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X-T10 firmware update wishlist


nutscracker

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I’m new to a Fuji system. I’m switching from the Sony NEX-6 simply because couldn’t find any decent lenses in a Sony e-mount world. So after reading tons of great reviews about Fuji cameras and lenses I bought an X-T10 with 18-55mm F/2.8-4 lens and I’m blown away by the image quality. Love it!

However, some of the controls and the way this camera works feels  to me very outdated and insufficient. Some of the shortfalls are the result of the specific design: for example centrally located EVF window not protruding back far enough which makes the nose press against the LCD screen making a weird and uncomfortable shooting experience. Others are the result of certain philosophy (like replacing a simple PASM dial with confusing system of on-body dials and lens switches to select a desired shooting mode). I understand that those are the things I have to live with and I’m willing to accept as long as the images look great.

What can be improved though is the firmware. Fuji is known as a company that pushes significant firmware updated to their cameras so would like to make my wish list and ask you guys to share yours and maybe if Fujifilm reads the feedback those things would find their way into the next firmware update.

1.   Aperture control. While some people think the lens aperture control ring is a “cool” and “retro” kind of thing I find it annoying.  It’s hard to find, it’s too close to an aperture control switch on a lens and too close to a zoom ring. But what really bothers me is that Fuji doesn’t allow aperture to be controlled by a dial on the camera body and forces you to use the ring. It makes it impossible to use the camera one handed or to adjust the aperture while zooming. I don’t understand why the Fuji chose to limit us to a ring only. After all it’s not a mechanical aperture ring. It’s just a gimmick!

2. Shutter control. The shutter dial has 17 clicks on it. However, only 1 of them (T) will allow you a full range of shutter speed adjustments using a front dial. Others will limit you to couple of stops up or down and that’s it. Again, my question is why? Why do I need to struggle to find that one magic T click to be able to gain full control of the shutter speed? It’s especially annoying when you want to capture a scene that changes quickly. So I would like to be able to control the shutter speed from a front dial regardless of the position of a top Shutter Dial.

3. Focus check. It’s a great feature but the Fuji’s implementation is awful. After the image is magnified to allow the focus check there is no way to return back to a normal view. You can’t recompose and shoot so you’re stuck. On my Sony NEX-6 the image will return to a normal full view after being magnified for a second or two of inactivity so you know exactly how your composition looks like with your focus locked in a desired position. Again, something that can be easily fixed with the firmware update. Also it would be nice if Fuji allows us to use it with more than one autofocus modes (currently available in Single Point mode only) and also use it in Auto mode.

4. Auto mode. Why are we limited to a JPEG only? Why can’t we shoot RAW in Auto mode? Sony does it, why not Fuji?

5. Bracketing. Most of today’s cameras allow you to bracket 2,3 or even 5 EV to create a high quality HDR image. The maximum allowed on X-T10 is 1 EV which is useless. I’m not sure if this can be fixed by a firmware update, but if it can it would make the camera much more HDR friendly.

So these are the major issues I have with this camera and I really hope Fuji will address it in the next firmware update.

I would like to hear your opinions regarding those issues and suggestions how to improve this camera. What would you like Fuji to bring with the next update?

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Welcome around to Fuji and have fun fighting against your muscle memory :D

 

It's something that all of use that are used to other systems have to break down first. One never really register the muscle memory part until you get something as alien in control as a Fuji camera.

Don't worry tho, after a few months of shooting you will get used to it and also wonder why we were using that silly PASM dial.

Controls are actually a lot more intuitive, want auto mode ? Put everything on "A", need to change the aperture ? Just turn the ring, need speed changes ? Turn the dial. Want the old S mode ? Just turn the Speed dial. Manual ? Just set things you want with the hand holding the lens and the thumb for the speed.

 

To address your issues:

 

1. Just muscle memory, you will get used to it, just let it flow naturally and after a while you won't even notice your hand movements and will be able to manual focus and change aperture with your left hand.

