Fuji X-H1. IBIS, Phase Detect 4K beast?

[Django]

@j-oc How is the 2K (FHD 17:9)? I assume no crop but is there any less binning artifacts than regular 1080p?

20 hours ago, j-oc said:

Natural Live View is a bit confusing. It seems to make the image viewed (but not recorded) lower contrast for ease of viewing. According to the manual it removes the Film Simulation preview, but B+W simulations remain B+W. It has no effect at all when you enable F-Log.

It's a dual level indicator.

1

shame Natural Live View on Flog doesn't act as a "view assist". I'm pretty sure Johnny from C5D had said so in his initial H1 review..?

as for the dual level indicator, so you can confirm it has pitch & roll? cuz all the H1 videos i've seen seem to only show the green horizontal roll indicator?

[Matthew Hartman]

On 3/1/2018 at 7:26 AM, sam said:

fun isn't it?!  now that phones can be used in the same sentence as cinema!

just wait till someone makes an app that simulates kowas, cookes, hawk vlites etc.

Tape some fishing line vertically over your smartphone camera lens. Boom, horizontal optical flares. You're welcome. ?

[j-oc]

19 hours ago, Django said:

@j-oc How is the 2K (FHD 17:9)? I assume no crop but is there any less binning artifacts than regular 1080p?

Not tried it, might have a look today.

 

19 hours ago, Django said:

shame Natural Live View on Flog doesn't act as a "view assist". I'm pretty sure Johnny from C5D had said so in his initial H1 review..?

Unless there is some setting I'm unaware of, it doesn't do anything when you enable F-Log.

 

19 hours ago, Django said:

as for the dual level indicator, so you can confirm it has pitch & roll? cuz all the H1 videos i've seen seem to only show the green horizontal roll indicator?

Definitely dual level.

[pszilard]

Hi everyone. I am new here, but having got my H1 on 1st of March I've just speed read through this entire thread and feel like I have to chip in. I had been shooting Nikon for about 20 years and came via F5, then digital from D200, through to D4 and D750, before switching entirely to Fuji X, having an overlap of 4 yrs running both side by side.

I've sold my X-T2 yesterday and trying to sell an X-T1 and an X-PRO2 - I am so impressed with the H1. I just can't imagine ever wanting to shoot the other bodies any more! I do about 60% on video and 40% on stills, and have 14 Fuji X lenses from 14mm through to 400mm, plus an 8mm Samyang. 

Today I had been practicing with the H1 and an Atomos Shogun.

My initial reactions (I'll spare you from regurgitating the specs):

1. I got the body plus Battery Grip and 2 extra batteries and absolutely LOVE the handling. This camera is more pro feel than the X-T2, and is inspiring like my D4 was, when I have the grip on. BUT take the grip off, and it is the same height as the X-PRO2 and makes great walkabout camera. (In fact I would like a 2nd body!)
2. The shutter has to be experienced, to be believed. The sound is like a lens shutter, with no perceivable body shock. The release is on a hair trigger, which took me about 2 minutes to get used to it. I used to do target pistol shooting, and this is like an Olympic grade target gun. You can release the shutter without jarring the body. Even without IS you can easily shoot 2 stops slower than "normal". Now add IBIS and then add OIS lens (the two IS's work intelligently together!) and I've seen people shoot handheld at 400mm and 1/5s and get usable stills.
3. There is a TON of customisation options! Yes, any X cam user can feel quickly at home, especially after the X-T2, but there is another dimension, when you dig deeper. Such as user settable AF delay and AF focus pull speed. My unscientific gut feel is that although not quite as good as Sony - it is damn fine. Most pro's prefer manual focus anyway, but this is quite outstanding and the best from Fuji to date.
4. Eterna is pure pussy! (Quoted from Blazing Saddles!) and available for both stills and video
5. 4:2:0 at 200Mbps with Fuji quality is just fine by me, and externally on my Shogun I can record 4:2:2, so no issues whatever
6. Love the top LCD, which is customisable and shows relevant and different data for movie or stills shooting
7. As with the X-T2, having 3 batteries is great and being to charge all 3 simultaneously, whilst IN CAMERA is fantastic. Imagine that after a day's work you just connect the camera to the 9Vdc charger for the grip and a USB3 2A for the body, and the next morning you have all 3 batteries 100% full, without having to get up during the night to load the next battery into the charger! Bliss!
8. The wireless stuff finally seems to work with my iPad/iPhone and has both WiFi and Bluetooth - but sucks battery something rotten!
9. When recording externally, you can actually turn off recording to SD, and still control the external recorder via the camera shutter release (or touch) via HDMI control

Overall, I simply love this. I have heaps to learn about this camera and do not claim to be an expert - far from it, but I know enough already that for me it is a winner.

Sure it is not a replacement for a Red Dragon or Ari, but I much prefer it to a GH5(S) or Sony A7... (both of which are very fine cameras).

Thanks for reading...

Paul

[jonpais]

@pszilard I can understand your enthusiasm, but would you not have welcomed a larger battery that could record for two and-a-half hours and a headphone jack in the body rather than having to purchase the rather costly VPB? Also, would you be so kind as to share a shot of the cage you are using with the camera and battery grip? Is the top LCD visible when using a cage? Since you are using your iPad as a remote, could you confirm whether DCI 4K is available as an option?

[pszilard]

1 minute ago, jonpais said:

@pszilard I can understand your enthusiasm, but would you not have welcomed a larger battery that could record for two and-a-half hours and a headphone jack in the body rather than having to purchase the VPB? Also, would you be so kind as to share a shot of the cage you are using with the camera and battery grip? 

The time limit is not due to battery, but the (STUPID) fact the Fuji doesn't want to exceed some dumb European tax classification that places cameras that record for over 30mins in a different bracket. Why can't they just do like Panasonic is beyond me. Of course using external recorder has no such limit.

Headphone jack without battery grip, would be nice, but it really doesn't bother me. I wouldn't do any serious recording without the battery grip, or external recorders, anyway.

Re cage - you will laugh, but I tried out my universal SmallRig cage, which works fine, by the way, but I rather lower the centre of gravity of the rig, so instead of mounting the Shogun on top I went back to my trusty Velbon dual flash arm setup arm and mount the Shogun below the height of the video head pivot axis. I stuck a Sound Devices MixPre-D on top, and if shooting movies with multi track than I will use a Zoom F8 instead. It is almost midnight, so attaching a photo will have to wait.

[jonpais]

1 minute ago, pszilard said:

The time limit is not due to battery, but the (STUPID) fact the Fuji doesn't want to exceed some dumb European tax classification that places cameras that record for over 30mins in a different bracket. Why can't they just do like Panasonic is beyond me. Of course using external recorder has no such limit.

Headphone jack without battery grip, would be nice, but it really doesn't bother me. I wouldn't do any serious recording without the battery grip, or external recorders, anyway.

Re cage - you will laugh, but I tried out my universal SmallRig cage, which works fine, by the way, but I rather lower the centre of gravity of the rig, so instead of mounting the Shogun on top I went back to my trusty Velbon dual flash arm setup arm and mount the Shogun below the height of the video head pivot axis. I stuck a Sound Devices MixPre-D on top, and if shooting movies with multi track than I will use a Zoom F8 instead. It is almost midnight, so attaching a photo will have to wait.

Cool, I look forward to seeing a picture of your setup. Also, whenever you have time, could you check the following items from Johnnie Behiri’s review:

The monitored audio sounds distorted.

At times, when using an external microphone and switching the audio menu to “Off”, audio can still be heard.

At times, when using an external microphone and adjusting the audio levels, the sound can be cut off, become muted and the camera will freeze.

[pszilard]

Ok, I'll try.

But seriously - who uses in camera sound for anything . other than sync? I've read, however that the H1 preamps are meant to be quite good, but so far I hadn't even bothered to check them.

Do you use any Fuji stuff. If you want I could shoot some test clips using a lens of your choice, provided I have the same lens. Any requests?

(ps: going to bed now...)

[jonpais]

59 minutes ago, pszilard said:

Ok, I'll try.

But seriously - who uses in camera sound for anything . other than sync? I've read, however that the H1 preamps are meant to be quite good, but so far I hadn't even bothered to check them.

Do you use any Fuji stuff. If you want I could shoot some test clips using a lens of your choice, provided I have the same lens. Any requests?

(ps: going to bed now...)

Sometimes I use the camera’s audio for scratch track, sometimes I plug in an external mic, so I think it might be of interest to readers. Also, Fuji has implemented a feature whereby it is possible to record a track with the camera’s built-in mic along with another track with an external microphone, so I think it is worth investigating. I would also still like to know how the remote app works with the X-H1: is it still limited to 720p?  I own five or six Fuji lenses, but anything’s okay. I’m sure some of us would like to know how well the feature that changes manual focusing to linear works for focus pulling. It sounds like you’ve got a great setup.

[Django]

Don't know if this is user error or early firmware but in this test the H1's AF is miles behind the XT2's and basically fails which of course doesn't make sense.:

 

[mkabi]

2 hours ago, pszilard said:

Hi everyone. I am new here, but having got my H1 on 1st of March I've just speed read through this entire thread and feel like I have to chip in. I had been shooting Nikon for about 20 years and came via F5, then digital from D200, through to D4 and D750, before switching entirely to Fuji X, having an overlap of 4 yrs running both side by side.

@pszilard Can you compare the FHD of the X-H1 to the D750 (Because I've heard great things about the D750), better/worse/on-par? Also compare it to X-H1's 17:9 FHD (which is the DCI 2K).

Size wise, with the grip does it feel as big as the D4? Without the grip as big and as heavy as the D750?

