Sunset on Mount Watatic with the Fujifilm XT-4

October 06, 2020

I took a hike up Mount Watatic in Ashburnham Massachusetts for some sunset photos and video. This was the first time that I used a Fujifilm XT-4 or any Fujifilm camera for that matter. My wife recently bought this camera and is nice enough to let me use it every once in a while, which is amazing!

I wanted to see what it was like to film with the XT-4 using the film simulation profiles built into the camera. I used the Eterna profile and thought that it looked fantastic straight out of the camera. Keep in mind I'm not a videographer and will just make a video every once in a while for fun, so from the perspective of someone just shooting video for fun or personal use, I thought it was great!

I was also very excited to try out photography with the XT-4. This was the first photo that I took with the camera and I have to say that it was a lot of fun. I enjoyed using the ring on the lens to change the aperture as well as the ISO and shutter speed dials on the camera. It's a fun way to take a photo. I also really like the way the camera feels, with the exception of the grip, which I feel is a bit too small. This is the first view that you get while climbing up Watatic on the Wapack trail. It's a really nice view looking over some wooded areas of central Massachusetts towards Mount Wachusett in the distance.

This is the view from a ledge near the top of Mount Watatic. It's a pretty quick hike to the top of the mountain so it's a popular spot to watch sunset. I believe that this photo is looking over Ashburnham State Forest and Lake Watatic. This photo was taken right at sunset and I also took some video after sunset when the moon came out, the camera had no trouble at all focusing in low light. One thing that I will say is that when I went to edit the Raw Fuji files they did look strange to me. I am used to editing raw files from Canon and Panasonic cameras and the Fuji files just look a bit different to me. Once I took some time to edit the photos and get used to the way they look it was no problem at all and I ended up liking the look of the raw files. I think, like anything else, when you try something new it takes a little bit to get used to. In the end I really enjoyed using the Fuji and am looking forward to using it again. *Update, I have started using the Iridient X-Transformer plug-in for Lightroom to sharpen the raw fuji files and this looks so much better than using Lightroom sharpening.