Doug Pardee

It increases the focal length of the lens/adapter system by the length of the extension tube. This increases the magnification, which is kind-of important if you want to get to 1:1 magnification. With the lens focused at infinity, an extension tube of length equal to the focal length of the lens does the job. In the case of your 50mm lens, a 50mm extension tube increases the focal length to 100mm, and changes the focus distance of the lens to 100mm when set to infinity (note: measured from the optical center of the lens, not the focus plane marker engraved on the camera -- that would be 200mm). This produces 1:1 magnification. Shorter extension tubes can be used for 1:1 by focusing the lens closer than infinity and moving the camera/lens closer to the subject. How short you can go will depend on how close the lens can focus and what its focal length is when close-focused. Virtually all affordable lenses exhibit focus-breathing, where the focal length varies depending on the focus distance -- the marked focal length is at infinity focus.

The camera comes originally set for Preview Exp. In Manual Mode -- it shows you the brightness you'll get without flash when you're working in manual-exposure mode. When shooting flash, you probably want to turn that option off. http://fujifilm-dsc.com/en/manual/x-t20/menu_setup/screen_set-up/index.html#preview_exp_wb_in_manual_mode

There shouldn't be, but there could be. Fujifilm has, in the past, put out lens firmware updates that bricked the lens when it was updated by cameras that weren't up to the latest firmware. In particular, the 16-55 and 50-140 update to firmware 1.10. Fujifilm updated their instructions for those lens updates with the warning, "The firmware upgrade of the lenses should be conducted after the upgrade of camera's firmware upgrade." Yes, in red. See: http://www.fujifilm.com/support/digital_cameras/software/firmware/lens/xf16-55mm/history.html http://www.fujifilm.com/support/digital_cameras/software/firmware/lens/xf50-140mm/history.html http://www.fujifilm.com/support/digital_cameras/software/firmware/lens/xf90mm/history.html This doesn't address Rowena's issue, though, because this issue appears as a lens problem, not a camera problem, and only appears when an old camera is used to update the lens.

Nobody else does that because it's not allowed by the DCF specification for camera file naming. I'd think you'd be able to tell by the files' time stamps. They all should be the same, or at least within one second of each other.

Setup > SCREEN SETTING > PREVIEW EXP./WB IN MANUAL MODE > OFF

Watch what happens when you tap the "to the right" button on the D-Pad, then press and hold it. The default setting for that button is to activate WB. Then holding the button "moves right" to accept the current WB setting and goes to the WB shift screen, where it moves the WB setting all the way to the right (magenta). It's easy enough to trigger that while carrying the camera by the grip if the camera's turned on. I recommend you put something else on that button -- something that won't change from pressing the "to the right" button, Also something that doesn't toggle without popping a menu up. If you're not short of buttons, you can assign "None" to that button. Also, when in the field you might want to take advantage of the button-lock feature to keep accidental button presses from messing you up. Press and hold the Menu/OK button until the lock symbol comes on. To unlock, press and hold the Menu/OK button again.

The firmware update on the X-T1 brought its AF up to what the X-T10 has. Since you have experience with the X-T10, you've got a really good idea what the X-T1 with the updated AF can do. What kind of AF issues did you have? If you have enough light to get a picture, you should have enough light to do contrast-detect AF. If you need flash to get enough light to get a picture, that's a different matter. I don't have any trouble getting solid CDAF out of my X-T10 as long as there's some proper contrast within the AF box -- even in low light. Heck, even cheap point-and-shoot cameras can CDAF in low light, as can my mobile phone. The X-T2's CDAF should be about the same as the X-T1, X-T10, etc. There's not really any magic in CDAF... digital cameras have been doing it from the beginning, decades ago. There was an update that increased the lens focusing speed in CDAF for the X-Pro2 (and presumably the other X-Trans III cameras) with certain lenses (mostly LM zooms). But that's just focusing speed, which shouldn't be crucial for "travel, landscape and documentary type photography." Bear in mind that the bright primes (f/1.2 and f/1.4) will generally be pretty slow in focusing, especially with CDAF -- there's an awful lot of glass to be moved back and forth in those lenses. Regardless, given a second or two, you should be able to achieve focus unless you're pointing at something featureless. The X-T2 got a number of upgrades for AF-C tracking, including the ability to use phase-detect AF down to -3 Ev (well, that's the claim). The X-Trans III sensor also has PDAF sensors over a much larger area.

