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Hey, it’s Jay P here from The Slanted Lens. Today we’re going to look at two APS-c sensor cameras, the a6700 from Sony and the X-S20 from Fujifilm. Very different in form factor. Very close in price. But one of them has incredible autofocus.
One of them has incredible video. It’s just amazing to look at. One of them has a picture that you would die for. So let’s look at which one of these cameras matches you and is best for what you want to shoot. Let’s take a look at these two APS-c sensor cameras. Let’s go!
Let’s take a look at the features of these two cameras and see how they compare with one another. They’re both mid-range APS-c sensor cameras. The Sony has a crop factor of 1.5. 
Which you don’t really have a crop factor on the Fuji because they don’t make full frame lenses that go on Fuji cameras. But if you’re using a full-frame lens on the Sony it’s 1.5. They’re both 26 megapixels, 26, 26.1. 
Basically head to head when it comes to megapixels. Price wise the Sony is about a hundred dollars more than the Fuji coming in at $1399 whereas the Fuji is at $1299. The Sony has 14 bit depth whereas the Fujifilm has 16-bit depth.
Let’s take a look at the image quality test. You know, when I first look at the color I set them both at 5200 degrees. And the Fuji is definitely a little more on the magenta side and the Sony is a little more on the yellow side. But just slightly. They’re very close to one another. I mean, the color quality on these two cameras are very similar. I think the Fuji is a little more saturated and a little more, a little nicer looking. I feel like the Sony, when you’re shooting it, is not quite as fun to shoot. Because if you’re looking at the picture, the image is not as saturated and as nice looking as you see on the Fuji camera. When I punch these up and we just look at sheer sharpness, the Sony is definitely sharper. We see just a little more detail. It’s a little more, a little sharper. 
And that image quality is just little bit sharper. I mean a case can be made for that little bit of softness you see on Fuji. But when it looks at just sheer sharpness it’s definitely the Sony. So there’s a look at the picture quality test. There’s the image quality test and there’s a couple of things going on there that are kind of pushing and pulling each way. I love the color on the Fujifilm. It’s absolutely beautiful. It has kind of a warm cast to it. It just feels wonderful. It’s wonderful to look at and to use when you’re shooting. It’s just enjoyable to shoot. 
The Sony is not quite as enjoyable to shoot but was very sharp. It was sharp and it was, just, it gave you beautifully sharp images. So when I look at these two head to head I’m going to probably say the Sony just edged out the Fujifilm.
Let’s go ahead and talk about the ergonomics of these two cameras. You know, the X-S10 was a little smaller, had a smaller battery and had some features that they’ve kind of beefed up on the X-S20. And one of them is the battery. It’s got a larger battery which gives you a more, you know, images you can shoot. It gives you longer video. It really has had to have a better battery if it’s going to have better video specs. And it does have better video specs. It has very good video specs. Interestingly enough it’s more along kind of what’s typical for a mirrorless camera today. You have the front and back dial. A lot of your features are inside the menus. You’re not getting that kind of typical Fujifilm, you know, a dial for your aperture, dial for your shutter, kind of the old style working with DSLR cameras. This is really more of a video or a mirrorless kind of application. It is a little larger.
It has that large grip on the side to be able to get a hold of. Interestingly enough though, when you compare that to the a6700, the a6700 really is a form factor that it is in a world in and of itself. It’s meant to be small, compact, really easy to put in a bag. It is definitely physically the camera, smaller than the Fujifilm X-S20. But they weigh the same. They’re about 1.1 pounds. And so even though it may look slightly smaller they weigh exactly the same. So if you’re looking at ease of use and carrying, I think the Sony is a little smaller, a little more compact. The Sony has added a back wheel which has been really needed in this, in the 6000 Series. So it allows you to have access to the back.
You do have the little joystick on the back of the X-S20. But it’s kind of hard for me to use. It’s just a little tiny thing. Maybe my thumbs are too old and too calloused, but I have a hard time using it. Ergonomically these two are very similar in that they’re really vying for a small compact portable travel type camera. Both of these cameras have a single SD card slot. But they’re both made for the v90 or the UHS 2 cards. So you’re going to get fast card speed reads.It’s going to make it quicker to buffer. Everything about that is going to be very helpful. 
So both these cameras have that SD card slot. Both of these cameras have a three inch articulated touch screen LCD screen. But the Sony is not quite as, doesn’t have as many dots. 
