Lingenfelter's 7.0-Liter Upgrade Brings Over 700 HP to C8 Corvette
Lingenfelter Performance Engineering is pushing the limits of the Chevrolet C8 Corvette with its latest high-performance offering: the Eliminator Spec S, a naturally aspirated 7.0-liter LT2 V-8 delivering over 700 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque.
This new powerplant, designed for both the C8 Stingray and the all-wheel-drive E-Ray, is currently the highest-output naturally aspirated engine available for the mid-engine Corvette. On the dyno, the setup produces 577 horsepower and 528 lb-ft of torque at the rear wheels, which Lingenfelter estimates translates to more than 700 hp at the crank.
To achieve this level of performance, Lingenfelter partnered with Callies to develop a set of custom components, including H-beam connecting rods and a forged crankshaft. The engine also features 4.125-inch MAHLE Power Pack pistons, a COMP Cam camshaft tuned for the dual-clutch transmission, and a stock-style oiling and scavenging system to maintain reliability under high loads.
However, this kind of performance doesn't come cheap. The Eliminator Spec S package is priced at $29,950, with additional upgrades available. Buyers can opt for a $2,395 carbon intake manifold, a ported throttle body for $480.95, or a Halltech cold air intake for $795. Exhaust upgrades include a CORSA Xtreme system for $3,978.99 or CORSA headers for $2,495.
With its naturally aspirated design and big-block power, the Lingenfelter Eliminator Spec S offers a compelling alternative for Corvette enthusiasts looking for extreme performance without forced induction.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Engadget
2 hours ago
- Engadget
Oakley Meta glasses review: A familiar formula with some upgrades
If you're at all familiar with Meta's Ray-Ban-branded smart glasses, there won't be many surprises when it comes to its latest Oakley frames. The Oakley Meta glasses rely heavily on what's already been a successful playbook for the company: the style of a popular eyewear brand mixed with juuust enough tech to let you keep your phone in your pocket a little longer. But the Oakley Meta glasses are also the social media company's first collaboration with a non-Ray-Ban brand (though both share a parent company in EssilorLuxottica). And while Meta stays pretty close to the strategy it's used for the last four years, its latest frames offer some hints about its longterm ambitions in the space. Meta has described its Oakley-branded frames as "performance glasses," which isn't entirely surprising given Oakley's longtime association with athletes. But there are only a few actual upgrades compared to the Ray-Ban lineup. The Oakley Meta glasses have a notably longer battery life, both for the glasses themselves and the charging case. They are also able to capture higher quality video than previous versions. With a starting price of nearly $400, though, I'm not sure those upgrades are worth an extra $100 - $200. There are some solid upgrades that will appeal to serious athletes and power users, but they don't quite justify the higher price. $399 at Meta Meta's debut pair of Oakley-branded glasses are based on the brand's HSTN (pronounced how-stuhn) frames and there's really nothing subtle about the design. The first of these is a limited edition version with shiny gold lenses and bright white frames (which Meta inexplicably calls "warm grey"). Like previous Ray-Ban models, they don't look overtly techy, but I still wasn't a big fan of the design. The glasses felt just a little oversized for my face and something about the bright white paired with gold lenses reminded me a little too much of a bug. The color combo also accentuates just how thick the frames are, particularly around the awkwardly wide nosepiece. Karissa Bell for Engadget I posted a selfie on my Instagram Story and polled my friends on what they thought. And while a few politely said they thought I was "pulling them off," the majority said they looked too big for my face. A few told me they looked straight-up weird, and one summed up my feelings pretty well with "something looks off about them." Style is subjective, of course. And depending on your face shape and tolerance for contrasting colors, I could see others enjoying the design. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the HSTN collection, which is coming later this summer, and will hopefully have some more flattering color variations. Looks aside, the glasses function almost identically to the Ray-Ban glasses Meta introduced in 2023. There's a 12-megapixel POV camera over the left eye, and an indicator light over the right that lights up when you snap a photo or start recording a video via the capture button. There are open-ear speakers in the arms so you can listen to music and hear notifications. Much like the Ray-Ban glasses, the speakers here are pretty good at containing the sound so others can't hear when you're listening at lower volumes, but it's definitely noticeable at higher levels. You can control music playback and