 

2. Sorry that's hardly an issue, as you said yourself, just set your dial to T and leave it there for your needs. I tend to change mine from either Auto or T, the rest of the speed settings where only needed before the T mode was changed.

 

3. If you half press, it will go back to normal view to re-frame if needed, even on MF mode.

 

4. X-T10 was made for enthusiast that doesn't need that much controls, the Auto mode on the X-T10 is very frugal, you want more control ? The X-T1 will be a much better choice. Or workaround, don't use the Full Auto mode on the dial, move up the dial up to the alternate mode but move the speed and aperture to "A", you keep the same benefits as not worrying about anything and still get raw files but you lose the Auto Scene Selector feature. 

 

5. That's something I can fully get behind, it's really annoying to have only +/- 1 EV.

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Hmmm... Well, I have been thinking a lot about possible firmware improvements for my X-T10, but my list is somewhat different. 
I will use the opportunity to present it here, and address your points in my next post:

1. Make trash button into Fn8. Come on Fuji - this is really a no-brainer. This button is literally trash - almost pointless. I'm sure you can tweak the nice function menu to squeeze in another entry. This will really help those of use who use the D-pad for focus control.

2. Center-weighted metering. Ok, so this is a new X-Pro2 feature, but I'm sure the old processor can handle this quite easily. I would REALLY like to have this mode for portrait shooting.

3. Allow flash, even if only external, to fire in CL (at least). 

4. Allow Movie mode to be set as one of the Adv. options. For RAW shooters, those are really wasted, and it would be nice to use the Drive wheel to switch to video recording (with shutter activation) in those rare cases one would want to. A movie mode should have been on this wheel from the outset...

5. Add the option to use a "Basic" JPEG quality, especially in conjunction with RAW shooting, so that more shots could be squeezed into a card. I'm using JPEG just for focus checking anyhow, and it is a shame to waste a few MB each time I take a shot...

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As to your points:

1. Hmmm, well, I have to say I rather like this arrangements, and am quite pleased I don't have to resort to the back dialfor changing Aperture. Then again, when using XC lenses, I DO have to do that, unless I switch the button mapping in the BUTTON/DIAL menu, and then I can assi\gn Aperture to the front dial instead...

 

2. I also find this quite annoying, but this is a hardware issue and won't be solved in Firmware. Before the "T" setting was used for Universal range, this didn't really matter, but now I find I would have really wanted to have the Shutter Dial look like: "A->T->4000->2000->etc.". That way I could switch quickly from A to T and back. Hope the XT-2/XT-20 will have this arrangement....

 

3.You can disable the automatic magnification and use the back dial for manual magnification toggle (on/off) only when you need it....

 

4. On one hand, yeah - the option would have been nice. However, it would rather defeat the purpose of the "AUTO" mode, as most settings wouldn't really matter anyway. You CAN simulate RAW auto by doing the following:

                a. Set to RAW
               b. Set to P mode (Aperture+SS in A)

               c. Turn on Face/Eye detection

               b. Put camera in AF-C and Zone focusing
There - you have your RAW auto mode... :)
And besides, I like AUTO mode to be in JPEG as that gives me an option to get good shots on the go, when quality is not critical, but card capacity is....

5. Yeah - that would be nice... I hope we get the +-2 bracketing from the X-Pro2...

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Welcome around to Fuji and have fun fighting against your muscle memory :D

 

It's something that all of use that are used to other systems have to break down first. One never really register the muscle memory part until you get something as alien in control as a Fuji camera.

Don't worry tho, after a few months of shooting you will get used to it and also wonder why we were using that silly PASM dial.

Controls are actually a lot more intuitive, want auto mode ? Put everything on "A", need to change the aperture ? Just turn the ring, need speed changes ? Turn the dial. Want the old S mode ? Just turn the Speed dial. Manual ? Just set things you want with the hand holding the lens and the thumb for the speed.

 

To address your issues:

 

1. Just muscle memory, you will get used to it, just let it flow naturally and after a while you won't even notice your hand movements and will be able to manual focus and change aperture with your left hand.

