FUJIFILM X-T4
The traditional big and beefy DSLR has been the staple of photographers who need both speed and ruggedness for applications such as sports, wildlife, and press photography. It’s still the camera of choice for many, with the latest – and perhaps last-generation models like Canon’s EOS-1D X Mark III – doing everything better than ever before. But the size and weight can be an issue, especially when shooting for long periods of time. This is where the so-called ‘crop’ sensors are starting to attract attention. Sports shooters, in particular, also like the idea that the smaller sensor sizes make for more compact telephoto lenses thanks to focal length magnification factors. Consequently, both Olympus OM-D and Fujifilm X mount are making inroads into the sports/action sector.
Fujifilm’s X-mount flagship, the X-T4, has clearly been designed with these applications in mind, combining the compact form factor of the still-current X-T3 with important new features like in-body image stabilisation. The obvious attraction here is that stabilisation is available with all lenses, even those fitted via a mount adaptor. The X-T4’s assembly uses electromagnetic fields to apply the shifts, which makes it both more compact and more accurate, carrying out a remarkable 10,000 corrections per second. Consequently, it gives up to 6.5 stops of correction for camera shake with many of the current X mount lenses, and the minimum amount of correction is still a useful 5.5 stops. Correction is over five axes and, given there’s quite a number of non-OIS lenses in the X mount line-up (mostly all of the primes), the X-T4’s IBIS is an important feature
No doubt also with sports and action shooters in mind, the X-T4 has an all-new mechanical shutter assembly with an extended durability of up to 300,000 cycles and, via a high-speed coreless DC motor, also enables a faster continuous shooting speed of 15fps compared to the X-T3’s 11fps. The release time lag has been reduced to 35 milliseconds (or 0.035 seconds, versus the X-T3’s 45ms) and the live view blackout time is now just 75ms. Full live view is maintained up to 8fps, which is also the fastest speed for full AF/AE adjustment.
Fujifilm says the new shutter unit is also 30% quieter than the
