Nialler

I 've encountered this when I was asking the impossible of the camera. It doesn't have to be dark. Just close the aperture to f16 and select 1/8000 exposure, and the viewfinder goes black - pretty good approximation of what you would expect from any camera. Believe it or not, I found this to be useful in some night photography a couple of nights ago. I wanted to push the camera hard because I had a very intrusive moon ruining the sight of some beautiful backlit rolling clouds. At night I'm accustomed to the fuzzy noisy grains jumping about, but, as you say, this is black lens-cap-on on stuff. It suited me to find the point where it went from one to the other. But the definite feeling I'm getting as a complete digital noobie (40+ years of analogue) is that the beast is saying to me "Sorry, mate. No can do." I know of, and have seen, the red indicators as well, warning me that one or more settings was beyond its capabilities in the light available, so I don't know where the black screen comes in that hierarchy.

The yellowing issue has always been easily fixed in my experience. It's a result of the presence of Thorium. it can be greatly or eliminated by exposure to UV light, so I've on occasion simply left a lens on the window sill for a few days. It also kills fungus, but fungus can create unrecoverable etchings in the glass if it is particularly aggressive. Note: this can be done on cloudy days. UV light penetrates the clouds. Next note: We're speaking a lens and possibly strong sunlight here. It could create a risk of fire the orientation of the lens and its configuration leads to it focusing on a spot. I use tinfoil at the camera end of the lens. It reflects the UV light back up the barrel, giving a double bath to the lenses.

Cheers! I hope to enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed the Spottie I grew up with and which will remain in my bag for life not simply in my bag, but with a roll of film in it, and more to come. I'm coming at the XT5 from a very weird angle. It sort of goes back to unpreparedness. I found myself with my Spotmatic in "the Garden of Ireland" - Wicklow - beautiful county. I was spending a week exploring its beautiful valleys. When the batteries on my Spotmatic failed, I reached into my rucksack for a replacement set. There were none. So I shrugged and decided I had to use my eyes to meter. Things were cheaper then. When picking up processed films the photos came with a new film thrown in, so it was easier to take that decision. Within a few months I was getting nearly 100% keepers - at least in terms of focus and exposure. So circumstances forced me to be ever vigilant of light. I've had many other cameras since then, but the bare bones (it doesn't even have a self-timer) Spotmatic was an ever-present. Expense has forced my hand, though. That and some curiosity. I feel as if my first car is a Ferrari! In fact, when I explained at the shop that I was an experienced photographer looking for a digital which placed the emphasis on stills, they tried to force a €7k model on me. That would be a step too far. Thus my experience in approaching this camera is somewhat unusual. Thus far I have had great enjoyment with it. I was thrilled on opening to box to discover that I was getting utter rubbish from it. Yes!!! I had to learn how to use it! Praise the Lord! I also found a magic button which was the answer to my dreams - the diopter adjustment. That's how naive I was (and am) about the digital offerings - this was an enormous and hugely welcome surprise. I've been learning. The supplied kit lens is not ideal - a 16-80mm zoom. It's pretty sharp, but demanding in manual mode. My old glass reminds me of my father's Opel Senator, which was forgiving to the point that it would comfortably take off at the lights even if you'd mistakenly selected third. My old glass is much more forgiving. At the moment, I'm leaving everything to automatic ISO. I'll wean myself away from that quickly enough, though. in the past I'd retrofitted my son's lenses to my older kit, and found that you needed to be much more precise. I guess when you're designing something which will be adjusted by algorithms then you can make the continuum as tight as you want. My son laughs at me. "You have bracketing mode if you want, Dad.", he'll remind me. "Use burst mode.", he'll add. Some of my habits are deeply ingrained, though. Two other things people find odd about my photography: I never ever use post-processing - what comes out of the camera is the final product. Secondly, I have never once taken photos where the subject is a human being without first requiring a lot of persuasion.

There's no implied threat. I'm just saying that you're going about things the wrong way. Now you're throwing conspiracy theories and mistresses in and, unaccountably for a photographer's forum, the word "buggery". Complaining and nagging may work for you, but I don't see why innocent posters here should be caught in your crossfire. If you want manual shooting, I'm with you. This is my first digital camera. In all of the various bodies adorning my shelf I haven't put a battery in any in over a decade except where the camera simply won't work without the presence of one. People have actually offered me high-spec DSLRs as they upgraded, but this one was the first one I wanted. I've had to change my MO massively in every way. I accept that, because it comes close to realising everything I need from it. Not 100%, but close. Y'see, I get the fact that the manufacturers have a huge pool of customers to satisfy and as one of them I know and accept that they're not designing a custom camera for me alone. I accept that and I get on with it. The solution you were offered is not a fudge or a workaround. It is a logical exploitation of a design feature of the camera: the ability to assign commonly-used functions to a button. That is an excellent customisation option. I'm going to gradually exploit that as I gain experience with the machine and learn what I need most readily at my fingertips.

I would advise you, from a position of experience in the firmware field, to be cautious and guarded in broaching the issue with Fujifilm (or any other supplier for that matter). I say this, with respect, because your tone is slightly off. Suggesting that they "fix the camera", for example, is not a phrase to use with their support. The camera is working as designed. The fact that it doesn't exactly match your specs doesn't mean that it can be considered as broken. I worked for decades as a product owner, and our change process was very rigorous, involving polling our user community for desired changes, tweaks etc. This change will not have emerged from the type of meeting room you imagine. Why do I say this? Because of experience. Often removing a function is as difficult as creating a new one. It is a non-trivial task, and will have required redesign of other elements of the package - thus there is an in-built inertia to overcome. We also as a team had to be conscious that some users might have developed a reliance on a particular function, so that too was a barrier to change. Thus, before disabling or removing a function, we would not simply need a majority in its favour, but sound technical reasons to justify it. Since these things tend to be very intertwined, there may also have been a conflict between its mode of operation and that of a new function which was overwhelmingly demanded. The solution generously provided (hardly a "fudge" or "workaround") seems eminently workable to me. Any time I buy a next gen version of a product I expect to find enhancements/changes. I adapt to them. It's not an ordeal. Things may have moved, or perform differently. That's life. If you give off the vibe that it was done to annoy you, you're mistaken, and you're not recruiting support for your cause. A final note: the most important thing for me with this camera - my sine qua non - was that it operate satisfactorily with my legacy glass. Before I bought it, I brought a mount adopter and two lenses to test with it. The salespeople were happy to let me "test drive" the camera. Maybe it would have been worth checking that it worked before purchasing if this was so important. As it is, it wasn't a trivial purchase for me, and I'd guess that I spent about six or more visits to the shop, checking that it would work for me. That process involved discovering whether I could work with it. I'm very satisfied indeed with it.