Eedjit's guide to X100 needed!

[Paul T.]

So, the GF1 and a bunch of other stuff is out - and the X100 is in, ready for an imminent trip to Japan.

I'm charging the battery now - ready for some crucial work over the next couple of days. The less important one is for photos of my band back in the studio, hopefully for a CD booklet.

Far more important is the nipper's school summer fair - the last at his school. I need to get good photos of him and his friend.

Now, it took me months to set up my GF1 properly. And I need an eedjit's guide to setting up the X100, if anyone's kind enough to take pity on me, ready for tomorrow morning!

I know there was one really good post on rff - it was the one where people were complaining that the camera was rubbish, and one user explained how he set his up. Even if you point me to that, twould be great.

I am about to dip into the manual, but essentially I want to set up the camera with centre spot focus, aperture priority with a minimum shutter speed of 1/20 or so, and auto ISO, as much like the ol' Hexar AF as poss. I know I have to do that Corrected Frame things, I will dip into the manual soon and investigate it in between cooking dinner.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[tomtofa]

Here's one quickstart guide:
http://peri.org.uk/wp/?page_id=1345

Everyone has their own taste in settings - for instance, in the setup menu you may put in different settings for minimum shutter speed, etc. - but at least this one tells you where in the menus the pertinent settings are located.

 

[jonasv]

Most importantly - update the firmware! (over at the fuji site)

The latest version does a bunch of things better than the original, most importantly with regard to autofocus speed and the fact than you can now configure both the FN and RAW button for purposes you like (ND filter and ISO for me).

IIRC, do not put it in 'Silent Mode', but simply turn all the sounds off. Silent mode slows down autofocus.
Power save mode also slows down autofocus. Slightly.

Your other requirements are easy to fulfill, just look through the menus!

Other than that, have fun!

 

[jonasv]

Oh yeah, since you mention the battery. Mine goes a long way, but can suddenly drop from 100% to zero rather quickly. So take a spare, take time to reload every couple of hundred photos, or don't play back too many photos and use the optical finder mostly.

 

[jonasv]

Oh yeah, as a third comment (stream-of-consciousness-posting):

This thread contains some good links:
http://www.fujix-forum.com/index.php?/topic/2961-recommended-forum-reading-for-new-x100-users/

And more specifically, this is the link you're looking for:
http://www.x100forum.com/index.php?...22103__hl__settings__fromsearch__1#entry22103

 

[GaryLH]

Here is the way I have mine setup

- iso at 200 so that autoiso will use that as lowest iso value
- autoiso active with max sensitivity at 3200 and shutter at 100
- image raw
- dynamic range auto or 100% depending if I on the situation
- noise reduction low
- fn button movie and raw button nd filter
- image disp off - I don't like instant review mode after picture
- I disable all the various sound
- ovf power save off
- quick start off
- af illuminator off
- focus units ft
- color space adobe rgb
- long exposure nr on
- corrected af frame on
I used to have fn button for iso, but the autoiso is so good and I don't blow up really big

Also additional items are Fuji lens hood assembly/adapter, b+w uv filter so I do have to use a lens cap, and right stuff grip assembly.

Watch out for accidental changes in your exposure compensation 🙁

Hope that helps
Gary

PS - hold down menu button for more than 5 seconds to lock the other buttons around it from accidentally being activated. Do the same when u want to unlock. Fn and raw buttons can be held down for 5 seconds as well to change their functionality w/o going to the menu.

 

[GaryLH]

Oh yeah, since you mention the battery. Mine goes a long way, but can suddenly drop from 100% to zero rather quickly. So take a spare, take time to reload every couple of hundred photos, or don't play back too many photos and use the optical finder mostly.

+1

Goes from 100% to about 60% without any problems but after that point the number of shots drops rapidly. :bang:

Gary

 

[Paul T.]

Great stuff so far folks, many thanks, of course keep it coming if u have any other additions.

Only switched this on three minutes ago but looks like it has firmware 1.20 or later. Focusing slightly better than the one I tried a few months ago.

 

[GaryLH]

http://www.dantestella.com/technical/x100.html

Dante had a great writeup about the x100 in terms of expectations and such.

Gary

 

[Paul T.]

Well, not too bad to set up. I like the corrected frame, it reminds me a lot of the Hexar's distance indicator and shrinking framelines, you have a very good idea of what you're focusing on.

I find focus pretty good compared to the GF1, in that you can actually see what you've focused on thru the viewfinder.

I hate that you have to keep switching to the EVF to focus close up. But the quality of output is an order of magnitude better than the GF1.

In short, it's terrific.

 

[gavinlg]

Most important things are using the AF correction frames, quick start on, and power save mode off. Everything else is just preference 🙂
It's an awesome little camera, enjoy it.

Also, if you use the image review feature with high ISO shots, it can cause a bit of banding in the files. The expanded DR settings don't work with RAW files, so keep them off if you're shooting raw or raw + jpeg. Don't turn silent mode on because it disables the flash, just turn the volume down in the menus instead.

You'll get used to switching to EVF really quickly and you'll do it instinctively when you know it needs to be done.

 

[GaryLH]

Most important things are using the AF correction frames, quick start on, and power save mode off. Everything else is just preference 🙂
It's an awesome little camera, enjoy it.

Also, if you use the image review feature with high ISO shots, it can cause a bit of banding in the files. The expanded DR settings don't work with RAW files, so keep them off if you're shooting raw or raw + jpeg. Don't turn silent mode on because it disables the flash, just turn the volume down in the menus instead.

You'll get used to switching to EVF really quickly and you'll do it instinctively when you know it needs to be done.

Oops I forgot to mention about jpg+raw for dr settings... Good catch ..

Gary

 

[Richard G]

I have a text file of all the good posts from last year when all the afficionados here were giving us the good oil. If you PM me I can send it to you. I got a new one this year and was glad to heve a crib to set it up from scratch.