Fuji X-T4

[EphraimP]

A Metabones EF to X- mount Speedbooster hit my doorstep Friday and I've started to play with it a bit. I know it was mentioned in a conversation about EF adapters on a recent Fuji thread but I can't remember which one. I'll give my impressions on it once I'm more familiar with it, if people want that. First impression it that is produces a nice image quality with my 17-40L and 180 L macro.  I took some shots with my 70-200 L 2.8 (old non-is version) but I haven't looked at them yet. The autofocus works with both the wide and telephoto zooms, though I'm not sure yet how it compares to native lenses. I did a side-by-side setup with the wide Canon zoom on my T4 and my XF 17-55 2.8-4 but I haven't had an opportunity to look at them side by side yet.

On a separate note, I'm running a test on the T4 right now to see how long it can record in DCI 24p with HDMI out to a Ninja, not recording internally. I know internal recording has limits and possible heating issues, so I'm testing HDMI out recording first. Later I'm going to test how many times I can restart internal recording in DCI or 4K before heating is an issue. I'm recording in my home office, which 78 degrees Fahrenheit, 25.5 C for those of you who live in a place with a rational measurement system. Tomorrow I'll be using the T4 on a doc project outside with temps around 92/33 degrees, so we'll see how it does in real-world conditions.

Btw, is it possible to turn IBIS completely off on the T4? When I turn off the OIS switch on my 17-55, the IBIS option is grayed out in the menu, but the boot mode is still available? And what if I'm using an non-stabilized third party lens like my L-glass or Meike prime?

[Jay60p]

Can anyone with the X-T4 confirm this Fuji Rumors post:

“Video Exposure Stepping Fix” in Firmware 1.03 for X-T4

https://www.fujirumors.com/tested-new-fujifilm-x-t4-and-gfx100-firmware-brings-smoother-exposure-changes-in-video-except/

I expect, as Mr. Moon said, the day Fuji really eliminates the ISO exposure stepping ‘the oceans will fall into the sky and the trees will hang with fishes’.

 

(Tom Stoppard)

 

[josdr]

On 7/28/2020 at 12:20 AM, EphraimP said:

A Metabones EF to X- mount Speedbooster hit my doorstep Friday and I've started to play with it a bit. I know it was mentioned in a conversation about EF adapters on a recent Fuji thread but I can't remember which one. I'll give my impressions on it once I'm more familiar with it, if people want that.

Definetely do teh metabones review. There is lots of cheap used EF glass with great quality, so it may be worth the investment.

[MrSMW]

Right, question for XT4 owners who previously had an XT3 and have been able to use it properly...and the question is how does the AF compare for you?

I am at one of those rare things in 2020, an actual proper wedding with guests and everything. OK, the staff are wearing masks but otherwise you wouldn’t know some global pandemic has been going on.

I’m still using my trusty XT3 as my workhorse and in all this recent new camera talk, I had almost...but not quite, forgotten how good it is since I shot my last wedding a staggering now near 10 months back.

Actually, better than I remember and with Fringer Pro (first version) and Sigma 18-35, even eye focus works well up to about 10 metres. 

The only thing I am missing is IBIS. I had planned on replacing my 3’s with 4’s this year but Covid + the financials did not add up.

So if the 4 can do everything my 3 can do, but off the monopod, or even a bit more, I will be a very happy bunny.

[Ashit Tandon]

Custom mode question for Xt4 owners

Is there a quick way to toggle between say 4k/24 and 4k/60? I was reading the manual and noticed that things like FHD 120fps can now be pinned to a button.

Is there a way I can save 4k24, 4k60 and FHD120 to custom modes C1, C2 and C3. And then maybe include each one of these as separate buttons in the quick menu. If yes, can the shutter speed (180 degree angle) be saved for each custom mode. I miss the ability to switch quickly between these different frame rates on the xt3

[MeanRevert]

On 7/25/2020 at 3:26 AM, BrunoCH said:

A music video shot on XT4 + Sirui anamorphic 50mm + Weebill S. 