volume pretty easily, though, with a touchpad on the right side of the glasses. The most important upgrade that comes with the Oakley glasses is the battery. Meta claims the glasses can last up to eight hours with "typical" (non-constant) use and up to 19 on standby. I was able to squeeze a little over five hours of continuous music playback out of the battery in one sitting, which is about an hour better than the Ray-Ban frames. The charging case can provide up to 48 hours of additional runtime, according to Meta. It's been well over a week and I haven't yet had to plug in the case. The charging case is, however, noticeably bigger and heavier than the Ray-Ban case. It's not a dealbreaker, but the case is too big for any of my pockets and just barely fits into my small sling bag. My other gripe with the charging case is the same complaint I had about the Ray-Ban case: there's no way to see the charge level of the case itself. There's a small LED in the front that will change from green to yellow to red based on the battery level, but it's hardly a precise indicator. Karissa Bell for Engadget The other major upgrade is the 12MP camera, which can now shoot in 3K compared to 1080p on previous models. The higher resolution video is, notably, not the default setting, but I appreciated having the option. I could see it being especially useful for creators looking to shoot POV footage, but I mostly use the glasses for still shots rather than video. San Francisco is currently having a record-breaking cold summer so most of my testing has been in fairly overcast conditions. It might be a product of the gray weather, but I found the photos I've shot with the glasses a bit overly saturated for my taste. They looked fine on an Instagram Story, though. The camera has a bit of a wide angle with a 100-degree field of view, so there's still a bit of a learning curve in terms of figuring out how best to frame the shots. Another issue is that it's very easy for a hat or a piece of hair to make it into your photos without realizing. My previous experience with the Ray-Ban Meta glasses meant I was careful to pull my hair back before snapping a picture, but I was bummed to realize after a long bike ride that the visor on my helmet was visible in the frame of every photo and video. It seems like Meta may have a plan to address this: I noticed a setting called "media quality" that's meant to alert you when something is partially obstructing the camera. The feature is apparently still testing, though, and it wasn't functional. A Meta spokesperson did confirm it would be added in a future update, though. "Media Quality Check is a feature we're working to bring to our AI glasses collection in the future that will alert users when photos are blurry or if something like your hair or a hat blocks what you capture," Meta said. Meta describes this color as "warm grey." The Meta AI app (formerly known as Meta View) can help fix other issues, though. It has a "smart crop" feature that can automatically straighten your pics to correct for any head tilt. It also has built in AI-powered edits for photos and video so you can restyle your clips directly in the app. And while the functionality isn't limited to clips shot with the glasses, the possibility of adding AI edits after the fact makes shooting otherwise mundane clips a bit more appealing. The ability to restyle video, however, is only "free for a limited time," according to the Meta AI app. While the core features of Meta's smart glasses have largely stayed the same since it first introduced the Ray-Ban Stories in 2021, one of the more interesting changes is how Mark Zuckerberg and other execs have shifted from calling them "smart glasses" to "AI glasses." As the company has shifted away from the metaverse and made AI a central focus, it's not surprising those themes would play out in its wearables too. And while none of the Meta AI features are unique to the Oakley frames, Meta has added a couple of abilities since my last review that are worth mentioning. The first is live translation. The feature, which you have to enable in the Meta AI app, allows the onboard assistant to translate speech as you hear it. If both sides of a conversation have a pair of Meta glasses, then you can carry on a full conversation even if you don't speak the same language. The feature currently supports Spanish, French, Italian and English. Karissa Bell for Engadget I tried it out with my husband — a native Spanish speaker who was also wearing a pair of Meta glasses — and we were both fairly impressed. I would say something in English and Meta AI on his glasses would relay it to him in Spanish. He would then respond in Spanish and Meta AI would translate the words into English. It's not the most natural way to speak because you have to pause and wait for a translation, but it was mostly effective. There were a few bugs, though. Because we were sitting close to each other, sometimes Meta AI would overhear the translated audio from the other person's glasses and translate it back, which made the whole