Fujifilm X webcam for Mac has now been released. This software allows to run all tethering capable Fujifilm cameras as a webcam (all except X-T1, as that one has too old hardware).
Available Now here – JYJZPB NP-W235 2250mAh Replacement Battery for Fujifilm, 2-Pack Camera Batteries with Battery Charger for Fujifilm X-T4
Fujfiilm X-T4
The Fujifilm X-T4 hit the market a few months ago, but overall passed a bit unnoticed, as, you know, the world was busy handling with other issues in the last few months.
But the X-T series is and remains the one camera line, that gives Fujifilm the biggest financial success, and as a consequence the camera line most X shooters own.
So, today we dedicate a roundup to the Fujifilm X-T4, a camera that is giving great satisfaction to owners (me included).
In today’s roundup, we have:
X-T4 feedback we received from FR-reader Tom
comparisons with Sony A7III and Panasonic S1H
a review from a Sony user perspective
a review of X-T4 for wildlife photography
and much more
Some of the videos come with handy FujiRumors-made summary ;).
Of course each of these 4 motors has its Pros and Cons, you can read about it here.
Today we want to focus only the DC coreless AF motors, which are the best option if you have to move fast and big glass elements without making the lens too big. Some lenses that employ the DC coreless AF motor are the glorious Fujinon XF56mm f/1.2 and the XF23mmF1.4. Of course it’s used also in not so fast lenses, such as one of my favorites mounted on my X-E3, the lovely XF27mmF2.8.
NOTE: FYI: 35/1.4 has a stepping motor
Why do we talk about it today?
Well, we recently shared a Fujinon XF video autofocus review by Philip Bloom, where he showed that the XF56mm F1.2 performs very bad.
What Fujifilm did not tell us, but luckily X guru Rico Pfirstinger told us, is that Fujifilm X-T4 firmware 1.02 also improved autofocus performance with lenses sporting a DC coreless AF motor.
It would be great if Philip Bloom could repeat his test with the XF56mmF1.2. He should notice a significant improvement.
Speaking of Rico…
Rico is offering online workshops (in German). They are usually sold out quickly, with long waiting lists on top of it. But it happens that there are a few last spots left for 2 of them.
Keep in mind, the workshops are in German language.
According to a chart published somewhere, you get 0.05% sharper images using lens x vs lens y
No, wait… that’s not that kind of post… today we fly high… and we fly far… we are going to meet the wonderful diversity on this world.
And who could introduce us better to post like this, than big tech vloggers Michel de Montaigne, my most loved author ever, who once said:
Travel is in my opinion a very profitable exercise; the soul is there continually employed in observing new and unknown things, and I do not know a better school wherein to model life than by incessantly exposing to it the diversity of so many other lives, fancies, and usances, and by making it relish a perpetual variety of forms of human nature. The body is, therein, neither idle nor overwrought; and that moderate agitation puts it in breath.
In the spirit of Montaigne’s quote above, I share a Fujifilm X travel images roundup that hopefully inspires you to go out, meet, embrace the wonderful diversity there is on this planet.
You want more of Montaigne? Then what about this one:
It is an absolute perfection and virtually divine to know how to enjoy our being rightfully. We seek other conditions because we do not understand the use of our own, and go outside of ourselves because we do not know what it is like inside. Yet there is no use our mounting on stilts, for on stilts we must still walk on our own legs. And even on the highest throne in the world we are still sitting only on our own ass.
But since it’s a really fat book (that I have read all), maybe you better start with the wonderful Michel de Montaigne biography by Sarah Backwell, “How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer“.
You might fall in love with Michel’s work, just as Friedrich Nietzsche did, since he said:
That such a man wrote has truly augmented the joy of living on this Earth.
And now, travel images… of course all taken with Fujifilm cameras.
I would like to send a big hug to those, who have come that far in reading the text. If there is a group of “rumor-readers” that can appreciate such articles, then it’s definitely Fujifilm X/GFX shooters. Thanks for the time you dedicated to this blog post.
It’s done, I made it. An unreal school year is over.
It was A LOT of work for me, to teach online, but I took it also as an opportunity to explore new creative ways of teaching.
And surely it came to my help, that I can use Final Cut Pro X, I have several tripods and cameras etc, as this allowed me to have the tools and skills to translate into video my creative ideas.
But in a part of Italy, where a German minority lives (video of my province). This is why I speak both languages, Italian and German, fluently.
Also, I am a primary school teacher, so I teach German to kids that belong to the Italian language group. Hence German is their second language.
