Anyone moved from the X100V to the X-E4?

Thanks. It’s more a fundamental issue of combining the shooting settings (like AF behaviours, lens metadata, ISO, all sorts of stuff) in the same banks as the image processing settings (everything that’s used to generate a JPEG once a shot has been taken, ie the tone curve, clarity, film sim, etc).

Both are completely valid sets of things to configure, but they’re completely separate: the former take effect only before the image is a captured, and the latter only afterwards.

Since the X-Pro1 (maybe since the original X100, not sure) Fuji has used the custom settings for only the latter: the image processing. (Well, not quite only the latter. There have always been two exceptions: the DR setting and, for cameras with no dedicated dial, ISO. These are shooting settings.)

Historically, many PASM cameras, especially compacts (including older Fujifilm ones like the X20, XF1, etc) have provided custom modes which do combine shooting and processing settings, but generally they’ve had very limited processing settings; or in some cases they output raw files, and if you use raws then the processing settings don’t matter beyond affecting what you see in the viewfinder (eg sometimes it’s helpful to compose in B&W even if you’re not committing to B&W at exposure time).

But Fuji has trained us differently. They’ve provided excellent JPEG engines (I always shot raw until I bought into Fuji). They’ve provided lots of configuration of processing parameters. And they’ve provided the ability to store seven styles.

Some people have found that frustrating because they’re used to the PASM approach to custom modes. But for those of us who like the traditional controls and not spending ages in Lightroom it’s been great: you get full control of the exposure with dials, and the ability to “change film” whenever you like.

But that’s not possible now. If I “change film” then the shooting settings are swept away and replaced. The only way to avoid that is to always use the exact same shooting settings. (Or, I guess, the exact same image processing settings, effectively making a raw-only camera.) Which isn’t reasonable, even for someone like me who barely changes any of them. Simply having the AF mode and area reset every time is enough to ruin the whole usability of the camera.

Fuji clearly decided to start catering for people who want to save shooting settings for different scenarios (great!) but to me it seems they failed to comprehend the difference between these two types of settings, and why they should be kept apart.

vcxz wrote:

I had an X100V, sold it, and got two XE4s. These are my personal reasons. I'd say the overall theme is I enjoy minimalism in the shooting process, so I did like the fewer controls of the XE4. But also I like having at least two lenses, so couldn't get quite as minimal as the X100 series.

• Focal length: I personally felt smothered at 23mm. I liked being a bit wider. The 18 F2 and 16 F2.8 are still pretty small. Lately I like to use the distortion corrections so being a bit wider is better. Could never get the 27 pancake to work, the photos just looked like someone's bad cell phone pic gallery.
• Second body: I took the XE4 with the 18 F2 on a 10 day trek in Nepal. It was really nice to have a second XE4 with the 50-230 or 50 F2 in my bag. Overall it was pretty lightweight and I didn't have to worry about lens changes in dust or how two different cameras worked. The XE4 with a light lens weighs less than many bodies or lenses alone.
• Minimalism in shooting: The new XE4 is quite a bit different than the XE3/X100V and it's probably polarizing. I personally liked the more simplistic design of the XE4. When I'm shooting with the XE4 I often have one hand and snapping on the go with the LCD.
• Weight: I already had an XS10 but decided to go for XE4s because of lower weight and longer battery life for hiking trips where I might not have electricity. I was surprised four batteries lasted my entire trek, but I was judicious about turning it off when not in use. Some of the treks I've been on like Machu Picchu and Everest Base Camp have strict weight requirements for the porters.

Ever since I got the XH2S though I haven't used the XE4 very much. The XH2S feels big and clunky by comparison but I'm thinking maybe the world is right and video is the next step from stills. The XH2S has gotten me beautiful 4K slow motion footage of gulls flying in front of mosques in Istanbul and handheld shots of waterfalls. But I do miss being able to hold a camera with a small prime up in one hand and quickly snap a street shot.

Really like the muted colors. Is this a film sim or post processed?

Yes, I’ve made that move. I’m a 40-75mm user mostly, so I use an X-Pro3 and X-E4 as my Fuji x bodies. The X-E4 is solely in the backup role now though as I prefer the x-Pro3 by far. Some like the X-E4 solely for the 27mm. However, I prefer to use my Ricoh GR3x in that role.

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.

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 🙂

Interesting thread. I have an X-Pro2 with an admittedly confusing combo of Samyang 12/f2, XF35/f2 and 55-200. While I love each of these lenses, the 55-200 always stays home because it's huge. And I'm starting to feel the same about the Samyang (rather big and very specialist) and the X-Pro2 (just... big, even with the 35/f2). So I was initially looking at the X100V. But they're entirely unobtainium these days.

The X-E4 sounds just right. I got worried when I ready your complaint about the custom settings. I had to look it up - my X-Pro2 actually has those as well. But I never use them. So that's one more worry gone. I hardly change anything on my camera while I'm shooting, so I don't care about the so-called lack of controls either. As long as I can work in A and change film simulation easily, I'm mostly good. Some use of exposure compensation, very rare change in ISO. Oh yes, and I almost never use the OVF on my X-Pro2. The X-E4's EVF is a bit bigger, so that's nice.

With the X-E4, I'll be adding an 18/f2 and a TTArtisan 25/f2, which are both extremely small lenses. I am in doubt between 28/35 equivalent lenses. The 25/f2 gives me an extremely cheap way of getting both. And both render in a bit of a nostalgic way. I'm not a fan of the XF27/f2.8's rendering - it's uninspiring. I might add the TTArtisan 50/f2, as it does a similar thing to the 25 and it looks nice in portraits. But then I'm already happy with the 35/f2 for portraits and don't usually need anything longer. We'll see.