Fujifilm X-T4 Review

Fujifilm X-T4

The Fujifilm X-T4 takes the flagship position among Fujifilm APS-C mirrorless digital cameras with the addition of builtin image-stabilization on top of the already extensive capabilities of the X-T3
Fujifilm X-T3 which remains in the lineup. A newly developed 5-axis image-stabilization mechanism offers up to 6½-stops of compensation for camera shake and cooperates with optically stabilized lenses.

Everything that makes the X-T3 outstanding stays with the new model, including the its 26 MP X-Trans CMOS sensor with 2.1 million Phase-Detection pixels and a special 1.25X crop-mode that allows 20 MP images to be captured continuously at 30 FPS. A faster processor in new X-T4 further improves autofocus and overall performance.

Exposure attitude on this mirrorless is class-leading with a standard ISO 160-12800 sensitivity range, expandable to ISO 80-51200. Its Hybrid Shutter offers all combinations of mechanical and electronic modes that together span a timed shutter-speed range of 1/32000s to 15 minutes, plus Bulb exposures of up to an hour. A newly designed mechanical shutter raises the maximum burst rate to 15 FPS which can be sustained for 110 JPEG images or 38 RAW files.

The highly-mechanical design of the X-T4 blends analog and digital controls in an elegant and sturdy metal body that is fully weatherproof and freezeproof down to -10C. With dedicated dials for ISO, Shutter-Speed dials and Exposure-Compensation, plus dual control-dials, the X-T4 provides direct access to all essential photography controls.

Fujifilm fitted the X-T4 with an ultra-high 3.7 megapixels 0.5" EVF with large 0.75X magnification, 100% coverage and an essential Eye-Start Sensor. This new EVF refreshes at 100Hz and provides black-out-free view in Sports Finder mode that is possible with the fully electronic shutter.

This extremely feature-rich digital camera also provides extensive video features, including Cinema 4K video capture, flat Eterna Film Simulation, F-Log color profile and the H.265 high-performance codec. Photographers will also find plenty of bracketing modes, an Interval Timer, Multiple Exposure, Dual SDXC memory-card slots, both supporting the UHS-II bus and now builtin HDR capture.

This camera review analyses the capability, usability, performance and image quality of the Fujifilm X-T4.

Fujifilm X-T4 Features

With their new X-T4, Fujifilm converged the professional photographer X-T series with the video-centric X-H which has now been abandoned. The Fujifilm X-T4 inherits all features of the X-T3 and finally the one feature that the X-H1 had which is not present on the X-T3: Image-Stabilization. This is a huge deal since in-body stabilization benefits all lenses, including those with no stabilized equivalent such as ultra-fast prime lenses.

This camera offers a hybrid shutter which operates in Mechanical-Shutter, Electronic-Shutter and Electronic Front-Curtain-Shutter modes. Users can select any combination of these which sets the range of allowable shutter-speeds. Mechanical speeds reach 1/8000s, while electronic ones reach 1/32000s. There are 3 Auto ISO settings, all customizable with a starting and maximum ISO, plus a minimum shutter-speed. The sensitivity range of ISO 160 to 12800 is expandable to 80-51200 in 1/3 stops below ISO 12800.

As one would expect, the X-T4 has a full complement of manual controls. There are four metering patterns, one more than usual: Multi-Segment, Center-Weight, Average and Spot. White-Balance options are plentiful with Auto, Preset and Custom options, all fine-tunable in 19 steps along 2 axis. A Virtual Bracketing option saves 3 images with different WB adjustments with 3 step sizes to choose from along the Y-B axis.

Fujifilm has its own rendering engine based around Film Simulation modes with a number of parameters to adjust JPEG output as desired. Color, Sharpness and Noise-Reduction are each adjustable in 9 fine steps. The coarse steps of Shadow-Tone and Highlight-Tone adjustments have been split in two on the X-T4, giving each 13 possible settings. A new Clarity image parameter was added to control local-contrast but is very resource intensive, as explained in the Performance page of this review.

There are plenty of Bracketing modes on the Fujifilm X-T4: AEB, ISO, Film Simulation, WB, Dynamic-Range and Focus. There are so many AEB options that the menu reaches seven levels deep! It can capture between 2 and 9 frames with steps from 1/3 to 3 EV selectable in 1/3 increments regardless of how many frames are selected. A bracket can be taken continuously or by single-shots with four ordering to choose from.

Drive modes include a standard 2s or 10s Self-Timers, plus an Interval Timer which can capture as many frames as will fit on a memory card. Users can select any interval from 1s to a full day and a starting delay of up to 24 hours in one minute increments. Multiple-Exposure can combine two frames. Time Lapse Video must be assembled by computer from images produced with the Interval Timer. The X-T4 adds a new HDR drive mode which uses Exposure-Fusion to lineup and merge 3 individual exposures automatically.

Here is an example of a single-shot capture at 400% Dynamic-Range [above left] and an HDR image [above right] blended in-camera from 3 expsosures. The first point to note is that the X-T4 aligns images digitally which forces a slight cropping of the image area. Thankfully, this camera correctly previews HDR framing and even does an outstanding job at showing a preview of the resulting image. This is defintely one of the best implementations of builtin HDR.

While the X-T4 keeps the exceptionally fast 20 FPS continuous drive mode introduced by the X-T3, it increases the maximum mechanical shutter-speed to 15 FPS. The buffer is deep enough for 79 JPEG images at 20 FPS or 110 at 15 FPS, while around 36 RAW files are possible regardless of speed. Also kept is the 1.25X crop mode that captures 20 MP images at up to 30 FPS. A Motion Panorama mode combined multiple image slices to create a composite image spanning up to 360° field-of-view.

The image-sensor of the Fujifilm X-T4 incorporates 2.1 million Phase-Detect sensors spread evenly over the entire sensor area. These sensors and normal pixels surrounding them form a hybrid 425-Point AF system sensitive to -6 EV with great accuracy and a tremendous amount of flexibility. Continuous AF is highly fine-tunable to track all sorts of subjects, faces and eyes, even with selectable priority for the left or right eye.

This mirrorless offers Dual SDXC memory card slots, both capable of handing UHS-II cards. These slots can be used in overflow, backup and format-separated modes. A proprietary battery powers the camera and an optional grip provides space for an additional two. All three can be charged internally via USB-C Power-Delivery.

Already the Fujifilm X-H1 introduced a number of first video features among APS-C cameras, yet the X-T4 pushes these even further. It supports Cinema 4K (4096x2160), Ultra-HD (3840x2160), Cinema 2K (2048x1080) and Full HD (1920x1080), all at speeds of 24 to 60 FPS. 1080p also supports 120 FPS high-speed video capture. Videos can be saved at 50 to 400 Mbps for the ultimate quality. This new camera offers H.265 and H.264 codecs with All-Intra and Long GOP variants.

There are tons of controls over audio, including 36-levels of gain for both external and internal microphones. A Level Limiter, Wind Filter and Low-Cut Filter can be each enabled independently. There are a number of settings for Time-Code plus control over lights which show that the camera is recording.

With all these features and plenty of external controls, the Fujifilm X-T4 is capable of any type of photography when paired with the right lens. There are currently 65 lenses made for the X-mount, half of them by Fujifilm themselves. Rectilinear lenses cover focal-lengths from 8 to 400mm.