I'm posting what I beleive is a major flaw in Fuji's PASM bodies in order to:
Warn potential buyers
Hope Fuji take note and address in a firmware update
This is an issue I have noticed with my new XH2s. Googling it I have found a smattering of posts on various forums indicating that others are having the same issue, generally only getting a couple of replies, but it doesn't seem to have been widely akcnowledged or highlighted in various "firmware wishlist" posts I've come accross.
To outline the problem:
PASM bodies (XH, XS GFX) don't have a physical exposure comp dial. The exposure comp can be asigned one of various controls, e.g. command dial.
When shooting in P/A/S, the user's chosen exposure comp value will be dispalyed on screen as a numerical value and/or a visual meter
When shooting on M, this value/meter now behaves as a light meter. That is to say, it displays the value that the current chosen settings will ahcieve, relative to the lightmeter, with the light currently hitting the sensor. (Just like an analogue lightmeter display in an old film SLR). This makes sense in true M because exposure compensation is meaningless in this context: the camera's light meter is not controlling any of the settings.
However, when shooting on M with auto-ISO, the camera's light meter does still control the exposure, within the auto-ISO limits set by the user. (The fact that we actually call this mode M is a bit of a misnomer; a hangover from the days of film when ISO wasn't a component of exposure that could be adjusted during a shoot, it should perhaps be called "AS")
Hence, in M + auto ISO, the user still needs to know what their chosen exposure compensation value is. However, in this setting, the display/value still behaves as an light meter rather than displaying the currently selected exposure compensation, despite the fact that the exposure compensation setting is still active and adjusting the camera's metering. The value on the screen might happen to display the chosen exp comp value if that value is achievable given the current light hitting the sensor and the chosen shutter speed, aperture and the range of ISO options the auto-ISO has available.
To summarise, in M + auto ISO, on PASM Fuji cameras, the exposure compensation setting is active and can be adjusted but the user cannot see what it is.
This behaviour was actually also present in the X100, XT20 and XT1 that I have used, but was much less of an issue as the chosen exposure compensation was visible via the dedicated physical dial. I suspect it hasn't been clocked by Fuji given that the PASM camears are relatively new and a small part of their line up.
Based on other threads I've seen, some seem to dismiss this as a problem of any consequence, but for many use cases (wildlife, action, events with erratically changing lighting), M + Auto ISO is for myself and many others the preferred way of shooting, and far preferable to manually adjusting ISO as we go. We need to be able to see what we have set the exposure comp value to, and adjust it accurately. This is currently impossible on Fuji cameras PASM cameras. For a camera like the XH2s, engineered for speed and likely to be used in an action context, this is a massive oversight.
I am considering whether this actually makes the camera unusable and whether I may need to change over to another system. Fuji - please issue a firmware fix asap!
