X-T4 vs X-H2s/X-H2/X-T5 (for Portraits, Sports, Street, Travel)

Apologies for the delay in responding, life got kind of crazy recently.

I want to first take a moment to thank everyone who responded.

Each one of you gave extremely detailed, thoughtful, and insightful advice.

I especially appreciate all the photographs and personal anecdotes.

It was honestly a much bigger response than I expected.

It was also perhaps not the response I had expected. I was expecting everyone to tell me to be happy with what I have and instead the overwhelming consensus seemed to be, if you can afford to get the X-H2S, then get the X-H2S.

After the post however a couple of things happened, and the situation is now quite a bit different so here’s a brief rundown:

1. The store began an absolute fire sale on their remaining camera equipment just over a week after I bought the X-T4 (<$1200 for the XT4 + 16-80F4 FYI).
2. I managed to snag an X-T3 18-55 Kit for <$350(!) as well as a bunch of Fuji glass at prices that made me feel like I was robbing the store.
3. Last weekend I shot my first sporting event for the team with the X-T3 (the event was broadly representative of the kind of sports work I’ll be shooting this season.)
4. Honestly speaking the X-T3 absolutely blew me away with how capable it was compared to my old X-Pro 2.
5. Barely any OOF images, super responsive, fast burst speed, very little blackout. I DID miss a few images that the X-T4’s IBIS would’ve saved (user error; forgot to change settings when shifting environments).

So where does that leave me now? Questioning what it is I really want, really need, and how far I should be stretching my (admittedly now larger) budget to maximize my capabilities for what I want to do.

I plan to keep the X-T3 as either a backup body or maybe even my main body (nothing beats a good camera AND a good story!)

I’m in the process of selling the X-T4 (it was a good price, but as everyone pointed out, the X-T4 stands to lose the most value with the launch of the X-T5 and I like the smaller size of the X-T3)

Assuming I upgrade further I will be selling my X-Pro 2/X-E1 (as the X-T3 will make a great/much more reliable backup/secondary camera)

At this point I’m debating whether I want (or even really need) either the X-H2 or the X-T5.

While the recent event was broadly representative of the kind of sports I shoot, I do shoot in more challenging conditions (more/faster movement, much darker lighting, etc) at times and would appreciate having something with enough AF “headroom” to comfortably handle whatever is thrown at it. I’d love to basically just never have to worry about AF again. Also, I’d really like IBIS (and can see how it’s a game changer,) and a bigger battery would be nice.

What makes it a difficult decision (aside from just, price) is:

1. My paid bread and butter at the moment is portrait work (sports is volunteer) which would likely benefit more from the new 40MP sensor than the AF advantage of the 2S (vs the X-T5) (again not getting paid enough for either to actually justify this spending but…)
2. The X-T3 was already such a huge leap forward in terms of AF speed/accuracy that I feel like the X-T5 may well be “good enough,” if it’s a similar jump in performance (and if it improves over time even more-so).
3. I really prefer the retro Fuji control layout and find the control style of the X-H2/S… unfortunate to say the least.

But then I keep coming back to: fast reliable autofocus even under the toughest conditions, blackout free 40FPS, basically no rolling shutter, and the fact that I don’t really want to manage the size implications of 40MP RAW files (that are apparently less flexible at high ISO.)

Aside from the controls the X-H2S is basically everything I’ve ever wanted from a Fuji camera (well besides a sensor with better high ISO & more MP).

ATM I go back and forth every hour, but I’m thinking I’ll likely at least just wait out the X-T5 announcement, see how it looks, and then make a decision (still leaning X-H2S ATM, if just barely)

Anyways thanks for reading my ramblings if you made it this far. I’ll let you all know once I make a decision (and in the meantime will probably start a few threads asking for lens advice)