Fujifilm’s emphasis with the X
Series cameras has primarily been on their capabilities as tools for photography, but it’s now starting to take video a lot more seriously and the X-T2 is the first X Mount camera with 4K recording. It records a 5120x2880 pixels frame – representing a 1.17x crop (giving a total focal length increase of 1.725x) – which is then downsampled to the Ultra HD resolution of 3840x2160 pixels. With the standard camera, the maximum clip length with 4K recording is approximately ten minutes, but with the optional Vertical Power Booster Grip fitted this extends to the full 29 minutes and 59 seconds. In the PAL standard, 4K video can be recorded at either 25 or 24 fps, giving a bit rate of 100 Mbps. Full HD video can be recorded at 50, 25 or 24 fps in the PAL standard, but the NTSC frame rates are available too. Video clips are recorded in the MOV format using MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 compression.
Streaming to the camera’s HDMI connector is available with both 4K and 2K video (8-bit, 4:2:2 colour), with the option of simultaneously recording 4K internally (4:2:0 colour) to a memory card and streaming 2K to an HDMI device (but not the other way around ). A cinematography-orientated flat F-Log gamma (colour) profile is available only for the streamed output, but the ‘Film Simulation’ presets are all available for in-camera recording. As is the case with a number of cameras, 4K recording requires a UHS Speed Class 3 (or faster) memory card.
The X-T2 has stereo microphones with manual adjustment of the levels, and a stereo audio input… now the standard 3.5 mm minijack. The optional Vertical Power Booster Grip adds a 3.5 mm stereo audio output for connecting headphones… and obviously greatly extends the battery life which is arguably more of an issue for video shooters than photographers. Interestingly, there isn’t a dedicated video start/ stop button – as there’s now a dedicated movie position on the drive mode selector – and the shutter button is used for this. The dual memory cards aren’t available either – you can designate one or the other for video clips, but there’s no overflow option.
Continuous autofocusing is available – including the option of single point/zone selection – and manual focusing is assisted by a magnified image or the focus peaking display. The magnified image is only available as a preview, but the peaking display is shown during recording.
In reality, Fujifilm probably still hasn’t gone quite far enough for the serious videographer, but the X-T2 is competent enough for users who are supplementing their photography with the occasional video. And, if there’s enough demand for more videoorientated features such as zebra patterns, it’s not hard to see them becoming available in the future via firmware upgrades.