What are your favorite settings?

[nathan.mardin]

What custom settings are you all using in camera? Feel free to share some work to go along with it too!

 

Disclaimer: I've had my X-Pro2 for less than a week, it's my first Fuji camera so I'm still getting accustomed to it. As such, I don't quite have any custom settings to fit my style

[Larry Bolch]

Sorry. My favorite settings are whatever the subject matter and shooting environment dictate to give me the best possible results. The whole reason for buying a fully adjustable camera. Using someone else's settings can produce highly unpredictable results unless you know the circumstances and goal of the shooting situation.

 

At the most basic, I usually shoot aperture priority and auto-ISO in order to have the highest practical shutter speed under the circumstances. On a bright, sunny day, I will probably use f/5.6-f/8.0 for maximum resolution vs depth of field. In a living room at night, I will be shooting f/1.4-f/2.0 at ISO6400 in order to just get usable exposures. Even when shooting RAW, I generally do a manual white balance which makes for just fine tuning in Photoshop, not large corrections.

 

For more advanced settings, realize that for JPEGs all settings can be applied AFTER the exposure with the built-in RAW converter. You will get exactly the same results as if you applied them during the exposure. This means you can explore things like Highlight Tone or Shadow Tone and learn what each setting does under various circumstances. The original RAW exposure is not altered, and can be converted and compared as much as it pleases you. These settings in no way alter the RAW file. Once you fully understand the function of each setting, you can assess your shooting environment, make an educated guess, do a test shot or two to nail the image you are seeking. Test shots are always your friend, and feedback is immediate—the glory of digital photography. There never has been a more immediate and direct way to understand the whole photographic process.

 

As an alternative to custom settings, you can shoot RAW and apply fine-tuning with far greater sensitivity in processing. Even if JPEGs are the goal initially, it would be wise to shoot RAW+JPEG, so you will always have the richer originals to go back to as your skills progress. Either way, you have the advantage of being able to tune the exposure to the circumstances with the result of the image matching your vision of it.

[nathan.mardin]

Absolutely right about the raw+jpeg. I just activated mine the other day. I've heard so many great things about the jpeg processing I wanted to explore it while still having raw flexibility. I'm moving over from my Nikon D300 I've been shooting with for the past 8 years, strictly raw, and I'm absolutely thrilled with the Fuji. I really enjoy the customization with the X-Pro2, the menu system is intuitive.

 

Custom white balance is a must in my book. The built-in ones are decent in a pinch but I like to get it right in camera. Moving fast though I'll select the appropriate WB for the scene and subject. I need to spend more time with the various film simulations as well

 

 

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