Herco

Also bear in mind that C1 (but LR too) can be automated to a high degree. When importing, you apply the presets or styles you prefer. On top of that I have defined user styles that automatically apply the required sharpening and noise reduction for the type of camera. From there it is just 1-2 minutes work to PP an image. For personal work I shoot RAW+JPEG. The JPEGs are stored separately for archiving. I never edit these except for some cropping if I really want to use the JPEG for sharing in social media. I will quickly cull through the RAW files to separate the keepers. The rest I throw away. I only spend more than 1-2 minutes on an image for those RAWs that will be printed. Edit just the ones you need to use (for an album, print or sharing). As for the romantic idea of just shooting and accepting the jpeg outcome as if it was film: imagine how long we used to spend in darkrooms to develop and print films... There was a whole lot of editing involved in that process as well to get to a really good print.

TIFF is indeed a more universal format that is supported by almost every package. PSD is a Adobe specific format and it maintains the layer-structure of the file. So you can go back and forth between LR and PS while maintaining all different layers you’ve added to the image.

The Profoto A1X is a great flash. The A10 even better. We use a lot of Profoto here in the studio and couldn't be happier about the quality. However, unless it's your living depending on it, Profoto can be quite expensive. A nice alternative for the A1X is the Godox V1. It is a blatant copy of the A1X but at 30% of it's price. Only with very intense work you'll notice the difference (heat management, constant color temp and integration in a Profoto ecosystem). I guess nothing that an enthusiast would worry about.

CaptureOne (C1) has the Fujifilm film simulations build-in into the software. So when developing the RAW and exporting to JPEG you can use these film simulations incl. all the other editing that C1 allows you to do. This gives you a much better result than using the out-of-camera JPEGs and edit them for exposure in C1, PS or other software. A JPEG is best to use as an end result. The quality of the C1 Fujifilm film simulations is at least as good as the in-camera film simulations as it was developed in close cooperation with Fujifilm. In my experience they're even a bit better as they offer more flexibility in terms of grain structure and shadow detailing. The workflow for PS (with the .psd file) is a workaround workflow. PS doesn't recognize raw files and it uses Lightroom or Camera Raw for that. However, to maintain the layers and editing done in LR, you shouldn't exchange JPEG or TIFF files between LR and PS, but .psd files. It's a sort of exchange format for images between different software components of your workflow. We only use it for editing stuff that cannot be (easily) done in C1 and requires PS as an editor. In our experience this is less and less as C1 improves clone stamps and eraser capabilities. What remains in PS is the image manipulation like creating fuller lips, wider eyes or accentuating bodylines of models. Something that is also less and less done (fortunately). That requires PS or Affinity Photo as you have to dive into pixel level to cleanly remove all pixels and replace them with the ones you want. In those situations we use the 'edit with' and 'open with' menu option in C1 to open the file with PS. In the background that creates a temporary .psd file. Converting a JPEG into a .psd and than again create a JPEG is a very cumbersome path with loss of quality. Esp. if you already have the raw-file. Best to avoid that where possible.

Fully agree... Also note that CaptureOne cannot be compared to PhotoShop. PS is a ‘destructive’ pixel editor for image editing. C1 is a non-destructive raw developer. Though they share editing features the approach is very different. C1 is actually an alternative for Lightroom (LR). In case you need to ‘pixel-edit’ next to C1 you could also try Affinity Photo. AP is very akin to PS, but lower priced and you actually purchase the license rather than have a subscription like with PS.

maxmax.com converts many Fujifilm cameras to monochrome. It's quite expensive, but probably not more than when Fujifilm would launch a monochrome themselves. Previously, Fujifilm managers stated that a monochrome is not to be expected any time. As a regular Leica owner (those film days) every time I pick up a Leica I'm tempted again. The Q2 monochrome will probably not be an exception. It's not made for people looking for features or value-for-money (though it holds fantastic value in the second-hand market) and in that respect its hard to compare with other brands. It's just like cars: you don't need a BMW to be happy, but it sure helps 😉 (for those who like cars)

I cannot recommend CaptureOne enough for Fuji. The Express version lacks the extensive color editor and layer abilities but is more than enough for cropping, tilting and exposure correction. And best of all, it is free. Fuji's X RAW STUDIO works well, but should you ever upgrade your camera (e.g. to an X100V) you cannot rerun your X100F-files through X RAW STUDIO connected to e.g. an X100V anymore. It is limited to the same exact type of camera as you shoot the image with.

