In the last week we've heard a lot about the latest camera unveiled by Canon. As great as these cameras are on paper, Canon has confirmed that they may have issues with overheating after a certain amount of use. Unfortunately, this is not just a problem that Canon cameras are suffering from, Fujifilm is also having problems with overheating too.
In a recent video from Tony and Chelsea Northrup, they perform a detailed on the Fujifilm X-T4. For the most part, the Northrups describe the camera in a positive light, however, they do point out one potentially major problem, and that is the overheating. When filming in 4K, it seems that this camera does overheat. Northrup also discusses the amount of time it takes for the camera to overheat and in what kind of conditions, which could be useful for those that own the system already.
This is disappointing but also rather strange to me. I own the X-T3 and use it for a lot of our videos. I absolutely love the camera for a number of a reasons and I've never experienced any kind of overheating with it. I've regularly shot long clips with the camera and even after hours of use, the camera has absolutely no problem. The latest camera offers very similar video specifications to the older model, yet seems to overheat quite quickly.
The problem could be due to the addition of IBIS in the latest model, although I should mention this is complete speculation on my part. In my view, if video is a major reason for buying one of the Fujifilm cameras, I would recommend the X-T3 for now as that is far more stable than what the X-T4 seems to be.
Check out the full video linked above to see how the camera performs.
29 Comments
i tend to disregard most of what these 2 say. specially cause they're famous for hating on gear to boost their videos.
Filmed in the peruvian amazon jungle with crazy intense heat with the t4. always 4k. had zero problems.
i usually use it for pictures but this was a 1 week project for an Eco Lodge. the footage is yet to be edited due to covid19 as we had to leave the jungle because of it. so it's unfinished business and at some point i'll have to return. But during that week, the t4 worked good. filmed mostly 4k 30p h265. super happy with the results. filmed most with a gimball and some parts handheld.
honestly, it stood up to what was needed.
used mostly 18-55mm, 10-24 and 35 1.4 for the lodge and the 55-200mm for wildlife.
---"they're famous for hating on gear to boost their videos."
Unlikely. I think it's more about the fanboys that just can't handle the truth. All they want to hear are the good and not the accompanying bad.
I trust their opinions more than I trust the ambassadors.
Trust them more than ambassadors, of course.
Still as youtubers they have loads of biais
I think it's more their opinions. They speak freely since they are not bound. Hell, even they don't agree with each other sometimes. That just goes go show there are no team orders.
The comment is a bit naive. Apparently, for this test they used a card that was not on Fuji's list of recommended cards. This may have contributed to the issue. Regardless, take their views with a grain of salt.
Just for you, Tundrus, I repeated the overheating test with matching Sony cards from the official list. It overheated in about 15 minutes, which is pretty much the same as before (there's a little more of a breeze today). I don't have any reason to think SD cards would cause problems; I think Fuji just provides the list of SD cards that they do compatibility testing with. SD cards are a standard so they should be pretty universal. BTW the card I held up in the video (people really latched on to that, BTW) wasn't used in the tests I cited because it failed. I didn't make note of the exact cards but looking at the cards I might have used, they were all either Sandisk Extreme Pro or Sony, which are on the official list.
Hopefully this clarification and additional testing addresses your concern.
Since you didn't watch the video, what's naive is to base your assumptions on angry fanboys' comments.
At any rate, looks like he used SanDisk and PNY cards. The question is which one he used during the overheating test. And, whether or not it contributes overheating.
Recommended cards are for reliability in speed and writing, not thermal issues. At worst, the camera will lock you out of recording modes, or corrupt data.
The Northrups got everything wrong when Canikon announced their MILC gear. The Canon R got only praises, while the Nikon Z was trashed and mocked... This period was the worse one and ridiculous. And obviously, it was only due to the estimated price and quantity of alcohol of the sponsored trip that made them happy or not. And afterwards, they had to stick to their inital talk... What a pity !
And almost all "influencers" on youtube are acting like the Northrups : just making bold assertions to bait clicks ! They could be right, they could be wrong, it is just a pain to listen and watch as it is generally only a lousy personnal opinion or preference presented as a cataclysm or a bless.
But hey, it seems to work for them, they make money on viewers, fine for them, but don't count on me to click on that useless link.
---"The Canon R got only praises, while the Nikon Z was trashed and mocked"
I see you primarily shoot Nikon.
---"but don't count on me to click on that useless link."
I also see you shoot Fuji.
I've only shot Sony since 2012. And, trust me, we've gotten our share of beatings. Some justifiable, some nit-picky just to rub it in. Anything that comes out of anyone's mouth, you just have take it with a grain of salt and not take it so personal.
Nicolas, you should go back and watch the Canon EOS R review we recorded in Hawaii. We had many problems with the camera, and we freely spoke about them. We recommended it for some niche purposes, but recommended most users stay with Canon DSLRs, which is the same recommendation we gave for the Nikon Z cameras. FWIW, Nikon's press trip for the Z6 and Z7 (to Florida) was quite a bit nicer than the Canon trip, and we attended that, too. Hopefully this addresses your concern that attending a working press trip, or conversely not attending a trip, has caused us to create a biased review.
the truth is i used it with no problems in 4k 30p h265 for a full week in the amazon jungle.
now if you'd rather believe Tony and Chelsea, that's ok. no problem. not trying to raise an argument, just sharing my experience here.
To be fair, they were recording at 60p, not 30p.