[pszilard]

6 hours ago, mkabi said:

@pszilard Can you compare the FHD of the X-H1 to the D750 (Because I've heard great things about the D750), better/worse/on-par? Also compare it to X-H1's 17:9 FHD (which is the DCI 2K).

Size wise, with the grip does it feel as big as the D4? Without the grip as big and as heavy as the D750?

I no longer have any of the Nikon gear. The H1 + grip isn't as large or as heavy as the D4 was. What I was trying to convey was the feeling of comfort, ruggedness and experience. I have a few short clips on file from the D750. Where the H1 is ahead is Eterna film sim, which is great.

8 hours ago, jonpais said:

Sometimes I use the camera’s audio for scratch track, sometimes I plug in an external mic, so I think it might be of interest to readers. Also, Fuji has implemented a feature whereby it is possible to record a track with the camera’s built-in mic along with another track with an external microphone, so I think it is worth investigating. I would also still like to know how the remote app works with the X-H1: is it still limited to 720p?  I own five or six Fuji lenses, but anything’s okay. I’m sure some of us would like to know how well the feature that changes manual focusing to linear works for focus pulling. It sounds like you’ve got a great setup.

I was actually unaware of the dual audio recording, until I read about it in this thread. I will have to look it up in the manual, to see how it works. Like is it 2 sets of stereo, or one side internal and other external? If it was 2x stereo, then this would lend itself to using an external audio track for TC from a Tentacle Sync or similar.

[Matthew Hartman]

7 hours ago, Django said:

Don't know if this is user error or early firmware but in this test the H1's AF is miles behind the XT2's and basically fails which of course doesn't make sense.:

 

Oh dear. Hopefully that is firmware. That's simply unacceptable. Nice image though. 

[pszilard]

I have just recorded a 20 mins video of testing the various AF settings, which I am sure you will find interesting. 

 

[pszilard]

12 hours ago, jonpais said:

Cool, I look forward to seeing a picture of your setup. ...

I bought the Velbon LB-2 a long time ago, and hardly used it until it came to video. I like the fact that the camera is not restrained and that I can lower the arms and therefore the centre of gravity for the combined rig. This reduces the adverse effect of building a tower on top of the camera. I can attach a Zoom F8 to the right hand arm if I need to record more than 2 channels of audio.

[kidzrevil]

On 3/1/2018 at 9:13 AM, Django said:

 

No offense but this is BS. There are a lot more than a few people making money with 8-bit cameras. From YouTubers, to wedding/corporate/commercial videographers, R&G, indie film etc.. one could argue 8-bit is "the normal thing".

Not sure what you consider the "industry" but there is now a whole new digital platform outside of broadcast television that doesn't care about any old "standards". (which btw is what.. BBC/EBU standards?)

Even cinema doesn't really care.. Soderbergh's next movie was shot entirely on iPhone 7+ and just premiered at Berlin Film festival last month..

Anyways i sense trolling.. because we all know only a single mirrorless/dslr camera exists on the market today that shoots 10-bit internally.  

So.. just get that or pony up for a pro video cam. Easy.

 

Facts.

I got a couple of questions about the xh1 as someone who is interested in making the switch from sony. 

Does this downscale from 6k or higher to 4K like Sony a6300-a6500 ? Also how is the 120p quality ?

[Django]

4K downscaled from 5k. 120fps average (some aliasing/moire).

9 hours ago, Matthew Hartman said:

Oh dear. Hopefully that is firmware. That's simply unacceptable. Nice image though. 

looks more like user error, as @pszilard test above shows much better AF using correct settings.

btw, still confused about if H1 has dual axis level indicator as above test shows single axis (as on XT2)? 

17 hours ago, mkabi said:

@pszilard Can you compare the FHD of the X-H1 to the D750 (Because I've heard great things about the D750), better/worse/on-par? 

 

Assuming X-H1's FHD is identical to XT2's then it's not as good as D750's since there is pixel binning and aliasing on jagged lines.

[Django]

100fps (4x slow mo) seems a bit cleaner than 120fps (5x):

 

[Kisaha]

@pszilard The recording limit is there because of the overheating, not any European law, that is why without the grip it does half the recording time (there is not tax for more than 10 minutes video recording!). Fuji uses the similar Sony sensors that is well known and documented that overheat quite a lot (look at a6XXX issues with overheating and "do not touch the camera" warnings and the such).

"it only lets you record up to 10 minutes at once -- unless you have that external grip. The company claims it made that decision in order to keep the camera from overheating"*

Interesting (Velbon-)Octopus setup there! Definitely you do not do a lot of run and gun stuff!

Enjoy your buying.

(* = https://www.engadget.com/2016/10/06/fujifilm-x-t2-review/)

[Andrew Reid]

Has anyone found a way to quickly enter video mode or record a clips from within stills mode without the dreaded mode-dial lever thingy yet?