thing feel like a bizarre game of telephone. And over the course of a several-minute conversation, there were a handful of times when Meta AI wouldn't pick up on what was said at all, or would only begin translating halfway through a statement. We also encountered some issues with Meta AI's translations when it came to slang or regional variations of certain words. While it wasn't perfect, I could see it being useful while traveling since it's much smoother than using Google Translate. There was also something endlessly amusing about hearing my husband's words relayed back to me by the voice of AI Judi Dench (Meta tapped a bunch of celebrities last year to help voice its AI). Stills from a video of a walk through a parking lot (left), and the same image after using the "desert rave" effect in Meta AI app. (Screenshots (Meta AI)) The other major AI addition is something called "Live AI," which is essentially a real-time version of the glasses' multimodal powers. Once you start a Live AI session, Meta's assistant is able to "see" everything you're looking at and you can ask it questions without having to repeatedly say "hey Meta." For example, you can look at plants and ask it to identify them, or ask about landmarks or your surroundings. The feature can feel a bit gimmicky and it doesn't always work the way you want it to. For example, Meta AI can identify landmarks but it can't help you find them. While on a bike ride, I asked if it could help me navigate somewhere based on the intersection I was at and Meta AI responded that it was unable to help with navigation. It also didn't correctly identify some (admittedly exotic) plants during a walk through San Francisco's botanical gardens. But it did helpfully let me know that I may want to keep my distance from a pack of geese on the path. I'm still not entirely sure what problems these types of multimodal features are meant to solve, but I think it offers an interesting window into how Meta is positioning its smart glasses as an AI-first product. It also opens up some intriguing possibilities whenever we get a version of Meta glasses with an actual display, which the rumor mill suggests could come as soon as this year. While I don't love the style of the Oakley Meta HSTN frames, Meta has shown that it's been consistently able to improve its glasses. The upgrades that come with the new Oakley frames aren't major leaps, but they deliver improvements to core features. Whether those upgrades justify the price, though, depends a lot on how you plan to use the glasses. The special edition HSTN frames I tested are $499 and the other versions coming later this year will start at $399. Considering you can get several models of Meta's Ray-Ban glasses for just $299, I'm not sure the upgrades justify the added cost for most people. That's probably why Meta has positioned these as a "performance" model better suited to athletes and Oakley loyalists. But the glasses do offer a clearer picture of where Meta is going with its smart glasses. We know the company is planning to add displays and, eventually, full augmented reality capabilities — both of which will benefit from better battery life and cameras. Both are also likely to cost a whole lot more than any of the frames we've seen so far. But, if you don't want to wait, the Oakley Meta glasses are the closest you can get to that right now.
CNET
2 hours ago
- CNET
I Saved Hundreds of Dollars by Using Klarna's AI Shopping Assistant. Here's How to Use It
We all have something we want to buy online. I prefer to buy experiences instead of earrings, but I do enjoy adding pieces to my wardrobe. Clothes that last, like timeless Levi's jeans, a black blazer, a warm coat for New York winters, colorful pants to welcome the spring -- I tend to build my outfits around staple pieces I fall in love with. The problem is, these items tend to cost more because they're higher quality. So when I heard that "buy now, pay later" leader Klarna had launched an artificial intelligence shopping assistant that helps compare products to find the best price for you, I was intrigued. It also has access to reviews and is able to answer your questions. What is Klarna's AI tool? Klarna was founded in 2005 and logs about 2 million transactions per day. Its AI shopping assistant is powered by OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT and Dall-E. It's available free in the Klarna app. Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said in an interview with Bloomberg late last year that he believes in AI so much that he thinks "AI can already do all of the jobs that we as humans do." For now, let's see if Klarna AI can help me save on a new black bag for my city coworking days. Setting up with Klarna AI I downloaded the Klarna app and created an account. If you already use Klarna, you can start using the AI assistant immediately -- click on the chat icon in the top right-hand corner. It looks like any other AI chatbot with an "ask a question" section, as well as prepopulated prompts such as "compare Nike and Adidas shoes," "show me the best coffee machines" and "most popular wireless headphones." You can also click on Shop to browse and compare products, alongside the AI assistant. First, I wanted to try out the AI to see how it would do finding me a black bag that's stylish and functional. I needed to replace my Kate Spade handbag that hurts my shoulder when I carry my laptop in it. Klarna/Screenshot by CNET This became my first prompt: "I have a black Kate Spade handbag with a laptop slip. I love the style, but I need to switch to a backpack for better shoulder support. This is a look I like from the brand, Cole Haan. Can you provide similar options, compare the reviews, and find the best option under $300?" Off the bat, it found four options I liked that were $50 to $100 cheaper than the link I supplied. It understood that I was looking for a "chic" backpack. Then I selected the top two and the result came up as out of stock, which was frustrating. I checked one style that was available and Klarna AI generated a graph to help me understand if the price was high, low or standard. Klarna / Screenshot by CNET In my follow-up prompt, I told the Klarna AI that the styles I wanted were out of stock and to provide more options. It asked me to select similar brands I like. I didn't love the second options so next I requested "boho styles" and prepopulated brands to choose. I found one I liked at a good price. But again, it was out of stock. Then I tried a more general prompt: "women's premium leather backpack for work." It did better this time. I asked the AI assistant a question about the size, and it generated the key features, which included "plenty of room to store a 13-inch MacBook Pro." Next, I asked Klarna AI to check the reviews. It told me the product has a 4.7 rating out of five stars, with 379 reviews. I went to the Michael Kors website to verify this, and it was correct. Klarna / Screenshot by CNET I also found that the bag was 80% off. It was $498, marked down to $99. When I started the search for a new bag, I had the $328 Cole Haan backpack in mind but was more than happy to find this $99 Michael Kors alternative that I liked just as much -- and that would save me $229. My verdict on Klarna AI Like other AI tools, Klarna's AI assistant was a fun shopping partner. While Klarna needs to fix some bugs, such as not showing out-of-stock items, it was helpful to be able to chat about a product I was planning to buy. It made the shopping experience more interactive and more informed. While I don't think it should be a consumer's only search tool, it can play a part. You don't need to put the purchase on a Klarna installment plan. The AI assistant can be used purely as a research partner. It helped me save $229 by finding a backpack at a better price -- in less than 30 minutes. That's a pretty good deal if you ask me. Pros and cons of using Klarna AI for online shopping Cons It generated results that, when I clicked on them, came up as being out of stock on seller websites. Specific prompts don't always generate super accurate results, so use more general prompts. Pros
Tom's Guide
3 hours ago
- Tom's Guide
I spent two weeks testing the Fujifilm X-E5 — it's the perfect street camera let down by one glaring issue
The Fujifilm X-E5 is the latest in Fuji's X-E line of street cameras, which are essentially the interchangeable lens versions of the fixed-lens X100 line, including the Fujifilm X100VI. Compact and lightweight, X-E cameras are designed for street and documentary style photography. Capable yet stripped-back, they're also intended to be fun, and to provide a classic, tactile shooting experience. The X-E5's predecessor, the Fujifilm X-E4, embodied that multi-faceted ethos perfectly, as did its predecessors the X-E3 and X-E2, so the X-E5 has some big ancestral shoes to fill. And it does fill them... and then some. Fuji has thrown the kitchen sink at this camera, fitting it with the same 40.2MP sensor, X-Processor 5 and 5-axis IBIS system as the Fujifilm X-T5 and X100VI. In predictable fashion, Fuji has also gone and thrown in a couple of extra dials for good measure, plus a smattering of 'purist'-oriented features. All in an effort to justify the elephant in the room: a list price double that of its predecessor. So, is it worth it? Could this be one of the best mirrorless cameras for street photography? Find out in my full Fujifilm X-E5 review. Sensor 40.2MP APS-C X-Trans CMOS 5 Processor X-Processor 5 Stabilization 5-axis IBIS, up to 7 stops AF System Intelligent Hybrid AF Viewfinder 0.39-inch OLED EVF, approx. 2.36 million dots Display Tilt-Type LCD touchscreen, approx. 