The SmallRig I use for the X-H1 has a detachable L-part leaving only the base plate attached to the camera. It is still however about 10mm thick. I know the Sunwayfoto is much shallower (5-6mm) and also has a detachable L-part.

Welcome to the forum Vacantskye, Apart from the Sensei cleaning kit, I've had first-hand experience with all these products. The SanDisk cards are solid performers and do well in combined stills and video usage. For only stills you don't need the 300MB/s version. The 170MB/s works just as good when you shoot compressed RAW. How good you'll experience the camera and lenses is greatly depending on what you plan to do and what your reference is/was. When your previous Nikon was a 3400 the X-T4 would overall be a step-up. When your reference was the D850 or so, you might be disappointed (except when price and size are most important). Overall the X-T4 is amongst the best APS-C based hybrid stills/video cameras on the market today. When video is of lesser concern, you may find the X-T3 just as good at a lower price. Both cameras are solid builds but not to the extend of the professional Nikons. The lenses are quite dissimilar. The XF16 is one of Fuji's best lenses for the X-mount. Very sharp, fast and excellent close focus capabilities. It renders beautifully and has nice contrast. The XF55-200 is a somewhat older lens in Fuji's line-up. Image quality is very good, but auto focus is a bit slower and noisier. Note that the XF16 isn't really silent either and also less suited for video when using the build-in microphone. The great thing about the XF55-200 however, is that it has a great reach in a small package. So, depending for which purpose you're gonna use this set-up it can be a very nice package for travel and general stills/video (buy a decent microphone as well). In case you have specific needs (wildlife, macro, portrait, sports...) other set-ups might be better suited.

Arca-Swiss is both a brand and a standard. If you mean the original Arca-Swiss L-bracket Classic it will most certainly block the battery door. Its base plate is 8cm wide so approx. 4cm either side of the the mounting screw and the battery door of the X-H1 is about 3.5cm away from the mounting screw. The original is also quite expensive at around $250. There are very good alternative L-Brackets with Arca-Swiss compatible slides. I've used one from SmallRig that is actually way better as it is designed for the X-H1 and covers the entire bottom-plate of the camera for protection and has a separate opening for the battery door. It costs around $70 and you can extend it to an entire camera cage in case of video accessories. Others from Sunwayfoto or Sirui are also good and affordable. There's also a premium one from Really Right Stuff but that's again around $250-275. Finally, there are really cheap ($30) knock-offs available on Ali-Express with greatly variable quality. I'd be careful with these because the photo might not always match the real product (e.g. no battery door opening in reality).

Judging by the looks of it this is an older model Skyport. Elinchrom usually had three versions of those: a Nikon, a Canon and a universal one. The universal one can be used without concern. It only reads the center contact of the hot shoe. If it's a Canon or Nikon specific one you should be more careful. Normally near the s/n it reads either a C or N if it is a Canon or Nikon specific version. In case of doubt check Elinchrom's website (it also displays the discontinued models) or send a mail to their support.

You probably mean the X100V...? Don't expect any new iteration soon. The V (from fiVe) just came out early this year. The previous model (F-our) was introduced Jan 2017 and the version before that (T-hird) in 2014. For these cameras Fuji keeps a 3-year cycle. Only the S-econd iteration had a 1,5y cycle.

Hi, there are three options to store quick access to specific functions: http://fujifilm-dsc.com/en/manual/x-t4/shortcuts/shortcut_options/index.html These are the MY MENU, the Q menu or you can assign functions to specific function buttons (Fn). However, the function you refer to (release/focus priority) can only be assigned to MY MENU and unfortunately not (for some strange reason) to the Q Menu or a Fn button. To assign the function to MY MENU read this: http://fujifilm-dsc.com/en/manual/x-t4/shortcuts/my_menu/index.html

