52 29 February 2020I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI subscribe 0330 333 1113
Nominees■CanonEOS250D
■ Nikon D3500Nominees■FujifilmX-T30
■NikonZ 50
■ Panasonic Lumix G90Canon EOS 250D
Fujifilm X-T30
Consumer Camera of the Year
Enthusiast Camera of the Year
THEMOSTadvancedmodelof
Canon’strioof entry-levelDSLRs,
andoneof thesmallestDSLRson
themarket,theEOD250Dplaces
technologyborrowedfromthe
mirrorlessEOSM50intoa
compactyetwell-featuredbody.
Asa resultit strikesa great
balancebetweenusabilityand
portability,bothwhenshooting
stillsthroughtheviewfinderand
4KvideousingthearticulatedLCD.
Indeedthisgenerouslyfeatured,
easy-to-useentry-levelmodel
hasa lotgoingforit. It’sequipped
witha rangeof novice-friendly
featuresincludingitsbuilt-in
GuidedModeandCreativeFilters,and
there’splentyformoreadvancedphotography
too.It’scapableof shootingat fiveframesper
second,whileCanon’sDualPixelCMOSsensor
providesexcellentAFperformanceandsubject
trackingwhenusedin liveview.
Overallimagequalityis verygood,delivering
vibrantcoloursandenoughfinedetailtomake
large prints. A generous set of in-cameraprocessingtoolsallowyouto
edityourimageswithoutthe
needfora computer,whilebuilt-
BluetoothandWi-Ficonnectivity
themtobeeasilytransferredtoyour
smartphoneforeasysharing.Theresultis a really
wellroundedoverallpackagethat’sgreatfor
those just getting started in photography.FUJIFILM’Sso-called‘littlegiant’is a
smaller,lighterandmoreaffordable
alternativetothefabulousX-T3.It
employsthesame26.1MPX-Trans
CMOS4 sensor,includesa sophisticated
425-pointautofocussystemwith
reliablefaceandeyedetection,andis
capableof shootingasfastas 30 frames
persecond.Forthoseinterestedin
video,4Krecordingis onofferat
upto30fps.
Despiteitsdiminutivesize,theX-T30
handlesexceptionallywell.Itsintuitive
userinterfaceis basedaround
traditionalanaloguedials,withthe
welcomeadditionof a joystick
controllerforfastandintuitive
repositioningof theautofocuspoint.
Imagequalityis superbin bothrawandJPEG,
aidedbyFujifilm’speerlessFilmSimulationmodes,
whichallowyoutoapplya widerangeof attractive
colourandmonochromelookstoyourpictures.
Allthingsconsidered,theX-T30is a marvellous
mirrorlesscamera.It providesanexcellentspecand
performance,whilepreservingthecharmandcharisma
of the X-series. It’s highly versatile, proving itself to be
justascapableshootingstaticsubjectssuchas
landscapesasit is portraitureandhigh-speedaction,
sportorwildlife.Itspetitesizemeansit takesupvery
littlespacein a camerabag.Thosewhodochooseit will
fall in love instantly and won’t want to stop using it.Whywelikeit
●Excellentimagequality
●Generouslyfeatured
●Smallandlightweight
●Capableof4Kvideocapture
●Fullyarticulated
touchscreen
Whywelikeit
●Intuitiveanaloguecontrols
●AFcontroljoystick
●Sophisticatedautofocus
●In-cameraUSB-C
batterycharging
● Superb JPEG colour output