The Complete Guide to Fujifilm's X-t2

The Complete Guide To Fujifilm’s X-T2

Professional Insights for the Experienced Photographer

by

Tony Phillips

Version 1.2

Covering Firmware v1.10

ISBN 978-1-365-72138-0

Published by The Friedman Archives Press

Copyright © 2016, 2017 Tony Phillips.  All rights reserved.  No portion of this book may be reproduced either in print or in any digital format without express written permission.  Contact the author at info@TonyPhillips.org

For Those Who Bought the Printed or E-reader Editions

There are a LOT of demonstrative illustrations in this book that kind of lose their effectiveness when converted to black-and-white. And some are difficult to see on e-book reader screens like the original Kindle.

And so to offset these problems I’m offering a free, full-color, instantly- downloadable .pdf file of this eBook to all customers who bought printed books (be they color or black-and-white), or who purchased this work through the Amazon Kindle, Apple, Barnes and Noble, or any other e-reader store. (The original .pdf file really does offer a superior user experience. Think of it as the director’s cut regarding how the author intended the work to be seen.)

To get your free .pdf file, just email (info@FriedmanArchives.com). Attach the receipt of the book you bought (if you didn’t buy it from the FriedmanArchivesPress.com website, then Friedman Archives does not have your customer information), and we’ll send you a download link. 

Gratitude

I would like to thank the following for their valuable contributions to the quality of this undertaking:

Justin Moriarty, Fujifilm Australia, David Yeiter

And further thanks to my models, Jayne, Levi, Beth, Ben, Sarah, Sarah, Lincoln, Steven, Sophie, Serena, Mariah, Raylee and Steve.

Simply saying thank you isn’t enough. But I want to thank my wife Lorna for her enormous support. By now, she could surely write a book titled: Chasing a Shutterbug

The Author

Tony is an author, photographer, pilot, teacher, and lecturer, and has a long-standing passion for photography. To date he has 9 published books on photography. Five on Fujifilm X cameras and lighting. He is recommended by MirrorLessons as one of 6 Authors of Mirrorless Camera Manuals Whose Books You’ll Actually Enjoy Reading. His book on the X-Pro2 was headlined in Fujifilm’s blog as The Most Comprehensive Guide on the X-Pro2. He conducts photographic seminars on the fundamentals of digital photography through to advanced lighting.

Anyone can learn to take great pictures if they have the desire. And, it is not so much the equipment (though it is important), as the person, that makes those pictures great.

Tony is widely travelled, a businessman and entrepreneur. He spends much of his time writing, teaching, travelling, lecturing, and hunting great images.

Visit www.TonyPhillips.org to learn more. Or email Tony at: info@tonyphillips.org .

Tony’s YouTube Channel:

www.youtube.com/c/TonyPhillipsPhoto

Some of Tony’s other photography books.

A Big Thank You

To thank you for buying this book, I’m offering a free PDF copy of the 132 page eBook Mastering Flash with Fujifilm X Cameras – usually a $9.95 value.

Mastering Flash is designed to do just that. To help you Master Fuji flash with confidence! It’s Lighting 101 for Fujifilm – including making manual flash a breeze.

Jump to Section 14.7 to see contents and details on grabbing your copy.

I’ll also send you an .xls spreadsheet listing all the X-T2’s settings with brief explanations, my own personal settings, section references to further info in this book, and a column to note your own settings.

(Note: The bonus book doesn’t cover Fujifilm’s new wireless flash system.)

This Book

In this book I make the assumption that you’re an experienced photographer, and don’t need tutorials on downloading images, the basics of ISO, f/stops, shutter speeds, or light and composition (I do include an appendix on this for reference however).  Nor do I delve into the software that came with your camera, or cover PC based image editing.

While many of the explanations for the X-T2’s features and functions are tutorial in nature with plenty of examples and tips, about half of this book is reference – allowing you to dip into every function and menu feature at your leisure.

