Fuji’s futuristic firmware gift

I began 2018 with a new tool in my camera bag: 4K Ultra High Definition (UHD) video.¹ The upgrade comes curtesy of Fujifilm, with the firmware update (4.0) for the X-Pro2 camera, released on December 21, 2017. You might say that was my Solstice prize!

Fuji’s practice of releasing firmware updates for their cameras and lenses long-term — I’ve owned the X-Pro2 for 19-months — is one of the reasons photographers praise their products. By comparison, other camera manufacturers usually release a couple of updates to iron out a few bugs, and that’s it.

This Fuji update fundamentally improves the camera. Besides the addition of UHD video, new features include:

• Improved radio flash controller usability.
• Support for tether shooting via USB or Wi-Fi.
• Support for “FUJIFILM X RAW STUDIO” conversion engine.
• Support for backup/restore of camera settings via FUJIFILM X Acquire.
• RGB histogram display and highlight warning, via histogram function button.
• Re-start of AF function during movie shooting by pressing the shutter button halfway.
• Marked improvement of continuous follow-focus.

One might say about the latter upgrade that focus speed should have been better from the get- go. I agree, but it’s nice to see the company address the issue long after initial release. We are usually resigned to such limitations when we buy a camera, with no expectation of improvement down the line.

4K forays

Though I began testing 4K immediately after I finished editing the (1080p) Solstice Print Draw video, It has taken me a couple of weeks to compile a satisfactory mixture of 4K clips … though I had to reign in my usual obsessive nature before January had passed along with the chance to use the double-entendre contained in the post title.

The embedded video begins with somewhat pedestrian examinations of the X-Pro2’s film simulations, then a walk  around natural and urban locations, sticking mostly to the camera’s Standard (Provia) setting. I’ve avoided any fancy post-production, with just a tweak or two to correct exposure or white balance mistakes (with the latter usually set to Auto).

Without any (external) monitors other than the 3-inch rear LCD screen, I found the camera’s “focus-peaking” function² indispensable in achieving focus or focus pulling (though I miss occasionally).

Audio

The audio tracks are a mix, so to speak, of basic in-camera recording and studio editing (I didn’t carry my external Røde Stereo VideoMic Pro).³ The first movement of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 27, No. 2, popularly known as the Moonlight Sonata, forms the main background soundtrack, supplanted by serendipitous sounds of the field and street along the way.⁴

The voiceover is produced with the Blue Yeti mic, (featured in the “opening scene”) post-produced with free, open-source Audacity.

Director’s cut

I’m not an experienced videographer, but this advancement pleases me. Technically, there’s a noticeable all-around improvement over the camera’s original video quality, examined last January. I believe It will help my amateur productions. I’m rather happy with the resulting movie as well, particularly the after-dark urban clips, which I’m tempted to separate and use in a stand-alone movie. Title ideas? City Nights perhaps?

If you have a 4K TV or computer monitor (my TV is ancient 720p), give my film a view and let me know in the comments what you think.

1. 4K resolution refers to a horizontal screen display resolution in the order of 4,000 pixels. In practice, this UHD television and computer monitor standard has a resolution of 3840 × 2160 (16:9, or approximately a 1.78:1 aspect ratio), twice the horizontal and twice the vertical resolution of 1080p, or three times the horizontal and vertical resolution of 720p.
2. Focus peaking works by detecting edges of highest contrast in your scene (therefore most in focus) and highlighting them in a bright colour.
3. I didn’t carry this superb external mic because I can’t trust that the 3.5mm-2.5mm mini stereo jack adapter, necessitated by Fuji’s frustrating use of 2.5mm input, will not introduce noise. Great care must be taken when using the converter that nothing touches the mic cable during recording — something that can’t be guaranteed on-the-fly.
4. Originally, I had used an audio clip of an oriental composition during the urban scenes in Victoria’s Chinatown, where the music emanates from the ornate arch at the intersection of Government and Fisgard Streets. I simply recorded a longer video clip there, later detaching the audio in iMovie. However, on my first upload to YouTube, I was hit with a copyright claim on behalf of “China Media Ventures.”  That meant that any advertising revenue from my work would have gone to them. No way! I deleted the video. Further research revealed that the contested music was in fact a traditional folk song from, get this, the Song Dynasty (960-1279), therefore unlikely to be covered by copyright.

I’ve run into this before with YouTube. Unscrupulous music companies claim rights on all kinds of audio clips — I’ve had them claim rights-released soundtracks from Apple, included in iMovie. Both the claims and appeal process are automated, with the final say going to the claimant. Resolution can take 30-days, all the while your revenue going to the company that made the complaint. It sucks. Oh well, I learned the name of the song; it’s Plums By the Ge River. The buggers haven’t got to the version I uploaded to Vimeo yet.

More Technical Stuff: Why 4K? That’s a good question, particularly when YouTube and Vimeo destroy your hard work with crappy encoding. You’ll likely notice banding and digital artifacts in the video. Also, unless viewers have a decent screen and fast Internet connection, other problems may arise. Still, I encourage you to watch the video at YouTube (rather than the embed here) and choose the highest resolution available from the little gear thingy, lower right. I guess you could say I’m “future proofing” my videos as UHD become the norm. If you want to see this video in all its glory, I guess you’ll have to visit me and watch the original. 🙂