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I’m not a good photographer, but I have more than a great interest in the subject. A decade ago I bought my first DSLR, a Canon 550D, and it served me well. Recently, however, my go-to lens started to lose its autofocus functionality. I tried a few tips from Google to fix this, but after a decade together I felt it was really time to pull off the old workhorse and get something more up to date.
Fortunately, good equipment recommendations are never far away, given what I do. I decided not to pay a bit for a reliable camera that might provide another ten years of service. I also wanted something that had a solid collection of lenses, that could turn his hand to video and – most importantly – was a sponge for light. I live in an apartment facing north, so the time window for spontaneous product photography is often very narrow. Enter the mirrorless XT-4 from Fujifilm.
One of my colleagues quickly recommended the XT-4 after I outlined what I was looking for and what I was willing to spend. I was immediately working on it just for the aesthetics alone (obviously a terrible reason to buy a camera, but it does not hurt to look at what it looks like). Its vintage style gives a cool 50-year-old photojournalist atmosphere, a breather from the rather faceless black options of Sony, Canon and Nikon that I read.
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Even more important to my sloppy apartment was the XT-4’s body image stabilization (IBIS). While of course attractive for any video work I need it for, the idea of a full 5.5 charge with the XF 16-55mm f / 2.8 I planned to customize it with was very appealing. Even better was the maximum 6.5 stop of the charge for the next lens I watched and finally bought shortly thereafter (the XF 35mm f / 2).
Opting for the XF 16-55mm lens means a little more than an initial release. (This is often along with the similar but optically inferior 18-55mm lens.) But I was able to find a good amount online, which brings the initial edition much closer than I would at a general dealer at the lower-spec glass . Of course I got the silver model, the black version is nice, but those metal accents really make it stand out, at least I think so.
Appearance, of course, does not matter much if it does not take great photos. Fortunately, this is not a problem here. Immediately I was impressed with the brightness and overall balance of the images the XT-4 delivers at full auto. You can see the first picture above (my cat was less impressed with my new purchase).
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But what about that IBIS? It is as good as I had hoped and has saved me many hours of trial and error. I took a few test shots with an exposure based on one second, and although the results are not something I want to publish, the stabilization clearly presents a much more pleasant image than without, something that is very clear in the picture above.
Of course there is a very more to the XT-4 than just the visual appeal and the IBIS. Normally I would look through the manual right away and learn everything, but here is so much to learn and explore that I enjoy it in small doses. My interest in photography grows stronger with each new feature or environment I discover. Every time I visit the camera again, there is something new to experiment with or understand. This part of the process was almost as rewarding as the immediate gratification of the good photos it produces. Fortunately, you can read all about this in our full review.