F-log 10 bit H265, Editing FCPX, Color grading Resolve with RCM, without LUT.

 

Hi, A question about this setup..

I see some shaking at the start. I thought the XT4 has IBIS so this wouldn't be an issue?  Also, since it doesn't have anamorphic mode, how do you actually shoot with that Sirui?  Anything special you have to do in post?

[BrunoCH]

4 hours ago, MeanRevert said:

Hi, A question about this setup..

I see some shaking at the start. I thought the XT4 has IBIS so this wouldn't be an issue?  Also, since it doesn't have anamorphic mode, how do you actually shoot with that Sirui?  Anything special you have to do in post?

Yes, there is a shaking problem at the start. With the weebill I put off XT4 IBIS. I don't know exactly what happened. May be the wind or the last Weebill S firmware update. Or I would have to manually tune the motors. I am using autotune.
I put a Swit 5c  monitor on my weebill S to get the 2.35 ratio during shooting. 
In post, you have to desqueeze  the picture. There are many possibilities, depending on the software.

[EphraimP]

On 7/29/2020 at 1:32 AM, josdr said:

Definetely do teh metabones review. There is lots of cheap used EF glass with great quality, so it may be worth the investment.

Still working on getting familiar with the metabones adapter. I used it to get a little b-roll for a mini-doc on Tuesday. I just received an EF 50mm F1.4 that I bought for my daughter's birthday (she picked up my 80D when I got the T4) and I'll throw it on the T4 and maybe my T3 for some quick tests before I give it to her.

On the overheating side, I used the T4 for the doc shoot Tuesday, recording internal at 1080 and externally at 4k DCI. I typically do that so I have backup files that don't take up as much storage space - post-production is all in 1080. We recorded interview footage for about an hour, doing 5 to 15 minute takes, with b-roll recording before and after. The T4 definitely got warm to the touch but it never overheated or gave me any problems. We were outdoors in temps up into the mid 90s F/30s C, in the shade as much as possible. That's encouraging to me, because that's my typical shooting scenario. 

With even the new A7S III having some reports of overheating already, I think the T4 will meet my needs. Overall, it's a good package and with a Metabone and a Ninja V is up there with the new full frame offerings in terms of performance for the price (unless you want RAW) with a lot more flexibility.

[EphraimP]

Auto focus, on the other hand, definitely has room for improvement. I don't have any personal experience with Sony, or Canon offerings better than the 80D, but it definitely appears that Fuji is behind the curve if not a lap or two back like Panasonic. 

[dgvro]

On 7/27/2020 at 10:20 PM, EphraimP said:

A Metabones EF to X- mount Speedbooster hit my doorstep Friday and I've started to play with it a bit. I know it was mentioned in a conversation about EF adapters on a recent Fuji thread but I can't remember which one. I'll give my impressions on it once I'm more familiar with it, if people want that. First impression it that is produces a nice image quality with my 17-40L and 180 L macro.  I took some shots with my 70-200 L 2.8 (old non-is version) but I haven't looked at them yet. The autofocus works with both the wide and telephoto zooms, though I'm not sure yet how it compares to native lenses. I did a side-by-side setup with the wide Canon zoom on my T4 and my XF 17-55 2.8-4 but I haven't had an opportunity to look at them side by side yet.

On a separate note, I'm running a test on the T4 right now to see how long it can record in DCI 24p with HDMI out to a Ninja, not recording internally. I know internal recording has limits and possible heating issues, so I'm testing HDMI out recording first. Later I'm going to test how many times I can restart internal recording in DCI or 4K before heating is an issue. I'm recording in my home office, which 78 degrees Fahrenheit, 25.5 C for those of you who live in a place with a rational measurement system. Tomorrow I'll be using the T4 on a doc project outside with temps around 92/33 degrees, so we'll see how it does in real-world conditions.

Btw, is it possible to turn IBIS completely off on the T4? When I turn off the OIS switch on my 17-55, the IBIS option is grayed out in the menu, but the boot mode is still available? And what if I'm using an non-stabilized third party lens like my L-glass or Meike prime?

