REVIEW: X-Pro2 Does Rally X-Treme

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X-Pro2 + XF50-140mm - 1/250s @ f2.8 ISO800
Yesterday I decided to attend the Snowman Rally near Inverness with a view to test the X-Pro2 in a motorsport environment.  I knew the forest stages would be a challenge for the X-Pro2's focus system but little did I realise that the weather would throw everything at us - snow, ice, rain and very occasional sunshine; the weather was pretty extreme.

 Now before I start I feel I need to explain something. The reason for the test was NOT to say the X-Pro2 is the latest all singing-all dancing sports professional camera, the X-Pro2 is NOT aimed at sports photographers.  I wanted to see if the improvements that Fujifilm had made to the AF system would cope with the conditions better than the X-T1 and therefore would point the way to future developments of the X-Series.  I also wanted to prove that while the X-Pro2 wasn't aimed at sports photographers, it is quite capable of taking images in these arenas.

 Anyway a 90-minute delay meant we didn't have as long as we hoped to conduct this test as the first car down the final stage of the day was at 16h30 and the light was already failing as the next set of snow / rain clouds approached the area.

 I set the X-Pro2 to zone focusing and AF-C to see if the camera could follow a car.  I used the 50-140mm f2.8 and with the camera set manually to 1/500 @ f2.8 ISO1600 I took a set of images as the first car came towards me in along the forest track.  The X-Pro2 followed the car perfectly, producing a set of eight images all perfectly sharp.

X-Pro2 + XF50-140mm - 1/500s @ f2.8 ISO1600

X-Pro2 + XF50-140mm - 1/500s @ f2.8 ISO1600

X-Pro2 + XF50-140mm - 1/500s @ f2.8 ISO1600

X-Pro2 + XF50-140mm - 1/500s @ f2.8 ISO1600

X-Pro2 + XF50-140mm - 1/500s @ f2.8 ISO1600

X-Pro2 + XF50-140mm - 1/500s @ f2.8 ISO1600

X-Pro2 + XF50-140mm - 1/500s @ f2.8 ISO1600

X-Pro2 + XF50-140mm - 1/500s @ f2.8 ISO1600

I then moved down the track to the hairpin to try the same experiment with a car coming towards me and then going across the frame. 

 I decided to switch to the XF100-400mm and set the X-Pro2 to 1/250s @ f4.7 ISO2000 with the focal length at 125mm.  The results were pretty impressive considering the very poor lighting conditions, the camera only losing the lock on one of the nine shots taken in the sequence.

X-Pro2 + XF100-400mm - 1/250s @ f4.7 ISO2000

X-Pro2 + XF100-400mm - 1/250s @ f4.7 ISO2000

X-Pro2 + XF100-400mm - 1/250s @ f4.7 ISO2000

X-Pro2 + XF100-400mm - 1/250s @ f4.7 ISO2000

X-Pro2 + XF100-400mm - 1/250s @ f4.7 ISO2000

X-Pro2 + XF100-400mm - 1/250s @ f4.7 ISO2000

X-Pro2 + XF100-400mm - 1/250s @ f4.7 ISO2000

X-Pro2 + XF100-400mm - 1/250s @ f4.7 ISO2000

I then shot some head on shots of cars using the long end of the 100-400mm f4.5/5.6.  Here are three examples of the X-Pro2 fitted with the 100-400mm.  1/250 @ f5.6 ISO2000

X-Pro2 + XF100-400mm - 1/250s @ f5.6 ISO2000

X-Pro2 + XF100-400mm - 1/250s @ f5.6 ISO2000

X-Pro2 + XF100-400mm - 1/250s @ f5.6 ISO2000

X-Pro2 + XF100-400mm - 1/250s @ f5.6 ISO2000

As the light continued to drop the sleet returned and the 100-400mm had to be put away.  I swapped to the 90mm f2 prime lens which gave me an extra stop over the 50-140mm to play with. Not only did the light present a challenge, the wet and windy conditions were a good test of Fujifilm's weather proofing and I can report that the X-Pro2, and the lenses, stood up to the challenge well and never missed a beat.

 The first two shots below were shot on the 90mm with the exposure set at 1/125s @ f2 ISO2000.

X-Pro2 + XF90mm - 1/125s @ f2 ISO2000

X-Pro2 + XF90mm - 1/125s @ f2 ISO2000

The final shots were taken on the X-Pro2 and 90mm with the exposure set to 1/30s @ f2 ISO800 to get lots of movement in the cars as they sped across the frame and up the hill.
X-Pro2 + XF90mm - 1/30s @ f2 ISO800

X-Pro2 + XF90mm - 1/30s @ f2 ISO800
X-Pro2 + XF90mm - 1/30s @ f2 ISO800

X-Pro2 + XF90mm - 1/30s @ f2 ISO800

Conclusion
I would've liked to have had longer to take more test images and in more locations but we arrived late in Inverness due to the blizzard conditions in the Highlands and this also meant we had a long and hazardous journey back to East Lothian during the evening. We had to make a decision to only cover the final stage and the 90 minute delay due to a fire on SS2 earlier in the day meant we had limited time to take these images.

 All of the shots on this blog were taken on the X-Pro2 with the AF set to AF-C and Zone focusing selected.  The camera's drive mode was set to Continuous High (8fps) and images were saved in RAW and JPEG (Velvia).  I used the EVF on the X-Pro2 as the OVF was not really usable with the long lenses I was using for this test.

The X-Pro2 produced some great images in some very challenging light and weather conditions.  I ran the X-T1 alongside the X-Pro2 and I have to report that the AF on the X-Pro2 did a better job of following the cars.  

The 100-400mm was also very good in the challenging conditions but as soon as the light faded I had to switch to a faster lens.  I will be trying the X-Pro2 and 100-400mm combination in more future tests on fast moving subjects.

The 50-140mm f2.8 was the most flexible lens to use as I was close enough to the track to fill the frame with the cars and the faster f2.8 meant I didn't have to push the ISO as much to maintain a higher shutter speed.

 The weather proofing on the X-Pro2 was tested by the changeable conditions and the new camera and the three lenses never missed a beat even in the driving rain and sleet.

The hit rate of usable shots was above average for the lighting conditions I faced and I would be happy to use the X-Pro2 at future sporting events.

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