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I am not a great photographer, but I have more than a passing interest in the craft. A decade ago, I bought my first DSLR, a Canon 550D, and it served me well. Recently, however, my wearable lens has begun to lose its autofocus functionality. I tried a few tips from Google to resolve this, but after a decade together, I thought it was really time to retire the old workhorse and have something a little more up to date.
Fortunately, given what I do for a living, good equipment recommendations are never far away. I decided that I didn’t mind paying a little for a reliable camera that could perhaps provide another 10 years of service. I also wanted something that had a solid collection of lenses, could turn its hand to the video and – most importantly – a light sponge. I live in an apartment facing north, so the time window for spontaneous photography of the product is usually very narrow. Enter Fujifilm’s XT-4 mirrorless.
One of my colleagues quickly recommended the XT-4 after I explained what I was looking for and what I was willing to spend. I liked it instantly just for aesthetics (a terrible reason to buy a camera, obviously, but it never hurts to love its looks). His vintage style gives a cool 50s photojournalist vibe, a break from the faceless black options from Sony, Canon and Nikon that I was examining.
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Most important for my dark apartment was the XT-4 (IBIS) body image stabilization. While this was obviously attractive for any video work I might need, the idea of 5.5 points of complete compensation with the XF 16-55mm f / 2.8 that I was planning to pair with was very attractive. Even better was the maximum of 6.5 points of compensation for the next lens I was planning and finally I bought it soon after (the XF 35mm f / 2).
Opting for the XF 16-55mm lens meant a little more than an initial effort. (It often comes with similar sound lenses, but optically less than 18-55 mm.) But I was able to find a good deal online, bringing the initial expense back much closer than I would have paid at a general glass retailer low specification. Naturally, I took the silver model, the black version is cool, but those metal details really make it stand out, at least I think.
Appearance doesn’t count for much if you don’t take good pictures, obviously. Fortunately, this is not a problem here. As soon as it came out of the box, I was impressed by the clarity and overall balance of the images that the XT-4 produces in fully automatic mode. You can see the first image I took above (my cat was less impressed with my new purchase).
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And that IBIS? It is as good as I expected and has saved me many hours of trial and error loaded with profanity. I took some test shots with a one-second portable exposure and although the results are not something I would like to publish, the stabilization clearly presents a much more pleasant image than without, something that is very evident in the image above.
Of course, there is a much more for the XT-4 than just its visual appeal and IBIS. Normally, I would read the manual immediately and learn everything, but there is so much here to learn and explore that I am enjoying measuring it in small doses. My interest in photography grows stronger with each new resource or environment that I discover. Each time I revisit the camera, there is something new to experience or understand. This part of the process has been almost as rewarding as the instant gratification of the good photos you produce. Fortunately, you can read all about it in our full review here.