New Fuji user in need of advice on shooting settings.

trmgkl wrote:

Hello guys,

so I am new Fuji user, I got a Fujifilm X-H2S two weeks ago and been playing with it since then. I've been quite happy with it so far coming from Sony system, but I need few advices regarding shooting settings. And just to be clear - I shoot RAW all the time, if i need jpg on the go then I am very happy with the raw to jpg conventer built in to the camera itself.

I'll get straight to the point:

1) On my Sony I used zebra stripes to judge exposure on the go. I've turned on highlight alert on my Fuji and it's fine but here comes the question regarding this setting: as we all know, the clipping alert/zebras are based on jpg histogram so these alarms aren't the best ways to judge raw exposure, so what I used to do on Sony was to shoose "neutral" picture profile which was the most flat looking and I would set colour, saturation etc. further down to -3. That gave me really flat looking look in viewfinder which I don't mind, because that way my zebra alert was quite accurate. So my question is what should I do to get similar results on Fuji? Should I shoose Eterna, which is considered most flat profile, and then set my colour setting to - 4? Maybe Tone curve to -2/-2? What are your thoughts on this? I heard that some people would turn on the "natural live view" setting, but from my brief testing it doesn't do too much of a difference regarding blown highlights alert.

I expose now entirely using the highlight clipping warning as my only exposure aid. I only shoot raw and I only want one exposure for everything I shoot: place the brightest diffuse highlight at the sensor threshold and click.

As you surmise the blinkies are derived from the video feed to the EVF and as such reflect JPEG processing rather than the raw file. It takes two blown channels to activate them. So if one channel only is blown they won't come on.

I shoot two Fuji bodies an X-T2 and X-T4. To solve the problem you're concerned with I went the extreme route and set WB in both cameras to unity. It's an extreme position to take but I'm used to the green JPEGs and EVF and for payback I get perfect exposure accuracy. I increase EC until the blinkies activate (two channels in the JPEG simulation are now blown as are two channels in the raw file) then I back down -.3 EC and click. Never fails. At worst I nick the green channel which is easily recoverable in C1.

2) If I'm shooting RAW, does Dynamic Range setting (DR100/DR200/DR400/AUTO) change anything? Should I leave it on Auto or DR100?

3) Same question about D Range Priority - does it affect anything if I'm shooting RAW? Should I leave it on Off or Auto?

Agree with Erick & Martin -- DR & D Range are for JPEG shooters -- leave them off and never think of them again.

I would greatly appreciate your thoughts on these questions.

I'm new to the Fuji system and I want to learn everything about it.

Cheers

Thomas