In this video I will cover the Fuji X Tea four announcement with actual camera footage.
Intro
It’s Simon from the Ordinary Filmmaker.
If you are new here, make sure you click the subscribe button, and all the links to everything
I talk about in this video are in the description down below.
Fuji announced the X Tea Four in the early hours of the morning New York time.
Everything is pretty much in line with what I stated in this video.
The X Tea Four comes in two colours, the all back finish and the two tone silver with black,
which is my personal favorite.
A modern camera with a retro look.
I just love it.
There are three options for each colour.
Body only.
Body with the eighteen to fifty five.
And body the weather resistant Sixteen to Eighty lens.
Yep, you heard correctly, the X Tea Four is weather resistant, but it has to be paired
with a weather resistant lens.
I’m always shooting in the cold and damp conditions and don’t like to take my chances.
This is a more common shooting scenario for the ordinary filmmaker and a much appreciated
enhancement.
The camera looks and feels much like the X tea three.
It has the same 26 megapixel X trans CMOS sensor as the X Tea Three.
It contains the same Quad Core X Processor.
Some viewers were disappointed by the lack of an upgrade in the sensor and processor.
Don’t let this get you down.
The X trans four sensor is a very good and capable sensor.
There are a lot of refinements that make this camera a must have update over the X Tea Three
for video shooters.
It’s heavy on features found on more expensive cameras.
Fuji does not offer a full frame sensor they are saving technology for.
Unlike other companies, they are giving their heart and soul into the X Tea Four and it
shows.
The grip is wider, which is good news for those of us with big hands.
I never felt that the X Tea Three grip was all that comfortable.
Most of the buttons and dials are in the same place, but there have been some minor tweaks
adding to the user experience.
We now have a dedicated movie and photo switch right under the shutter speed dial where the
metering selector use to be.
We can have separate settings for video and photos, including custom settings.
There is also an autofocus button on the back, and the drive dial has been improved to make
it easier to access the capabilities.
Button functionality can be changed in the menus if you don’t like how Fuji has set
things up.
While the X tea four does not come with a headphone jack on the body itself, it provides
a USB dongle to allow us to connect headphones.
No one likes dongles.
Just ask Apple.
But, it is possible to get the headphone jack back by purchasing the battery grip.
In the menus, you can specify if the mic is line or mic to get the best quality possible
with your gear.
USB port charging provides unlimited power during studio use.
The X Tea Four has the dual UHS Two SD card slots, and video can be recorded to both card
slots at the same time in the same format with full sensor coverage.
Oh, and the door to the SD cards, its removeable.
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BATTERY.
We get the new MPW two thirty five high performance lithium ion battery.
The default method to charge the battery is through the USBC port.
Fuji does offer an optional two port charger for purchase if you do not want to charge
through the camera.
The optional battery grip provides two additional battery slots providing up to 1700 shots,
and brings back the headphone jack.
If you hate dongles, and want your headphone jack, consider getting the battery pack.
While it makes the camera heavier, the extra weight helps keep the video smooth.
Oh, one last note on the battery, battery age can be checked in the menus.
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IBIS.
The X tea four comes with in body image stabilization, five-axis, Six Point Five stop stabilization.
The degree of stabilization will depend on the lens attached.
Eighteen out of twenty nine lenses provide full Six Point Five stops of stabilization,
the rest, not to the same degree.
Fuji refined the architecture to include image stabilization.
It offers many new components, including new materials compared to the XH One.
It is twenty percent lighter and thirty percent smaller.
There is refinement to the shutter’s shock-absorbing structure and newly developed gyro sensors
that boast approximately eight times the detection accuracy of the XH One in body image stabilization
unit.
That’s good news.
This was not just merely and lift and move.
The XH One implementation was wonky.
It always felt like the camera was possessed, like it was trying to take control.
The X Tea Four resolved those issues.
In body image stabilization is excellent in video when shooting pans, tilts and walking
shots.
Its feels natural.
Fuji improved upon the technology using magnetic force rather than springs.
In body image stabilization is a very significant feature for video shooters, and the initial
video shows that this feature works very well.
Fuji goes on to say that Ibis is effective when combined with the electronic image stabilization
function for use in the video mode, and brings even more image stabilization.
This is essential for users shooting video while walking.
