Fujifilm recently released the updated version of their flagship DSLR-styled mirrorless body, the X-T2. There are plenty of great things to be said about this new body. However, after a few weeks of using it, I'd like to share with you and Fuji a few things I'd like to see fixed or changed in the next firmware update.
The Menus
Although perhaps not as convoluted as the menus on Sony cameras, the X-T2 menu system is starting to go that way. Simple things seem to be buried very deep — things like formatting your memory card. The new menu has a cleaner look, but I find it to be overly complicated when compared to the older menus on the X system. Although this is not the place to provide a full list, I feel that some things could be pulled out from the third-tier menus up to the main tier.
Saving the Focus Settings
I've written about this before. It seems like such a simple thing. When I'm using AF-S, I like to use my camera in single point AF. When working in AF-C, I like to use 3D tracking. I very rarely switch away from these two settings for my day-to-day work. However, the Fuji system keeps the focus mode and drive mode absolutely separate. This means that every time I switch to AF-C, I also need to switch the focus mode to 3D tracking. Then, when I switch back to AF-S, I also need to change the camera back to single point focus. This is a two step process that could be a single step.
Flat Picture Profile
With all the effort Fujifilm went to in order to improve their video integration, the missed some things that would be really useful. I am a huge fan of Fuji's film simulations. I love them. Classic Chrome and Velvia make the shooting experience more fun just by having them. However, that's not what I always want for video. A flat profile would be really great. Of course, you can create a similar effect by pushing shadows and pulling highlights in camera, but simply being able to switch to a flat profile would be so much simpler. Of course, then there's F-Log.
Internal F-Log Recording
HDMI output only? Really? This feels like something Sony might charge you an upgrade price for. However, we can hope that the Fuji engineers will find a way to incorporate it through firmware. The hardware is there, so presumably, it's just heat dissipation that they're finding to be a problem. The F-Log footage looks great, so hopefully we'll see that in the next firmware upgrade!
Contact Cover for the Grip
That dinky little rubber cover that covers the grip contacts is still there. I've had so many problems with that piece of rubber expanding on previous Fuji bodies, and I was hoping that they would replace it with something better. No such luck. All the other doors and covers have improved so much, but this one still remains a blight on an otherwise excellently constructed body.
In Conclusion
As you can see, these are just some minor things. Overall, this is another great release from Fujifilm and one that I enjoy using for my work.
Quick shortcut for formatting cards, hold down the Bin/trash button for 2 seconds then click the rear wheel in.
This is amazing! Thanks so much for sharing!
There you go! Will be giving that a shot!
I've found the wireless integration with their phone app to be terrible. Its difficult to connect, very slow, and once you complete an operation it drops the connection leaving you to fumble through the menus and pick up the wifi network on your phone once again.
Hopefully this is just a matter of updating the firmware and apps. Fuji has improved usability for certain camera operations quite a bit with firmware releases so this could be fixed in the near future.
I'm completely with you on this. It's cumbersome to connect and God help you if you've forgotten to change some setting on the body that can't be controlled by the app because then you have to start all over again. I think the functionality of the app itself is very good but Fuji needs some bluetooth-like system where the camera and phone remember their "pairing" indefinitely.
I agree completely. I've all but stopped using it. However, I've heard from a couple of other people that it's getting more reliable. Maybe time to start using it again!
Pro Negative Standard is the flat profile, isn't it? Ah never mind you meant video, shouldn't read and comment while running on 30 minutes of sleep!
I'm gonna add the LACK of tethered shooting for Fuji XT2 just baffles me. As a studio photographer, I would really love to be able to tether to Capture One. I complain about this every chance I get hoping that Fuji opens up and adds this to the firmware. I'm a PROUD fuji user, but this issue if not fixed soon will force me to purchase a Nikon body and use my Fuji as a back up camera.
There is some hope with Fuji's GFX 50S coming out that tethering to Capture One might happen. In the promo videos all the images were being viewed thru Capture One, so one would think this might push through. I love my Fuji system and I would be 100% happy if they could just work this part out. Outside of that the camera literally does everything I need it to do.
I doubt that. Although COP supports RAW development or Fuji cameras the GFX50s is a direct competitor to their high end cameras. So I have no high hopes that Phase One will allow this to happen. Unfortunately....
