PHOTO QUALITY. This 16-megapixel mirrorless camera captured images with very good quality. Pictures were very sharp, which means you can see even tiny details and very subtle patterns in the image. In low-light situations without a flash, pictures were sharp. We judged this model excellent for outdoor performance, such as shooting landscapes in the daytime; excellent for indoor performance, such as photographing a well-lit basketball game in a gym; very good for performance under natural light without a flash, such as shooting under an overcast sky; and very good for low-light performance without a flash, such as capturing a birthday party. Photos taken in our low-light performance tests displayed very little image noise; subjects retained correct detail and color.
FLASH. The X-A2 with the 16-50mm kit lens captured flash shots that were very good. In our distance test, we found the camera's flash could illuminate subjects very well, both near and far. The flash also has very good, even coverage.
LENS. This camera has a standard 3x optical zoom lens. The lens also has very wide-angle (24mm) capability that's very useful for landscapes and group portraits, although you may notice a bit of distortion when you're shooting faces up close, for instance.
IMAGE STABILIZER. This is an important feature; taking hand-held shots at the telephoto end of the zoom range can generally blur or soften images due to the slight movement of your hands. In low-light settings, it performed excellently and almost never produced blurry photos.
SPEED. In terms of performance, the Fujifilm X-A2 powers up very quickly.
VIDEO. The Fujifilm X-A2 takes good video, lower quality than some other in its class. It captures full HD video at 1920 x 1080 30p. As for sound, it captures good audio in stereo.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS. Unlike most mirrorless, this camera does not include a viewfinder, which means you'll need to rely on the LCD to compose your photo or video. Although it has a display with 920,000 pixels, which should make it sharper than most in its class, we didn't find that the display stood out from the pack. The display also swivels; this can be helpful when shooting self-portraits or hard-to-reach shots. Like all cameras of this kind, it can capture RAW files, which gives you the most flexibility when manipulating image files with software, and has a hot shoe for attaching an external flash (generally sold separately). Even though this is a small and light mirrorless, it was somewhat difficult to control and to take pictures with.
