Engineering may seem like a broad term, so I’ll be more specific when it comes to what I expect out of Fujifilm. It relates largely to what they say they can fit in their bodies:

When you compare the X-T3 to the A7iii and A7Riii they are similar body sizes, the X-T3 is larger in some areas, the A7 is larger in others, but overall, the dimensions are pretty similar. The fact that Sony has managed to fit a full frame sensor, IBIS and a battery that has twice the capacity in a camera the same size as the X-T3 is a massive achievement from Sony, and one that Fujifilm can learn from. The X-T3 should have IBIS and it should have a bigger battery. If Sony can do it and do it with a full frame camera, there is no reason why Fujifilm can’t do it with an APS-C body.

Mirrorless is a battery hog, we all know it. Having to buy 10 little batteries at exorbitant pricing just to make it through an event is ridiculous, and there are photographers that do it. At the moment, Fujifilm doesn’t have a huge incentive to fix the problem because users buying more batteries is more revenue, but it won’t be for long. The competitors are producing better cameras with better batteries and these are the kinds of things that will lose Fujifilm market share. When you start to add battery pricing to the equation, the price differential between the A7iii and the X-T3 starts to disappear. Oddly enough, Fujifilm batteries are actually more expensive than the Sony cameras (in Australia at least) despite having nearly half the capacity, not sure why.

There will be naysayers on the IBIS front, but the reality is that IBIS is here to stay. Canon received a lot of abuse for their lack of IBIS in the latest full frame mirrorless cameras. I get tack sharp photos with my A7iii and A7riii with IBIS so the idea that IBIS affects sharpness, frankly speaking, a load of crap. It doesn’t, at least not anymore, and if it does, the camera engineer should take the blame, not the concept.

In the past, we’ve talked about IBIS and bigger batteries on forums previously, there have been many who say they don’t want bigger bodies on their cameras. The point of this article is they shouldn’t have to worry about that. If the Fujifilm engineers were doing their jobs properly, the X-T3 doesn’t need to be the size of the X-H1 to fit all of that in.

Fujifilm, it’s time to up your game and give users what they deserve and stop making excuses about the size of the bodies.