The 4K Fuji X-T2 is here

[BTM_Pix]

13 minutes ago, jonpais said:

I purchased the VPB with the camera, and I think it's great - plus, there's more to hold on to. I think it's kind of necessary for video work. 

I was a bit perturbed by a reviewer listing his palm activating the half press on the shutter as a minor drawback! 

I havent really shot any video with it as yet so I'll be interested in seeing how long it can power it for as on its own it's poor even for stills. Worse is the completely non linear/random/lying bastard indicators depletion rate of the batteries.

Long story but....  I was doing a test on Monday of battery life in evf only mode with all power saving off to mimic a DSLR being sat there ready to shoot. I'd found that when it was used as the 70-200 camera for football (which can have variable periods of inactivity but needs to be ready to go all the time) the power saving was making it unusable. So the bottom line was that if it couldn't sit there for at least 60 minutes in constant ready mode then it would be dead in the water for me really.

So, I left it for an hour and picked it up and sure enough it was ready to go and had lost only one bar of power.

But when I then rattled off a load of frames (testing speed of an eyefi card) it was all over pretty quickly.

I'd noticed it doing this when I was doing the work trial with it but put it down to it being possibly environmental with the cold and how much the work rate was varying (inactivity then multiple long continuous bursts) so it couldn't work out the right average. But then it went from a couple of bars to empty within about 10 shots when shooting a medal ceremony (hardly the most taxing thing for it to do)

Seemed independent of Fuji or 3rd party batteries as well

Anyone else had this issue? 

[Inazuma]

@Phil A I wouldn't worry about it. The video looks intentionally (or mistakenly) overexposed, thus the blown highlights. From my experience, if you expose to just before highlight clipping and shoot ProNegStd with -2 highlights/shadows you retain most of the sensor's dynamic range (there's plenty of latitude in the shadows). In most situations though I prefer the look of Classic Chrome with -1 highlights/shadows and +4 color.

@jonpais Are you recommending me to get the 50mm then?

@BTM_Pix Sorry I've never shot like that so couldn't tell you. Did you have the Power Booster mode on? That will drain the battery quicker as it increases startup time and AF responsiveness. I did a test a few months ago for video recording and got just over an hour out of one battery shooting 4k, AF-S, 400 ISO, no OIS. 

[Dave Maze]

I have read every page of this thread and have loved creeping in. I love the idea of shooting Vlogs and YouTube content with this camera. The fact that color grading can be avoided completely by shooting "baked in" makes me happy.

QUESTION:

Are these new firmware upgrades going to address the usability of AF in video for the XT2? Im sorry if I misread the press statements and the discussion in this thread. I just am not seeing anything that clearly states that PDAF will be improved with the new firmware. Face and Eye tracking would be fantastic in 4k. Isnt it only in 1080p at the moment?

If PDAF with Face tracking happened in 4K on this camera I dont see why it wouldnt be the go to camera for daily vlogging until something else comes out with a FLIP OUT SCREEN! **Shoot me** 

PS: Why the heck wont anyone make a camera with good AF...that shoots 4K....that has a flip out screen. SO much YouTube content is made by people who shoot everything themselves and right now still the only option for Vloggers and self shooters is the Canon Lineup that has a flip out screen but it isn't 4k! And the 1080p is soft on the 80d, M5, etc.  **Shoot me again**

[BTM_Pix]

2 hours ago, Inazuma said:

@BTM_Pix Sorry I've never shot like that so couldn't tell you. Did you have the Power Booster mode on? That will drain the battery quicker as it increases startup time and AF responsiveness. I did a test a few months ago for video recording and got just over an hour out of one battery shooting 4k, AF-S, 400 ISO, no OIS. 

Yes, had the boost mode on so I was expecting more drain but it was the erratic nature of it that was troubling. 

More testing required to get to the bottom of it I think.

[jonpais]

3 hours ago, Inazuma said:

@Phil A I wouldn't worry about it. The video looks intentionally (or mistakenly) overexposed, thus the blown highlights. From my experience, if you expose to just before highlight clipping and shoot ProNegStd with -2 highlights/shadows you retain most of the sensor's dynamic range (there's plenty of latitude in the shadows). In most situations though I prefer the look of Classic Chrome with -1 highlights/shadows and +4 color.

@jonpais Are you recommending me to get the 50mm then?

@BTM_Pix Sorry I've never shot like that so couldn't tell you. Did you have the Power Booster mode on? That will drain the battery quicker as it increases startup time and AF responsiveness. I did a test a few months ago for video recording and got just over an hour out of one battery shooting 4k, AF-S, 400 ISO, no OIS. 

I'm going to see if I can't get my hands on the 50mm f/2 this afternoon. I probably won't do an official video, but I'll share a few screen grabs. 

[jonpais]

2 hours ago, DaveAltizer said:

I have read every page of this thread and have loved creeping in. I love the idea of shooting Vlogs and YouTube content with this camera. The fact that color grading can be avoided completely by shooting "baked in" makes me happy.

