Good Bye Fujifilm X-T4: My Best X-T4 Experience and the Lens I’ll Buy with Money Earned from its Sale

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X-T4 – Remember the Good

My Fujifilm X-T4 is gone… sold.

Unlike when I sold my X-T1, there won’t be a huge emotional goodbye today.

But that’s not to say I didn’t appreciate my X-T4.

On the contrary, I have done lots of work (wedding included) and travel with it (taking lovely family images).

At a certain moment, I even fell madly in love with… with the selfie screen!

It was 2020, and since February I was in lockdown and teaching online. I filmed my lessons with my X-E3, but when I finally received the X-T4, it totally improved my workflow to be able to see myself during recording, but I also started to make more creative videos for my students (which they appreciated, as you can here from their Whatsapp feedback I’ve shared in this article – direct video here).

So I guess this could be called my best experience with the X-T4: it simplified my teacher life during lockdown and also gave me a creative boost.

And to be honest, there were several other occasions where the fully articulating screen turned out very handy, as I have described here.

So to be clear: it might not have been my all time favorite camera, but I appreciated it and had lots of fun with it.

The Sale

And yet, the day I’ve received the rumor that the Fujifilm X-T5 has a 3 way tilt screen (a masterpiece of a rumor btw, with quotes from V for Vendetta ;)), I did put my Fujifilm X-T4 up for sale. Because although I can see the advantages of fully articulating screens, for my style of shooting the disadvantages just outweigh the Pros.

I needed a couple of months to sell it. I feel like most buyers simply have unrealistic expectations on how much second gear should cost. I received messages from people who said they won’t pay more than 500 bucks.

Of course I declined such offers and wished them good luck to find an X-T4 for that price in 2038.

At the end I found someone living just 15 minutes car drive from my home who bought it at a fair price.

The new owner of my X-T4, Nicole, is more into video and prefers the fully articulating screen of X-T4. I am happy to see my X-T4 in the hands of someone who is going to appreciate and love it.

My Next Lens

And what should I do with the money earned from the X-T4 sale?

Buy more lenses, of course! :)

After lots of thoughts, I decided that it will be one of the new fast 40MP capable primes. But which one?

What Not

  • the good old XF35mmF1.4 is source of eternal joy and happiness for me, snapping personal favorite images over and over again. It kills any desire for the XF33mmF1.4 for me
  • I use the original XF56mmF1.2 mostly for portraits. I don’t need faster AF in those occasions. And I also don’t need the even sharper images of the new XF56mmF1.2 R WR. It’s portraits, people usually don’t really desire to have their wrinkles captured in high resolution 40MP glory. The current 56 is plenty of sharp enough. No need for even sharper portraits

What’s Left

  • the original XF23mmF1.4 is a lens I have used in some of the most important moments of my life: it was the only lens I took with me when my son was born. It was a stunning performer during the weeding I photographed. I made some travels carrying only the XF23mmF1.4 with me. It’s just incredibly flexible and also fun and beautiful thanks to the focus clutch. But as much as I appreciate it, I am not madly in love with it like with my XF35mmF1.4. So the new XF23mmF1.4 R LM WR is an option
  • XF18mmF1.4 R LM WR: I once owned the pancake XF18mmF2 lens. When I sold it I did miss the pancake style and the 18mm FOV every now and then. I replaced my desire for pancake with the XF27mmF2.8 R WR, but I still sometimes miss to have a nice 18mm prime

The Decision

One would say, so keep the old XF23mmF1.4 and get the XF18mmF1.4.

But here is the thing: as you’ve seen from the examples I made above, 23mm is a really nice focal length that I use in many important moments of my life. And the idea of having the stellar ultra sharp and fast focusing XF23mmF1.4 R LM WR is intriguing me.

So the masterplan is this: with the money from the X-T4 sale I will buy a new XF23mmF1.4 R LM WR (I give it 1/2 months and hope in a sale, otherwise I’ll buy full price). Once I have it, I’ll sell the old XF23mmF1.4 and have some more money to buy even more lenses. Maybe the 18mmF1.4 or why not, even the XF16mmF1.4.

2023 just starts as 2022 ended: I still struggle with my GAS :D

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UPDATE – Price back to Normal :: Viltrox Increases Prices on X Mount Lenses – B&H Photo Still Selling at Cheaper Price (but for How Long?)