To my knowledge, (currently) only the X-T1 and X-T2 can be shot tethered.

You can't do it in-camera. Like all modern digital cameras, Fujifilm follows the DCF specification for folder and file names. In addition, Fujifilm follows the practice of creating a new folder for every 1000 photos. The only in-camera control you have is part of the filename -- that's typically used by pros to get different filenames from different cameras. Most folks rename and organize their photos when they import them to their computer (or whatever).

I don't know about the X-T2, but in the X-T20 manual there's a documented "Cable channel cover for DC coupler" -- see part #36. http://fujifilm-dsc.com/en/manual/x-t20/about_this_camera/parts/index.html It's a rectangular section on the right edge of the battery cover. I know on the X-T1, you had to have the battery grip to use the DC coupler. In reading about the X-T2 battery grip, it sounds like you'd simply use that instead of the separate power unit. From what I can tell, if you have the charging cord plugged into the grip and then turn on the X-T2, the camera is powered but the grip isn't charged.

No, I haven't bothered. I managed to hang onto the lens cap for my 27mm for a few weeks before it ran off to join the circus. Now I just leave the lens uncapped. Some people choose to stick a protective filter on the 27mm to replace the lens cap. Me, I'm fine with cleaning the front of the lens rather than cleaning a filter.

Straps (a sling and a wrist strap), two batteries, and some adapters for my old FD lenses. There's nothing special about those items -- the only advice I'd give is not to buy Kiwifotos brand lens adapters because the one I got didn't fit the camera. If you're compulsive about keeping lens caps on your lenses, you might want to buy some replacement front lens caps for the 27mm pancake. The cap that comes with it doesn't fit tightly and will fall off with no provocation.

As far as I know, all modern cameras provide ISO 518 standard hotshoes. Sony was the last hold-out, and in late 2012 (starting with the NEX-6), they finally switched to the standard. Note that nothing beyond physical size and simple triggering are standardized. The only standard pin is the "center" one that fires the flash. But that's all that manual flashes need.

And for Advanced Search, click the little gear symbol at the right end.

You didn't say which camera (other than "not X-E2"), but as far as I know they all work the same. With the EVF active in shooting mode, press the Disp/Back button.

No, I don't know of any serious camera that offers this option. I haven't done it myself, but if you have a Windows computer, you supposedly can use the free FastStone Image Viewer software to timestamp your photos. Instructions here: http://soft.mydiv.org/win/qans.t103873.how-to-add-timestamp-to-multiple-photos-in-faststone-image-viewer-.0-Faststone-Image-Viewer.html Caution: I've seen some indications that process overwrites the files it's stamping. You probably want to work on copies to be sure your originals are safe.

I don't know exactly how that camera handles back-button AF-C with AF-M -- the X-T2 has a separate "Shutter AF" option for disengaging AF from the shutter release and my X-T10 doesn't -- so I can't help you there. I'd assume, however, that it's normal -- the camera's just waiting for the lens to finish focusing. I personally don't recommend back-button AF-C for general use. If you really need AF-C, then you need it. But if you've got it set to AF-C just in case someday you want AF-C, be aware that if your shooting aperture is at f/9 or higher, the camera will not use phase-detect AF. If you're controlling the aperture, it's usually easy enough to avoid that issue. But if you're shooting P mode, in daylight the camera might select f/9 or higher, leaving you with unnecessarily slow contrast-detect AF. Fujifilm doesn't publish most of this stuff. That's why there are so many third-party books, such as Rico Pfirstinger's that are advertised on this site. Pfirstinger, for example, recommends skipping AF-C for simple tracking AF when you're only going to take one shot. He recommends using AF-S and "mashing" the shutter button down in one stroke, skipping the half-press. That way, as soon as the lens has focused, the shutter is released. That should give AF results as accurate as AF-C. And yes, in single-point AF, the camera will try CDAF if PDAF fails, regardless of which PDAF point you select. Unless you're in AF-C with CH drive, in which case the camera uses only PDAF at apertures of f/8 or below, and only CDAF at apertures of f/9 or above.

