My Fujifilm X-E5 Broke Within 6 Months

I had the X-E5 pre-ordered for launch late last year, mine arrived in late September. It’s been a nice little camera, very compact, stylish, and takes great photos, my first experience with Fuji’s latest x-trans sensor.

I headed out for a winter photowalk yesterday and on pulling the X-E5 out of my bag, I found one end of the strap was detached from the body. The actual lug it attaches to had completely pulled out of the body. Really strange, thankfully somehow happened on taking out of my pack and not while wearing it. I popped the other side of the strap off and went out for a handheld shoot.

Within minutes though, something was wrong. The camera was turning off and refusing to turn back on. I tried changing lenses, no luck. I swapped battery and it came back to life for a minute, but then died again. We’re talking dead, absolutely nothing worked, I just heard a subtle click and got a blank screen. I got home and thought maybe it needed to be warmed up (it was a little cold, maybe -4 C), but again, the camera remained dead. I plugged it in to charge and it wouldn’t even do that, the charge light would go right out. My E-X5 was out of commission.

I started researching and as it turns out, the strap problem is a known defect Fujifilm acknowledged back in November. While the notice makes no mention of it, the theory is that the loose screw in the body is shorting out the electronics, and I’m not alone. I remembered a photographer I follow on YouTube, Erin Sarigul had recently made a video about his X-E5 breaking. I didn’t watch it at the time, but went back and found it, lo and behold he experienced the exact same thing, broken strap, and soon after the camera wouldn’t power on.

This is a colossal screw-up by Fujifilm and I’m quite disappointed. I’m out $80 to ship it back for repair insured, and now crossing my fingers they actually fix it properly. Post will be updated as the situation evolves, I’m reasonably confident they will stand by their product and take care of it especially with an acknowledged defect, and within warranty period.