You can turn IBIS off but I believe you must also have your lens OIS off at the same time then. Or you can't have IBIS on with the (Fuji) lens OIS left off, or something. I avoid OIS lenses anyway so haven't tested myself.

 

When you say AF is good with the speedbooster, what type do you mean? Stills? With these adapters people seem to usually just mean this and then forget to add "oh but of course the AF-C is unusable" when asked about video AF

 

I'm still very disappointed in the IBIS with this camera, especially after the update, and I see people are similarly finding the Exposure "fix" update to be flawed too. I think Fuji has a strategy of releasing firmware updates that purport to address a known issue with the camera, not really actually succeed in fixing said issue, and then just hope the general (misinformed) public awareness of "oh but I heard they fixed that in an update now so it's all good!" spreads enough to keep the sales coming, and the "Fuji cares about its customer base because look at all the firmware fixes" semi-myth continues.

[dgvro]

Again, on the IBIS, anyone else using manual/dumb-adapter lenses on this thing notice that stabilisation looks COMPLETELY different when you aren't using a native/electronic lens? I mean at the exact same focal length in either case.

The IBIS is actually not hideous when you use a fully manual lens/"shoot without lens". Then back to the digusting quantum robocop mode when you put a Fuji lens back on. It's heartbreaking. Might have even stuck with my old GH5 if I knew I'd still be limited to using manual focus lenses to this extent, for such a strange reason.

[Jay60p]

1 hour ago, dgvro said:

 

The IBIS is actually not hideous when you use a fully manual lens/"shoot without lens". Then back to the digusting quantum robocop mode when you put a Fuji lens back on. It's heartbreaking. Might have even stuck with my old GH5 if I knew I'd still be limited to using manual focus lenses to this extent, for such a strange reason.

Fuji is still learning how to do video. This camera design was originally for still photography, then unexpectedly high quality video was added later on. Thus the exposure stepping and "Robo OIS" in the 18-55 kit zoom (the 10-24 is less so).

I have had time with the X-T3 to learn how to work around these limitations. I find a little of the Inertiacam stabilization added in FCPX (amount 0.5) or other NLE software does wonders to smoothing out the OIS in panning shots or walking shots even without IBIS.

As for continous auto focus I find it ugly even in the best cameras. I have become comfortable with full time manual focus. (Easiest way: Set one-time AF-S and keep about the same distance to your subjects for the rest of the shot, and use higher apertures for deeper depth of field.)

If you are using AF, do you think the GH5 auto focus was as good as the X-T4? The consensus is that's Panasonic's weakness.

Unexpectedly good news: The new X-T4 update appears very effective at smoothing out ISO exposure stepping from what I see in the videos just posted on youtube.

[FS670ES]

On 7/31/2020 at 2:49 PM, dgvro said:

You can turn IBIS off but I believe you must also have your lens OIS off at the same time then. Or you can't have IBIS on with the (Fuji) lens OIS left off, or something. I avoid OIS lenses anyway so haven't tested myself.

 

When you say AF is good with the speedbooster, what type do you mean? Stills? With these adapters people seem to usually just mean this and then forget to add "oh but of course the AF-C is unusable" when asked about video AF

 

I'm still very disappointed in the IBIS with this camera, especially after the update, and I see people are similarly finding the Exposure "fix" update to be flawed too. I think Fuji has a strategy of releasing firmware updates that purport to address a known issue with the camera, not really actually succeed in fixing said issue, and then just hope the general (misinformed) public awareness of "oh but I heard they fixed that in an update now so it's all good!" spreads enough to keep the sales coming, and the "Fuji cares about its customer base because look at all the firmware fixes" semi-myth continues.

I am a Fuji user and can confirm. That's how it is with Fuji for now. It seems that they don't know how to fix AF and exposure stepping in auto iso. Exposure stepping is now little better but still not solved and in AF department they are moving backwards compared to X-T3. I wonder if they will finally figure out tracking in video in X-H2. Lack of MK II versions of f1.4 / f1.2 primes is also annoying and for now Fuji is not going to do anything about this. The worst thing is that when X-H2 will hit the market then X-T4 will be left behind with broken AF system.
Like I said before it's a wonderful system for full manual work : manual af and exposure. Then results are great.