And since my “customers” are kids, I’ve tried to always throw something fun into my lessons, just to put some lightness into a situation that was very hard for them.
For example, in one video, I triplicated myself and made up a fun conversation between three Patrick’s during Grammar lesson, as you can see from the screenshot here.
That’s something I could have never done in the classroom, and only the online teaching allowed me to do.
I started by filming everything with my X-E3, but once I got the X-T4, I switched to it as my main camera, and it has surely served me better than my X-E3, because:
the selfie screen was useful and practical
ETERNA was glorious
longer recording times
better video quality
more creative tools (like super-slow motion)
IBIS for when my wife had to film me handheld for stable footage
solid battery life
So, my first impact with the X-T4 was pure love! Everything I needed, it did it better than my X-E3.
But life is not only video…
X-T4 for my Passion
Last weekend I drove down to Tuscany with my wife (it’s a 4 hours drive only from my home), as a little reward for a frankly extremely busy time.
On that trip, I used the Fujifilm X-T4 only for photography.
Here is what I liked, and what not.
Loves
overall performance… it’s a beast
shutter sound is so buttery smooth
battery life: it just kept running, and running, and running… awesome!
I have my ISO dial back
oh… a D-Pad, how nice is that
Hates
no more one handed operation (on my X-E3 every button and dial is on the right side of the camera and can easily be operated with the right hand only)
bigger and heavier (although with some lenses this is actually better)
for reviewing images on LCD, I always have to flip screen out. On the other hand this helps to review images less, like with the hidden X-Pro3 LCD
And the Selfie Screen?
Well, the selfie screen deserves a special chapter.
I found some unexpected love for it, as well as one hate.
Loves
keep it tilt inwards protects the screen
keep it tilt inwards makes the camera look so wonderful vintage
keep it tilt inwards and you’ll review images way less, like on X-Pro3
keep it tilt inwards and you won’t accidentally activate the touch screen, which happens to me now and then on the X-E3 (I keep the touch LCD always deactivated on my X-E3, but it activates if I accidentally touch the upper right part of the screen)
for my video lessons, I just loved it
unlike the X-T100 screen, the X-T4 can tilt also in portrait mode
Hates
I use the Peak Design Leash camera strap, and when I tilted out the screen, sometimes the strap covered the screen, so I had to move the strap behind the screen. Hence, not only it takes a bit more time to tilt out the screen (as opposed to only flip it out on X-T3), but then also fiddle around with the strap. This was probably the most annoying aspect of the selfie screen. So much so, that I think I am considering to get Peak Design Cuff camera wrist strap and solve the “problem”
Conclusion?
Well, if it wasn’t for the selfie videos I had to do, I’d still consider the X-T3 and X-H1 screen design superior for my needs. But on the other hand the selfie screen has some advantages, that you can’t get with X-T3 screen, especially if you use mostly the EVF and want to keep the LCD tilted inwards.
Hence, I am happy with the X-T4 screen.
Images Anyone?
So, how was my Tuscany mini-trip?
Awesome!
And although we had only one day of good weather, and the other two were rainy and misty, I had lots of fun to be simply out and photograph again.
I shared one image on my Instagram page already, where I tested Classic Negative.
Classic Negative is great. Sometimes it doesn’t work at all, but when it works, it’s just awesome. In street photography it will surely shine, but also in landscape photography, as you can see below, it can give lovely results.
Now I have to get some paperwork done for the end of the school, and after that, I might share more images of my trip on Instagram… and bring you with me on my summer holidays, where so far I have planed nothing actually, except to climb my beloved Dolomites.
take care and have fun with your photography,
Patrick
As you might know, photographers using Fujifilm cameras creamed off all the top awards at the World Press Photo Awards 2020.
Fujifilm continues to interview those photographers, who snapped all those wonderful images with Fujifilm X and GFX cameras.
first interview – Alain Shroeder, winner of the World Press Photo overall stories category
second interview – Luca Locatelli, 1st Prize for environment story in 2020 Word Press Photo Contest
The third interview is with Ricardo García Vilanova, who won the 3rd Prize for General News Singles in 2020 Word Press Photo (in the same category, Fujifilm won also the 1st prize, with Yasuyoshi Chiba grabbing the top winning image with his Fujifilm X-H1).
You can see the video below as well as a summary of the talk.
Fujifilm UK manger Andreas Georghiades returns to the Fujicast postcast.
It’s an almost 1 hour podcast, and if you are in a hurry and can’t listen it all, I provide a summary of everything the manager says, so you can get it all in under 5 minutes.
