The Fuji X-T4 is an incredible camera for cinematographers, but does suffer from some overheating issues when shooting video – especially in 4K. In this quick post I’ll share two ways to solve the common X-T4 overheating problem.

I recently shot an entire feature film on the Fuji X-T4 and was thrilled with the results. But I did also experience some of the camera’s shortcomings, including its propensity to overheat in some conditions.

To the camera’s credit, the Fuji X-T4 generally didn’t overheat while indoors, unless I was rolling several very long takes back to back without cutting.

That said, indoor environments can still be a major concern for other shooters. Specifically those shooting long form documentary or event content, as the camera will eventually overheat (even in a cool room) if run long enough in 4K.

In the case of our feature production, we had overheating issues predominantly in outdoor locations, as we were shooting in the LA summer heat.

Initially, we would resort to cooling the camera down in an air conditioned car, swapping batteries, and then being very careful not to overwork it once it was up and running.

Thankfully though, this wasn’t the only solution. As I quickly discovered, there were two workarounds that could help mitigate the overheating issue on the X-T4:

1. Fuji X-T4 Overheat Protection: Auto Power Off

By default, when your Fuji X-T4 starts to overheat it will first give you a high temperature warning. The camera LCD will read: “CAMERA IS APPROACHING STANDARD TEMPERATURE LIMIT”

If you continue to run the camera, you will eventually get this message as the camera shuts down: “HIGH TEMPERATURE LIMIT REACHED SHUTTING DOWN”

One way to prevent this issue it to change the “Auto Power Off Temp” setting in the Fuji X-T4 camera menu to HIGH. By default it will be set to STANDARD, which will shut your camera down at a lower temperature threshold.

You can access this in the Fuji X-T4 menu by navigating to: Settings > Set Up > Power Management.

When set HIGH, the camera will now show this message when it starts to overheat: “CAMERA IS APPROACHING HIGH TEMPER-ATURE LIMIT.DO NOT HOLD CAMERA FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME”

Fuji recommends you put the camera on a tripod so you don’t have to hold the camera with your bare hands. I would definitely suggest this too, as the camera body can get extremely hot and will become very difficult to operate.

That said, even when using the high temperature mode, eventually the camera will still overheat and shut off. But you do get quite a bit of extra runtime out of it, so it’s worth making that change to your settings.

2. External Battery Power (V-Mount / PowerBank)

The Fuji X-T4 can be powered via external battery using the USB-C input. This is the best way to avoid the overheating issue, as it relieves the camera from relying on the internal battery (which is what causes the overheating to begin with).

When shooting with an external battery source, you can potentially run the camera at 4K for hours on end and not have any problem at all. On a recent commercial production, I used a Core SWX V-Mount battery (with a USB output) to power the camera, and it ran flawlessly all day.

You still have to be careful about overheating though, as the temperature of your shooting environment, your camera settings, and record time can still cause the X-T4 to shut down.

In any case though, an external battery source is the most effective method to mitigate the issue. As for specific batteries, you could use a V-Mount / Gold Mount battery, or even a small powerbank – which will be more cost effective.

Another benefit of shooting with external power is that you don’t have to stop shooting every 40 minutes to swap the internal Fuji batteries, which is one of the few other Fuji X-T4 flaws.

Personally, I don’t always shoot with external batteries as it can be too cumbersome for certain types of run-and-gun productions. But I always have one with me just to be safe, and will rely on them heavily for anything longer format.

Hope this was helpful for some of you fellow Fuji X-T4 filmmakers out there. If you have any other tips, feel free to drop them in the comments below!

And be sure to check out my free Fuji F-Log color grading LUT here.

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