Jeff Biscuits
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This is my second attempt to love the X-E4, but again I’m really struggling and I think it’s doomed to failure. Maybe someone can demonstrate how it might not be: I’m curious to hear from those who have adapted to it from earlier models, particularly those who made/make heavy use of recipes.
Hardware wise, I adore it. I like the output of X-Trans IV, I love the ergonomics of the unadorned X-E4 (even if I’m almost alone in that), and I actually think it’s the most beautiful camera that Fujifilm have ever produced. The buttons on the back plate have the tactile feedback of a slab of concrete and the shutter button has a very different feel to other/earlier models, but I can deal with those.
The problems begin and end with the firmware. Pretty much Fujifilm camera seems to demand some form of adaption and rehabilitation on the part of the user (whether it’s the ordering of the buttons, the way the view modes work, or whatever) but the X-E4, compared to all models before, is a sea change.
Some things are slightly obscure annoyances: like for instance the fact that the modal switching of the command dial won’t allow you to use a “dead” function. So on the X-E3 I can switch between shutter speed (dead, because I use the dedicated dial) and ISO, which means the dial can be unresponsive (preventing the accidental movements that such dials are prone to) until I actually want to use it, when I click it. The X-E4 won’t let you shift out of ISO mode, which means it’s always open to accidental adjustment unless you switch the whole thing off. I’ve never worked out why Fuji only allow the dials to be used for things which are only relevant if either (a) you’re using a lens with no aperture ring, or (b) you really should have bought a PASM camera. There are dozens of things where it would be so useful to press the dial to activate it, slide through a list of options, and then click to deactivate again—or even to click to cycle through multiple such lists—but no.
Anyway, I digress.
The real issue of course is the custom settings model, which has kind of been done to death, but I just can’t see how to make it work for me. For example, if I use an XF lens then I want AF; if I use a manual lens then I want focus peaking. That means jumping between MF and AF modes, but every time I select new custom settings one or other of those will be reset every time. So using custom settings for recipes seems to be a big problem.
The only workaround I can see is to just stay in the non-custom settings mode, change film sim instead of recipe when I want to jump between B&W and some sort of colour (oh, in which case a dedicated dial for that would be handy
) and use the camera as a raw camera, effectively retrofitting recipes in Lightroom. But then sometimes I want high contrast, and other times low, so it’s a poor substitute for recipes. Plus, for what I want to use this body for, I’d mostly prefer not to have to faff around with raws.
By avoiding recipes, it would then make more sense to use custom settings for different ways of shooting. Maybe one for manual lenses, one for AF, one for sitting on a tripod if I ever use the X-E4 for that… but compared to a PASM camera the custom settings are very limited, so it doesn’t really seem worth it—the extent of what would be changed in a custom setting bank could be achieved with similar effort to selecting that whole bank. On the Ricoh GRs for instance, custom settings reconfigure the whole camera—from image styles and focus modes right through to function button assignments, exposure compensation and the actual focus position. I don’t use those custom modes much, but for a couple of very specific purposes, ie completely different ways of shooting, they’re incredibly effective. Fuji’s settings seem to have just enough to break the old way of working (recipes) but not enough to be actually useful. Thus far, this is what’s prevented me buying any recent Fuji kit, and it may well continue to do so.
I should add that this is the most first-worldly of first world problems: the X-E4 primarily would be a second body alongside an X-Pro3 (though there are occasions when the slightly smaller size of an X-E makes it fit where the X-Pro doesn’t). It’s a potential replacement for my X-E3 which is flawed only in that it lacks some imaging features of X-Trans IV, and (the main reason) the X-Trans III sensor is a nightmare for hot pixels. I have an X-T4 that would in many ways make a great second body, but it’s comparatively a large and weighty lump, so not ideal for this purpose. I just wish that such a perfect piece of hardware wasn’t made practically unusable by its firmware
Anyroad… I’m curious as to any anecdotes of adapting to the new model. How did it change your way of working? I think my inevitable course of action will be to send the X-E4 back and use the X-T4 instead, but I live in hope…
Hardware wise, I adore it. I like the output of X-Trans IV, I love the ergonomics of the unadorned X-E4 (even if I’m almost alone in that), and I actually think it’s the most beautiful camera that Fujifilm have ever produced. The buttons on the back plate have the tactile feedback of a slab of concrete and the shutter button has a very different feel to other/earlier models, but I can deal with those.