That's what Fujifilm's Release Priority does. Fuji will never take a picture while focusing is still in progress -- it always waits for focus to complete. The Release Priority tells it that if the focus completes as a "failure" (!AF would display in the viewfinder) to go ahead and take a picture anyway. With contrast-detect autofocus (CDAF), that's probably a wasted shot, because you don't know where contrast detect will leave the focus when the camera gives up and declares failure. With phase-detect autofocus (PDAF), the lens probably never changed focus, and that's more likely to be usable -- especially during burst shooting. Note that with single-point AF, a PDAF failure will result in the camera switching to CDAF and trying that, so Release Priority rarely will give a usable picture with failed single-point AF. Big exception: single-point AF (on a PDAF point of course) with AF-C and CH and aperture of f/8 or wider will never try CDAF even if PDAF fails -- again, we're talking about a burst shooting setup. If you use single-point AF and sometimes do burst shooting, my personal recommendation is to set Focus Priority for AF-S and Release Priority for AF-C. PDAF failure is close to instantaneous. It sounds like you're experiencing CDAF failure -- either because you're using a configuration that only uses CDAF, or more likely you're using single-point PDAF and the camera is trying CDAF when PDAF fails.

What is it doing, and what do you expect it to do?

The following will all disable flash: Sound/Flash Off -- obviously, but a lot of people seem to forget to check this -- might not apply to PC Sync connector Flash Control Mode: OFF -- also obvious but easy to overlook -- might not apply to PC Sync connector ES or MS+ES shutter -- even though MS+ES will use MS at X-Sync speed, you need to select MS Burst drive modes: CH or CL Bracketing drive mode: BKT Panorama drive mode Check the settings in the Sync Terminal screen of Flash Function Setting. Also, I'm not sure if the PC Sync connector will trigger if there's an active flash mounted on the hotshoe.

That's definitely not normal behavior. Have you tried with a known good SD card? I doubt a bad card would damage the camera, but obviously a bad card could cause the camera to misbehave while it's installed. You can also try turning the camera on and off without an SD card. Ditto with trying without the lens mounted. The camera should turn on and off just fine with no lens and no SD card. Double-check that your drive mode dial is set to S. It shouldn't be doing that in any position, though. In the burst modes (CL & CH), turning off takes some extra time, but the shutter shouldn't be operating. Look around the viewfinder/LCD for any settings that don't look right. Again, none of them should cause that to happen. Does playback work normally? Have you used Wireless? I've had some quirky behavior if the wireless connection fails during image transfer, but it's always cleared up if I took the battery out and put it back in. You can try resetting the menu settings. Setup menu 1 > Reset. Note there are two separate resets: one for the shooting menu, and one for the setup menu. According to the manual (p. 106 if you have it with you), these will not reset the following: Custom settings Date/Time, including time zone difference for "travel" time Wireless configuration I'd also pull out the battery and put it back in, although I have no idea if that has any effect aside from the Wireless thing I mentioned. It's easy enough to do.

