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TOP TEN SETTINGS FOR YOUR FUJI X By TOMASH
10 IN-CAMERA SETTINGS FOR YOUR FUJIFILM X CAMERA THAT WILL MAKE IT WORK LIKE A CHARM FROM DAY NUMBER ONE
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10 SETTINGS IN 10 MINUTES Text and photographs by TOMASH
After purchasing a brand new camera, the first thing we all are supposed to do is... to read the owner's manual. Are you the one who actually does it? I will be honest with you: I AM NOT. Excited about the new camera, I just run out of my house and start shooting. Sooner than later though... I have to open the manual. It is not unusual that I suddenly get stuck when trying to change one of the basic settings and I have no idea how to do it. That's why I decided to bring you this short and compact starting guide to your brand new Fujifilm X series camera. I will share with you 10 SETTINGS, which will make sure that you will be ready to go and take your first photographs just in a couple of minutes. My settings suggestions apply to all current Fujifilm X series models. Menu positions of these settings may slightly vary, depending on the camera you bought, but for the biggest part you will find them exactly where I will tell you to go in your camera menu.
Let's dive straight in! NOMADIC
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1 ) AUTOFOCUS SETTING
→
AF MODE
→
SINGLE POINT
look for it in the red section of your camera menu
By setting the autofocus to the “Single Point” mode you will make sure that you remain in control over what the camera is actually focusing at. You will be able to move the green focusing box around the frame by using the selector buttons (see tip no. 2!) or a joystick (if you are an X-Pro2 user).
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2 ) BUTTON / DIAL SETTING SETTING → FOCUS AREA
→
SELECTOR BUTTON
look for it in the blue section of your camera menu
Set the four selector buttons on the back of your camera to be your focusing point cursors. By pressing up / down / left / right you will be able to quickly move the green focusing box around the frame. If you are an X-Pro2 user, you are in luck! No need of setting it up: you will find an extremely useful dedicated joystick on the back of the camera, which is responsible for moving the focus point.
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3 ) ISO AUTO SETTING → DEFAULT SENSITIVITY 200 → MAX SENSITIVITY 6400 → MIN SHUTTER SPEED 1 / 125
look for it in the red section of your camera menu
Let me explain. The ISO AUTO settings above will make sure that your shutter speed will never get longer than 1/125 sec., which will prove very useful when photographing people or moving objects (cars, trains etc.). By default the camera will be trying to keep the ISO as low as possible (ideally at ISO 200) to maintain the best image quality. When your surroundings get darker, the camera will automatically increase the ISO in order to maintain the minimum shutter speed (1/125 sec.). Only when the ISO value will hit the 6400 limit, the camera will start prolonging the shutter speed. It is how I shoot 90% of the time. These settings guarantee that my images are sharp, even when there are people or animals walking in front of my camera. IMPORTANT! After setting the AUTO ISO parameters make sure that you choose the A setting on the ISO dial on the top of your camera or in the Q-Menu!!
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4 ) IMAGE QUALITY → FINE
look for it in the red section of your camera menu
“Fine” means the best quality JPG file. The jpeg files coming from Fuji X cameras are excellent. That’s why I recommend to start shooting in the JPG mode. You will have smaller files, which will be ready to send via email and easily transferrable to your mobile phone (using the Fujifilm Camera Remote app). You will be also able to apply one of the wonderful film simulations to your images (see tip no. 5!).
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5 ) FILM SIMULATION
look for it in the red section of your camera menu
Film Simulations are various image styles, which you can automatically apply to your photographs. Take a couple of images using different Film Simulations. Download them to your computer and decide, which of them you like the most. My personal favourites are Classic Chrome and Acros (available only on the X-Pro2). If you don’t have the X-Pro2, try using the B&W + Yellow Filter simulation.
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6 ) HIGHLIGHT TONE + 1 / SHADOW TONE + 2 look for it in the red section of your camera menu
This is a personal preference, but I am big fan of contrasty looking images. That’s why I am giving my images this little kick: I like to push the highlights a little bit up and drag shadows quite a bit down. Try it and then adjust these settings accordingly to your liking.
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7 ) NOISE REDUCTION - 2
look for it in the red section of your camera menu
Noise Reduction “-2” basically means that the camera will not be applying any noise reduction to your photographs. By setting it to “-2” you will retain more details in your images. Sure, if the ISO will get high (like 3200 or 6400), you will start noticing some noise (especially in the shadow areas of your shots), but if necessary, you will always have an option of removing the noise when editing your photo on the computer. I prefer it this way, it gives me more control. * On the XPro2 set it to 3.
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8 ) SHUTTER TYPE → MECHANICAL SHUTTER look for it in the red section of your camera menu
Unless you want your camera to remain completely silent (for example when shooting a theatre performance, where you don’t want to disturb the public and the actors on stage), stick to mechanical shutter. Electronic shutter may result in an unwanted effect of so called “rolling shutter”, which can distort your subjects, when shooting moving objects.
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9 ) SCREEN SETUP → PREVIEW EXP. / WB IN MANUAL MODE → PREVIEW EXP. / WB look for it in the blue section of your camera menu
Fuji X cameras offer an amazing possibility of previewing how your image will look like, even before pressing the shutter. Using the electronic viewfinder or the LCD screen, you will be able to judge not only your focus, but also your exposure and white balance. There are some situations when you will want to switch the exposure preview off (eg. when shooting with flash), but for starters - make sure you have this function switched on.
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10 ) POWER MANAGEMENT → HIGH PERFORMANCE → ON look for it in the blue section of your camera menu
Having the “High Performance” switched on makes your camera even snappier. Autofocus works faster, exposure measuring is happening in a flash. Admittedly, your battery should be draining quicker, but I have never noticed any significant difference.
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