The problems begin and end with the firmware. Pretty much Fujifilm camera seems to demand some form of adaption and rehabilitation on the part of the user (whether it’s the ordering of the buttons, the way the view modes work, or whatever) but the X-E4, compared to all models before, is a sea change.
Some things are slightly obscure annoyances: like for instance the fact that the modal switching of the command dial won’t allow you to use a “dead” function. So on the X-E3 I can switch between shutter speed (dead, because I use the dedicated dial) and ISO, which means the dial can be unresponsive (preventing the accidental movements that such dials are prone to) until I actually want to use it, when I click it. The X-E4 won’t let you shift out of ISO mode, which means it’s always open to accidental adjustment unless you switch the whole thing off. I’ve never worked out why Fuji only allow the dials to be used for things which are only relevant if either (a) you’re using a lens with no aperture ring, or (b) you really should have bought a PASM camera. There are dozens of things where it would be so useful to press the dial to activate it, slide through a list of options, and then click to deactivate again—or even to click to cycle through multiple such lists—but no.
Anyway, I digress.
The real issue of course is the custom settings model, which has kind of been done to death, but I just can’t see how to make it work for me. For example, if I use an XF lens then I want AF; if I use a manual lens then I want focus peaking. That means jumping between MF and AF modes, but every time I select new custom settings one or other of those will be reset every time. So using custom settings for recipes seems to be a big problem.
The only workaround I can see is to just stay in the non-custom settings mode, change film sim instead of recipe when I want to jump between B&W and some sort of colour (oh, in which case a dedicated dial for that would be handy
) and use the camera as a raw camera, effectively retrofitting recipes in Lightroom. But then sometimes I want high contrast, and other times low, so it’s a poor substitute for recipes. Plus, for what I want to use this body for, I’d mostly prefer not to have to faff around with raws.By avoiding recipes, it would then make more sense to use custom settings for different ways of shooting. Maybe one for manual lenses, one for AF, one for sitting on a tripod if I ever use the X-E4 for that… but compared to a PASM camera the custom settings are very limited, so it doesn’t really seem worth it—the extent of what would be changed in a custom setting bank could be achieved with similar effort to selecting that whole bank. On the Ricoh GRs for instance, custom settings reconfigure the whole camera—from image styles and focus modes right through to function button assignments, exposure compensation and the actual focus position. I don’t use those custom modes much, but for a couple of very specific purposes, ie completely different ways of shooting, they’re incredibly effective. Fuji’s settings seem to have just enough to break the old way of working (recipes) but not enough to be actually useful. Thus far, this is what’s prevented me buying any recent Fuji kit, and it may well continue to do so.
I should add that this is the most first-worldly of first world problems: the X-E4 primarily would be a second body alongside an X-Pro3 (though there are occasions when the slightly smaller size of an X-E makes it fit where the X-Pro doesn’t). It’s a potential replacement for my X-E3 which is flawed only in that it lacks some imaging features of X-Trans IV, and (the main reason) the X-Trans III sensor is a nightmare for hot pixels. I have an X-T4 that would in many ways make a great second body, but it’s comparatively a large and weighty lump, so not ideal for this purpose. I just wish that such a perfect piece of hardware wasn’t made practically unusable by its firmware
Anyroad… I’m curious as to any anecdotes of adapting to the new model. How did it change your way of working? I think my inevitable course of action will be to send the X-E4 back and use the X-T4 instead, but I live in hope…
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Aside from that, I have no complaints. 
