Anyone moved from the X100V to the X-E4?

John Gellings wrote:

My thoughts are this… if you sold the X-E3 you probably aren’t going to love the X-E4 more. I’d think long and hard.

Already went round the block with it—see above—but maybe worth an epilogue to this thread.

So… bought an X-E4, knowing full well that it didn’t address the two reasons I became disenchanted with the X-E3 (the inclusion of ISO in custom settings, and the presence of 1/180 on the shutter speed dial). Those things aside, I loved everything about the X-E4 except the extent of the custom settings, which are now unavoidably about shooting settings rather than image settings. Which is fine if you shoot raw (and for every non-Fuji camera I’ve ever owned, that’s been the case for me) but wasn’t what I wanted in this case.

Then I went out with the X100V and the XF10 for a bit of street and found myself using the XF10 way more than I expected. The XF10 has many flaws, but image quality is not one of them.

Then I sold the X100V, because I much prefer the ergonomics of the X-Pro2 even if it’s a little larger and heavier. Neither are pocketable, both require a small bag, so in practical terms they’re basically the same in terms of size. The X100V was basically redundant. I was cautious that I might regret selling it, but I haven’t regretted it one tiny bit.

Then I decided to blow two thirds of the X100V cash on a Ricoh GR III, which addresses all of the issues of the XF10. At this point I was about 70/30 on the likelihood of the GR replacing the XF10.

However, on the same day, there appeared a GR Digital IV, which I’d been after for some time. It was more than I’d been hoping to pay, but I took the fact that it cost almost exactly the same as the cash left over from the X100V as a sign that I was meant to buy it.

That left me with a stack of overlapping cameras: the XF10, the GR III, and the GR Digital I, II and IV. Now, if I had to keep just one of those, it would be the GR III, but obviously I could keep as many as I thought reasonable 😉. The GRD1 was only temporarily with me after an ebayer returned it, so that’s already been sold again; the GRD2 has been with me for 15 years so it’s not going anywhere; and I kept the GRD4 and the XF10. The GR III went back to the shop.

So basically I traded the X100V for the GRD4 and £750 in my pocket*. I still have a tatty X-E1 that cost me £17 which can be my second body, while the XF10 and GRD4 both make better complements to the X-Pro2 than the X100V did. The XF10 doesn’t have quite the street shooting chops that the GR does, but it has outstanding image quality—right up with the X100V IMHO—and the GRD4 is arguably the best street/hip shooting camera ever made, with a couple of advantages over even the GR III, and I love it.

So basically I have a great combination now and I’ve got all my bases covered, I think. The only two cameras that I get GAS for now are the GFX 50R and the M-D Typ 262, but the first can wait and the second is as rare as hen’s teeth, so I’m good for now.

And my verdict of the X-E4 is that I’d have loved it if I wasn’t hooked on film recipes on Fuji cameras, because it just doesn’t work for that. One of the best-looking digital cameras ever, though.

* ok, I did blow another £300 of that on a 10-24 lens 🙂