So i finally bought an X-T3, now i have to...

So i finally sold my X-T30. I was only selling the camera but only got lousy offers. Added the lens and updated the price, and sold it, and for a lower difference to the X-T3 + 18-55 kit, then the one between X-T3 and what i was asking for X-T30.

By selling the camera i would have to invest €350 more on the X-T3 (new from e-global), and by selling with the lens the difference for the X-T3 kit is only €300, so pretty happy.

Now, i never had an X-Tx, so apart from the obvious hardware differences like the viewfinder, ISO dial or dual card slot, what additional settings should i look at in the menus?

I noted a 3 of them already:

EFCS - some say turn it on, other keep it of. There are limitations in exposure and bokeh from what i understood

Focus limiter - pal2tech explains well how to use it, but i only foresee using the presets 2m-infinit, or 5m-infinit

ISO dial (High and low) - how do these work? max value for a high or low ISO custom setting?

Read the user manual, and initially configure the camera the way you were used to. Start simple.

biza43 wrote:

Read the user manual, and initially configure the camera the way you were used to. Start simple.

Of course i will, however my question was more related to options i did not have before on the X-T30.

But it's never a bad advice to read the manual, not something we do everytime

Rmcp20 wrote:

So i finally sold my X-T30. I was only selling the camera but only got lousy offers. Added the lens and updated the price, and sold it, and for a lower difference to the X-T3 + 18-55 kit, then the one between X-T3 and what i was asking for X-T30.

By selling the camera i would have to invest €350 more on the X-T3 (new from e-global), and by selling with the lens the difference for the X-T3 kit is only €300, so pretty happy.

Now, i never had an X-Tx, so apart from the obvious hardware differences like the viewfinder, ISO dial or dual card slot, what additional settings should i look at in the menus?

I noted a 3 of them already:

EFCS - some say turn it on, other keep it of. There are limitations in exposure and bokeh from what i understood

I have it off on mine.

Focus limiter - pal2tech explains well how to use it, but i only foresee using the presets 2m-infinit, or 5m-infinit

Never use it.

ISO dial (High and low) - how do these work? max value for a high or low ISO custom setting?

Low is ISO 80, I use it sometimes to facilitate longer exposure times.

Rmcp20 wrote:

ISO dial (High and low) - how do these work? max value for a high or low ISO custom setting?

H sets 25600, and low sets 80.  if it's customizable beyond that, I've never bothered to do so, and haven't looked in the manual to find out.  Never had any reason to, TBH; everything between 160 and 12800 is on the dial, after all, and those two expanded settings I've only ever used in emergencies, like I forgot to pack ND filters, or a venue is much darker than I expected.

Also, congratulations on the new purchase!  I expect you won't notice as much difference coming from an X-T30 as I did from an X-T20, but I really like the X-T3 a lot.  I do prefer the X-T4, but I doubt I'd have upgraded if my wife hadn't provided me with a    -really- good excuse by stealing the X-T3 and 100-400 when she got into birding.

Matt Fulghum wrote:

Rmcp20 wrote:

ISO dial (High and low) - how do these work? max value for a high or low ISO custom setting?

H sets 25600, and low sets 80. if it's customizable beyond that, I've never bothered to do so, and haven't looked in the manual to find out. Never had any reason to, TBH; everything between 160 and 12800 is on the dial, after all, and those two expanded settings I've only ever used in emergencies, like I forgot to pack ND filters, or a venue is much darker than I expected.

Yes, the only time i've used ISO 80 in the X-T30 (or 100 in X-T20) is when its too bright and i really want 1.4 or 1.8.

Also, congratulations on the new purchase! I expect you won't notice as much difference coming from an X-T30 as I did from an X-T20, but I really like the X-T3 a lot. I do prefer the X-T4, but I doubt I'd have upgraded if my wife hadn't provided me with a -really- good excuse by stealing the X-T3 and 100-400 when she got into birding.

Thanks. I'm looking forward to put my eyes on that EVF and also welcome the AF and eye-AF update in firmware 4.0, specially the eye-AF.

One thing i sometimes struggled a bit on the X-T30 was the joystick placement. Got use to it, but its always not ideal (still miss it when i get the X-T20, which i do more often know, since its my only camera while the X-T3 doesn't arrive.