It has 1,030,000 dots. Whereas the Fujifilm has 1,840,000 dots. And that gives you a cleaner image on the back of the Fujifilm. You can see that difference when you put them side by side. These two cameras have very comparable EVFs. I do find it a little difficult with the Sony to get my eye over there and to work that EVF on the side. 
Whereas the Fujifilm is right in the middle as we expect it. But it is very small to get access to and to get your eye into it. But when it comes to dot resolution you got 2,350,000 dot and you got 2,360,000 dots. So they’re very, very similar. It’s just a matter of ease of use and being able to get your eye up to it. And I think the Fujifilm is a little easier to get your eye up to that EVF and to be able to use it.
Autofocus is always a big deal when it comes to the camera you choose. And with these two cameras they are very different in some ways. The Sony has 759 points for photo which means you’re covering most of your sensor. And so you can get that autofocus into the corners really easily and 495 points for video. Whereas the Fujifilm X-S20 has 117 autofocus points and it’s using both phase detect and contrast detect. So let’s take a look at those images. Let’s take a look at some images and just see how it works when it comes to autofocus. 
All right, when we look at the autofocus test, cameras are becoming so good with this. It’s really interesting, but when I look at these two cameras head to head, I shot 40 images here. Which she’s walking towards me. I did this two or three times and out of all those images I did not have an image on the Sony that was out of focus. So out of 40, zero out of focus. It really was spot on just about every time. 
Now the Fuji X-S20, it had problems at one point. And it was the same spot. There’s that transition area which is always hard when you get into the transition to full body into kind of a waist up, you lost one there. And then it would lose one when it got closer when it already had the focus. So I thought that was interesting. But again, out of 30, I lost two. So it really, I lost two out of 30. Whereas with the Sony I didn’t lose any. 
So the Sony definitely has a superior autofocus. But when I say superior, we’re talking about 98 versus 100%. So pretty close. So there’s a look at the images with autofocus. The Sony definitely edged out the Fuji because it was on every single time. The Fuji was having a hard time losing two to four Images each time I’d shoot the test out of 30 or 40. And so really the Sony edged out the Fuji when it comes to autofocus for stills.
So let’s take a look at continuous shooting. The Sony a6700 will give you 11 frames per second up to 59 raw images but a thousand jpegs. That’s pretty amazing. Whereas the Fujifilm will only give you eight frames per second up to 35 raw images. So it doesn’t give you as many raw images as you get with the Sony. But it will give you unlimited jpegs. You can just keep shooting forever. And you can, you can just keep shooting forever if you’re shooting jpegs.
But when it comes to raw you don’t have as many raws you can shoot before it buffers out. When it comes to the electronic shutter the a6700 is still 11 frames per second. It does give you the ability to go to higher shutter speed in that electronic shutter. But it’s going to give you 59 raw, same, and a thousand in the jpeg. So very much the same in electronic or mechanical. The only advantage with the electronic with the a6700 is you do have faster shutter speeds, like up to 1/8,000th of a second. Now the Fuji has 20 frames a second in that electronic shutter. But only 28 raw. Up to 28 raw or 256 jpegs. So you can shoot more frames per second but it’s going to buffer out at 256 jpegs or 28 raws. So you basically get a second worth of raw images on the Fujifilm in electronic shutter before it’s going to have to re-buffer. You can go to 30 frames a second electronic shutter on the Fujifilm. But it’s going to give you a slight crop. So that becomes a push and a pull. It’s a little better here for frames per second. But it’s going to give you unlimited jpegs. You can go to 30 frames a second, but it buffers out. So basically, I think these two are head to head when it comes to frames per second continuous shooting.
Let’s take a look at the autofocus video tests. When it comes to video autofocus with these two cameras. Look at this, you see the Fujifilm, you see the Sony. They kind of both, I mean, they’re both very good actually. I was very impressed with how they held the focus. There’s just a point in there where you see a little bit of focus shift when she comes towards you. You know, as far as usable clip, absolutely! There isn’t, both of these clips are very usable. I think the autofocus looked really good in video mode. 
When I look at these two clips the video autofocus is very much the same. It really is. They’re both very good. I was surprised at how well these two cameras did with each other. I think the Sony did edge out the Fujifilm just slightly. But it’s very slight. You see them tracking very easily. You see the person turning around. 
It’s a very comfortable kind of focused look. It doesn’t ever feel like it’s jerking. I thought it looked really good with both these cameras. I’m going to give them a tie when it comes to autofocus in the video mode.