 

2. Sorry that's hardly an issue, as you said yourself, just set your dial to T and leave it there for your needs. I tend to change mine from either Auto or T, the rest of the speed settings where only needed before the T mode was changed.

 

3. If you half press, it will go back to normal view to re-frame if needed, even on MF mode.

 

4. X-T10 was made for enthusiast that doesn't need that much controls, the Auto mode on the X-T10 is very frugal, you want more control ? The X-T1 will be a much better choice. Or workaround, don't use the Full Auto mode on the dial, move up the dial up to the alternate mode but move the speed and aperture to "A", you keep the same benefits as not worrying about anything and still get raw files but you lose the Auto Scene Selector feature. 

 

5. That's something I can fully get behind, it's really annoying to have only +/- 1 EV.

Thanks for your reply. To address your point:

1. Muscle memory won't allow me to shoot with one hand like when using an of camera flash for example.

2. The problem is finding that T without looking at the knob :angry:

3. If you half press again it will loose the focus and for me it's pointless since the only reason to magnify is to be able to check if the certain part of the image is in focus and fine tune it when I'm in AF+MF mode.

4. ...or they can enable the RAW shooting option  B)

5. I'm glad we agree on this one :)

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As to your points:

 

1. Hmmm, well, I have to say I rather like this arrangements, and am quite pleased I don't have to resort to the back dialfor changing Aperture. Then again, when using XC lenses, I DO have to do that, unless I switch the button mapping in the BUTTON/DIAL menu, and then I can assi\gn Aperture to the front dial instead...

 

2. I also find this quite annoying, but this is a hardware issue and won't be solved in Firmware. Before the "T" setting was used for Universal range, this didn't really matter, but now I find I would have really wanted to have the Shutter Dial look like: "A->T->4000->2000->etc.". That way I could switch quickly from A to T and back. Hope the XT-2/XT-20 will have this arrangement....

 

3.You can disable the automatic magnification and use the back dial for manual magnification toggle (on/off) only when you need it....

 

4. On one hand, yeah - the option would have been nice. However, it would rather defeat the purpose of the "AUTO" mode, as most settings wouldn't really matter anyway. You CAN simulate RAW auto by doing the following:

                a. Set to RAW

               b. Set to P mode (Aperture+SS in A)

               c. Turn on Face/Eye detection

               b. Put camera in AF-C and Zone focusing

There - you have your RAW auto mode... :)

And besides, I like AUTO mode to be in JPEG as that gives me an option to get good shots on the go, when quality is not critical, but card capacity is....

 

5. Yeah - that would be nice... I hope we get the +-2 bracketing from the X-Pro2...

Thank for your reply. To address your points:

3. When you magnify your image in AF+MF mode the only way to return back to a full image view is to switch the camera to Manual focusing mode. I'm quoting from "The  Fujifilm X-T10: 115 X-Pert Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Camera" by Rico Pfirstinger: "After you have made manual focus adjustments using the automatic Focus Check magnification, you can get rid of the magnification and return to a full view of the scene by switching the camera to manual focus (MF) while still keeping the shutter button half-depressed. Then fully depress the shutter button when the moment is right. A future firmware update could take care of this issue by allowing you to manually switch the magnifier on or off in AF + MF mode."   Of course when you flick that MF switch your camera shakes which defeats the purpose of magnification tool which is to fine tune the focus. And why do I need to go through all theses shenanigans if it can be fixed be a software update?

4. ....or you can just enable the RAW shooting option B)  

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Thank for your reply. To address your points:

3. When you magnify your image in AF+MF mode the only way to return back to a full image view is to switch the camera to Manual focusing mode. I'm quoting from "The  Fujifilm X-T10: 115 X-Pert Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Camera" by Rico Pfirstinger: "After you have made manual focus adjustments using the automatic Focus Check magnification, you can get rid of the magnification and return to a full view of the scene by switching the camera to manual focus (MF) while still keeping the shutter button half-depressed. Then fully depress the shutter button when the moment is right. A future firmware update could take care of this issue by allowing you to manually switch the magnifier on or off in AF + MF mode."   Of course when you flick that MF switch your camera shakes which defeats the purpose of magnification tool which is to fine tune the focus. And why do I need to go through all theses shenanigans if it can be fixed be a software update?