Hi and welcome to Fuji 😉 I'm not so sure about the D750 being outdated and so... It is still a great camera used by lots of professionals as well. To be really honest even today's best mirrorless cameras re. auto-focus like Sony's A7RIV and A9II are still not as good in AF as the best DSLRs (among which I also count the D750 and D810). Fuji's AF has become quite good in the latest generations but there are a few caveats. First, your 16-80 lens is a recent design with fast AF performance. The 55-200 however, is a bit older and is fine at best re. AF. So, your best results will probably be with the 16-80. The f4 limitation of that lens however, will limit the low light AF performance of the X-T4 a bit. The X-T4 offers various tweaks to adjust AF to the circumstances. This is a bit cumbersome as it is not really good in auto detecting the required setting. You will have to do that for the camera. You can designate some options to function buttons on the camera for future quick access. Here's my recommendation: Set the AF mode to AF-C (front of camera). In the menu 'SHOOTING' and sub-menu 'AF/MF Settings' select mode 5 in the AF-C Custom Settings. This is for erratically moving subjects. This sets the tracking sensitivity to a locked-on mode, the tracking speed to the quickest and the zone area to auto (as the dogs move back and forth). It is a good starting point for further tweaking. Once you've find the best setting you can store that under custom AF-C mode (mode 6). Then make sure that the number of focus points is set at 425 for the widest coverage of focus points unless you follow the dogs with the camera and keep them center-frame. Switch Pre-AF on. This speeds up the focusing process when you half-press the shutter release button. Unfortunately the X-T4 doesn't recognize animal eyes, so face-AF and eye-AF doesn't help here. Best to switch that off and prevent the camera from scanning for faces/eyes. I've seen the X-T3/4 recognizing faces while they were not there (in shapes of leafs and so). You may also want to test release/focus priority. With focus priority usually you have the best hit rate for in-focus shots, however, it may also result to your camera when losing track of the subject instead refocus on a different subject. I'd recommend release priority in that case. You may have more shots out-of-focus, but at least more to choose from as well.

Which Canon DSLR are you referring to if I may ask?

I generally don't shoot video with my Fujifilm cameras, but you also wrote you had the errors when taking stills..? I've had my fair share of write errors with different Fujifilm cameras up to the level where I'm only using them for personal work now. The X-H1 (prior to firmware update) was notorious, but I've seen it on X-T2s, X-T3s and even on my trail run with a GFX50S. I wrote a post on how to minimize the risk of write errors in Sept (link below). SD Card technology in itself is not the issue provided you use reputable brands and with sufficient write speed (not only read speed). I took exactly the same cards that gave errors in the X-H1 and used them in an A7RIV (much larger files) without any issues. A nearby camera repair shop recognized the issues with different Fujifilm cameras but haven't been able to diagnose them. It must be either the hardware of the card readers that Fujifilm uses or the software driving them. I know that Sony and Nikon cameras warn users when the card is not 'fast' enough. I haven't seen that warning with a Fujifilm camera yet. Might be a useful firmware update...?

This is precisely the issue that Fujifilm should fear with their current release policy. Welcome to the world of many X-H1 early buyers who paid a premium price for the flagship model only to find out it was undermined by Fujifilm's release policy just a few months later. No significant firmware updates anymore, topped-up by a price cut of 45% and no clear model policy going forward. The issue is that Fuji (unlike Sony) uses the same core technology (sensor and processor) for different camera lines. That makes it very hard to distinguish models. Now for the X-E and the X-Pro that doesn't matter as these are aimed at a very different style of shooting. But in the 'DSLR-type' of cameras we have essentially 5 lines (X-Txxx, X-Txx, X-Tx, X-Hx and now X-Sxx) more or less build for the same purpose and some varying only $100 in price. It's not only confusing buyers and cannibalizing on more expensive models (why would most users buy an X-T3 or even the 4 when the X-S10 is launched? - yeah I know the weather sealing marketing trick). It also is very expensive to manufacture and maintain and after a while alienates users because they feel tricked. I'm starting to like Sony's very straightforward model range. The APS-C cameras in the A6xxx line gradually building up in capabilities. No misunderstandings. Full-frame is in the A7/A9 line where each model (plain, S, R and A9) have a specific purpose and use case. Whenever the new generation comes along, you down-price the current generation until you take it out of production. An A9 wildlife photographer won't mind the price reduction of the A7RII because he or she knows it's a different camera with very different capabilities. Imagine you bought the X-T3 a year ago. By now you would have had 2 WTF-moments in that year: when the X-T4 was launched and now with the X-S10. The same for the X-T30 buyer who has seen (in 1 year) the price drops of the X-H1, the X-T3 almost to their level and now the introduction of the X-S10 for just $100 more! Or the aforementioned X-H1 buyer...? I really think that Fuji needs to clean up its model policy and create a more structured long-term model policy in their -T, -H and now -S line. Many will say that diversification is a valid marketing strategy, but as a former marketeer I also know that confusion leads to indecisiveness and purchase delay amongst buyers. Your outcry Nicky, is a perfect example of that.

