Fellow Fujifilm X-T group member Kim has also tested the new Fujifilm X-T4 firmware 1.03, and regarding the exposure stepping he says:
still stepping if aperture is in AUTO
not stepping (much smoother) if shutter speed or ISO is in AUTO
Personally, during my online lessons for my students, I always set a fixed shutter speed and fix aperture, and let the ISO make its AUTO thing (the exposure changed when clouds passed etc, and ISO adapted to it automatically).
Hence, for my use, I never work in AUTO aperture anyway, so the exposure stepping is fixed for me.
But if you shoot video in Auto Aperture or at very high frame rates (100 fps or more), than it’s still an issue.
Just very recently, Fujifilm has released a bug fix firmware for the Fujifilm X-T4 ver. 1.03 and Fujifilm GFX ver. 2.01.
All Fujifilm mentioned was a vague:
Fix of a minor bug during a movie shooting.
Well, FujiRumors could not be happy with such a vague definition ;).
So I decided to try to find out what’s behind it, and despite being on my very last days of holiday in South Italy with my wife, I made quick testings and immediacy reported about my findings in this dedicated article.
My findings in short: exposure change is now smoother (not stepping like before), except in high speed modes (like 120 or 240 fps).
Now, I have no time to make a video and edit it, as I am mainly writing from a beach with a beer/seafood pasta/ice cream/etc. in my hand , but luckily other fellow Fujifilm shooters do :).
So, you can find a video made by Andrei, that shows the difference between Fujifilm X-T4 firmware 1.02 and 1.03. He says:
Exposure changes a lot better than before, it’s not changing in steps anymore
he is happy that Fujifilm works on fixing the small problems the X-T4 has, because it is an amazing camera
he shot some clips in 24fps, some in 30fps and slowed down at 24fps in post to see exposure change better
he also shot at 60fps and higher frame rates, but at those frame rates it still does not work smooth [admin note: in my quick testings, I see the stepping still clearly at 100 fps and above]
at 60fps he shows how the exposure still works in steps, but in my eyes (fujirumors), it is actually smooth, then only shortly stops for moment, and then continues to go down smoothly. Much better than before, where you saw fast and hard steps. Maybe a further firmware down the road will also take away that very last pause at 60fps and higher frame rates
he says the exposure still clips when you zoom in and out
a good improvement for people who are vlogging
he hopes next comes face/eye detection improvement and addition of 4:2:2 internal
Well, happy to see Fujifilm finally addressing this issue.
Earlier today Fujifilm released Fujifilm X-T4 firmware 1.03 and Fujifilm GFX100 firmware 2.01.
Of course FujiRumors reported instantly about it here, but now I have something more to add.
Despite being on a two week holiday with my wife in wonderful South Italy (see my Instagram), I was too curious to find out what the improvement was, and I made quick testings.
Here is what I found out.
According to quick tests I made on my Fujifilm X-T4, I can say that the exposure change is now smoother (not stepping like before), except in high speed modes (like 120 or 240 fps).
This is a major annoyance people had when shooting video, and I wonder why Fujifilm does not specify that in their official Fujifilm X-T4 and GFX100 firmware release notes, but hides it behind a vague “fix of a minor bug during a movie shooting“. It’s not a minor but, it’s a major one!
Happy to see it work smoother now! UPDATE: FR-readers confirm in the comments it is much smoother now, but not yet perfect.
P.S.: I am sorry if I am not able to edit the footage and upload on youtube… right now this post is written on a sandy beach… so… just trust me, OK? Done that, let me finish my beer and then jump into the water… and when I come back, I hope to read lots of happy comments ;).