[dgvro]

Been noticing something very worrying the last couple of times I've used my XT4:

 

What seems to be problematic (hot?) pixels on the sensor (this is happening regardless of lens). I'll double check whether this shows up IMMEDIATELY when using the camera at all or only after a lot of minutes of use i.e. heating up.

I may need to avail of some kind of return/warranty here if this is really going to be how my camera works... I tried cleaning the sensor with air and nothing changed.

Any thoughts? Should I be getting rid of this unit ASAP?

 

Note: youtube has probably destroyed the quality to the point it's hard to see this... try to watch in at least 2k I guess... I did already zoom in the videos etc and used circles to indicate where I could see the bad pixels

 

 

[EphraimP]

On 7/31/2020 at 5:49 AM, dgvro said:

When you say AF is good with the speedbooster, what type do you mean? Stills? With these adapters people seem to usually just mean this and then forget to add "oh but of course the AF-C is unusable" when asked about video AF

I didn't say speedbooster autofocus is "good" in my earlier post, I said it works and I need to test it more. I have been using in AF-C. So far, I've only been able to test it with UMC lenses. The autofocus seems to track as well as with native lenses, which is pretty good until it inexplicably looses a face (which is Fuji problem in general right now). When changing focus, the EF lenses I've used can hunt and go in and out while trying to lock on. I think that's more to do with the UMC lens motor than anything to do with the electronic connection of the speedbooster.

I bought my daughter an EF 50 1.4 USM and played with it on the T4 before I gave it to her. Autofocus hunting was horrible, but the image was very nice opened up all the way. It makes me really want a fast niffty fifty! Any suggestions out there about which EF 50 has the best autofocus performance for under $1k? I'm wondering if I should get a EF 50 to use with the speedbooster, or get a Fuji 35mm. I like manual focusing but there are times when it's great to have autofocus. Also, I'm loving the fact that the speedboster gives another stop of aperture. 

[dgvro]

10 hours ago, EphraimP said:

I didn't say speedbooster autofocus is "good" in my earlier post, I said it works and I need to test it more. I have been using in AF-C. So far, I've only been able to test it with UMC lenses. The autofocus seems to track as well as with native lenses, which is pretty good until it inexplicably looses a face (which is Fuji problem in general right now). When changing focus, the EF lenses I've used can hunt and go in and out while trying to lock on. I think that's more to do with the UMC lens motor than anything to do with the electronic connection of the speedbooster.

I bought my daughter an EF 50 1.4 USM and played with it on the T4 before I gave it to her. Autofocus hunting was horrible, but the image was very nice opened up all the way. It makes me really want a fast niffty fifty! Any suggestions out there about which EF 50 has the best autofocus performance for under $1k? I'm wondering if I should get a EF 50 to use with the speedbooster, or get a Fuji 35mm. I like manual focusing but there are times when it's great to have autofocus. Also, I'm loving the fact that the speedboster gives another stop of aperture. 

I don't know how it is with this exact speedbooster on this exact camera but I recall seeing a fairly thorough test with both the Canon 1.4 and 1.8 (STM) 50mm lenses on the Viltrox and Metabones EF->m43, and the cheaper STM 50mm performed better than the 1.4 for some reason in terms of AF, at equal apertures etc. Could be worth considering if the AF thing matters to you. The aperture is already crazy wide enough for me by the time you're x0.71'ing an f/1.8 on APS-C

[dgvro]

10 hours ago, EphraimP said:

I didn't say speedbooster autofocus is "good" in my earlier post, I said it works and I need to test it more. I have been using in AF-C. So far, I've only been able to test it with UMC lenses. The autofocus seems to track as well as with native lenses, which is pretty good until it inexplicably looses a face (which is Fuji problem in general right now). When changing focus, the EF lenses I've used can hunt and go in and out while trying to lock on. I think that's more to do with the UMC lens motor than anything to do with the electronic connection of the speedbooster.

