As it was announced on the Fujifilm X100v presentation, February 26th was a birthday for a new king of the X-line: X-T4!

Let’s not beat around the bush: The new APS-C king is here!

And no, this is not an exaggeration – this camera is closest to perfection of any other camera in this moment, and of any other format in the digital era. Mere 18 months after a very successful model X-T3 (which stays in production), Fujifilm brings a number of eagerly waited improvements and pack everything in almost identical body of its predecessor. From the outside, the greatest difference is – a beautiful fully articulated LCD screen! Finally!

^{Source: fujifilm.com}

You really can’t appreciate enough this design of LCD screen until your knees start betraying you. Thank you, Fujifilm, hope to see it on all your future models!

Second spectacular improvement would be in-body image stabilization (IBIS) which Fuji now implemented with magnets instead of springs, making it smaller and more effective. Not as effective as a fantastic Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, but so close that you can cancel that Olympus order 😉.

Precisely because of IBIS rumors, there were speculations about possible merging of the X-T and X-H lines into one, but fortunately it will not happen. On this model, Fujifilm has retained that beautiful all-dial controls together with a d-pad in the back, while X-H2 (which will probably come sometime in 2021) will have top LCD screen and bigger body better equipped for video.

^{Source: fujifilm.com}

On that note, that would be a probable reason why Fujifilm took a standard ø3.5 mm headphone jack off the body (it was on X-T3) and put it on the vertical battery grip. You still can use headphones on the body through the dongle adapter for USB Type-C port (included). It’s almost a polite way of Fujifilm to tell you: “If you want to shoot predominantly video, wait for the X-H2.”

The next big change is a new battery. So far, we had NP-W126S/NP-W126 Li-Ion battery, which didn’t have a lot of capacity, but it was single form, so you could use it in every Fuji X camera — until X-T4. Now we have a new standard: NP-W235 has a capacity enough for a 500 shots in normal mode or 600 in economy mode. It’s a decent number. Albeit, don’t expect this battery in future smaller models (X-T40 or X-E4 for example) simply because it is bigger. And you have to buy separately a dual battery charger BC-W235, which is not included.

^{fujifilm-x.com}

Now, FujiFilm says AF is dramatically improved. First loose testing of preproduction models says it is still not on the level of Sony 6XXX series, but it is so good that you do not need to feel envy towards the ‘Sony Boys’. Tracking is clearly much better, and we are going to wait a bit for the thorough Face/Eye Detection test.

Shutter mechanism is completely reworked, and now we have much quieter mechanical shutter declared at 300,000 actuations, and capable of shooting 15fps with full AF and AE! World’s first! (eat your heart, Nikon D500 😉).

Let’s see a quick comparison table:

Fujifilm	X-T4	X-T3	X-H1
Sensor	26Mpix, (APS-C) X-Trans CMOS 4 BSI	26Mpix, (APS-C) X-Trans CMOS 4 BSI	24Mpix, (APS-C) X-Trans CMOS 3
ISO	160-12,800 (H51,200)	160-12,800 (H51,200)	200-12,800 (H51,200)
Processor	X Processor 4	X Processor 4	X Processor Pro
IBIS	Yes	No	Yes
IS stops	5-6.5*	Lens dependant	5-5.5
Digital IS	Yes	No	No
AF System	425 (AF-S & AF-C)	425 (AF-S & AF-C)	325 AF-S, 91 AF-C
AFPD	Full sensor	Full sensor	Central part of sensor
Face/Eye Detection	Yes, improved	Yes	Yes, first gen.
AFPD sensit.	-6.0 EV	-3.0 EV	-1.0 EV
Cont. shooting	15 fps with AF	11 fps	8 fps
Pre-Shoot	Yes, half-press	Yes, half-press	No
Clarity	Yes ±5 steps	Yes	No
Video	4K@60, 20 min. 4K@30, 30 min. 240fps @1080p (3 min.) 120fps @1080p (6 min.)	4K@60, 20 min. 4K@30, 30 min. N/A 120fps @1080p, full sensor readout (6 min.)	4K@60, 20 min. 4K@30, 30 min. N/A 120fps @1080p, line skipping
LCD	Fully articulated	3-way tilt	3-way tilt
Dual SD	SDHC SDXC	SDHC SDXC	SDHC SDXC
Shutter life	300,000	150,000	N/A
Battery (Li-ion)	NP-W235	NP-W126S	NP-W126S
Battery life	500	390	310
Body price**	$1,699	$1,499	$1,899

*^{Synching IS with 18 (out of 29 XF/XC) Fujifilm lenses ensures 6.5 stops of stabilization.}
**^{At the launch date}

And just to let you know this is not only my opinion. All the people who got preproduction samples to test, are impressed. Here is an example:

X-T4 – Fujifilm's BEST X Series Camera yet! (Duration: 8:15)

And you can see a Fujifilm’s sample gallery here…

So, why is it not perfect yet?

So much nice words, but… what kept this camera from perfect? Where are those slight faults? Well, mainly in the back. Let’s first compare X-T4 (left) with X-T3 (right):

^dpreview.com

If you try to spot five differences, the first one could be a missing metering mode beneath the exposure dial. Instead of it, we now have a simple still • movie selector. Good choice. Quick turn from one to the other mode is by far more used than change of a metering mode. Aside of that, you can always assign metering mode to one of at least six function buttons if you need it. And one more good feature: Now stills and video has their own separate Q-menus, so you will not have to change all over again when you go from one mode to the other. Kudos to Fujifilm!

Yes, but that is not the explanation why is it not perfect yet. Here we come to the case. Aside from the metering mode and still • movie selector, we also note some reshuffle of the buttons that naturally falls under the right thumb. And AF-ON (former AF-L) button is on the right place. With the other three is a struggle. For some reason, Fujifilm is positioning their joystick lower than it would be desired. Here is my suggestion:

Joystick should be moved to the current AEL button position, AEL should be in the current position of Q-button, and Q-button should be moved under the joystick – where it usually is on majority of other cameras. Those are their logical positions, anything else is a mistake.

You also have another dissenting view from a vlogger’s perspective, which may help you get complete picture of this camera: