Fujifilm X-H2S: A Very Nerdy Review & Technical Guide

Selling Sony a7c, canon r8 and pana s5.. getting this one to replace 3 jokers.

When you talk about native ISO, you say 1250, but write 2500. :)) Great video!

Damn such a smooth AD transition😂😂

dynamic range is everything for video - I'd say.
I mean... dynamic range, and the handling of both highlights and the darker areas is what makes a video that extra bit of cinematic look (besides of course the physical lighting skills), right?

By FAR the best review about this camera and Flog/Flog2. Please let us know your Braw experience with this camera. I'm thinking to get Video Asist 12G, But some people are talking about hot pixels they get. I wonder if you had the same experience.

Me: I know cameras
Gerald: so the Dynamic range at these settings is .2 stops of light different than this setting, but if you……
Me: 🤯

Impressive!
I think Fuji XH2S, XH2, XT5, XS20, Nikon Z9 / Z8, Panasonic S5IIX and Canon R8 are the cameras that are changing the price / quality ratio for good. And i think until 2025 we will have a lot of new relases that will change the camera market

If using Ninja V to record ProRes from XH2S set to video range and flog2 - should Ninja V be set to legalize or not?

Really great review, is it right to suppose that -3 for NR and sharpness = no processing and not software softnening? On Sony I remember lower value was not usable as camera forced soft picture and not unprocessed picture. And what about video levels on H265, better full range? However thank you for this deep and technical useful review.

Gerald does this apply to photography also.

-4 Nr

Then sort It after and you get a clean image with no resolution loss.

Gerald, love your technical review as always, it's one of the reasons I bought this camera and truely fall in love with recording video. Don't know if you still have this camera or not, I was wondering if you can test the externally recorded braw output, consider blackmagic update their braw sdk, and it works perfectly on Panasonic S5IIX. In my experience with X-H2S braw though, I notice that the camera doesn't output log image to recorder, rather a graded image, camera hdmi setting show PROVIA(camera and hdmi), so the exposure tools recorders have are not working properly. Also, when recording raw externally, the iso range is restricted between 1000 and 12000(just like in the HLG mode, strange), and it seems like this applied to all the fuji camera that can recording braw, including the newer X-S20.

Gerald, your reviews are truly excellent. I think you strike an impressive balance of technical details and advice for real world practical application, as well as some subjective impressions mixed in, but you always give context to subjective remarks so that it’s super easy to gauge how relevant a certain aspect of a piece of kit would be for one’s own application. I’m absolutely amazed once again.

Just out of curiosity, why did you choose h265 instead of pr422hq for the dr test? @geraldundone

Okay, data level question. Since I work in Resolve, I can specify full levels even on a ProRes clip (though it will auto to video levels). Is there any advantage to doing this? Do I gain anything using "full"? It sounds like there would be more precision in full, but maybe I am misunderstanding. Is full vs video just two different ways of mapping the exact same info?

i wish he would review the autofocus again after the firmware update

When you mention doing NR in post with DaVinci Resolve, were you specifically using the basic NR available in the free version or the fancier ones in the paid? (I guess this question applies to your other reviews too)

11/10 content as usual. Would you be able to explain "full range" vs "video range" and how that interacts with various codecs in a future video? Information on the subject seems to be sparce!

Another amazing scientific analysis. Thank you. I just got the X-H2S, and coming for an X-T4 I was overwhelmed with the video codecs and compression rates just like you described, and also noticed that FLOG2 is noisier than FLOG. Can you recommend a reference for what bit rates are needed vs frame rates for the various codecs? That would be helpful. Also, would exposing to the right in FLOG2 reduce the noise in your opinion? Many thanks.

Where did you get the Imatest software from? Is it freely available or did you purchase it? The one I saw on their website is ultra expensive.

Great review, thank you. 9 months on, and with several firmware updates, I was wondering how many of the issues you mentioned do you believe have been resolved?

I wish it was smaller.

Could you make a test X-H2s with Blackmagic video assist and Atomos. 
Compare F-log2 to raw and all benefits with external recorder. 
I heard that external recorders use a dynamic range of f-log (1) Why? 
It's a chance to update software in recorder or upgrade a hardware to have f-log 2 Raw? 
Could you record 4k 120p without cropp?