Argh... this would have been number 6. It's been bugging me forever with ALL Fuji bodies. Granted, you could buy the plugin for the X-T1, but why???
I purchased the Adobe tethering app for my XT1 and it's a complete joke compared to Capture One tethering. I would rather use the wifi which also doesn't really have good range and this method is slow as well.
I would move the lack of tethering ability to the top of this list - not sure how you can call this a professional camera without this feature. Read there is a firmware update for this coming. Can't happen soon enough.
My thoughts exactly. I don't understand why it hasn't happened yet. If the firmware updates is another one for Lightroom and not Capture One, I'm buying a nikon immediately. I've been so patient with Fuji with this whole tethering debacle, but my patience is running a bit thin.
Why the cheap shots at Sony when reviewing a Fuji camera?
Rightly or wrongly, Sony is regarded by many as the gold standard of bad menu design. The comment is just a way to describe the degree of work that the OP believes is necessary.
Get it. But also the "upcharge" comment.
It seemed a bit like Fuji fan forum talk. I agree with your comment and I thought exactly the same when reading the article "cheap shots".
I particularly like your idea to link focus mode to drive mode. This could be optional—like linking exposure to focus point. That makes too much sense not to implement.
It's interesting to note (assuming you are correct) that Fuji's decision to not allow f-log with internal recording is related to heat. I'd always assumed it was just a concern about banding with 4:2:0 internal video.
This could also be part of it. My thoughts are that all that processing, plus constant heavy file writing, and the stress on the battery would cause the camera to overheat.
Not sure about X-T2, but you can format cards in X-Pro2 by long pressing delete button and then pressing back dial (in picture view mode). Nobody reads the manual, I guess...
Great tip on the format shortcut. One thing that doesn't seem to be addressed from the X-T1 is that you can't lock on the self timer delay. I do a fair amount of landscape work and just spent the last month in Italy. With approximately 2000 landscape images that's probably about how many times I had to access the Q menu for a 2 second delay. If there is a better way or secret I'm happy to hear it.
+1. Very familiar with that routine.
The good news is that all of this should be fixable via firmware update. And given fujis history of frequent updates, I'd be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Add:
->better GPS integration or internal GPS for geotagging.
->Bracketingis only 1 EV over and under. This was the same issue on the XT1
Otherwise love the camera.
I know this is an old post, but I just got my XT2. I really like the camera, but I am extremely disappointed with the menu system. I understand that with all the functions in a modern camera, the menus will be complicated. What I don't understand is why Fuji makes almost none of those menu items assignable to My Menu or to the Quick Control menu. They make a relatively small selection of high-level menu items available to My Menu or the Quick Control menu...items that you don't even really need a shortcut to because they're not buried. But there is A LOT of stuff buried deep in the menus that you cannot assign to a shortcut or even assign the higher level menu item that it's hidden in to a a shortcut.
I don't understand this limitation. This is basically a computer with a lens attached, so I don't understand why anything at all in the menu system can't be assigned to My Menu or to the Quick Control menu. This is just software stuff. Why can't I make a shortcut to anything I want? Right now, I don't have anything in My Menu because none of the functions I want to put there are available to select. Same with the Quick Control menu. Most of those slots are empty because they don't allow me to put anything useful there.
It takes ten "clicks" to get to the Advanced Filters menu, for example. And it's not in an intuitive place, so you just have to know where it is in the menu hierarchy. I don't plan to use that feature routinely, but there are a couple of those filters that I do envision being useful from time to time. Why do I have to remember and execute the ten clicks each time? And if I want to turn the electronic level on or off, it's TWENTY-THREE CLICKS! C'mon, Fuji. Y'all can and must do a lot better than this. My 5DIII has far fewer functions, but it has a My Menu that I can put things in that I find useful. People shouldn't have to know the secret handshake to format their memory cards. If they want to put Format in their My Menu, that option should be available to them.
I was (am) enthusiastic about Fuji because of how they improve their cameras through firmware updates in ways that other manufacturers don't. I wasn't expecting one of their flagship cameras to arrive with such artificial limitations. This really is a usability issue, with so many functions in the camera and no way to access most of them quickly. Hopefully, they'll unlock My Menu at some point so that it is actually useful.