0.94x...not sure how that is calculated...

Frame rate and video specifications are of interest to "some" buyers. My overall impression from various reviews is that Fuji has poor video capabilities in many of its cameras, while Sony and Nikon do better.

A good shooter could use any of these three to make fine photos.


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## Peeb (Jan 7, 2018)

Here's another rundown:
Fujifilm X-T20 vs Nikon D7200 Detailed Comparison

There are some uTube reviews comparing the 2 as well...


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## cgw (Jan 7, 2018)

If you're hesitant to go all in with Fuji, look at the semi-trailing edge models like the X-T1 or X100T. They're almost cheap relative to their update models and won't cause you any embarrassment, IQ-wise.


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## robinhood_1984 (Jan 7, 2018)

Right, I've gone and done the unthinkable, I've bought option 3 to try it out. I went in to my local Best Buy, which is practically the only place that actually stocks any amount of cameras and unsurprisingly they didn't have either the XT20 (or any Fuji for that matter) or the D7200. The only Nikon's stocked were the 3400, 5600 and a big full framer that was well out of my price range. They did however have a Sony A6000 and one package left over from the Boxing day sales of the A6000 with the normal 16-50mm lens in addition to a 55-210 lens for considerably less money than anyone else I can find online right now and several hundred dollars less than choices 1 and 2. 
I'd have loved to have got my hands on the Fuji and Nikon to check them out but its a lot of money to order blindly online when you know as little about cameras as I do and given the A6000 was my third choice, even though it is a little bit dated now, I thought I'd take it home and if I hate it, take her back again.

I know its not quite the quality of the other two but can anyone think of any reason why I've made a terrible mistake in getting this camera and should return it at once? I've got 14 days to change my mind and return it should I need to.


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## Peeb (Jan 7, 2018)

robinhood_1984 said:


> Right, I've gone and done the unthinkable, I've bought option 3 to try it out. I went in to my local Best Buy, which is practically the only place that actually stocks any amount of cameras and unsurprisingly they didn't have either the XT20 (or any Fuji for that matter) or the D7200. The only Nikon's stocked were the 3400, 5600 and a big full framer that was well out of my price range. They did however have a Sony A6000 and one package left over from the Boxing day sales of the A6000 with the normal 16-50mm lens in addition to a 55-210 lens for considerably less money than anyone else I can find online right now and several hundred dollars less than choices 1 and 2.
> I'd have loved to have got my hands on the Fuji and Nikon to check them out but its a lot of money to order blindly online when you know as little about cameras as I do and given the A6000 was my third choice, even though it is a little bit dated now, I thought I'd take it home and if I hate it, take her back again.
> 
> I know its not quite the quality of the other two but can anyone think of any reason why I've made a terrible mistake in getting this camera and should return it at once? I've got 14 days to change my mind and return it should I need to.


My nephew swears by his A6000


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## SquarePeg (Jan 7, 2018)

I’ve read nothing but good things about the A6000.  I think @JonA_CT  might have just been talking about using one?


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## astroNikon (Jan 7, 2018)

Even though I'm a Fuji fan (though don't own one, nearly bought it before I bought my D7000 years ago), the only thing kept me from buying a Sony is their Star Eater software patch they had back in 2016.  Google it as there's tons about it.  If you do any type of night space/sky photography it would essentially make stars disappear.

I've been looking at adding a X-T20 or X-T2 for a while now.   I've also have had the Nikon D7000, D600, D500, D750.

I want to go to a mirrorless for more specific astrophotography stuff in relation to not having a mirror.  As anything lower than a D7000 does not give me the features I require for that.  but of course a mirrorless doesn't have the mirror requirements.  I nearly bought Fuji before I bought my original Nikon D7000 but had owned Nikon before (D70, N80) so bought the Nikon.  The SONY's messed up my strategy as a firmware update they had messed up long star exposures.

But which is better ?
As long as you get something in your hands and you start shooting all is good.  There's good and bad about each camera.

Just like you, if my local BestBuy ==> My Local Best Buy store  had Fujis instead of empty display cases for the last couple years I might have bought one by now. (yes, there's another shop further away that has one but I haven't driven there as of yet).


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## SquarePeg (Jan 7, 2018)

I bought the Xt2 without ever holding a Fuji.  It was researched first but it was out of stock everywhere last Spring and when I got the alert that it was in I pounced.  No regrets but if I hadn’t liked it, I would have just returned it.