If you're up to it, maybe you can conduct your own tests:
1. 4k 60p
2. IBIS on
3. Dual card recording
4. Outside / Inside
I disagree. I think Tony's experience with gear provides a useful data point. He almost always shows his work so you can decide for yourself whether or not you agree with him. In the case of overheating, he is not the first or only one to report the issue.
That said, I'm glad you didn't have issues. Your experience in the jungle sounds interesting. I hope you write something up for FujiLove or the like. The X-T4 is a solid camera that has been taking a beating lately. It would be great to read about your positive results.
i'm not considering writing an article for fujilove at the moment.
i used to be in contact with Tomasz but the last propositions of work i sent his way where turned down. he has toured in Peru with me and some fujilovers. he is an awesome guy, but i think he is busy as hell and also honestly, doesn't seem interested in working with me anymore. so that's that. no idea, maybe he didn't like the experience so much. But a really really nice pro-active guy. really admire him.
as for the T4, so far so good. as long as it keeps working with no problems, i'm a happy customer.
I completely understand Fujifilm from an enthusiast point of view. They offer great looking bodies, tactile experiences, offer the most complete APSC lens lineup and the only company (even after MF) to treat their APSC customers properly.
What I don’t understand is why any professional (if your getting paid) would bother with the system when numerous superior options are available in both DSLR and mirrorless formats. Your getting paid to deliver photos, why sacrifice the IQ (yes larger sensors do deliver better IQ, fact), deal with a fairly limited lens lineup when compared to FF, and find workarounds/wait for Kaizen updates that honestly should have been released when the camera was released.
No camera is perfect, I appreciate when reviewers find those flaws and report on them. That way, as a consumer, I can weigh those positives and negatives into my purchase decision. This is much better than living in an echo chamber and only listening/watching reviewers who repeat my pre-existing thoughts on a product.
Honestly, it's probably because the bodies have been cheaper than the full-frame, though that difference is narrowing a bit with the X-T4. Carrying two X-T2's for a wedding shoot (56mm f/1.2 + 16mm f/1.4) means less lens swapping and meaningful cost savings. Full frame definitely has a broader range of fast glass (and high ISO performance), but if you don't plan on shooting with f/2.8 equivalent zooms on full frame, I imagine a lot of pros get by with Fuji.
That, and a great many clients will never know the difference between FF and APS-C. If they like your portfolio, you get the gig, and they like the end product, the system doesn't really matter.
All that being said, I can't tear myself away from full-frame, though I sometimes think the advantages are all in my head lol
Fair enough. I agree clients can’t tell the difference and if your using strobes it makes little difference what system your using.
Indeed. The IQ is easily good enough if the resolution is sufficient for your purposes. The Fuji gear can be lighter too—though that's not a given.
The only noticeable overheating issue I have noticed is when using my X-T3 as a webcam; after a couple of hours online meeting the camera gets disconcertingly hot, I have got over the problem by placing an ice block directly below the mini tripod not quite in contact with the camera.
I'm not a fan to these two and their bias towards Sony. Since I don't and won't watch the, I have read - but not confirmed - that they put a non-approved card in the camera: an action that in no small part, helped to create the overheating problem. If true, they should do a new review using a Fuji approved card and see if the problem persists.
Glad to see a wakening over this video issue. Want video? Get a video camera. This mob mentality has infected photography. Leica the one left that hasn’t lost their way. Fuji introduced the X series as a answer option to Leica in the Xpro-1. It’s looking like Fuji has bent to the mob with this video nonsense and bloggers with the flippy screen feature. It’s the XT series I’m referring to. Refining a model doesn’t mean piling on features in number to impress. Also, I’ve never seen a company, as in Fuji take so many critical hits unjustly from these forums. Possibly it’s by nature that the modern camera provides so much convenience making great imagery accessible to the newbie, or beginner captive of their own insecurity pressuring, or polluting real world photographic method.
A lot of truth here, when I got into photography I wrongly assumed it was a mainly positively minded pursuit full of people that enjoy capturing the best parts of our planet (excluding photo journalists and crime scene obviously). The reality is it’s a snidey little cesspit of nasty comments and anonymous trolls making massively overhyped statements based on hearsay and misinformation.
Comments regarding reviewers and commenters resolve nothing. Look at high end video graphic cards. Heat dissipation is a real problem. Unfortunately, we can't use noisy, electron greedy fans in our cameras. Video will always produce more heat than still photography. Hybrid cameras, while nice to have, come with negative tradeoffs when video use is emphasized. The manufacturers want to build swiss army cameras because that's cheaper for them to do. Still photographers don't want to pay extra for full-on video. Eventually everyone will realize that there's a necessary fork in the road that will satisfy the needs of both kinds of tool users.
I’m not surprised. My X100V is definitely having overheating issues and that is with still photos. There are two reasons for this. First, I’ve been trying out the in camera HDR feature in combination with the clarity turned up. Both of these require more processing power is my guess. Also, I’m shooting in Phx AZ in the summer. The first night it overheated, it was 10pm and only 100 degrees outside. Not very hot for Phoenix summer temperatures. It overheated within a few minutes and I had only taken a few shots. Since then, I’m getting overheating warnings within minutes of using the HDR function. I was a bit disappointed but not surprised. This is the trade off for weathersealing. I’m keeping the camera and just working within its limits. I love it!!
Also, I had the X100F for two years with zero overheating issues. Even when shooting in 110 degree temperatures.