The 27 makes sense if you want to carry the camera in a pocket of your jacket or so. The body itself is too big for any other pockets anyway. If you carry the camera on a strap or in a small bag there's little point for a pancake lens anyway (over the 23 you already have). Note that the 27 doesn't have an aperture ring. If that's important to you (as it was for me), discard that lens. Also noteworthy: there are persistent 'rumors' about a MkII version of the 27. You may want to wait for that because it could boost IQ or it will lower second hand prices for the MkI version. Personally, I prefer the 35/f2. Though its not as small as the 27, the difference is not huge and the IQ of that 35 is stellar considering the price. It also combines nicely with the 23/f2.

Rico Pfirstinger wrote some books on Fuji X-cameras incl. a few pages on DR. It's in all of his X-pert Tips books. Furthermore, cambridgeincolour.com has extensive explanation pages on all sorts of photographic topics. Just search on their site for dynamic range. The key is that you cannot correct blown-out highlights but it is easy to correct deep shadows in post processing. Cameras have two ways of addressing this: either an HDR-feature or an extended DR feature. The extended DR-setting on the camera works for jpegs. It typically underexposes your raw file by 1 or 2 stops and than with the in-camera raw conversion to jpeg it leaves the highlights as is and amplifies only the midtones and shadows to produce a jpeg with detailed highlights (because under exposed) and nice blacks and greys (corrected in camera). Effectively its 1 extra stop of DR in practice. The HDR feature actually creates multiple images with an exposure bracket and combines these images into one, using the highlights of the underexposed image and the shadows and midtones of the other images. HDR can also be used for raw images in post. As for your typical situation, you only use raw-files and no jpeg I believe. Best approach IMO is to leave the DR setting to 100% and do the exposure correction in Affinity Photo. In order to do that you should set the live view function on to see the effect of the exposure on screen and switch on the histogram. Than set the exposure in such a way that the highlights (right part of the histogram) do not blow out. So stay within the border of the histogram at the right. The shadows might get blocked and the midtones way darker than you want, but that is easily corrected in post with the Shadow and Midtone sliders. By using this method you can use the base ISO of the camera (ISO100 in case of the GFX50R) which is always preferable in landscape photography. The fact that below ISO320 the camera limits you to DR 200% is because it needs 'room' to do the corrections. From 320 to 2 stops down is ISO80 which the camera cannot handle (ISO100 is the lowest) without trics like extended low ISO which you should only use as a last resort.

Though I don't use Affinity Photo and I therefore can't check it, it is most likely caused by the Dynamic Range setting. By setting DR to 400% you're essentially underexposing by 2 stops. I know that Capture One reads the RAF-file and adjusts accordingly. It's very likely that Affinity doesn't do that. Whether it's for all Fujifilm cameras or only for this one (GFX50R?), I can't tell. RAF-files from the GFX cameras are different from the X-Trans cameras. Even between the different models there are variations, hence that software specifies not the sensor type/generation but specifically the camera model.

Unfortunately not. In the cameras with the X-Processor Pro (combined with the X-Trans III sensor) this Q-menu is fixed to the 16 tiles. Would be a great firmware update although I have no hope we'll have major improvements on those cameras anymore. Recently Fuji launched a new firmware update for the X-H1 with small bug fixes without specifying which ones they fixed. The bugs I know of are still there, so not solved (and likely will not be either).

This is excellent advice. The 50/f2 is one of my beloved lenses for my X-Pro2 and street photography. As a pro also doing workshops, I see a lot of people struggle with these so-called portrait lenses like the 50/f1, the 56/f1.2 or in full-frame the fast 85mm lenses (f1.4 or 1.2). Esp. when you're in a hurry like the short time you have when shooting portraits in the street. Many like to open up the aperture as wide as possible ending up with all sorts of focusing issues due to the shallow DOF. Some even blame the lens (bad copy-syndrome) for their blurry pictures. When you stop down the 50/f1 constantly, you're effectively using it as a very expensive and clumsy 50/f2...

I don't have the R myself, but from the top of my head: the film simulation and color chrome effect only apply to JPG. You have to set the camera to JPG or RAW+JPG for the options to become accessible.

For the X-Pro2: in the shooting setting menu, you'll find the option 'mount adapter setting' where you can define where you can define up to 6 lenses you use via an adapter. When you select the lens, the (closest possible) image frame lines will be displayed in the optical viewfinder.

...and the EVF Brightness on 0 (instead of Auto).