4. ....or you can just enable the RAW shooting option B)  

 

Well, I guess you are right about 4, but I still kinda like the fact that it switches me automatically to JPEG. However, I DO wish it would have a memory for the quality setting in each mode, as I shoot RAW+N (to save space), but move to FINE with JPEGs...

 

Regarding #3 - if you don't turn on automatic magnification, then using AF+MF will not magnify upon focus ring turn, but only if you press the rear button (press again for unzoom). I suppose that's not exactly what you would want to happen, but that is also an option....

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Thanks for your reply. To address your point:

1. Muscle memory won't allow me to shoot with one hand like when using an of camera flash for example.

2. The problem is finding that T without looking at the knob :angry:

3. If you half press again it will loose the focus and for me it's pointless since the only reason to magnify is to be able to check if the certain part of the image is in focus and fine tune it when I'm in AF+MF mode.

4. ...or they can enable the RAW shooting option  B)

5. I'm glad we agree on this one :)

 

1. That is a very specific example, unless your shooting style is only with off camera flash, for the rest of us who don't use off flash that often, it works just fine. And even then, once the aperture is set, there is hardly any need to change it. And if you change angle, you know how wide open or close down you need to be. I am really sorry, but I see only workflow issues, not real concern of camera design.

 

2. The speed dial has enough resistance to not move by accident. Just set it there and leave it. If you are to be certain, just have a quick look at it when taking it out of the bag and that's all.

 

3. AF-L or the back button should do the trick then.

 

4. Agreed but is called the X-T1, X-T10 is clearly aimed at enthusiasts who will be perfectly fine with jpeg files. 

 

5. No issue, that's clearly a flaw of it, I don't do much HDR shots and even find it rather annoying that I can't go to +/- 2EV.

 

Now, following your comment I really get the impression you got yourself the wrong tool for your needs. The X-T10 is a good camera but maybe not suited for your needs. If I were you, I would really consider shooting style and see if the X-T10 does fit in. If it doesn't sell the camera and try another another body, it doesn't matter if if it is a Fuji or not. 

 

The right tool for the right job.

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Thank for your reply. To address your points:

3. When you magnify your image in AF+MF mode the only way to return back to a full image view is to switch the camera to Manual focusing mode. I'm quoting from "The  Fujifilm X-T10: 115 X-Pert Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Camera" by Rico Pfirstinger: "After you have made manual focus adjustments using the automatic Focus Check magnification, you can get rid of the magnification and return to a full view of the scene by switching the camera to manual focus (MF) while still keeping the shutter button half-depressed. Then fully depress the shutter button when the moment is right. A future firmware update could take care of this issue by allowing you to manually switch the magnifier on or off in AF + MF mode."   Of course when you flick that MF switch your camera shakes which defeats the purpose of magnification tool which is to fine tune the focus. And why do I need to go through all theses shenanigans if it can be fixed be a software update?

4. ....or you can just enable the RAW shooting option B)  

For point 3, the book is wrong, then. You can also get rid of the magnification by pressing the rear command dial button while keeping the shutter button half pressed to turn off the magnification in AF+MF mode after manually focusing.

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On this one:

 

1.   Aperture control. While some people think the lens aperture control ring is a “cool” and “retro” kind of thing I find it annoying.  It’s hard to find, it’s too close to an aperture control switch on a lens and too close to a zoom ring. But what really bothers me is that Fuji doesn’t allow aperture to be controlled by a dial on the camera body and forces you to use the ring. It makes it impossible to use the camera one handed or to adjust the aperture while zooming. I don’t understand why the Fuji chose to limit us to a ring only. After all it’s not a mechanical aperture ring. It’s just a gimmick!

 

In fact, if you switch the aperture to A, you can use the rear command dial (or front if you prefer) to adjust the aperture, so you can control it all from the camera body if you want, and use it one handed, as long as you have A selected on the shutter dial.