1.04 million dots ISO range ISO125-51,200 Max video resolution 6.2K @ 30p Ports USB-C; Micro-HDMI; 3.5mm mic; 1x SD/SDHC/SDXC UHS-II Wireless connectivity Wi-Fi; Bluetooth Max shooting speed 8fps mechanical; 20fps electronic Battery life (CIPA) 310 shots Size 4.9 x 2.8 x 1.5 inches Weight 15.6 ounces You ought to sit down for this. The Fujifilm X-E5 costs $1,699 body-only, a frankly sickening price given a) the $849 list price of its predecessor; b) that the range-topping X-T5 also costs $1,699; and c) that while the X-E5 builds upon its predecessor in many ways, it's actually a backwards step in certain areas, such as display resolution and battery life. Tariffs or no, I simply cannot fathom how $1,699 is a fair price for this camera. But the very least Fuji could've done while gouging us all was to improve the X-E4 in every single way. Now, while I can't justify it, that isn't to say I'm clueless as to why this camera is so expensive. I wasn't born yesterday. Fujifilm understands that its brand is currently at a zenith of popularity. Just like the X100VI, Fuji knows the X-E5 will sell no matter how much it charges, particularly if supply is short. Profiteering, or simply capitalizing on market demand? There's a very thin line between the two, especially if Fuji deliberately limits supply to inflate demand. I'll leave you to decide which you think is at play, but you can probably guess my opinion. In the U.K., the X-E5 costs £1,299 body-only. Not quite as sharp a gut punch as the U.S. pricing, but nevertheless a £500 premium over the X-E4. Specs-wise, you're better off with the almost identically-specced Fujifilm X-T50 ($1,399) for less money, or the higher-spec X-T5 ($1,699) for the same price. If you're after as much bang for buck as possible, I'd also suggest the similarly-priced full frame Nikon Z5II, which offers much more performance (while sacrificing looks). The X-E5 was released alongside a new kit lens, the XF23mm F2.8 R WR, a weather-resistant pancake lens which replaces the X-E4's 27mm lens. I prefer the 23mm focal length to the 27mm lens, which I found rather 'here nor there' — its 40mm full frame equivalent field of view wasn't wide enough for expansive scenes, and a too wide for a typical standard field of view, it was an uncomfortable lens for me. The 23mm equates to a 34.5mm field of view on full frame, which I find much more usable. With the XF23mm, the X-E5 costs $1,899 / £1,549, so you're paying $200 for the lens (which feels fair). The lens is available for purchase standalone from November 2025. The Fujifilm X-E5 sees the reimplementation of a front grip and rear thumb rest after the X-E3's were removed for the flat-fronted, straight-backed X-E4. These make the X-E5 a much easier camera to keep hold of, although it's lacking the sheer security and comfort of its grip-endowed stablemates, the X-T50 and X-T5. The general profile is more or less the same as the X-E4 — a relatively compact, rectangular rangefinder. Thanks to its stabilized sensor and full-aluminum top plate, the X-E5 weighs 2.8 ounces (81g) more than the X-E4 and is a few millimeters wider and deeper. While the difference is small, it definitely feels bigger. That said, this is still a lightweight camera in general terms. The relatively trim figure, combined with the rangefinder design, devolved ergos and classic controls, all make for a decent handling street camera. And all without sacrificing Fujifilm's typically exquisite build quality — of which the new full metal top plate is the chief highlight. The X-E4 was a stripped back camera with few buttons and dials. It gave you just what you needed to change settings quickly and intuitively, without overloading you with a plethora of custom function buttons. Everything you remapped was wholly deliberate and crucial to your shooting. The X-E5 has watered that down somewhat by adding more controls. The tactile top plate dials are familiar, as are the two command dials and limited Fn buttons. But now there's an X100VI-style lever and button up front, just by the lens, and naturally a film simulation dial — no self-respecting Fujifilm could be without a film sim dial these days. I didn't resent having either, though, and found them useful for quickly changing settings on-the-fly. Unfortunately, though, the film sim dial is placed right above the eye sensor, turning off the screen every time you use it. This is a real pain if you're framing with the display, and the worst Fuji design decision since the Fujifilm X-T30/II's awfully placed Q button. The X-E5 features the same 2.36M-dot OLED EVF as the X-E4. It would've been nice to see the higher-res 3.69M-dot EVF from the X-T5, though, befitting the resolution of the new camera, not to mention the price. The tilting rear display resolution, meanwhile, has actually decreased from 1.62M-dots on the X-E4 to 1.04M-dots on the X-E5 — unacceptable given the doubled price. Both displays are bright, and I had no issues using them in bright sunlight. There are a handful of display settings to aid immersive shooting. The front lever is a display toggle by default, letting you enable/disable displays if you'd like to avoid using the screen. This harkens to the 'purity of experience' ethos of the X-Pro line — the X-Pro 3 has a hideable rear display to discourage using it. There's also a limited display mode, which only shows key info at the bottom of the display. Naturally, Fuji is acting as though both of these are revolutionary features, although you've been able to do each of the above on, well, all recent Fujifilm cameras (albeit not as quickly and easily). Another experiential feature is the X-E5's 'Surround View' mode, essentially an Optical Viewfinder (OVF) simulator — this applies a frame crop to the EVF/display and JPEGs, but still shows the full 3:2 frame outside your frame boundaries via the EVF, like an OVF. I enjoyed using it, although I doubt die-hard OVF fans will find it satisfying. For $1,699, though, I would've liked to see the hybrid OVF/EVF of the X100VI and X-Pro 3. The X-E5 isn't particularly well connected, but as a street camera, it doesn't need to be. There's a single SD slot, which has been upgraded to UHS-II compatible from the X-E4's UHS-I, for faster write speeds. There are microphone, USB-C and micro-HDMI slots underneath the side hatch. There's no headphone jack, although the USB-C port can be used for headphones when shooting video. The X-E5's body is not weather sealed, so you'll need to be careful using it in poor conditions, and avoid using it in extremely sandy or dusty environments. However, many Fuji lenses, including the new XF23mm kit lens, are weather resistant, which will provide you with some protection if you get caught in a light shower while out on the street. The Fujifilm X-E5 features hybrid contrast/phase detection autofocus, while its X-Processor 5 image processor brings Fuji's latest AF algorithms and the familiar array of subject detection AF modes from other recent Fujifilm cameras. The AF is pretty snappy for stills using the new XF23mm pancake lens and my XF35mm F2. That said, the XF23mm proved a little frustrating for video, where it was quick slow to focus and refocus on continuous AF mode, especially when subjects moved out of and back into frame — I had to use focus lock for the footage in the video section below, to ensure it maintained focus when the cup came back into shot. For stills, though, it was absolutely fine. The X-E5's subject detection was able to detect and lock onto subjects quickly and easily. Humans were an absolute breeze, and in the portrait above the camera had no problem locking onto the subject's eye, even behind her glasses. It was also able to detect the eye of the sheep in the image below, tracking and holding onto it through the frame as the sheep approached me. When shooting street and architecture, I prefer to focus manually or set my focal point with the joystick. That said, it's reassuring to have such a competent AF system there when you need it, during fast-changing situations on the street, for example. The Fujifilm X-E5 is the first camera in the X-E line to feature in-body image stabilization (IBIS). I don't think these cameras particularly need it, and it sorta undermines the whole lightweight, stripped-back street camera ethos. That said, there's no disputing the fact that IBIS adds lots of functionality, so it's objectively a good feature to have for low-light shooting and video. With higher resolution sensors also comes greater amounts of micro-blur, which IBIS helps to reduce. The X-E5 features a 5-axis IBIS system providing up to 7-stops of stabilization. In the images above, I was able to shoot down to about 1/5sec before camera shake started to render the scales legends blurry. The X-E5's performance is roughly on par with Fuji's other 40MP cameras like the X-T50 and X-T5, although the lower-res (26MP) Fujifilm X-S20 ($1,299) managed down to 1sec, making that a better camera for low-light work. The Fujifilm X-E5 uses the X-Trans CMOS 5 HR 40.2MP imaging sensor, which is very familiar by now, having featured in the Fujifilm X-H2 ($2,499), X-T5 and X-T50. It's a brilliant sensor, producing highly detailed stills. The first image in the gallery above is a heavy crop of the second, and there's plenty of detail thanks to having so much resolution to play with in the first place. Of course, this is a Fujifilm street camera with a film simulation dial, so a big part of the experience of using the X-E5 is dabbling with the film recipes for retro, film-like aesthetics. The film simulation dial has the most popular recipes assigned to it, with three custom slots so you can assign any other favorites of yours. I assigned Eterna Bleach Bypass, Pro Neg Hi and Acros + R filter. The film simulations, as always, are a lot of fun to experiment with, although as a black and white shooter, Acros always has my heart. As I mentioned above, I found the OVF simulation pretty useful, allowing me to choose a crop to fit the scene (I particularly enjoy cinematic 16:9), then view it in the EVF while keeping the whole frame visible around it — this let me time my shots while subjects moved through the frame. The second and third photos in the gallery below show the cropped and un-cropped (RAW) versions of the same file. The X-E5 isn't a high-speed camera, and it only uses a single SD-slot, so I didn't spend time testing out its sustained high speed drive performance. That said, it'll shoot at up to 20fps, where in RAW + JPEG you can expect 20 frames, so around a second of shooting. If using the mechanical