When asked by Fujifilm to do a project with a pre-production X-T4, we jumped at the opportunity. The X-T3 is in daily use in our operation, and we were very excited to see what new features the X-T4 had in store.
My wife Trude and I work together as a team, and we had done some projects with Morgan before. He is a successful model, constantly travelling the world. Yet his heart is firmly rooted in the vast Veldt of South Africa’s Free State and West Coast. He is an interesting man, and we always enjoy the talks and discussions we have when we meet Morgan, so for this shoot Trude suggested we visit Morgan at his home in South Africa.
Being able to pack very lightly when travelling has always been a strength of Fujifilm’s X-system, and this is truer than ever with the X-T4. On this journey we had all our equipment in one backpack.
The market we work in today, demands that we shoot both film and stills on most projects, and with the X-T4, the engineers at Fujifilm have made the switch from film to stills effortless. Being able to switch between media in an instant makes the workflow fast and efficient, capturing moneys as they happen without having to stop for technical reasons.
The selection of optics in the X-system really is impressive, and the new in body image stabilisation allowed for hand-held shooting even with the long tele lenses. A lot of the work on this project was done with the XF100-400mm and the XF50-140mm.
Another new feature is the ability to shoot 240 frames per second. This allows for some very exciting possibilities. To highlight these features, we brought a horse to a bumpy beach outside the town of Paternoster and had Morgan gallop her along the shore.
The latest film simulation from Fujifilm, is the Eterna Bleach Bypass. The colours of the land and the sky in South Africa suited this look perfectly, so we decided to shoot the entire project in Bleach Bypass.
The X-T4 introduces all new batteries. With the grip, you can use three batteries at the same time, allowing you to shoot longer, something we found to very helpful while working out in the field. The grip fit my hands very well, and the camera as a whole feel extremely well balanced.
We felt privileged to be allowed an insight into Morgan’s personal sphere and get a sense of his background and upbringing. And the accuracy, compactness and light weight of the X-T4 allowed us to move with the flow and capture moments very quickly as they happened.
I am really looking forward to adding this camera to our workflow once it comes into production. The IBIS, the possibility of high frame rates and the fast and precise autofocus will make this camera a key piece of equipment in our work going forward.
