Fuji had listened to the YouTube vloggers’ whining about “no flippy screen!” on previous X-T models, but ignored the X-T hybrid-shooting (still-&-video) adherents who loved the previous models' three-way tilting screen, and put the "flippy" (articulating out the the side) screen on the X-T4. Now, Fuji pretends to be contrite about that, and the X-T5 has the tilting screen. ("We listened to your feedback." Try asking us, beforehand. Is it better to beg for forgiveness or to ask for permission?)
Well, I’d bought an X-T4 two years ago – begrudgingly, given my disdain for its flippy screen – because it had the still/movie switch and thereby segregated settings for either, in-body image stabilization (improved over the X-H1’s), that silky-smooth shutter, and the new longer-lived battery. I didn’t whine about its having no headphone jack, nor that it had recording-time limits, nor that the slo-mo video was only 1080p, nor anything else - not even about the flippy screen - because half of what I hear and read about new cameras is whining about what it has or doesn’t, does or doesn’t, or should have or not in the reviewers’ lofty opinions, and so on. Most of this whining comes from people who’ve not even used the cameras yet.
So, now Fuji’s back to the X-T tilting screen. I’d kinda like for Fuji to compensate me with an X-T5 because I’d spent $1,700 on a camera with a flippy screen – but no, I love my X-T4, in spite of that egregious design flaw, and I’m a smart shopper who waits for long-term reviews and reports about firmware updates, as I had with the X-T4. All the pre-release reviews of the X-T5 tell me the same things, almost verbatim: little more than specs and comparisons; parroting slogans such as “photography-first” and “photo-centric” – despite that it has video specs at least advanced than the X-T4's*. (By the way, why is it generally accepted that the flippy screen is "better for video?" My video shots look so much better when shot with a tilting screen. It adds pixel density or tweaks the bitrate; I dunno, I just accept it.) The X-T5's sensor has 40MP, instead of 26? Cool – but what’s the unanimous verdict on low-light (not high-ISO) noise? How’s the IBIS for panning video? How’s the new Electronic Tele-Converter feature – and why has no one mentioned it?
I’ll have to wait a few months in order to find out. I wonder how much buyer’s remorse might hit those who, induced by hype-fever, had pre-ordered the X-T5, and for what unforeseen reasons. The hype, itself, has put me off to the very idea of acquiring the X-T5; almost to the point where, if someone were to give me one, I'd either sell it on eBay to buy two decades' worth of Cafe Bustelo or hurl it off a tall building to see what the video, recorded by the X-T5, would look like as it's falling and hitting the ground.
Another reason why I don't want the X-T5 is that I'm loyal to my X-T4. I had been able to purchase it because of an unforeseen windfall that befell me in the wake of an unfortunate situation brought-on by everyone in the world but me getting swept-up by germophobic hype; which caused me to lose my two beloved jobs, my assiduously-cultivated social network, and my lifelong dream of going to Paris for just one damn week. In buying-out the public's outrage, the Guh-ment sent me enough to pay-down credit card interest and such, after which I had enough left over to buy myself something nice, for my trouble.
That alone might suffice to clinch my fidelity, but over the course of these past two years, the X-T4 has held-up for me quite well, surviving three falls (attached to my hand by a wrist strap) and one drop (coming loose from the wrist strap), the latter of which wrecked a lens attached to the X-T4. Any of the impacts should have "bricked" the camera, but it pulled through like a devoted pit bull who'd survived taking a bullet to the head and out his butt for me. We've been through a lot, the X-T4 and I, and I can't dishonor that by succumbing to Shiny New Toy Syndrome.
(By the way, I shot this video – and six others on that Vimeo account – with my design-flawed but indestructible X-T4.)
(*) Addendum, 24 November, 2022:
I learned more details about the video specs of the X-T5. Firstly, there is no limit to recording time, which on the X-T4 is 30 minutes. That's cool, but I tend not to capture shots as long as five minutes, so this is a non-issue despite its significance. The first of the decisive issues is that the X-T5's regular 4k video is full-sensor, but with line-skipping; its 4k "HQ" mode is oversampled, but with a 1.29x crop – whereas the X-T4's 4k is full-sensor and oversampled from 6k. The second issue is that the X-T5's slomo 120fps/240fps @1080p is recorded at a bitrate of 360mbps. Although that's higher than the X-T4's slomo at 200mbps (and therefore perhaps better upscalable to 4k@200mbps), that bitrate requires a "V60"-rated card, which is by necessity an UHS-II card, whereas 200mbps video can be written to a "V30" UHS-I card. I don't want to record video over 200mbps, and good "V30" UHS-I SD cards are considerably less expensive than good "V60" UHS-II cards. These issues in regard to the X-T5's video specs direct me to retain my X-T4 and whatever else I'd have to sell-off in order to defray the X-T5 – and to wait for the X-T6?