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On this one:

 

In fact, if you switch the aperture to A, you can use the rear command dial (or front if you prefer) to adjust the aperture, so you can control it all from the camera body if you want, and use it one handed, as long as you have A selected on the shutter dial.

 

Thank you ! I didn't knew that one at all, that is going to quite handy for a few moments too now !

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Personally after moving from sony E mount to Fuji, I love the dials.

 

For me it is so much easier and quicker than navigating options on the screen.

 

My normal work stream, is Auto focus, but everything else is in full manual.

 

Personally, I love the Aperture ring, and the way the shutter speed dial works, with the camera to my eye, I can adjust everything without having to look at the camera.

I set the shutter speed to the speed I want then if I need to make any small adjustments, I can use the front dial. If I wanted to be able to adjust the full range from the front (seems a bit time consuming to me) I would just set the camera to T.

 

I have the bottom right function button (default is wifi) set to ISO, so all the main controls can be selected without having to look at the camera.

 

When using the XF27 F/2.8, every time I want to change the aperture, I automatically reach to the lens, only to remember I need to adjust on the camera.

 

I did not realise you could not shoot RAW in Auto, but I have never used Auto. I can understand Fujis logic though, If you are going to let the camera make every decision, you are probably unlikely to make major changes in post, therefore they ae making it as simple as possible. Still if it is an easy fix, can't see how it would hurt to allow RAW+JPEG.

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The only firmware update that would genuinely improve the X-T10 would be one that turns the drive dial into an ISO dial, along with a sticker you could download or purchase to place over it, with the ISO properly marked. That one simple change would turn it from the "little brother of the X-T1" into the best camera ever made.

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The only firmware update that would genuinely improve the camera would be one that turns the drive dial into an ISO dial, along with a sticker you could download or purchase to place over it, with the ISO properly marked. That one simple change would turn it from the little brother of the X-T1 into the best camera ever made.

 

lol, this would be great, but I am happy remapping the bottom right function button to ISO

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I was seriously interested in buying an XT1, but the auto bracketing was a deal breaker for me. I do a lot of landscape and architectural photography, as well as blue hour and night photography. I typically do hand-held HDR at three shots with +/- 2 EV, or on a tripod with 5 to 7 shots and +/- 3 to 4 EV. If the camera can't do that, it is useless for my purposes.

 

Surely this is a software issue? Come on, Fuji. Fix this!

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I was seriously interested in buying an XT1, but the auto bracketing was a deal breaker for me. I do a lot of landscape and architectural photography, as well as blue hour and night photography. I typically do hand-held HDR at three shots with +/- 2 EV, or on a tripod with 5 to 7 shots and +/- 3 to 4 EV. If the camera can't do that, it is useless for my purposes.

 

Surely this is a software issue? Come on, Fuji. Fix this!

The funny thing is that this would be really easy to do for them with a firmware update.

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5. That's something I can fully get behind, it's really annoying to have only +/- 1 EV.

 

Hi, if i did understand correctly your problem, you can use the compensation dial to get 9 shots (-4ev,-3ev.......+3ev,+4ev). You just need to take the first shot at 0 of the compensation dial (obtaining 0,+1,-1), then the second one  at-3 ev (obtaining -4,-3,-2), and the last one at +3 ev (obtaining +2,+3,+4).

 

Bye

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[...]

 

Hi, if i did understand correctly your problem, you can use the compensation dial to get 9 shots (-4ev,-3ev.......+3ev,+4ev). You just need to take the first shot at 0 of the compensation dial (obtaining 0,+1,-1), then the second one  at-3 ev (obtaining -4,-3,-2), and the last one at +3 ev (obtaining +2,+3,+4).

 

Bye

 

And mess up the shot if there is anything that moves during the manipulations. Your solution is nice only if doing landscapes and if the clouds are moving slowly too.

 

Even my old Nikon D5000 can do +/- 2EV in 3 shots in less than a second for all 3 of them and it's over 6 years old.

 

Once your camera is set to a tripod, the less manipulation you have with it, the less issues you will have.

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