So after shooting with my Fuji X-E2 for about 3 weeks now, I figured I can update the thread on my findings with respect to my initial concerns (in the quote). Overall, I'm very happy I moved to mirrorless as it has made shooting much more about having fun as opposed to having the mindset of "well you have a DSLR, so you better damn well have the perfect shot".

Things I love about mirrorless (*- will denote Fuji-specific items)

1. IQ compared to my outgoing full-frame 6D is comparable, if not identical. I don't pixel peep, so ymmv. But ISO performance is almost on par (given Fuji's X-Trans is supposedly "ISOLess", I'm really only seeing about a stop of ISO performance loss compared to the 6D, which was a revalation moving from Canon crop (50D))
2. Everything is so small! I love being able to bring everything in my arsenal and still come in at less than the weight of a 6D and 1-2 lenses. This has improved my enjoyment of taking photos by a huge amount.
3. I've been able to rejig my bag to have 2 camera bags as storage, then 1 bag for solely flash items. Before, I used to have these lying in random places. Mirrorless just takes up so much less storage space.
4. WYSIWYG shooting. Honestly, I thought I would hate an EVF. After using the Fuji one for a while (I suspect newer EVFs are similar), the only lag is in low-light, or just after camera start-up. They work REALLY well, and the fact that you can preview exposure BEFORE taking the shot has led me to really think about what I want in the photo before taking it. This has led to much less PP time, which leads to more shooting time. It's win-win all around.
5. Manual focus has gone from "holy crap I have to use MF???? that sucks!" to "omg MF is so fun because it's so damn easy!". MF aids like peaking and split image focusing really give mirrorless a leg up with manual focusing compared to DSLRs. There's just no disputing that, IMO. This will breathe new life into any old lens you might want to adapt to your appropriate system.
6. *Flashes really aren't an issue. Whatever worked with Canon works with Fuji as well. My YN triggers and flashes all work flawlessly (manual power, of course).
7. *With the Fuji system, I'm really not missing full frame at all. The lenses are smaller, and IMO on par if not better than their Canon counterparts. Yes I lose a bit of cropping power with only 16mp, but back with a crop factor has somewhat mitigated that loss.
8. *JPEGs out of the Fuji are really something else. I'm probably drinking the kool-aid, but there's something about the way they're processed which makes me very impressed. More than ever, I've started to use SOOC JPEGs for really quick and informal shots. Again, this saves on PP time which is always welcome.
9. *Firmware updates. Some people may see this as "Fuji outputting a beta product and fixing it with f/w". I could see that being the case if they weren't trickling down their newest features from higher-tiered products down into older models (to an extent). Yes they're fixing bugs (as all other manufacturers do), but no other manufacturer seems to be as adept to adding features to their older cameras. To me, that builds customer relationships better than any product can.
10. *Lastly, the look, feel, and build quality of Fuji really is great. Having shopped around for other cameras when moving away from FF, the only camera that comes close to the same fit and finish is the OM-D series, specifically the EM-1. From body to lenses, you can tell that Fuji engineers really care about how everything looks, feels, and plays.

No things aren't so rosy with Fuji. I've had to make quite a number of compromises moving away from DSLR, some of which still irk me and will continue to do so until Fuji outputs a better product than what's currently available:

