Copying custom settings

[Ben Bishop]

I'd like to set up my custom settings for shooting situations but would like to copy the settings to the base so I can alter them without upsetting the complete custom set I've figured out. Is there a way to do this? Is it possible to reset the base setting to the factory settings?

 

 

[Doug Pardee]

You're confused, which is very very easy to do with the way that Fujifilm has set this up and named it.

 

Whenever you select a Custom Setting (C1-C7), all of the settings defined for it are loaded into your camera. That wipes out the previous in-camera configuration for those settings. The only way to go back is to reset all of them by hand. In-Camera is not an eighth stored JPEG configuration -- it's just what the camera is currently using.

 

"Base" is only meaningful in the Q menu. It means "don't load a new Custom Setting." It's essentially an undo if you select a Custom Setting in the Q menu and change your mind before you exit the Q menu. Base is not an eighth stored JPEG configuration, either.

 

To further complicate things, Base is not necessarily a full reset to the in-camera JPEG configuration back when you opened the Q menu. Any changes you made to individual settings (film simulation, highlight and shadow tone, white balance, etc.) won't be undone. Only changes that were the result of selecting the Custom Setting will be undone.

 

Yes, it's very, very confusing.

 

If you're going to use Custom Settings -- basically, if you're a JPEG or Raw+JPEG photographer -- I strongly recommend that you go all-in with them. Change your JPEG configuration by loading a Custom Setting. Don't set any of the associated settings directly in the camera except as temporary overrides. Remember, as soon as you select a Custom Setting you'll lose any changes you made to the in-camera JPEG settings.

 

If you're a Raw-only photographer, I strongly recommend you leave Custom Settings alone. Better yet, store your preferred JPEG configuration into all 7 Custom Settings so that if you do accidentally activate one, not much damage will be done. For cameras without an ISO knob (X-E series, X-T10/X-T20, etc.) the Custom Settings include the full auto-ISO configuration. If you really need more than three auto-ISO configurations, you can set them up in the Custom Settings, but be sure you understand that selecting any of C1-C7 will wipe out your current auto-ISO configuration and replace it with the auto-ISO configuration from that Custom Setting.

Edited February 23, 2018 by Doug Pardee