I think it really depends on the type of shooting you normally do.

I find a good place to start is to set the 3 auto ISO values. One for static shots, 60 sec, one for stopping slower movement 250 sec and one at the max 500 sec. I set all my ISO values to the max. I'd rather have a little grain at times than a burry photo from too low of a shutter speed.

You can then set the cameras dial for shutter and ISO to auto and use exposure comp to adjust your exposure. This works on a lot of types of photography. If you need anything else you can use the dials.

I use manual shutter 99% of the time, no EC.

I set the dynamic range to 100.

Hope this helps.

Rmcp20 wrote:

EFCS - some say turn it on, other keep it of. There are limitations in exposure and bokeh from what i understood

I use mechanical + electronic shutter in case I do some shooting in really bright light.

Focus limiter - pal2tech explains well how to use it, but i only foresee using the presets 2m-infinit, or 5m-infinit

Never used it.

ISO dial (High and low) - how do these work? max value for a high or low ISO custom setting?

Never used either. I just either set my ISO to auto or manually set it, depending on how/what I'm shooting.

Enjoy your new toy.  It’s a good one!

BrettDR wrote:

Rmcp20 wrote:

EFCS - some say turn it on, other keep it of. There are limitations in exposure and bokeh from what i understood

I use mechanical + electronic shutter in case I do some shooting in really bright light.

Its one of the advantages of the X-T3, mechanical shutter oown to 1/8000s which is welcome with the 1.4 of the Viltrox 23mm i bought last month. Only had that option with e-shutter on the X-T30.

Focus limiter - pal2tech explains well how to use it, but i only foresee using the presets 2m-infinit, or 5m-infinit

Never used it.

I'm still waiting for a real life test on this, but by limiting your focus to a certain distance, the speed should be improve as the camera has to make less calculations. Specially if you define 5/6 meters to infinity, which removes a lot of focus room from the equation.

From my experience, from 1 to 5 meters, the motors have to move as much or more than 5m to infinity.

ISO dial (High and low) - how do these work? max value for a high or low ISO custom setting?

Never used either. I just either set my ISO to auto or manually set it, depending on how/what I'm shooting.

Initially i though this would work a bit like Auto ISO, where you defined a max value for H and a min for L, but the are fixed values to which you can change. I usually set mine in Auto between 160 and 6400 and leave it there.

BadExample wrote:

I'm wanting this camera! How do you like the lens? Wife and I both had surgery, so I'm on hold to rebuild my play money. Right now, the same camera and lens here is going for about 1400 USD. For me, it checks all the boxes for what I want. I'm not sure what more the X-T4 would do for my needs.

The lens is actually the only thing i can speak for now, as i haven't received the camera yet but i had the lens form the X-T30 kit.

From what i've read there are a few copies that aren't as good. From my experience, i loved it. My copy was sharp. Not prime lens sharp of course, but better than the other kit lens i had in the past (Canon 18-55, Sony 16-50, Fuji 15-45). And...its 2.8 to 4.0, which allows it to be a more versatile lens, and even get some nice bokeh for portraits at 55mm and f4.

I used it mostly for video, and was my wifes lens when we traveled, paired with the X-T20.

You can't go wrong getting it in a kit. The lens price when buying separatly is a bit high.

FWIW, I’ll second his review on the X-T3 and 18-55 combination; I was very happy shooting with them.  After I managed to drop the 18-55 in Galveston bay while changing lenses, I replaced it with a 16-50 OIS II; if you can live with the slower aperture, it’s actually a really decent piece of glass too.

I needed a new body last year, though, when my wife got into birding, so I bought an X-T4 and the 16-80 to go with it.  It is, undeniably, a stop slower at the wide end, and not quite as sharp at the long end, but it is also wider and longer than the 18-55, and I have never been disappointed with the performance of the lens.  If you can save the extra $100, I’d at least look into it.

As to what the X-T4 would get you over the X-T3? IBIS and a bigger battery, now that the v4 firmware is out.  I find the IBIS useful because I have a fair amount of old Nikon glass I use with mount adapters, but if you’re not doing that, the X-T3 is a super bargain; the difference in price can buy you a lot of extra batteries.