All right, let’s take a look at video modes. This is a major step up for the X-S20 because it really jumps up from the X-S10 into some really good video modes and the ability to shoot great video. You get an H.264 in All-I which is a great codec. We’re getting a 10 bit 4:2:2 which gives you a beautiful bit depth. You got 10 bit 4:2:2 and 4:2:0 in 8-bit. You have a 6K up to 24 and 30 and 60 frames. 
So it just gives you great, great video. I was very impressed with the video. It looks beautiful. It has a beautiful picture, a beautiful color, it is amazing. The Sony also has great video specs. It’s got the XAVC in 4:2:2 and 4:2:0 8-bit and 10-bit. It also gives you an XAVC S-I which gives you an All-I codec that’s going to give you great quality. It does take a lot of space to move all that imagery around, but it’s excellent. It gives you 4K in 24, 30 and 60 frames a second. So these two cameras are way closer than I thought they would be. We have an H.264 on the Fuji in Long GOP and we have an All-I, an All-Intra which is really a great codec. So these two cameras actually come closer together than I’ve seen on any of the other cameras in this price range. And I think they compete extremely well with one another. So I’m going to say that video wise these specs are so similar to me. And give you kind of a little push and pull that they’re pretty tied for me.
There are no record limits on these two cameras. I guess the only thing that would really limit them would be heat. I’ve not had an experience where either of these have overheated when we’ve been shooting. You do have a fan system in the X-S20 that’s been brought over the from the X-H2. And that fan system does help cool this camera. That gives you longer running time and gives you a great cool system to be able to keep it running. But we’ve not experienced any kind of over-heating with this. Not that we’ve really pushed it to any kind of limits. But there you go, record limits. No record limits.
Both of these cameras shoot log. Which means they’re tied. You can upload LUTs to the a6700 but you can’t to the Fujifilm X-S20.
Both of these cameras allow for external recording. The a6700 is going to give you a 10-bit 4:2:2 in 4k up to 24 and 30 frames per second. Whereas the Fujifilm is going to give you Pro-res at 12-bit 6K up to 30 frames a second. So it does have better options when it comes to the external recordings. So it really has excellent external recording. So I’m going to say the Fuji definitely wins out when it comes to external recording.
Both of these cameras have a micro HDMI output.
Let’s take a look at the image stabilization of these two cameras. When I look at the image stabilization of these two cameras I’m not very impressed with either of them. It’s very jumpy. Here’s the two of them not in boost mode and I just I feel a lot of movement in both of them. I don’t feel like either of them has a very strong showing here. When I go to boost mode they are better, but still they aren’t amazing. 
Obviously these two cameras are not Panasonic when it comes to that stabilization. And I’m not so sure either of these really excel in that category. Let’s take a look at the image stabilization of these two cameras. 
They both have sensor shift, 5-axis stabilization. But when we look at it I am not in love with it, even when you boost it. I don’t feel like it’s amazing. It is definitely better, but I don’t love either of them. I’m going to give them a tie and not in a great way.
So let’s take a look at the ISO with these two cameras. 
We’re going to start at 400 ISO because generally before that you don’t see a lot of difference. I’m going to look at her eye and then I’m going to look at a little section of the bookshelf in the back that has a dark shadow. Looking at her eye and her skin they both look pretty clean. Maybe a little bit more noise with the Sony. But when I look up at the bookshelf in this little shadow up here in that bookshelf and shadow area, I can see a little more pronounced grain with a Sony.
Let’s see what happens when we go to the 800 ISO. At 800 ISO now I look at her eye and her forehead. You start to see a little more grain building with the Sony, especially when we look up at that shadow area in the background. The noise is definitely more pronounced at 800 ISO with the Sony. 
Now we go to 1600 ISO. Look at her eye first. So that eye right there you start to see it. Look at the transition in the shadows. From the highlights to shadows we start to see that kind of banding start to happen or that kind of hard transition. Whereas on the Fuji I’m getting a nicer transition at 1600 ISO. If I look up at the shadows in the background you definitely see the noise. But it’s much more pronounced on the Sony. 
Now let’s go to 3200 ISO. Look at her eye first here and you start seeing the, you’re seeing the digital noise. You’re seeing it start to go from highlight to shadow very quickly. On the Sony you do for sure. The Fuji is not quite as abrupt when we look at the background on these two cameras. The noise level is very obvious. The Sony is a little more noisy. The Fuji is just a little cleaner. That’s at 3200 ISO. 