QUESTION:

Are these new firmware upgrades going to address the usability of AF in video for the XT2? Im sorry if I misread the press statements and the discussion in this thread. I just am not seeing anything that clearly states that PDAF will be improved with the new firmware. Face and Eye tracking would be fantastic in 4k. Isnt it only in 1080p at the moment?

If PDAF with Face tracking happened in 4K on this camera I dont see why it wouldnt be the go to camera for daily vlogging until something else comes out with a FLIP OUT SCREEN! **Shoot me** 

PS: Why the heck wont anyone make a camera with good AF...that shoots 4K....that has a flip out screen. SO much YouTube content is made by people who shoot everything themselves and right now still the only option for Vloggers and self shooters is the Canon Lineup that has a flip out screen but it isn't 4k! And the 1080p is soft on the 80d, M5, etc.  **Shoot me again**

Hi Dave - I think the X-T2 is as far from a good vlogging option, but the G85 is near perfect. If you're vlogging from home, just use the excellent Image App from Panasonic and you can adjust the camera, tap focus and you're ready to share your brilliance with the blogosphere! I'm going to try setting it up on the Crane gimbal with the Leica 12mm f/1.4 this weekend, do some walking around, and share the results. I already know the 12mm can be balanced. Only biggie is sound - I might end up dragging my old Sony audio recorder out of the closet. 

[jonpais]

7 hours ago, Inazuma said:

@Phil A I wouldn't worry about it. The video looks intentionally (or mistakenly) overexposed, thus the blown highlights. From my experience, if you expose to just before highlight clipping and shoot ProNegStd with -2 highlights/shadows you retain most of the sensor's dynamic range (there's plenty of latitude in the shadows). In most situations though I prefer the look of Classic Chrome with -1 highlights/shadows and +4 color.

@jonpais Are you recommending me to get the 50mm then?

@BTM_Pix Sorry I've never shot like that so couldn't tell you. Did you have the Power Booster mode on? That will drain the battery quicker as it increases startup time and AF responsiveness. I did a test a few months ago for video recording and got just over an hour out of one battery shooting 4k, AF-S, 400 ISO, no OIS. 

It's almost in my tiny sweating hands. ?

[j-oc]

17 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

I was a bit perturbed by a reviewer listing his palm activating the half press on the shutter as a minor drawback! 

I havent really shot any video with it as yet so I'll be interested in seeing how long it can power it for as on its own it's poor even for stills. Worse is the completely non linear/random/lying bastard indicators depletion rate of the batteries.

Long story but....  I was doing a test on Monday of battery life in evf only mode with all power saving off to mimic a DSLR being sat there ready to shoot. I'd found that when it was used as the 70-200 camera for football (which can have variable periods of inactivity but needs to be ready to go all the time) the power saving was making it unusable. So the bottom line was that if it couldn't sit there for at least 60 minutes in constant ready mode then it would be dead in the water for me really.

So, I left it for an hour and picked it up and sure enough it was ready to go and had lost only one bar of power.

But when I then rattled off a load of frames (testing speed of an eyefi card) it was all over pretty quickly.

I'd noticed it doing this when I was doing the work trial with it but put it down to it being possibly environmental with the cold and how much the work rate was varying (inactivity then multiple long continuous bursts) so it couldn't work out the right average. But then it went from a couple of bars to empty within about 10 shots when shooting a medal ceremony (hardly the most taxing thing for it to do)

Seemed independent of Fuji or 3rd party batteries as well

Anyone else had this issue? 

Not exactly your situation but similar... The battery indicators on my X-Pro2 are extremely unreliable. If I'm photographing a long event, think wedding, when I'm using two cameras but not using one for a while I'll turn it off when it's hanging over my shoulder and turn it back on in the same movement on as I raise it to my eye. I've nailed this technique so I don't lose any time doing it.

I don't find the actual battery life too bad, and it is pretty consistent - but yeah, the indicators are not all that.

[toxotis70]

new firmware V2.0 is out!

Finally we have live histogram in video, Auto ISO , manual ISO change in video while recording, EVF-LCD switch while recording, ISO change via Front Wheel (no audible clicks anymore) ...very nice upgrade.

 

 

Now, give us internal Flog and i am happy ....

[Inazuma]

Loving the new features here too. 

 

[BTM_Pix]

FFS!!!

I popped in to  share some results of the tests with the grip that I've literally just finished and the buggers have rendered the results a bit moot because of their fancy dan new updates.

Damn you Fuji and your on time deliveries on promises

 

[bfilm]

3 hours ago, Inazuma said:

 

4 hours ago, toxotis70 said:

new firmware V2.0 is out!

Finally we have live histogram in video, Auto ISO , manual ISO change in video while recording, EVF-LCD switch while recording, ISO change via Front Wheel (no audible clicks anymore) ...very nice upgrade.

 

 

Now, give us internal Flog and i am happy ....