Hmmm. not sure I like the sound of that.
I have never liked electronic stabilization.
I doubt I will like it here, but early results look good.
The problem I have with electronic or digital stabilization is that it can create warping
that cannot be undone.
I recommend shooting without electronic stabilization and applying it in post.
If you are going to use it, check your footage after shooting.
BREAK.
SHUTTER.
As I just mentioned, the shutter was redesigned to make way for In body image stabilization.
It makes less noise than the X Tea Three, and is faster.
Continuous shooting improves to fifteen frames per second, up from eleven frames per second.
The silent electronic shutter provides twenty frames full sensor readout and thirty frames
crop sensor read out.
The buffer has increased.
At eight frames per second, we get 200 Jpeg, forty nine compressed raw, and thirty nine
uncompressed raw.
In compressed mode, you can choose lossless compression, and have the option of creating
Eight Bit and Sixteen Bit TIFF files.
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AUTOFOCUS.
Fuji has greatly improved autofocus in the X Tea Four.
Using a new algorithm, the camera is capable of capturing and tracking a subject moving
at high speed, even when combined with the continuous shooting performance of fifteen
frames per second through the view finder and eight frames per second in live view.
The autofocus for subject tracking is very sticky.
Touch an object and it stays with it.
Eye and face detection work very well, but if you have eye detection turned on and try
to track an object, you’ll need to turn face detection off as it prioritizes face
tracking over object tracking.
The X Tea Four maintains eye lock back to about fifteen feet, and performs well when
the subject moves out of the frame, and back.
Tracking autofocus performance has also undergone serious enhancement.
The tracking success rate has been doubled compared to its predecessor.
Face and Eye AF performance has also been dramatically improved over the X tea three.
BREAK.
VIDEO.
Fuji has separated the stills and video modes, and the video-only Quick Menu button enhances
the camera’s simplicity while recording video.
Fuji really thought through the workflow on this iteration, refining every aspect of the
camera, giving careful attention to video.
We can now adjust exposure with the command dial as well as the touchscreen panel.
This allows us to easily switch between stills and video recording, and have separate settings
for both.
As a primary video shooter, fuji is showing the love.
For Canon and Nikon owners, we have often felt like we were riding in economy while
stills shooters were riding up in first class with the lay flat beds.
I know this will anger some stills shooters, but you have the option of sticking with the
X Tea Three as you will not see much in terms of photo capability improvements with this
iteration.
The touchscreen panel is redesigned providing a fully articulating flip screen like the
Canon EOS R. This greatly improves the user experience for video shooters.
There is little changed in video modes.
The X Tea Four comes with Four Kay Sixty and all basic frames rates including Twenty four,
twenty five and thirty frames per second, but there is a slight crop in Four Kay Sixty
of One Point Two nine.
Yep, the same as the X Tea Three.
We still have recording limits, but the times have been bumped to something more useable.
We get Twenty minutes in DCI Four Kay, thirty minutes in UDH Four Kay, and thirty minutes
in ten Eighty.
Unlike its predecessor, the X Tea Four is usable for YouTube content creators and other
studio work.
Why couldn’t they just eliminate records times?
Slow motion gets a big improvement.
In Ten Eighty, two hundred forty frames per second is possible up to three minutes of
record time.
Six minutes of record time is possible at one twenty frames per second.
There have been a few negative comments about the limited record times.
For most of us, we don’t shoot slow motion for more than a minute at a time.
For me, most of the time I don’t shot more than ten to thirty seconds.
Three minutes is enough to capture what I need.
I’ve been complaining for years at the lack of 120 frames per second on Canon cameras,
and when Canon finally added 120 to the 90D, autofocus was locked.
With the X Tea Four we get two forty frames per second with autofocus.
Is it as good as Canon’s autofocus?
Give me a canon with autofocus in 120 that does not cost sixty five hundred and I’ll
let you know.
This is a very nice improvement.
I’d probably shoot in 120 most of the time for the better quality.
The X tea four adds two new film simulation modes, Classic negative and Eterna Bleach
Bypass.
The new bleach bypass mode is a traditional processing technique that creates a low saturation
and high contrast look.
DP Review does not care for this look, and I did not at first, but it comes in handy
in some scenarios.
I have come to appreciate the look.