Let’s go to 6400 ISO. Now at 6400 ISO, looking at her eye, I mean, we’re seeing a lot of digital noise now. The Sony is definitely ahead by quite a bit. It’s much more noisy when we look up at the shadows back there. Look at the noise and it’s just more pronounced. It’s sharper. Which the Sony is just a little sharper overall. And we’re seeing that in this noise in the background. 
Let’s go up to 12,800 ISO. At 12,800 they’re all having, they’re both having problems. We see really pronounced noise. Something very much like a stipple painting at that point. But the noise level on the Sony is beyond the X-S20. The Fuji X-S20 has really performed very well in each one of these speeds. It’s been slightly ahead of the Sony. 
And certainly when we get to 25,600 ISO they are both just noise everywhere. And at that point they’re pretty much the same. I think it’s kind of bottom out the same. The Fujifilm did really well. I was pleased with how clean it looked. It really avoided any kind of artifacting and looked almost a stop or more better than the Sony. So we’re going to give it to the Fujifilm.
All right, let’s take a look at the dynamic range here between these two cameras. This first image was shot using a meter at the same exposure. 
Definitely the Sony is much brighter in the background. We’re losing the highlight and the background in this image. 
But let’s jump and take a look at a minus one. At a minus one they’re pretty similar. The Sony’s a little brighter in the background than the Fuji, just slightly.
Let’s go to -2. Again, the Sony is just a little brighter in the background than the Fuji. The Fuji’s holding more of that information outside that window.
At -3, again the Sony’s a little brighter in the background, not holding quite as much detail. Whereas the Fuji is holding a little more detail.
If we look now at -4 we’re really underexposing. We take a look here at the digital noise it starts to create. At -4 you see the digital noise around her eyes. And the skin tones, the color’s been pretty consistent. It hasn’t shifted too badly as we’ve gone to minus four.
When we go to plus one these two cameras just are both of them really struggling. Actually, I think the Sony’s probably at least looking better on her skin tone and her skin is not shifting quite as much as the Fujifilm. 
So at plus two neither of these images are usable. The color has really shifted on the Fujifilm. It has kind of a yellowish look. It started to posterize. The color is holding a little better on the Sony. But the background of these cameras is blown out on the Fujifilm. But not quite as much so on the Sony. 
If we go to plus three again, just the Fujifilm has just gone completely white in the background. Whereas the Sony is holding a little bit of detail, tiny bit of detail in the whites back there. But definitely holding more than the Fujifilm. So if we look at these compared to each other, the Sony does a little better on the high end. The Fujifilm does a little better on the low end. The Fuji edged out the Sony. It really did. You saw greater detail in the shot in the highlights. It really edged out the Sony. Excellent job Fujifilm.
My conclusion about these two cameras is that they come in at a great place with great video specs. It’s interesting how both these manufacturers are bringing their video specs up making these respectable video cameras. Which makes sense because if you’re a vlogger, if you’re doing any kind of simple video, these cameras become workable video cameras. Both of them, they are head to head when it comes to video specs. And I love the specs that come in each of these cameras. To be able to go to an external recorder they really make a step towards a higher end kind of APS-c sensor camera. So I’m pleased with both of them. I think you make a decision on these really based on what world you’re in already. And I say that most of the time if you’re really in the Sony World already and you have the lenses then the a6700 is a great step up. But if you’re in the Fujifilm ecosystem and you have the lenses and you’re going to stay there, this is a good upgrade when it comes to video specs and things on this camera. If you’re starting out and you’re looking for a mid-range APS-c sensor you’re going to have to handle these two cameras to really see what works for you and what feels comfortable to you. You need to put your eye up to the EVF. You need to be able to use the dials and see which one works because they are very different in how they react. In a lot of ways I like the more traditional mirrorless type camera dials and things on the Fujifilm X-S20. But a lot of people love that 6000 series. So the a6700 really gives you a compact form factor that a lot of people love. Weight wise these are the same. Which is interesting to me. So they both become a travel, a good travel, compact lightweight, camera. I hope you’ve enjoyed this comparison. If you want to see other things like this check these out. And keep those cameras rollin’ and keep on clickin’!
My name is Rob Verdi and I love to play the saxophone. What really makes the magic for me is when there’s a little girl that has a birthday pin on. And she’s just gleaming. And she wants that attention. And I’ll go down on one knee and I’ll play happy birthday for her. And that will make it for her and make it for me. 
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