MrSMW

What is that Netflix series where a virus kills off everyone older than a teenager? Seems prophetic... Levity aside, it isn't great is it? My own wedding season is supposed to start here in France in 8 weeks time. Unless this situation peaks soon and begins to improve rapidly, cancellations will begin to happen. Around 40% of my business/turnover is new bookings on a rolling monthly basis but that has now dried up to zero. It's not good for anyone or anything.

Yorkshire Tea. End of.

I actually do similar, - depends on the scenario but use the AF to get a lock and then flip it to manual. Especially during things like wedding ceremonies where some dick stands up to take a picture on their phone and the AF locks on to them...and then does not return to the original subject. Oh, FFS, more self-inflicted muppetry 🤪

Well so-called true pros use manual focus. Or so I've been told 😉 I don't think it makes much difference whether you do something for a living or not, - you either need or want AF or prefer MF, - it comes down to personal choice mostly. As above, I need AF some of the time to the point I use it all of the time. Or I'd forget. I have switched to manual before only to push the record button and wonder why everything is OOF only to realise moments later, it's the muppet behind the camera at fault 😂

Oh that's easy. There is a spray you can get that swimmers use for inside their goggles. Anyway, she's doing it wrong because she needs a canary in there. If the canary falls off it's perch, basically you are fucked.

I've never experienced this AF pulsing but believe for those who have it's an AFC thing rather than an AFS? Also, I tend to shoot only short, static sequences (1" sensor 'camcorder', full manual for anything longer, locked off on a tripod) so again, maybe why I have not experienced/seen it myself.

If I could bottle and sell it, I would at least consider it... Full video and full photography coverage at the same time. How? It's like that guy that at one point in his life couldn't juggle 2 oranges but one day could juggle chainsaws. How? Practise, practise and more practise. He started somewhere and over a period of time, persistence and not a small amount of frustration... For me, full-time wedding photographer for 20+ years and started introducing bits of video into the capture either for clients or for said practise purposes around 12 or so years ago and it grew from there. But no one just picks up a chainsaw or two and starts tossing them around saying, "how hard can it be?". It's just a process same as pretty much anything else. Some people in their right minds wouldn't even attempt it, but I have never been one to back down from a challenge. There's a lot of shit I have never been able to make work, - commercial photography or video for one thing. Don't know why, long since given up trying to fathom these things, - I'm more or less pegged at what relatively few things I can do and one of those few things happens to be hybrid wedding capture. The wedding bit seems to be the key part for me. I've been to 700+ of the things, - probably part of my why & how

What about an S and three one's? Or a G an H and a 6 for these are the letters and numbers of the grail?

Will it be the XH2 though?

I shoot weddings hybrid. Half of the time, my video orientated camera is either on a tripod or freestanding monopod doing it’s thing whilst I shoot stills. I could not do this without AF, so whilst no fan of 90% of the muppets on The Tube, it’s essential for me.

It’s all a conspiracy by Fuji. XT4 gets announced and folks across the interwebs start linking it with the Olympics for completely inexplicable reasons that even they don’t understand but because they read it ‘somewhere’, then yeah, it’s a thing. Fuji picks up on this and begin to suffer small willy syndrome in comparison with those 12” monster DSLR’s that Canon and Nikon keep insisting on making but no one including even Fro Knows buys anymore. Fuji release virus so Olympics will be cancelled. It’s pretty obvious when you consider all the facts. It’s going to backfire on them though because the way things are headed, my preorder for a pair is now not likely to be delivered (and therefore cancelled if this looks likely) in time for this years wedding season...if that itself even happens.

If HCB was still alive and kicking, he’d produce a sequel book for video and call it The Decisive Minute.

The bottom line with all small businesses is not so much about how good you are at your actual craft, but how good you are at making your business work. I know plenty of mostly photographers who are great at their craft, but not so interested/good at the business side. And they wonder why the phone isn’t ringing like it used to... There is no real ‘industry standard’ because the variables are too great. It boils down in the end to regular employment with benefits as perhaps the ‘safer’ option, or being self-employed where it is down to you 100%. I sometimes think I’d like the former option but the reality is I am better off on most levels, though perhaps not financially, ploughing the field myself.

It’s a real mixed bag out there right now regarding reviews, but keep in mind these are really pre-reviews on pre-production firmware. Same as it ever was. What this camera boils down to really are two factors; 1: What is your Fuji experience because if this is just the latest in a long line of X camera use, most of it is good. Very good indeed and Fuji being Fuji will have ironed out any initial kinks prior to or soon after availability. 2: What are you going to be using it for? Pure stills camera? Possibly better options out there for you depending on your needs. Pure video camera? Better options are out there. But as a genuine hybrid? This is where it will shine especially how I work.

Weddings get tougher when you have kids because suddenly that’s every Saturday gone and pretty wiped out Sunday’s. But I started 5-6 years before our daughter was born 15 years ago so it’s been the norm for us for a loooooong time.

Made in China or Japan I don't care, - zero build or other issues with either XT3 I used all last year and I had no idea where they were made until I just checked the one I have retained and found out China. Pre-ordered a pair of 'wherever they are assembled' XT4 bodies for this year's wedding season and looking forward to receiving them end of April/early May...or will need to buy a pair of XH1's to tide me over as by then, my season will have started and my sole XT3 won't cut it!

