In January, Fuji introduced the X-E4, a new camera from the popular X-E series. The technology is reminiscent of that of the Fuji X100V. The advantage of the X-E cameras is that they have the XF mount and you can work with a variety of interchangeable lenses. In addition, it really looks good, which then tempted me to order the camera.

In terms of appearance, the Fuji X-E4 is reminiscent of classic rangefinder cameras. The focus of the camera is on the minimalist design. Since I was looking for a camera with an interchangeable lens in addition to my X100V, the X-E4 seemed to me to be the ideal counterpart. The camera looked small, inconspicuous and somehow sexy in the online previews. I skilfully ignored the fact that it is not weather resistent because I just wanted the camera. In addition, the kit with the 27mm F2.8 Mark II for around 1050 € is a good deal, I think.

However, after ordering in advance, my doubts did not completely let me go. I find the LCD screen, which can be tilted 180 degrees upwards, very practical for selfies or when filming, but then I also thought about how often I would use this feature. Probably rarely or not at all. Even so, I wanted to keep this camera until I saw a video by Omar Gonzalez on YouTube explaining why he wasn’t going to buy the camera.

And that finally opened my eyes and made me rethink. Due to the minimalist design, some buttons and wheels have been omitted, so that a lot of settings can only be reached via the menu in the camera. The reason why I switched to Fuji almost 2 years ago was precisely this possibility of making all the important settings using buttons and not having to look around somewhere in the menu every time. After thinking about it, I realized that the X-E4 was not going to become my camera.

Nevertheless, the desire to bring a Fuji with an XF bayonet into the house in addition to my X100V has become stronger. I still have the X-Pro 1 in the closet, which I also had a lot of fun with. The only disadvantage with her was the slow autofocus in many cases. That annoyed me again and again because I often missed that one „moment“. When I bought the X100V, it was a total difference. Of course, you have to remember that there are almost 8 years of technical innovations between the two cameras.

An X-Pro 3 was out of the question for me due to the price. So I started looking for a used X-Pro 2 on the Internet and found one relatively quickly. For a little over 700 € I got a good model with 1-2 small flaws, but that doesn’t bother me at all. Technically it works perfectly and that’s what matters to me.