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## jaomul (Jan 8, 2018)

I would look at that as a good buy, especially if you got it so cheap. An awful lot of how good a camera is, is due to what the user gets used to. In real terms there is probably very little difference. That Sony is very well regarded. Enjoy


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## cgw (Jan 8, 2018)

No shame in the A6000. The body-only package was going for peanuts around Toronto during the Boxing Day riots and I damn near bought one just to play around via adapter with my old Nikon lens tonnage. Unlike me to resist but I did-- only to get a Fujinon 50/2 WR lens the same day. A sad case, indeed.


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## robinhood_1984 (Jan 10, 2018)

Thanks for the responses guys. I've had the A6000 a few days now and its going quite well so far I think. I haven't had chance to see how it performs outside yet but indoors was the challenge and so far its a tenfold improvement on the old A100 DSLR in terms of autofocus and general low light performance. The only thing that seems a little odd is that in auto ISO it seems to select quite high numbers, usually between 3000-4000 which results in quite a bit of noise if you zoom in moderately. Maybe an ISO that high is normal with modern camera's, it just seems high to me as my old A100 only went to 1600.
I'm just going to have to practice a lot with it and start playing around with manual settings etc.


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## SquarePeg (Jan 10, 2018)

robinhood_1984 said:


> Thanks for the responses guys. I've had the A6000 a few days now and its going quite well so far I think. I haven't had chance to see how it performs outside yet but indoors was the challenge and so far its a tenfold improvement on the old A100 DSLR in terms of autofocus and general low light performance. The only thing that seems a little odd is that in auto ISO it seems to select quite high numbers, usually between 3000-4000 which results in quite a bit of noise if you zoom in moderately. Maybe an ISO that high is normal with modern camera's, it just seems high to me as my old A100 only went to 1600.
> I'm just going to have to practice a lot with it and start playing around with manual settings etc.




Glad you're happy with your choice!  I find that my XT2 is good with ISO up to 12,800 before I start to feel the photo is too noisy.  Which was a big change for me from the 7100 where I always tried to keep it at 6400 or below.  You are letting the camera choose the ISO?  Are you using Aperture priority or Auto or something?  Shoot manual and choose the ISO yourself or set a max ISO if possible in the custom menu.


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## astroNikon (Jan 10, 2018)

robinhood_1984 said:


> Thanks for the responses guys. I've had the A6000 a few days now and its going quite well so far I think. I haven't had chance to see how it performs outside yet but indoors was the challenge and so far its a tenfold improvement on the old A100 DSLR in terms of autofocus and general low light performance. The only thing that seems a little odd is that in auto ISO it seems to select quite high numbers, usually between 3000-4000 which results in quite a bit of noise if you zoom in moderately. Maybe an ISO that high is normal with modern camera's, it just seems high to me as my old A100 only went to 1600.
> I'm just going to have to practice a lot with it and start playing around with manual settings etc.


You can set a MINimum and MAXimum for AUTO ISO.
Then if you feel teh A6000 is only good up to 2400 you can set that

Change the setting to AUTO ISO, press the right arrow to move over to the right of the screen. There's a LOW and HIGH end setting for the auto ISO range.  To set the low or the high, arrow to that number, and click the up or down arrow to the number you prefer.

at least I think that's the routine off the top of my head.

what will happen if it's to dark is that the camera will, say max out on ISO then look to change another setting.  If you are in Shutter Priority then it will try to increase the Aperture.  Or if in Aperture Priority it will try to slow down the Shutter speed.

You can also set min's and max's for the Shutter/Aperture too if I recall correctly.

But overall you'll have to know your camera's limitations unless you add light to the situation, or bring up darkness in post processing.


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## robinhood_1984 (Jan 10, 2018)

SquarePeg said:


> Glad you're happy with your choice!  I find that my XT2 is good with ISO up to 12,800 before I start to feel the photo is too noisy.  Which was a big change for me from the 7100 where I always tried to keep it at 6400 or below.  You are letting the camera choose the ISO?  Are you using Aperture priority or Auto or something?  Shoot manual and choose the ISO yourself or set a max ISO if possible in the custom menu.



So far its mainly been in auto. I've been playing about a bit in aperture priority and a little on P mode. I've been able to set an upper limit for auto ISO but I'm not sure yet if thats over ridden when in fully auto mode on the camera. I'm just getting a few minutes here and there to experiment with it in between a crying newborn and a tornado toddler lol.

At the moment its still a novelty to take 100 photos and over 90 of them being in focus, as opposed to the A100 where I could take 100 photos and 95 would be crap and deleted with its very poor by comparison low light capabilities.


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