I make a living, but nothing amazing. (Weddings)

There's nothing wrong with gear but everything wrong with most channels YouTube comments section. I have weaned myself off the latter.

I'd really like it if Fuji redesigned their fantastic 23mm F1.4, 35mm F1.4 & 56mm 1.2mm primes for video AF. Yes yes and yes. Well yes to the former and latter anyway... Currently with the 23mm f2 and 50mm f2 because they are so much better for (AF) video, albeit I'd prefer the f1.4 and f1.2 versions for stills. As a hybrid shooter though, I have to compromise (because carrying and changing extra lenses is a no no for me) and it's not a bad compromise at all. I really hope Fuji give these old warhorses a tweak soon because if they can make them better for video, I probably would trade.

I have never tried a Sony A7anything but find that so many internet reports in regard to Fuji this or that are down to user error such as simply relying on the straight out of box set up and never bothering to fine-tune the set up. Is the Sony (and Canon) AF better than Fujis? Probably but not by as big a margin now as some older or flawed reports would suggest. But as I say, not had a Sony to compare to and the XT3 performed really well all last year at over 25 weddings with no issues. No overheating, no AF problems and no anything negative that NON REGULAR USERS/OWNERS tend to state. And I am not a Fuji 'fan boy' for the sake of being one, just someone for whom they have been producing the best tools for my specific needs in recent times. I could flip to anything else I desired (within financial reason) any time but choose not to for a reason and that reason being actual real world regular use. Just sayin' 😝

Well neither of my XT3's overheated last year here in SW France filming 4k where in the shade, it passed 40 degrees celcius several times, so I'm not expecting the XT4 to be any different...

I did actually give some serious serious thought to one recently but then decided for my line of work, I'd need two. And I can't afford/justify one. Oh well, bring it XT3.5 🤠

Now to bring it back to the wedding business, and to stop talking about the sound department, did you get any more clients due to filming with a X-T3 instead of an X-H1? Did any of those clients you did get, did they pay you more because you had a X-T3? Did the X-T3 save you time? (remember, time = money) I'm going to take a wild guess and say the answer to all those question is a no. In fact, just maaaaybe the X-H1 is a superior camera for weddings than a X-T3? As due to the huge amount of footage taken, often 8bit is preferred over 10bit (thus the X-T3's big advantage is negated), and due to the nimble handheld nature of shooting weddings the IBIS exclusive to the X-H1 shines through as a big strength of the X-H1. Perhaps you could have gone all of 2019 without buying any cameras at all?? Or maybe only a very small purchase. Indeed, clients have no idea what anything was shot on, never mind whether it was XH1 or XT3, 1080 or 4k. Rather the switch was more for me. Call it professional pride, call it job satisfaction etc, but that plays a part. The move to the XT3 did involve an extra step in the workload and that was the conversion of the .265 to prores so my PC could handle it but I gained the ability to punch/crop in much more heavily. On the other hand, I sped up the process in various other ways so swings and roundabouts... The downside was the loss of IBIS, though I was still running a 3 camera set up at the time based on 2x stills cameras and 1x video (the XH1 in 2018 and XT3 in 2019) on a freestanding monopod. For the 2020 season, I am going to reduce that to just 2 bodies and lose the monopod for 90% of the day so the IBIS is a must. The problem now would be going back to the XH1. Better ergos, no question, but the new battery means no need for a battery grip or external powerpack plus 6x better low-light AF and so the XT3.5 has a pretty big draw over both the XH1 and XT3. Could I make any of them work? Would anybody notice? Of course and no, but I would and that's an intangible part of being a pro at anything isn't it, - the knowledge that are you doing, 'just enough' or 'giving it your all'? From that pure business perspective, if I knew for sure that an XH2 was 100% coming in around a year, I would 100% hold off for one year and carry on with XT3 until that time because I know I would want to move to XH2's. But it's a 'unicorn' at this time and I have to make a decision based on what is available as much as I/we wish Fuji would commit to earlier official announcements. What I am currently telling myself is that though I would prefer the mythical XH2, I almost certainly will get a pair of XT3.5's and commit to 2 years regardless. And be content with that.

If this report is correct and it turns out to be the case, then it seems in terms of current/near future camera companies, that: Canon and Fuji are going up. Sony going down slightly. Panny (need to sort out their AF issues) and Nikon (their DSLR’s) on a fairly even keel. Olympus dropping another ball. Leica and Hassie live in their own special fluffy bubbles. Re. ‘hybrid’ cameras rather than pure video tools about which I know nothing. That’s how it looks to me anyway.

This is just it, working pros have to make business decisions... I made a business decision to go with the XH1 as my primary video (weddings) camera in 2018. Within 6 months or so, the XT3 came out with a far superior video spec. 2019 season meant taking a massive hit on the XH1 to upgrade to XT3. Ditto it’s going to happen if I go XT4 for this year. I really don’t want these 1 year life cycles (and yes, no one is forcing me), but it’s this situation now of going with XT4’s for this season with the knowledge the camera I really want (XH2) may come out next year. Or not...because Fuji ain’t saying. On the plus side, the XH1 was good for me in 2018 and the XT3 in 2019. The latter may still be this year, but the XT3.5 ticks so many more boxes for me. Well the IBIS box and bigger battery without resorting to battery grip boxes, so is pretty much a dead cert. But I am going to be peeved if they announce an XH2 at some point. Ultimately, as a business, I just have to make the best decision(s) I can at any given time.