Wide/Tracking in Wide mode (AF-S) is pretty reasonable for scenes like landscapes where pretty much any point could be used for focusing. Also, because Fuji's contrast-detect AF prefers closer subjects, if you take a picture of, say, a person in front of a backdrop, it'll tend to focus on the person, which is usually what you want. Still, it's necessarily sloppy about exactly what it's going to focus on, so you wouldn't want to use it with a narrow depth of field. And, since it's contrast-detect AF, it can take a second or two to focus. Wide/Tracking in Tracking mode (AF-C) is a somewhat different critter, because you specify which AF point to (initially) focus on, so there's little of the uncertainty that Wide mode has. The thing is, because it's contrast-detect (except in CH continuous drive mode), the lens is continually pumping in and out as the camera checks for changes in subject distance. That's ugly and annoying. Worse, because the camera can't release the shutter mid-pump, it can upset the timing of the capture. Tracking mode (AF-C) with CH drive mode limits the tracking area to the PDAF sensors, which on the X-T10 is a much smaller part of the scene. If your aperture is f/8 or wider, it uses PDAF exclusively, which is a whole lot nicer, although the limited tracking zone is a nuisance. But if you stop down to f/9 or beyond, you'll be back to contrast-detect AF and still have the limited tracking zone.

You might be interested in this treatise I wrote over at DPReview: Phase Detect AF in the X-T10 - experimental results Read the comments on that thread, too. Fujifilm doesn't make it easy. Rico Pfirstinger recommends using Wide/Tracking mode, because that lets you set a starting point so the camera knows what you want to track, and the camera tracks across almost the entire screen. However, Wide/Tracking is contrast-detect only. Unless, that is, you're using CH with AF-C, in which case it switches to using only the PDAF area of the sensor, and using only PDAF unless your aperture is set to f/9 or higher, in which case it sticks with contrast-detect. Zone mode seems to be what Fujifilm expects you to use for 3D tracking. Alas, in Zone mode there's no way to tell the camera what it is that you want to track. When you half-press to start tracking, the camera will just pick something inside the zone and track that. So a small zone gives you better control over what gets tracked, but limits the area of the screen that it'll get tracked across. Bear in mind that DSLRs use dedicated AF sensors which provide a constant stream of data, often to a dedicated AF chip. Mirrorless cameras, including Fujifilm, use the main sensor which, on a good day, might provide new data 20 times a second or so. And that data is provided to the same processor that's handling all of the other functionality. You can see, hear, and feel each focus update when using AF-C on the Fuji. (I wonder if the Sony A9, with its much faster sensor readout, is better in that regard.) Added: Regarding, "I wasn't just trying to track things, I was also trying to move the camera from it's initial focused area to another area to see how the focusing would react," I've heard it said that Fuji's 3D tracking does expect the background to be relatively still. I have no idea if that's just legend or if there's something to it. I pass it along simply as rumor.

That's a reason back-button focus is so popular. Use the back button to operate autofocus, and the shutter half-press for AE-lock. I have to say, though, that (in my opinion) using AF-C on an X-T10 is a bit masochistic. The X-T10 just isn't built for subjects that move -- the AF-C, burst buffer, and video capabilities are noticeably weak. The X-T20 made huge strides in those areas. The X-T20 also has an option called Shutter AE that allows you to disengage AE-lock from shutter half-press.

The following applies to JPEG shooting: Shadow Tone does what it says on the tin. Negative settings bring out more detail in the shadows, at the cost of some overall contrast. Positive settings smash shadows toward black. Highlight Tone affects whites and near-whites, but doesn't have much effect on bright colors. In my opinion, its effect is more of an overall contrast adjustment -- negative is less contrast, positive is more contrast. Dynamic range is increased highlight headroom during capture, with the highlight processing of the JPEGs being "softened" to take the extended highlights into account. DR=Auto can help protect against large areas of blown highlights, but it suppresses readout of calculated shutter speed and/or aperture until half-press or AE-Lock. The effect of DR is not visible in the EVF/LCD. Similarly, it's not reflected in the live histogram -- the right edge is the DR100 cutoff even if you're using DR400.