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On Day 1 I purchased a Fuji X-H1 from Englewood Camera, the new flagship camera aimed at photographers who dabble in photo and video. If you want to see my first impressions of the camera please read this post and this one. I specifically want to
FujiFilm Simulations
So the X-H1 has this new film simulation, Eterna, which has subdued color and rich shadows, great for a base before further color grading on video in Premiere Pro. Truth be told I love plain ol’ Provia for my Fuji videos and with that film simulation, videos straight out of the camera are good enough for sharing on social media.
That touchscreen tho’
I can’t say enough great things about using a touchscreen to focus for video. Whether you are using auto-focus or zooming in to set/confirm your manual focus, the touchscreen is a great improvement over my D750 and the X-T2 I imagine. Want to change focus while recording? Just touch the screen where you want to place the focus next.
Silent Movie Mode
This is a blessing and a curse. I like the idea of Silent Movie Mode, allowing you to adjust all settings from the LCD. Why is this important? It reduces the chance of buttons and dials introducing internal noise into your video clips. This mode will even save your settings when you turn the drive dial from movie to a still, so that if you change to take a picture and then come back to video your SS and other settings are still saved, BUT if you turn silent mode off it forgets the settings.
Continuous Auto-Focus
I want to say something about this because this was not a deal breaker for me in buying the X-H1. When I shoot video I auto-focus on my subject, hit record, hit stop, rinse and repeat. If I want to keep a moving subject in focus I maintain the same distance between myself and them. I typically didn’t rack focus on my Nikon but if I did I used a loupe and did it in manual focus by eye.
I have demonstrated regular continuous focus the video below and it is not too bad. Not sure if I would use it with or without face detect, but there will be a firmware update to make this snappier and fix some of the issues people are having. I am shooting DR100 and from my perusal of the internet, it seems most people that are having issues are in DR400.
Be warned, you can hear the lens focusing in the video. The 18 f/2 was louder than the 16 f/1.4, but regardless even with an external mic I can hear it. I am sorry for the background noise at Starbucks, but if you are filming in a quiet environment you will be able to hear it.
IBIS
In-Body Stabilization is supposed to be THE thing you get with the X-H1 over the X-T2. As many have said on social media, if you temper your expectations you won’t be disappointed. IBIS is not a replacement for a gimbal or other stabilizer you may use on your rig now. Don’t expect to chase your subjects and have completely stabilized footage, because you will end up crying into your martini glass. I have pretty steady hands when it comes to shooting video and I hand-hold 85% of the time. This works for the chaotic family documentary footage I film. For my quieter newborn environments, I will use a monopod or tripod as necessary. I have not moved up to the gimbal stage yet, but I do have my eye on a Zhiyun Crane 2. As far as its use in video, see the sample family video at the bottom of this post and my thoughts below.
Honestly IBIS is the ugly of this camera, but not for its use. The fan or something else related to IBIS can be heard when IBIS is on or off when using the internal mic. It makes the audio pretty much unusable. So if you need clean audio you will have to use an external mic, so if you need a flash in the hot-shoe in your work this will be a problem. So the fact that I am not even sure I like using IBIS, but I lose the ability to use the internal mic for filming because of it makes it #1 on my shit list. The BEST review of the X-H1 talks about this at 10:55. That review also shows IBIS in use compared to the X-T2 which has no IBIS as well as the Panasonic GH5 which does. SPOILER alert: the IBIS on the GH5 is amazing. If this is the main reason you want the X-H1 I highly recommend you take a hard look/rent/fondle a GH5 first.
As a hybrid camera
Where this camera still fails me after two weeks is as a “hybrid” camera for someone who toggles between video and stills for an entire session. As I have proclaimed the D750 as the best hybrid camera with separate video and stills exposure settings saved, it is imperative that a camera designed for hybrid shooters do the same. If I use the Silent Movie Mode trick I am forced to update all exposure settings on the screen which is not as easy as turning a dial. If I use the T method (described in a previous post) I still have to adjust all the other exposure settings before I can click record or take a still. In my last session, I caught myself taking several stills at 1/125 sec until I realized I had failed to adjust back to 1/250 coming out of movie mode.
Anti-Aliasing Filter
The D750 has one, but the Fuji Xh-1 and Nikon D850 do not. I can see moire and aliasing in my Fuji footage when I am editing on a small screen in PP, but I don’t really see it in the original cilps when played in QuickTime. In the video below I saw it in some footage I didn’t include in this final cut, but it was on the couch cover. I just want to note this here because I have never noticed it in any of my D750 footage. If you typically film in areas with repeated patterns just be aware it might be an issue. I know the argument against the filter is a “blurring” effect on photos, but I am not sure I have ever noticed a loss of detail from the AA filter on the D750.
FULL disclosure: I only spent about half my normal energy on the edit for this sample video. I filmed this session using both Fuji and Nikon bodies, but I limited myself to only including Fuji footage, even if I had Nikon footage that was better or more compelling. There are things I want to note about the footage in this film.
Footage is from two different days
The baby in the crib was shot on Sunday (Fuji X-H1 + 18mm f/2) and the rest was filmed on Wednesday (Fuji X-H1 + 16mm f/1.4), hence the two new scratches on his face. It is all filmed at 60p and edited on a 30p timeline in Premiere Pro.
Inconsistent Film Simulation
I filmed with the new Eterna film simulation on Sunday and then for the first few minutes on Wednesday before I decided to switch over to Provia. I included a few screenshots at the beginning of this post, but I didn’t spend as much time as I normally would to get them to match. My Nikon footage will likely be easier to match to the Provia than the Eterna so I will wait until then to give it 100%. I am a minimalist when it comes to color grading so I think I prefer Provia. It could just be it is what I am used to from the X100F and it is also closer to the camera standard profile I use in my D750s. One benefit of the Eterna is less magenta is the skintones from my limited observations. This is something I will continue to pay attention to so I may end up using Eterna if I can get better skintones out of the edit.
Is IBIS better than my steady hands + Warp Stabilization in Premiere Pro?
This was my first time really using the IBIS and I can see some of the in-camera stabilization corrections in the footage. They are driving me INSANE. I hand-hold 85% of my footage for in-home sessions and I know how much I can stabilize in Premiere Pro, so I film accordingly. I am also seeing the corrections in the footage where I hold the camera above my head. I use a neck strap as a stabilizer when I do this with the D750, but I currently have a hand strap on the Fuji. This is NOT sufficient to hold it steady above my head. I think I would have preferred, especially for the pans, to turn IBIS off and then stabilize in Premiere Pro. This will take some trial and error on my part to get comfortable. It could also be I can eliminate these glitches I see with Warp Stabilization but I didn’t really attempt this for this sample film. I will test IBIS + panning + monopod/tripod to see if that reduces the issues.
Well, I am keeping it. I am starting my Fuji kit with a X-H1 + 16mm 1.4 + 23mm 1.4 and in the next two weeks I will sell one of my D750s and pick up another X-H1. The learning curve is steep, but the benefits of the small footprint and touchscreen outweigh the time it will take me to get my groove back. Learning how far I can push the sensor in less than ideal light, how to get color I love, and adapting to hybrid shooting on a new body can be done! If you need me I will be over here trying to take pictures of my kid with the Fuji X-H1 while she scowls at me.
Things I plan to do for the immediate future: turn IBIS off for video, swap the hand strap for a neck strap, use the Provia film simulation, and perhaps upgrade my external mic.
I will update this post with additional observations and footage over the next few weeks.
denver, dallas
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