shutter, this will apply a crop. I used the lower drive 5fps drive setting when taking the sheep photos above, where you can expect around 20 frames again, this time equating to 4 seconds of shooting. These drive modes are more than enough for capturing some fast-paced street action. As we've seen in other cameras with this sensor, the X-E5 handles high sensitivity settings fairly well given the high MP count and modestly-sized APS-C sensor. The images in the gallery directly below are RAW files (with no noise processing), exported as JPEGs in Adobe Photoshop with no processing made at all. At ISO12,800, images are still usable. There's lots of grain visible in the background, but the subject is still reasonably sharp. Any higher, though, and noise starts to overwhelm the photo and degrade sharpness. The photos below are the out of camera JPEGs files of the same images. In these files, the camera has applied noise reduction (using the default amount). As usual with Fuji cameras, the noise suppression is very good. At ISO25,600, the subject is still pleasingly sharp, although lots of half-smoothed noise is visible in the background. The ISO51,200 JPEG is still serviceable, I'd say, despite a noticeable loss of definition in the central subject. You likely wouldn't find yourself shooting here often, but it's good to know you could come away with a just-about-passable JPEG. The X-Trans CMOS 5 HR's dynamic range performance is also strong. The gallery photos below of a backlit lens are the same image, taken with the camera's default level of dynamic range optimization (DR100). The second image has had the shadows boosted and highlights reduced in post production. As you can see, I was able to reveal plenty of details in the shadows. I placed some prop ice cubes on the softbox netting behind, to check for blown highlights — lots of highlight detail was retrievable, too. This is primarily a street-oriented stills camera, although it has a few punchy (and familiar) video specs to facilitate the odd bout of video. It will shoot 6.2K video at 30p, or 4K at up to 60p, both in 4:2:2 10-bit color for a wide color gamut and extra flexibility with managing color in post. There's also F-Log and F-Log2 profiles for wide dynamic range capture, and naturally, you can use any of Fujifilm's film simulation profiles for ready-graded footage out of camera. A useful feature for vloggers is the flip-up display, which facilitates framing and settings changes when shooting to camera. Again, though, this isn't really a video-oriented camera, and Fuji isn't pushing it as such. If you do want to shoot lots of video with the benefits of Fuji styling and film simulations, I'd recommend a more video-focused camera, such as the Fujifilm X-S20 or Fujifilm X-M5 ($799). The Fujifilm X-E5 uses the same NP-W126S battery as its predecessor, which was CIPA-rated for 460 frames in the X-E4 (Normal mode). But thanks to the new sensor and process running gear, CIPA-rated battery life has gone backwards to just 310 frames in the X-E5 (Normal mode), or 400 frames (Eco mode). That's quite a slump. I think battery life is paramount in a street camera, so I prefer the chunkier NP-W235 battery from the X-T5, although this requires extra housing space in the grip, which would've compromised the X-E5's form factor. CIPA testing is done under strict conditions that don't totally reflect real world usage, however the Normal mode figures more or less bore true in testing. I was able to shoot around 250 combined stills and short 4K/60p video files before I was presented with a flashing battery icon. This also included operation of the camera, changing settings and using both the EVF and rear display on their brightest settings during bright sunlight — general usage. In short, it isn't great, so pack a spare battery (luckily, NP-W126S batteries are cheap). The Fujifilm X-E5 is a blend of evolution and devolution from the X-E4. Fuji had to do something to the X-E4: it couldn't just rerelease the same camera. Fitting the X-E5 with the latest autofocusing algos and sensor tech — not to mention IBIS — results in a highly competent camera at its core, and a strong evolution of the lineup. And of course, there's still the compact form factor, tactile handing and retro styling to live up to the spirit of the X-E line. There's a little too much devolution here, though, for me to bestow our 4.5-star rating and Editor's Choice award, and a lot of that comes down to price. $1,699 is, frankly, a crazy price, and is simply unwarranted. The X-E5 is a step backwards in certain areas, including its rear display and battery life, and for this much money, I expected the hybrid OVF/EVF from the X100VI. As I said, the X-E5 is a brilliant little camera at its core. It'll make a phenomenal street and documentary camera and I would definitely recommend it if you're willing to splash a bucket load of cash. However, the only way I could recommend the X-E5 over the cheaper X-T50 and similarly-priced X-T5 (both 4.5* cameras) would be if it were priced sensibly, which it isn't.