1. *AF performance for action (focus acquisition, continuous focus performance, tracking) is horrible on the Fuji. This was mostly the reason why I fought so hard with getting the a6000 instead. The AF performance leaves a lot to be desired if your subject is moving. Static one-time AF is more than fine (still slightly slower than DSLR), but oh man don't think you'll be shooting much sports or action with this camera.
2. *Low light focus performance is pretty bad. Lots of hunting at apertures <2.8.
3. Battery life is HORRIBLE! I knew this going in, and even opted to buy 2 Wasabi batteries (which last longer than OEM btw) right from the get go. After 3 weeks of learning around the camera, I've come to the conclusion that another 2 will be ordered shortly. You're good to about 200 shots then you need to switch. This will be a huge shock for anyone moving from a DSLR. Probably the biggest shock.
4. Lens selection- I think this is pretty obvious. Only m4/3rds has the lens selection to rival Canikon (even to the point of having specialty lenses). If you need a specific lens, you're looking at adapters, or praying that you'll have an equivalent. (For me this isn't an issue as I was downsizing my kit anyways).
5. An EVF still can't match an OVF (duh) when you need to move the camera around in view.
6. *In post, the Fuji files seem to have very little "leeway" when working with the sliders in LR. For example, moving the white balance slider x amount will have a bigger effect with the Fuji raw files compared to my Canon files. This means that you can't be as precise with your slider amounts with the Fuji. I imagine this is only a Fuji issue, given it's using a more unique sensor compared to everyone else.
7. *This may be a deal-breaker for some, but for some reason the X-E2 (along with X-T1 and x100s) seem to apply excessive noise reduction at ISO >3200 even to the RAW files, resulting in "waxy" skin texture. The RAWs aren't as bad, but it's noticeable. It's definitely noticeable in the SOOC JPEGs, so if you don't shoot RAW it's worth keeping this in mind. The older sensor (X-E1, x100, xpro1) do not have this issue. I really hope Fuji fixes this with a firmware update.

That's pretty much it. Most of my concerns weren't really a big deal after all (some were bigger than I thought, conversely). Things like long-lenses are being fixed with Fuji releasing a 150-600 equivalent rival. I doubt they'll go into super-teles, at least not while their AF performance is so bad.

If anyone has any other questions that I didn't cover, feel free to ask. I also look forward to other people's experiences making the move from DSLR to mirrorless.


TL;DR: If you need focus performance for action/sports, stick with a DSLR. Otherwise mirrorless is the bees-knees for most other shooting scenerios. And it's more fun too!

The original plan I had was to buy a used EOS-M with a 22mm f/2 pancake just to hold me over until a "better" FF came out. I have to say after 3 weeks after having this thing - I love it! I stopped looking for another camera all together. I've been using this as my everyday camera and have taken some great shots with it.

IQ is amazing (prime lens), its small, portable, and very discrete (looks like a point and shoot). Because of the size of this thing, I've probably taken twice as many pics as I ever did with my DSLR.

Auto focus is a tad slow, but i'm sure in a couple of years mirrorless will be on par with DSLRs. For now, I'll concentrate on my photog skills.

Very happy with the EOS-M - paid a low price for this and I can still use my EF/EF-S lenses.

Glad to hear it worked out for you!

A bit of an old bump, but I figured I'd update this thread with some big Fuji news.

For my particular camera (XE2), a huge fw update has been released to fix most of the initial issues that I had with the camera coming from a 6D (bolded in spoiler).

The only things that remain on my initial complaints list was battery life still being horrible (can't be helped), and excessive noise reduction at high-iso. The latter I doubt will get fixed in the XE2, but seems to be a non-issue with the new XPRO2.

Looking ahead, it looks like Fuji has both improved where they were lacking (as expressed with the XPRO2), and kept existing customers ecstatic with new fw updates. My XE2 is *almost* my perfect camera now. Now the long wait for a potential XE3 :)

sweet
always nice when companies are still pushing out updates years after release.

did the video capability improve? What's the max bitrate? I know xpro2 is a respectable 36Mbps...I would say a conflict of interest using sony a7sii to shoot this video though :(

Picked up a Panagor 135mm f/2.8 m42 mount lens yesterday for $20, mint condition, made in Japan =D

https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...76489974_o.jpg

Currently have a Sony nex5r. Looking to sell and possibly upgrade to the A6000. I just take occasional photos nothing crazy, any recommendations for other cameras? What do you think I could ask for my nex 5r with just the 18-55mm, In about 8/10 condition.

what do you hope to gain from new camera?

for the occasional photo 5r to a6k it's not a big jump to be worth it. If video, AF, low-light is not a priority then hold onto your current one. I'm just extrapolating this from NEX-6 though since it's pretty much a 5R with EVF.