Philip Bloom: Fujifilm X-T4 Video AF Testing – Can You Trust The Video Autofocus of The Fujifilm X-T4

• 4 years ago

Philip Bloom always has an interesting take on cameras for video and here he is curious if the Fujifilm X-T4 has great video AF that can be trusted? Below is a summary of his findings. Also, this was performed before FW 1.02.

• The Fujifilm X-T4 is an amazing camera that is beautiful in video and stills
• It has fantastic recording options in frame rates and codecs
• Good IBIS
• Flip out screen
• Such a terrific all arounder
• Just looking at Video AF in the above
• Philip Bloom has started to embrace video AF starting with the Canon 1DX Mark II for interviews
• The Fujifilm isn’t as good as Canon/Sony, but it is getting very good
• The X-T4 has the best video AF of any one of their cameras
•  You can only record the menus in HD with an ATMOS by passing it clean
• If the background is bright you can have issues with CDAF
• The first lens demoed Viltrox 23mm f/1.4 Tracking Sensitivity 0 AF Speed -5
• Very easy to lose the eye sometimes with side on lighting
• Here glasses confused it and lost the eye
• Settings are super important for all these cameras when it comes to good tracking video AF
• Actually not bad going between a cat and Philip Bloom
• Next he uses the Fujinon 35mm f/2 WR Sensitivity +2 Speed 0
• Pulses and is uncertain with the 35mm f/2
• Now Fujinon 35mm f/2 WR Sensitivity +2 Speed -3 not great
• Fujinon 35mm f/2 WR Sensitivity +2 Speed -3 with face tracking off not much better
• Fujinon 35mm f/2 WR Sensitivity +2 Speed -4 not what he expected
• Phillip did 4hrs of testing
• Some lenses did better than others, but the most frustrating thing was that sometimes a lens would perform well and then poorly with the same settings
• One of the better primes was the Fujinon Lens XF16mm f/1.4 R WR
• Now Fujinon 16mm f/1.4 Sensitivity 0 Speed -5 With Face/Eye Tracking On Seems to behave if you keep the speed down in the lower half
• Fujinon 16mm f/1.4 Sensitivity 0 Speed -3 With Face/Eye Tracking a bit slow, but it is natural-looking
• Fujinon 16mm f/1.4 Sensitivity +2 Speed 0 With Face/Eye Tracking
• Sensitivity seems to need to be high for pretty much all the lenses or the camera catches up and jumps
• Fujinon 16mm f/1.4 Sensitivity +1 Speed 0 With Face/Eye Tracking
• Results are very inconsistent throughout which is what drove Philip nuts
• The Fujinon XF16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR, was the lense that impressed Philip the most because when he wanted it to be fast it was fast and when he wanted to to be slow it was slow
• Fujinon XF16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR Sensitivity 0 Speed -5 With Face/Eye Tracking smooth and solid
• The XF16-55mm behaved the most
• Fujinon XF16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR Sensitivity 0 Speed -2 With Face/Eye Tracking is good
• Now Fujinon XF90mm f/2 R LM WR Sensitivity 0 Speed 0 With Face/Eye Tracking did pretty well
• The other expensive primes like the 56mm f/1.2 were awful and the 35mm f/1.4 wasn’t great either
• Now Fujinon XF18-55mm f/2.8-4 R LM OIS Sensitivity – Speed -2 With Face/Eye Tracking did pretty well in certain situations
• Now Fujifilm XF56mm F1.2 R Sensitivity 0 Speed -1 With Face/Eye Tracking is awful
• Best tip keep your sensitivity on the high side and speed isn’t too fast
• Fujifilm XF56mm F1.2 R Sensitivity +2 Speed +2 With Face/Eye Tracking terrible
• Video AF is an uphill struggle for some of the older lenses because they were designed to just snap on fast for a single shot
• Back to Fujinon XF90mm f/2 R LM WR Sensitivity 0 Speed 0 With Face/Eye Tracking and is doing ok
• Being further away helps with a lot of these lenses
• Philip Bloom got fed up thanks to the inconsistent performance
• Back to Viltrox 23mm f/1.4 Tracking Sensitivity 0 AF Speed -5
• He didn’t include the Viltrox lenses in the AF testing because they came after the test he did
• The Viltrox lenses do work better for AF in some things and not others
• Pretty good at tracking his fact, but not good at subtle movements
• Now Fujinon 23mm f/2 WR Sensitivity 0 Speed -5 much smoother for subtle movements but very slow at -5
• Fujinon 23mm f/2 WR Sensitivity 0 Speed -2 better speed-wise
• The Viltrox has to be slowed more than the Fujinon
• Settings settings settings it’s all about settings
• Back to Viltrox 35mm f/1.4 Tracking Sensitivity 0 AF Speed -5 doing a difficult shot very lovely smooth microfocus changed
• When the Viltrox lenses work well they work very well which is why he will keep them because they have a ton of potential and they are very cheap
• If you’re doing an interview you will want the sensitivity high unless things are crossing the screen
• We want it to be sensitive, but we want to motor to be slow, but the catch up makes things look ugly
• Viltrox 35mm f/1.4 Tracking Sensitivity 0 AF Speed -3 you judge
• You should make notes for each of your lenses and how they perform best because you don’t want to be guessing at the best settings for the subject
• You need to record internally to get the best Video AF
• Back to Fujinon 16mm f/1.4 Sensitivity 0 Speed -5 and once again very lovely and smooth with great transitions
• Fujinon 16mm f/1.4 Sensitivity +2 Speed 0 it is playing catch up
• The Sensitivity and Speed settings don’t make a lot of sense either because the lower your sensitivity the faster and the higher the speed the faster they should be consistent
• Back to Viltrox 35mm f/1.4 Tracking Sensitivity 0 AF Speed -5
• The Fujinon XF16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR is great
• Back to Fujifilm XF56mm F1.2 R Sensitivity 0 Speed 0 and it’s one of his favorite lenses, but the AF is lacking
• Fujifilm XF56mm F1.2 R Sensitivity 0 Speed -2 and it really shows off how slow the motor is
• Viltrox 35mm f/1.4 Tracking Sensitivity 0 AF Speed -5 for the last bit of the video
• For strait talking heads with even lighting, the X-T4 can do well and Phillip Bloom would use it with some of the lenses, but not others
• Phillip Bloom thinks the tech in the camera is good, but the lenses need to catch up and this might be mechanical
• Loves the X-T4 and it is close to the best camera they ever made, which to him is the GFX100

I want to give my take on the video here for those that do not take the time to watch the whole thing. I think Phillip Bloom would have released a longer video if the results were more useful, but since performance is inconsistent he condensed a lot of his testing to keep the video time short.

I hope he repeats this test with the newest firmware or in a few months if we see more lens firmware updates. I have seen some shockingly good AF performance out of my X-T4 post firmware update and GFX100 also. Fujifilm seems to be catching up to Sony and Canon quickly now.

Fujifilm X-T News, Rumors, and Collaboration

Fujifilm X-T Owners Group

Fujifilm X-T Page

Follow Fujiaddict on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube

Fujifilm X-T4: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

VG-XT4 Vertical Battery Grip: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

NP-W235 Battery:  B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

Fujifilm BC-W235 Dual Battery Charger: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

VILTROX AF 85mm f/1.8 XF II: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

VILTROX 23mm f/1.4: B&H Photo / Amazon

VILTROX 33mm f/1.4: B&H Photo / Amazon

VILTROX 56mm f/1.4 (Coming Soon):B&H Photo / Amazon

VILTROX 85mm f/1.8: B&H Photo / Amazon