V1.1 of this book was written for X-T2 Firmware version 1.10

Table of Contents

For Those Who Bought the Printed or E-reader Editions

Gratitude

The Author

A Big Thank You

This Book

Table of Contents

Chapter 1      Keynote Features

1.1

The Sensor

1.1.1      Megapixels

1.1.2      Phase Detect AF

1.1.3      No Optical Low Pass Filter!

1.1.4      Micro-lenses

1.2

The X Processor Pro

1.2.1      Upgraded JPEG Processing

1.2.2      Speed

1.2.3      Boost Mode

1.2.4      14-bit RAW

1.3

World’s Best Electronic Viewfinder

1.4

Focusing

1.4.1      Autofocus

1.4.2      Focus Tracking & AF-C Custom Presets

1.4.3      Focus Zoom

1.4.4      Manual Focusing aids – MF Assist

1.4.5      Joystick & the AF Area – The Focus Lever

1.5

Fuji Flash Comes of Age

1.5.1      Bump in Max Flash Sync Speed

1.5.2      On-Camera Flash

1.5.3      Wireless Flash

1.6

Huge Bump in Video Modes/Quality

1.7

3D Articulating LCD

Chapter 2      Other Significant Features

2.1

Customization

2.1.1      The Q Button

2.1.2      Function Buttons

2.1.3      MY Menu – Customize your own menu!

2.1.4      Other Customisations

2.2

Shooting Modes - DRIVE

2.3

Inbuilt Films - Film Simulations

2.4

Camera Effects - Advanced Filters

2.5

Panorama

2.6

Multiple Exposures

2.7

High-Speed Shooting

2.8

Hybrid Shutter

2.9

Memory Cards - 2 Cards & Fast

2.9.1      Store More Frames

2.9.2      Dual Memory cards

2.10

Wireless – Wi-Fi

2.11

LMO - Lens Modulation Optimization

2.12

Styling, Build, Dials, Buttons

2.13

Additional Features

2.14

Some Nutshell!

Chapter 3      Essential Configuration

3.1

Essential Configuration

3.2

Customizing Camera Functions

3.2.1      Customizing the Fn Buttons

3.2.2      The Q-Menu

3.2.3      Deciding What to Assign and Where

3.2.4      Select Custom Setting (BASE…)

3.2.5      The MY Menu

3.3

Working with the Displays

3.3.1      Which Display?

3.3.2      Display Views

3.3.3      Configuring The Custom Display

3.4

Shooting Style Ideas

3.5

My Personal Camera Settings

3.5.1      Shooting Menu Settings

3.5.2      Setup Menu Settings

3.5.3      Playback Menu Settings

3.5.4      Drive Dial Settings

Chapter 4      Quick Start Guide

4.1

Focusing Essentials

4.1.1      How does the camera know what to focus on?

4.1.2      Single AF / Continuous AF Focusing Modes

4.1.3      Instant AF

4.1.4      AF Trick for Portraits

4.2

Shooting Modes - P-A-S-M

4.3

Panorama Essentials

4.4

Movie Essentials

4.5

Playback Essentials

4.5.1      Look At It This way - The Display Button

4.5.2      EXIF Image Information

4.5.3      Movie Playback Views

4.5.4      Panorama Playback

4.5.5      Magnifying the image

4.5.6      Thumbnail Views – Multi-Frame Playback

4.5.7      Image Deletion

4.5.8      Protecting an image or Movie

4.5.9      Viewing images on an HDTV

4.5.10      Slide Show

4.6

Power Essentials

4.6.1      Saving Power

4.6.2      Batteries

4.7

RAW Restrictions

4.7.1      RAW Function Button - Caveats

Chapter 5      Shooting Essentials

5.1

ISO Essentials

5.1.1      High ISO Noise Levels

5.1.2      AUTO ISO

5.1.3      L100 ISO

5.1.4      H(25600) and H(51200) ISO

5.1.5      Auto ISO in Manual Exposure Mode

5.1.6      ISO Bracketing

5.1.7      ISO-Less Sensor

5.2

White Balance (WB)

5.2.1      Auto White Balance and Pre-Set White Balance

5.2.2      WB Shift - Fine Tuning the 7 WB PreSets

5.2.3      Color Temperature – Kelvin

5.2.4      Custom White Balance

5.3

Autofocus Options - AF Modes

5.3.1      Single Point

5.3.2      Zone

5.3.3      Wide/Tracking

5.3.4      AF-C Custom Settings

5.4

Metering (Photometry)