Also I'am interesting about X-T4 and Blackmagic video assist (12g HDR). I can't find a spec for recording with this camera. It is work?

If you can't make a video on the subject, I'd be happy to have a written response in the comments. 
Thanks for your work.

Great review! Can you revisit the XH2S for the new firmware 3.0?

What lens did you use for the moon shot?

Dude, you are a genius with these reviews. I shoot all of my content on the Fuji X-T4 and this was super helpful.

Hey Gerald, which of the 3 new fuji cameras has the highest dynamic range for still photography? The charts ive been seeing say both new X trans 5 sensors have less DR for stills than the X-T4&3. Does that sound right? I thought XH2S would have the most DR in stills because of the fast bitrate

When is Fuji going to put out a 'Cinema' style camera body with ND and XLRs already... I'd switch from Sony instantly.

I've heard different things as to what -4 sharpness and NR mean. a Fuji person told me that is actually altering the raw signal and "softening" the image, and that 0 is "clean". i was inclined to assume they didn't know what they were talking about. however it begs the question as to why the scale isnt 0-8and is instead -4 through +4???? Anyone please add their two cents as I own an X-T3 and would want the cleanest raw signal i can get without software muckery. comments....

Can you do a follow up on autofocus with the 3.00 firmware? It's supposed to be "greatly improved."
Thanks again for the awesome videos!

With the Fujifilm you can use manual lenses and a gimbal. With the other two you cannot do anything about the poor rolling shutter and dynamic range…

Hey Gerald, as always an amazing review. I recently bought my XH2s and have a quick question. When you've been testing FLOG 2, I assume you've been using Davinci, what method you chose for converting it to rec.709? I did notice Davinci does not yet have FLOG 2 in its colour space transform tool.

what happens if you shoot ProRes with full data range levels?

Another incredible and comprehensive review!
-PD

need a fx30 vs h2s comparison

X-H2S or X-T4 what do you choose?

Sony please fix rolling shutter

The XH2S and XH2 are great cameras with those 14+ stops of dynamic range score by using davinci resolve noise reduction. But the noise quality and appearace should be taken with a grain of salt. Some would like its fine, sharp, and gritty looking noise but some would probably also prefer blocky but softer noise like what other camera brands produce. It all boils down to your style and its features are outstanding for a 26mp camera.

This 14+ stops of dynamic range is very interesting. I wonder what will it do with the details on normal lighting or human subjects. Can you make a comparison using a human subject or on a birghter light environment? It would be very impressive for fuji if those scenarios still produce a good dynamic range with still good details. I just hope this camera is not doing extreme under the hood noise reduction even when the in body noise reduction is turned off at the cost of details.

I don't even own any fuji let alone this camera, but I watched the full video just because the nerdy reviews are so fascinating

video assist 12g is unusable with x-h2s i low light situation. Blacks crushes so hard u cant see anything, dark grey screen only. Latest FW on both camera and recorder and still using RAW feels so raw. Does fujifilms kaizen philosophy still works i wonder...

As of this comment, it's soon going to get a recording box on the screen via firmware. Red for regular and blue for slo-mo.(First introduced in the XT5.) (Surmising by the XT5 video on FujiGuys.)

How does shooting in HLG affect rolling shutter?

XH2s vs FX30 please!! 🙏🏼

maybe it is just me but i find the Braw results of the XHS2 more than just disappointing.
Compared to my old BMPCC6K (which is over three years old now) this cam produces the most noisy and unflexible braw i have ever seen. So maybe i am doing something extremely wrong but the results from my BMVA 12G 5“ are nearly unusable if the shadows are just slightly too dark. whith the Bmpcc6k depending on the light i could give it plus 2 or even three stops and then clean up the noise.
Trying just half a stop with the XH2S results in nearly uncleanable noise.

Is it just me or are the results just crap.

Prores 422 HQ works fine on my atomos ninja v but is obviously preprocessed by the cam.

i bought the video assist, since i mainly work in DR. But at the moment all of this feels like a waste of money :-/

Anyone any input?