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UPDATE: Price is back to normal for most people. Some countries (like me in Italy) still see the higher price)

UPDATE 2: Reply from Viltrox:

We do not change the price of 75mmXF lens at Viltrox Official store—US$549,
but MSRP varies by regions like all of Viltrox other products as below for your reference:

Euro Countries: €599.00
GBP Countries：£533.00
USD or other currency countries:US$549 533
CAD: C$729.00
JPY: ¥70,600

ADMIN NOTE: even from Italy I always saw the lower price. Now suddenly this changed, and in Italy I see the new higher price. But US residents still see the old price. Also strange that I see the old price for their 85mm (hence I see the same price in Italy as it is in USA). But the other lenses have a different price.

Original Article

When checking the Viltrox store today, a FR-reader noticed that Viltrox started to increase the prices on their X mount lenses.

I don’t know what is happening and dropped an email to Viltrox to ask for clarification. As soon as I get a reply I will update this article.

But for now my best recommendation is that if you wanted to grab any of the lenses, better do it now at BHphoto. We don’t know if soon also BH & Co will have to raise the price on Viltrox X mount lenses, or if maybe Viltrox will revert back to the original pricing.

Here is a breakdown of the prices at Viltrox compared to BHphoto at the time of this post.

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Fujifilm FF220002 Camera Registration Spotted

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the shape of the camera you see is the one of the X-S10, that I used for when I shared the X-S20 rumor. I just took that same shilouette for this patent, but this does not mean I want to say I am sure this is the X-S20 registered
the shape of the camera you see is the one of the X-S10, that I used for when I shared the X-S20 rumor. I just took that same shilouette for this patent, but this does not mean I want to say I am sure this is the X-S20 registered

Nokishita spotted a new Fujifilm camera registration with the code name FF220002.

The Fujifilm “FF220002” supports 5GHz Wi-Fi, which lets digicame-info speculate that it may be a higher end model.

Anything goes, from the Fujifilm X-Pro4 to a new X100 camera, a new GFX or even a mid-range camera (such as the rumored Fujifilm X-S20 or a Fujifilm X-E5 or Fujifilm X-T40) considering that Fujifilm is using 5GHZ WiFi also in sub $1,800 cameras.

What it is certainly not is all that entry level stuff like Fujifilm X-A8, Fujifilm X-M2 or Fujifilm X-T300, which Fujifilm declrared dead.

It usually takes 1 to 6 months for a camera to become public after a registration has been spotted.

NOTE: Sometimes registartions are even spotted AFTER the camera has been launched, so for example the X-E4 registration. But this does not seem to be the case with the FF220002.

via digicame-info

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Viltrox 75mm f/1.2 Reviews – The Praise Continues!

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The Viltrox 75mm f/1.2 keeps up getting excellent reviews.

Down below is a video by Damian and also Opticallimits posted its review.

Opticallimits gives it a “highly recommended” and concludes:

Competition

The Viltrox AF 75mm f/1.2 PRO XF has two main competitors within the Fujifilm camp – the new Fujinon 56mm f/1.2 R WR and the 90mm f/2 R WR. The 90mm f/2 R WR is an outstanding lens and the new 56mm f/1.2 is certainly no slouch either. However, both are substantially more expensive. The Fujinon XF 90mm f/2 R WR has a linear AF motor so if you need a really fast AF, it may be a better choice.

Verdict

[…] The f/1.2 setting is perfectly usable with a very sharp center quality and pretty good corners/borders. The center is tack sharp at f/1.6. The outer image field doesn’t improve that much when stopping down but they have a nice peak quality at f/5.6 if you want to push it. Lateral CAs as well as image distortions are basically absent. Surprisingly, axial CAs (LoCAs) are also very low at f/1.2 and gone from f/2 already. We also didn’t notice any purple fringing at large aperture settings. The vignetting is a bit on the high side at f/1.2 but image-auto correction can mostly fix this for you. Besides being capable of producing a very shallow depth-of-field in the first place, the bokeh is also very nice, especially in the image background. Out-of-focus highlights are a bit too prone to producing “cat eyes” though.
Another highlight of the Viltrox lens is its high build quality which is easily on the level of the best Fujinon lenses. The lens feels reassuringly sturdy thanks to a metal body and the inner focusing system. The added weather-sealing also illustrates the high ambitions that Viltrox has with this lens. […] The AF may not be the fastest on the planet but it does a decent job.

The Viltrox is becoming a force to be reckoned with now. Given the degree of refinement of the AF 75mm f/1.2 PRO XF, they are now truly competing with the big boys – at a much lower price. While not perfect in every aspect, it is impressive what the lens can do for you straight from f/1.2. As such, it receives our “highly recommended” badge..

You can read the full review and see the test charts at opticallimits.

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