I love how bleach bypass puts the focus on the subject, how it creates a retro look,
an end of the world or mad max look.
The movie Endless uses this technique very well, though it adds its own color grade,
further enhancing the look.
Internal recording, Four Kay sixty frame provides 10 bit four two zero internal recording, but
ups color sampling to four two two for external recording over the HDMI port.
I like that fuji gives us the choice to record video in All Eye and H Dot Two Six Five in
any resolution.
Want to shoot H Dot Two Six Five in Ten Eighty, no problem.
Oh, and this camera can top out at 400 megabits a second so if you want detailed video, the
camera can deliver.
For log shooters, the X Tea Four makes your life easier with assist mode.
When assist mode is on, the LCD outputs using rec 709.
This is a very nice improvement.
Time lapse received a much needed improvement.
With exposure smoothing, the footage no longer seems jerky from constantly changing exposure
levels.
Very nice.
I wish all cameras would do this.
Rolling shutter is not big problem due to the smaller APS-C sensor and the camera’s
ability to move large amounts of data.
BREAK.
One could argue that Canon has more and better glass for the ordinary filmmaker and stills
shooter, as well as pro shooters, but with Ibis, fuji has a deep enough lineup to cover
your photo and filmmaking needs.
Should you want to produce cinema level quality, [INSERT FUJINON video] Fuji non cinema lenses
offer edge-to-edge sharpness and excellent portability.
The Fuji non cinema lenses suppress focus shift while zooming and reduce lens breathing
during focusing, something photographic lenses do not do.
So yes, one can argue that canon has better lenses, but one cannot successfully argue
that Fuji does not provide the ordinary filmmaker with the required filmmaking tools to grow
and become more than an ordinary filmmaker.
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CONCLUSION.
As I stated in my earlier video, Six Kay and Eight Kay are not required capabilities for
most ordinary filmmakers or video shooters.
I understand how useful Eight Kay is for grabbing stills from burst video, and delivery incredible
images through the use of computational power.
It provides more detailed Four Kay output through down sampling.
For the ordinary filmmaker, these features would add weight, heat and cost.
Sure, I’d like to see an X Tea Four Pro version as the S1H is to the S1, but i’d
also like to see it on a full frame sensor which Fuji does not believe in supporting.
So far, only two companies to have announced 8K in hybrid cameras.
Sharp is in its early prototype stage, and canon issued a development announcement.
Boiling the ocean costs money.
Giving us every specification costs us money.
The EOS R5 is expected to cost thirty five hundred dollars for the body.
Would you be happy if the X Tea Four came with Eight Kay or Six Kay, but the price of
the body jumped up by Two thousand dollars?
Fujifilm’s vision is to further hone our leading-edge, proprietary technologies and
develop innovative products and services that gain customer trust and provide satisfaction
to remain a vigorous company, consistently creating new value and exercising pioneering
leadership.
With the X Tea Four, the vision translated down to the camera’s capabilities, the outcomes
that it can produce.
There were some gaps in the X Tea Three.
The X Tea Four needed Ibis, improved auto focus subject tracking, better video record
limits and general refinement of existing capabilities to be a success.
It has done all of that.
These are the capabilities I need for my workflow [Insert capability map].
It scores very well in all categories.
It’s on my shortlist as a replacement for the CANON 70D.
However, your capabilities might be different from mine.
Come up with your own capability map and heat map.
Score the X Tea Four against your desired outcomes.
This camera should easily dethrone the Panasonic GH5 as the camera of choice for content creators.
I just wonder what Canon has in store with the R6.
Will the R6 live up to the hype or disappoint like the EOS R and RP.
I have a canon lens library, but if the R6 disappoints, I’ll be getting myself an X
tea four.
This is the best APS-C camera on the market today.
The GH5 gives us more assists in terms of waveforms, and vector scopes, but the autofocus
does not stand up.
The Canon ()D gives us more value.
If you are first and foremost a photographer, stick with the X Tea Three.
The upgrades in the photo mode are modest at best.
However, if you are a video shooting first, this is the best there is right now in the
APS-C sensor market and even beats out many full frame cameras in video capabilities.
It absolutely trounces the EOS R and RP, and is the perfect vlogging camera.
Casey, is this your perfect vlogging camera?