Set-up tip: Faster ISO dialing

[Immanuel]

I often change my button assignments and custom settings to match the specific situation. At the moment, I use this trick in situations with changing light. This trick involves the custom settings and the top FN button next to the shutter button and using the wheel to choose the desired setting.

CS 1: ISO 200, DR 100

CS 2: ISO 400, DR 200
CS 3: ISO 800, DR 400
CS 4: ISO 1600, DR 400
CS 5: ISO 3200, DR 400
CS 6: ISO 6400, DR 400
CS 7: Auto ISO

This lets my change ISO settings with minimum movement. I rarely want to adjust ISO in less than full stops. To me, 1/3 stops is a waste of time and flow. When you assign CS to buttons, it will always start at CS 200.

So if I am out taking pictures at ISO 200 and suddenly find a situation where I need more dynamic range or more DOF without camera shake or faster shutter speed for a fast moving subject, I'll just press the FN button, turn the wheel one or two clicks and half press the shutter - or take the picture immediately. If I want to go back to ISO 200, I just press the FN button twice (because it starts at CS 1).

This works very well on my X-100T and X-E2. Can anyone tell me, if it works with the X-Pro2 and the X-T1 which have hardware dials for ISO? It would be a shame, if you had to make a work around by setting maximum and minimum auto ISO speeds instead of fixed speeds - at least if those cameras behave like mine, where any auto ISO setting will make the camera NOT tell me the predicted shutter speed before I half press the shutter button.

[milandro]

the  X-T1 has very easy acces to ISO with the large dial on the left, I never felt the need for any easier access than that.

[Immanuel]

the  X-T1 has very easy acces to ISO with the large dial on the left, I never felt the need for any easier access than that.

That is fine, if you want to get your fingers up to the upper left part of the camera. I'm wondering how the X-T1 responds to the ISO settings in the Custom Settings. Is it at all possible to set specific ISO settings in the Custom Settings?

[mdm]

disregard it.

Edited June 13, 2016 by mdm

[flysurfer]

Is it at all possible to set specific ISO settings in the Custom Settings?

 

 

Of course not.

[Immanuel]

Of course not.

That is a shame. That probably makes changing ISO settings a lot faster on the two "low end" cameras.

[milandro]

life is unfair. They hate us.

[flysurfer]

That is a shame. That probably makes changing ISO settings a lot faster on the two "low end" cameras.

 

 

Indeed: the lower the end, the more state-of-the-art the concept. Lower-end cameras like the X-A1/2, X-M1 offer custom settings that allow users to store a complete camera configuration and quickly switch between pre-configured settings. The higher up you go, the more manual switching is necessary.

 

Fujifilm's cameras are strange that way. They are like Boeing building a new high-tech aircraft without a modern glass cockpit. Instead, Boeing would install a retro cockpit with 30 year old clock dials that requires 2 pilots and 1 flight engineer to operate. No airline in their right mind would buy such a plane. And yet, when we ask Fuji users why they chose Fuji X over other brands, the typical answer isn't that they bought the camera despite its outdated retro controls. No, they say that they bought it because of them.

 

Obviously, those who buy retro cameras like retro controls. But this puts Fujifilm in a niche. The issue is: What about the majority of users who don't appreciate retro controls, but who would still like to own an advanced mirrorless APS-C system with a full range of high-quality lenses and superior image quality? So Fujifilm might want to think about ways to satisfy both groups: the retro loving niche and the majority of other users. How? By implementing smart options that allow users to bypass the manual retro controls and use X cameras like other modern cameras. 

Edited June 14, 2016 by flysurfer

[milandro]

...they buy something else.

 

Nobody can please everyone all the time. Better to be the best in a limited area than being one of the so many trying to do everything.

 

Fuji excels at this and that’s why I bought a Fuji camera, because it gave me the feeling I was still using a camera like when I bought my first reflex camera (I already used cameras before of that) in 1976.

[flysurfer]

...they buy something else.

 

 

That's what most mirrorless users apparently do these days. As a result, Fujifilm's market share is capped at a niche level. This limits prospects of long-term profitability and growth.

[milandro]

I am sure that they know what they are doing and they know that a relatively small company can only excel at doing things with a limited scope.

 

Fighting Canon and Nikon on their terms would be suicidal.

 

As a company Fuji has more than 50% of their billings from copiers. The remaining 50% is mostly covered by Instax (an incredible success). Only a relatively small part of the profits come from digital cameras and within these, the high end segment is the most representative (or so I read their financials).

[flysurfer]

 

Fighting Canon and Nikon on their terms would be suicidal.

 

 

It has never been about Canon or Nikon. It's about Sony, Olympus and Panasonic.

[milandro]

those too

[Aswald]

Actually, they're trying to carve their own niche. They've found something good and are trying their best to deliver to their clients. They are quite happy where they are now and are focused on developing the next generation X cameras based on their own strengths.

 

When asked, they said that Canon, Nikon and Panasonic aren't even in their league as Fujifilm is too small to be of any significance. When Sony was mentioned, they said that Sony makes very good sensors and being FF, it's a different ball game which they are not looking at going into. The whole sensor size vs. compactness discussion ensued.....again....

[milandro]

I obviously agree, since, as written before, I too believe that Fuji has managed to carve their niche and establish a market base for themselves covering bases left uncovered by the competition.

 

Allow me a digression that is somewhat related to OP’s request about the X-T1 custom setting for ISO, which on this particular camera is governed by a selector dial and not by a programmable button.

 

This is obviously not happened by chance or accident, it happened by design, by choice because it would have been cheaper to make it exactly like that, but at Fuji they have determined that the Fuji customer that they are pursuing has certain wants and “ needs”.

 

I have asked many times FR to join forces with Fuji and ask the people on this forum about their demographics.

 

 

If such a survey were held among us (and maybe if Fuji would extend it to other Fuji communities ) I think that certain distinctive traits would emerge. I am sure that at Fuji marketing department things like these have been done but I am not sure of their geographical distribution. It is very possible that some choices were made assuming that what they had found on a local market might be exported to all markets and, personally I am not convinced of that.

 

I would really like this survey to be held in a very complete and articulate way.