 

New firmware doesn't seem to make any improvement to the focus hunting in video mode, is this something they might address in future?

Internal F-Log would be nice, and so would a non-cropped option for video, similar to the X-T20.

 

 

 

[BTM_Pix]

Might as well post them.

So, the grip then.

I wasn't sure about the extent of the bottom lip protrusion relative to the rest of the camera as it seemed awkward at first and digging into my wrist a bit but after a small adjustment to how I was holding it then it actually felt very solid so thumbs up for that.

I don't like the connector being covered by a removable rubber piece rather than a slide as I won't always want to have the grip on so its going to be a pain to remember to have that piece in whatever bag I'm using at the time.

Performance wise, I use the X-T2 in boost mode anyway so its a marginal gain in some respects but the blackout time reduction did feel noticeable. But the move up to 11 fps is a big, big win for me. But obviously, it doesn't matter much if it can't nail focus consistently at this higher rate!

So, quick test, focus was held on the golfer for a burst till the ball was out of the frame, then a brief pull out to reframe and lock on the ball and then a 37 frame continuous burst tracking the ball across the green.

The grey frames are where it lost focus or in the case of the first one didn't acquire it.

Considering the size of the object it was tracking relative to the frame and I'm judging focus by being able to read the markings on the ball then I've got no doubt that every single frame would've been acceptable with even a slightly larger target like a tennis ball. I would not be troubled in the slightest by this performance in similar circumstances if it came off my Nikon D5 to be honest.

And I've done a blow up of what was causing the last frames to be out which was that it was attracted to some blades of grass in front of the ball. With the custom AFC settings tweaked to the option to ignore obstacles.

I like this camera more every time I use it and the grip has moved it on another level. 

With more tweaking of the settings that I've been doing then - long primes aside - its getting towards being indivisible from shooting with my Nikons.

[Inazuma]

4 minutes ago, bfilm said:

 

New firmware doesn't seem to make any improvement to the focus hunting in video mode, is this something they might address in future?

Internal F-Log would be nice, and so would a non-cropped option for video, similar to the X-T20.

 

 

 

Who knows. I wouldnt hold my breathe for it tho. BTW the hunting is much more prominent on my 18-55 than on my 23mm f1.4

 

They need to implement it the same way as the Sony cameras, allowing you to adjust the transition speed and responsiveness. As of right now, it behaves similarly to the Fast setting on the Sony's. 

[BTM_Pix]

2 minutes ago, Inazuma said:

Who knows. I wouldnt hold my breathe for it tho. BTW the hunting is much more prominent on my 18-55 than on my 23mm f1.4

 

They need to implement it the same way as the Sony cameras, allowing you to adjust the transition speed and responsiveness. As of right now, it behaves similarly to the Fast setting on the Sony's. 

I've got the 27mm f2.8 and I put it on earlier in AFC as I'm starting to look at video features on the X-T2.

It sounded like it was gasping for breath !

[bfilm]

3 minutes ago, Inazuma said:

Who knows. I wouldnt hold my breathe for it tho. BTW the hunting is much more prominent on my 18-55 than on my 23mm f1.4

 

They need to implement it the same way as the Sony cameras, allowing you to adjust the transition speed and responsiveness. As of right now, it behaves similarly to the Fast setting on the Sony's. 

 

Yeh I'm using the 23 1.4. It always goes a little past the focus, then moves back.  The sony a6500 video auto focus seemed really good in comparison.

 

 

[jonpais]

55 minutes ago, BTM_Pix said:

I don't like the connector being covered by a removable rubber piece rather than a slide as I won't always want to have the grip on so its going to be a pain to remember to have that piece in whatever bag I'm using at the time.

You're aware that the tiny rubber piece from the bottom of the camera is stored in the battery grip, right?

[BTM_Pix]

7 minutes ago, jonpais said:

You're aware that the tiny rubber piece from the bottom of the camera is stored in the battery grip, right?

Well if you're going to bring facts into it John.....

DOH !!!!

Thanks

[BTM_Pix]

Well the new firmware has certainly improved the AFC hunting of my 27mm.

It now only sounds mildly asthmatic.

Initial thoughts about the rest of it are :

Refocussing works well off the AF-L button (which I have remapped to be AF-ON)

Histogram is welcome but they could've pushed the boat out and put zebras in.

The new Eye Sensor + LCD Image Display mode is great for weaning myself off the traditional DSLR chimping method. I actually quite like the playback through EVF method as its a boon in bright lighting but most of my work means you still have to keep one eye on whats going on around you when you're looking and marking images so being detached from that by having the camera to your eye isn't always a good thing.

Its a bit niche but the voice memo function is a boon for anyone doing editorial work with it.

Copyright in the EXIF ditto.

I'm going to test the face detect AF tomorrow......

[Vladimir]

I wonder if anyone tried 0.58x speedbooster on XT2. To bad there's no such SB for X-mount - I'd gladly get almost 2 stop of light in exchange for amount of pixels)