I bought my daughter an EF 50 1.4 USM and played with it on the T4 before I gave it to her. Autofocus hunting was horrible, but the image was very nice opened up all the way. It makes me really want a fast niffty fifty! Any suggestions out there about which EF 50 has the best autofocus performance for under $1k? I'm wondering if I should get a EF 50 to use with the speedbooster, or get a Fuji 35mm. I like manual focusing but there are times when it's great to have autofocus. Also, I'm loving the fact that the speedboster gives another stop of aperture. 

so it tracks subject moving over a gradual (presumably gradual) / small focus distance kinda well but more often messes up bigger focus 'pulls'?

Still not sure whether I just resign myself to manual focus and get a Viltrox 'booster rather than the Fringer EF adapter. I think reduced focal lengths will be easier to tame the stabilisation on too.

[EphraimP]

5 minutes ago, dgvro said:

I don't know how it is with this exact speedbooster on this exact camera but I recall seeing a fairly thorough test with both the Canon 1.4 and 1.8 (STM) 50mm lenses on the Viltrox and Metabones EF->m43, and the cheaper STM 50mm performed better than the 1.4 for some reason in terms of AF, at equal apertures etc. Could be worth considering if the AF thing matters to you. The aperture is already crazy wide enough for me by the time you're x0.71'ing an f/1.8 on APS-C

The 1.8 probably does better at autofocus because it's has an STM motor. And I agree, with the .71 increase of the speedbooster plus the extra stop of aperture, it's plenty. It was pretty cool being able to open all the way up to F1 on the 1.4 though. See below. I'd be more concerned about the difference in IQ between the lenses. It's tempting to just say screw it and get a Sigma Art 

1 minute ago, dgvro said:

so it tracks subject moving over a gradual (presumably gradual) / small focus distance kinda well but more often messes up bigger focus 'pulls'?

Still not sure whether I just resign myself to manual focus and get a Viltrox 'booster rather than the Fringer EF adapter. I think reduced focal lengths will be easier to tame the stabilisation on too.

It tracks subjects, seemingly as well as my 17--55, but I need to test it more. I'm not saying it messes up more on bigger focus pulls. I'm saying my 17-40 pulses a bit when locking onto focus and the 50 even more so. Like I said, I think it has more to do with lens motor construction than the speedbooster. That's why I want to try lenses that have more modern focus motors built with video in mind. 

Now that Metabones has brought this one to market you don't need to choose between a Vilrox, and take an IQ hit, or the Fringer and keep the 1.5 crop. The Metabones gives you the best of both worlds and you can still manual focus when you want to.

[MrSMW]

I had the cheapo ef 50mm f1.8 and it was a little noisy but produced really great results with the Fringer.

Really interested in this new Metabones!

I am a big fan of Tamron lenses and would love to see how the 24-70 f2.8 and 35-140 f2.8-4 work on Fuji because if ‘good enough’, I could keep my XT3’s for a few more years yet...

That 35-140 especially. On XT3/4, focal length will be just a few mill longer but f2-2.8, in a relatively small, light and affordable lens? If the AF works as well as it does for my Fringer/Sigma 18-35 combo, I’m sold.

[EphraimP]

1 minute ago, MrSMW said:

I had the cheapo ef 50mm f1.8 and it was a little noisy but produced really great results with the Fringer.

Really interested in this new Metabones!

I am a big fan of Tamron lenses and would love to see how the 24-70 f2.8 and 35-140 f2.8-4 work on Fuji because if ‘good enough’, I could keep my XT3’s for a few more years yet...

That 35-140 especially. On XT3/4, focal length will be just a few mill longer but f2-2.8, in a relatively small, light and affordable lens? If the AF works as well as it does for my Fringer/Sigma 18-35 combo, I’m sold.

I'm pretty happy with the Metabones so far. I was going to post this image on the last post, but got distracted looking the Sigma 50 up again. I'm so tempted. For the same price I could get two Meike cine primes... but this metabones is calling out for really nice glass.