5.4.1      Multi (Multiple Zone Metering)

5.4.2      Spot Metering

5.4.3      Center Weighted Metering

5.4.4      Average Metering

5.5

Flash Essentials – A Lot Has Changed

5.5.1      Flash Control Modes

5.5.2      (TTL) Flash Modes

5.5.3      Flash Sync - Modes

5.5.4      Flash Compensation – TTL Flash

5.5.5      Flash Power – Manual Flash

5.5.6      Flash Types

5.5.7      Flash and Red-Eye Removal

5.5.8      Modeling Flash

Chapter 6      Film Sims and Filters

6.1

Film Simulation

6.1.1      Classic Chrome Film Simulation

6.1.2      Shooting In B&W

6.1.3      Acros Film Sim

6.2

Upgraded Algorithms

6.3

Tweaking the Tweaks

6.3.1      Grain Effect

6.3.2      Tone Curves

6.3.3      Combining Tone Settings

6.3.4      Noise Reduction (NR)

6.3.5      Other Ways to Reduce Noise

6.3.6      Color

6.3.7      Sharpness

6.3.8      Dynamic Range (DR)

6.3.9      Image Size (L 3:2)

6.3.10      Image Quality

6.4

Combining Sims and Settings

6.4.1      Cool Pastel

6.4.2      High Contrast Monochrome

6.4.3      Other Films – Tweaking Suggestions

6.5

Advanced Filters

6.5.1      Toy Camera

6.5.2      Miniature Mode

6.5.3      Pop Color

6.5.4      High-Key

6.5.5      Low-Key

6.5.6      Dynamic Tone

6.5.7      Soft Focus

6.5.8      Partial Color

6.5.9      Advanced Filter Restrictions

Chapter 7      Wi-Fi, Wireless & Instax

7.1

Wi-Fi Remote Control

7.2

View / Transfer Images to a Device

7.3

Instax Printing

7.3.1      Pairing with an Instax PRinter

7.4

GPS GeoTagging

7.4.1      Geotagging Set-Up

7.4.2      Uploading Location Data to your Camera

7.4.3      Viewing Location Data in Playback

7.4.4      Alternatives for Geotagging

7.5

PC Auto Save

7.5.1      Setting up the Connection

7.5.2      Saving Images / Movies to your Computer

Chapter 8      Drive Modes

8.1

Movie

8.2

Bracketing

8.2.1      AE Bracket (Automatic Exposure)

8.2.2      ISO Bracket

8.2.3      Film Simulation Bracket

8.2.4      White Balance Bracket (WB)

8.2.5      Dynamic Range Bracket (DR)

8.3

Continuous Low / High (Burst)

8.4

Single Frame

8.5

Multiple Exposures

8.6

Advanced Filter

8.7

Panorama

8.7.1      Panorama Exposure

Chapter 9      The Playback Menu

9.1

Switch Slot

9.2

Raw Conversion

9.3

Erase

9.4

Crop

9.5

Resize

9.6

Protect

9.7

Image Rotate

9.8

Red Eye Removal

9.9

Copy

9.10

Wireless Communication

9.11

Slide Show

9.12

Photobook Assist

9.13

PC Auto Save

9.14

Print Order (DPOF)

9.14.1      Printing the Date on the Image

9.14.2      Removing DPOF selection and Resetting All (Unmark All)

9.15

Instax Printer Print

9.16

Display Aspect Ratio (Disp. Aspect)

Chapter 10      The Shooting Menus

10.1

Image Quality Setting

10.1.1      Image Size

10.1.2      Image Quality

10.1.3      Raw Recording

10.1.4      Film Simulation

10.1.5      Grain Effect

10.1.6      Dynamic Range

10.1.7      White Balance (WB)

10.1.8      Highlight Tone

10.1.9      Shadow Tone

10.1.10      Color

10.1.11      Sharpness

10.1.12      Noise Reduction

10.1.13      Long Exposure NR (Noise Reduction)

10.1.14      Lens Modulation Optimizer

10.1.15      Color Space

10.1.16      Pixel Mapping

10.1.17      Select Custom Setting (C1-C7 presets)

10.1.18      Edit/Save Custom Setting (C1-C7 Presets)

10.2

AF/MF Setting

10.2.1      Focus Area

10.2.2      AF Mode

10.2.3      AF-C Custom Settings

10.2.4      AF Point Display

10.2.5      Number of Focus Points

10.2.6      Pre-AF

10.2.7      AF Illuminator

10.2.8      Face/Eye Detection Setting

10.2.9      AF+MF

10.2.10      MF Assist

10.2.11      Focus Check

10.2.12      Interlock Spot AE & Focus Area

10.2.13      Instant AF Setting

10.2.14      Depth-Of-Field Scale

10.2.15      Release/Focus Priority – AF-S & AF-C

10.3

Shooting Setting

10.3.1      Drive Setting

10.3.2      Self-Timer

10.3.3      Interval Timer Shooting

10.3.4      Shutter Type

10.3.5      IS Mode

10.3.6      ISO Auto Setting

10.3.7      Mount Adaptor Setting

10.3.8      Wireless Communication

10.4

Flash Setting

10.4.1      Flash Function Setting

10.4.2      Red Eye Removal

10.4.3      TTL-Lock Mode

10.4.4      LED Light Setting

10.4.5      Master Setting

10.4.6      CH Setting (Channel Setting)

10.5

Movie Setting

10.5.1      Movie Mode

10.5.2      Movie AF Mode

10.5.3      HDMI Output Info Display

10.5.4      4K Movie Output

10.5.5      HDMI Rec Control

10.5.6      Mic Level Adjustment

10.6

MY menu

Chapter 11      The Setup Menu

11.1

User Setting

11.1.1      Format

11.1.2      Date/Time

11.1.3      Time Difference

11.1.4      Language

11.1.5      My Menu Setting

11.1.6      Sensor Cleaning

11.1.7      Reset

11.2

Sound Set-Up

11.2.1      AF Beep Volume

11.2.2      Self-Timer Beep Volume

11.2.3      Operational Vol. (Volume)

11.2.4      Headphones Volume

11.2.5      Shutter Volume

11.2.6      Shutter Sound

11.2.7      Playback Volume

11.3

Screen Set-Up

11.3.1      EVF Brightness

11.3.2      EVF Color