WHAT’S NEW
2021 is already starting to shape up as a big year for important new cameras with the arrival of Sony’s Alpha 1 mirrorless flagship, Fujifilm’s more compact (and affordable) 102MP
GFX 100S, and Leica’s multi-talented SL2-S… and there’s plenty more to come. Also making news in this issue is a new line of mirrorless prime lenses from Sigma, the 39th FE mount lens from Sony (a 35mm f/1.4 wide-angle) and Fujifilm’s latest X-E series camera body.
FUJIFILM CONTINUES TO
fine-tune its X-mount camera lineup, and the X-E series has been given a reset with the much more compact X-E4. The X-E cameras have rangefinder-like styling, but the X-E4 is actually closer to the
X-A series in size while still having a built-in EVF and tilt-adjustable LCD monitor. Just 32.7mm in thickness (without a lens) and weighing 364g, the X-E4 is slim enough to be easily carried in a jacket pocket.
The X-E4 also steps up to the current-generation 26.1 megapixels X-Trans CMOS 4 BSI sensor and the X Processor 4 engine. With the newer sensor, the X-E4 inherits a 425-point hybrid phase/contrastdetection autofocusing system that gives virtually full-frame coverage and is sensitive down to EV -7.0 (albeit with the super-fast 50mm f/1.0 prime lens only). Subject tracking is enhanced by Fujifilm’s latest upgrades to its face/eye detection algorithms. Continuous shooting is possible at up to 20fps using the camera’s electronic shutter or up to 30fps with a
1.25x crop (giving an image size of 16.6MP). The X-E4 also has a ‘PreShot’ function that commences continuous capture as soon as the shutter release button is at the halfway position.
The EVF uses a 1cm OLED panel with a resolution of 2.36 million dots and magnification of 0.62x (35mm equivalent). The rear screen can be tilted through a full 180 degrees and has touch controls. The resolution is 1.62 million dots. The X-E4 has a single memory card slot for the SD format, but UHS-I speed only.
The feature set includes 18 Film Simulation profiles, multi-shot HDR capture, an intervalometer, focus bracketing and a selection of eight Advanced Filter special effects.
On the video side, the X-E4 can record 4K DCI and 4K UHD video at 24, 25 or 30fps, oversampled from 6K. Internally, it records 8-bit 4:2:0 colour, but 10-bit 4:2:2 sampling is available externally via HDMI. Full HD can be recorded at up to 240fps for super-slow-mo effects when output at 24fps.
Fujifilm has also announced two new XF lenses – a new version of the 27mm f/2.8
‘pancake’ prime and a 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 telezoom. The updated 27mm (equivalent to 40mm) has weather sealing and a manual aperture collar. It’s just 23mm in lengths and weighs 84g. The new XF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 R LM OIS WR also has a weather sealed construction and is equivalent to 107-457mm. It has optical image stabilisation of up to 5.5 stops of correction for camera shake.
The XE-4 is available locally now priced at $1,399 for the body only or $1,799 when packaged with the new XF 27mm f/2.8 prime lens. Separately, this lens sells for $699 while the XF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 zoom is priced at $1,449.
For more information visit www.fujifilm.com.au.