10 minute read
Quick Start Guide FUJIFILM X-E4
Congratulations on your new FUJIFILM X-E4! This quick start guide introduces your camera’s features and functions, and will help you get more creative with your photography.
Contents
- Personalising your camera
- Focusing modes
- High-speed shooting
- Get creative with image effects
- Shooting video
- Connecting to your smart device
Personalising your camera
Many aspects of the X-E4 can be customised to suit your preferences, such as controls, displays and shooting modes.
Controls, swipes and dials
Customise the behaviour of the camera’s controls and touchscreen swipe gestures.
- Press and hold the DISP BACK button for a couple of seconds to go straight to the FUNCTION (Fn) SETTING customisation screen.
- Using the Focus Lever, scroll through the various options, pressing right to change the default behaviour of each button or swipe, and picking a new one from the list.
Customising EVF and LCD information
The information you see when you compose an image can be changed so that only the data you need is shown.
- Press MENU OK and scroll down using the Focus Lever to find the SET UP menu tab.
- Choose the SCREEN SET-UP setting and scroll to DISP. CUSTOM SETTING.
- Scroll through and choose the items you’d like to see in the viewfinder and on the camera’s screen by pressing the Focus Lever in.
Customising the Q Menu
The Q Menu gives you information at a glance and quick access to camera settings. You can also change what’s on the Q Menu screen to suit your way of working.
- Hold down the Q button for a couple of seconds until the customisation screen appears.
- Using the Focus Lever, choose the menu item location you want to customise and press MENU OK.
- Find the function you’d like to appear in this menu location and press MENU OK.
- Repeat the above steps for each menu location you want to change. Press DISP BACK to finish.
Customising Film Simulation modes
You’ve probably discovered your camera’s Film Simulation modes by now, but did you know you can customise these to suit your own tastes?
- Press the Q button to display the Q Menu.
- Adjust highlights, shadows and colour saturation with the H Tone, S Tone and Color options*.
*These may need to be added to the Q Menu using the method described above. Alternatively, you can set them via the IMAGE QUALITY SETTING menu. Press DISP BACK to finish.
You can save these new settings as a custom preset for instant recall.
Focusing modes
Focus point place and size
The size of the active focusing area used by your X-E4 can be changed and moved around the frame. Push the Focus Lever on the rear of the camera up, down, left or right to begin.
- Use the front command dial to change the size of the area and cycle through the available AF area modes. Choose from Single Point (highly selective), Zone (for erratically moving subjects) and Wide (uses the whole frame).
- Move the Focus Lever to shift the focus point/area up, down, left or right.
- To finish, press the Focus Lever in, press MENU OK or half-press the shutter release button.
Did you know that pressing the DISP BACK button while you’re adjusting the position of the focus point moves it back to the centre of the frame?
Custom AF-C modes
The X-E4 tracks and focuses on moving subjects differently, depending on the focusing behaviour specified in its Continuous AF (AF-C) mode.
- Via the Q Menu, put the camera in AF-C mode. Now press DISP BACK, then MENU OK and navigate to the AF/MF SETTING menu. You can also change the AF mode using this menu.
- Choose AF-C CUSTOM SETTINGS, then choose a preset from 1 to 5 based on the action you’re shooting.
- You can also construct your own custom focusing mode but choosing preset 6 and adjusting the TRACKING SENSITIVITY, SPEED TRACKING SENSITIVITY and ZONE AREA SWITCHING options as necessary.
Making the most of manual focus
When you’re focusing manually, the X-E4 offers all kinds of aids to help you nail critical focus.
- Press MENU OK and navigate to the AF/MF SETTING menu, then put the camera in manual focus (MF) mode.
- Scroll down to MF ASSIST, scroll right and choose from DIGITAL SPLIT IMAGE, DIGITAL MICROPRISM or FOCUS PEAK HIGHLIGHT. There are sub-menus to customise the look of these features to your own taste.
- Switch on FOCUS CHECK from the AF/MF SETTING menu and the camera will enlarge a central portion of the scene when you begin to focus manually.
Switch on AF+MF from the AF/MF SETTING menu and you’ll be able to focus manually just by turning the lens focus barrel – no change of focus mode necessary.
High-speed shooting
The X-E4 can shoot silently at high frame rates. With its electronic shutter turned on, you’ll be able to capture images at up to 20fps, or up to 30fps with a small 1.25x crop to the frame. All this is done in complete silence and at shutter speeds of up to 1/32,000 sec.
To select electronic shutter:
- Press MENU OK and navigate to the SHOOTING SETTING menu.
- Select SHUTTER TYPE and choose ES ELECTRONIC SHUTTER from the list.
- With electronic shutter activated, you can select frame rates up to 30fps by pressing the DRIVE button, scrolling down to CH HIGH SPEED BURST, and left or right to select the frame rate you’d like.
Get creative with image effects
As well as its range of Film Simulation modes, the X-E4 has further options for customising the colour and style of your pictures. Press MENU OK and navigate to the IMAGE QUALITY SETTING menu.
- Select GRAIN EFFECT and you’ll be able to set the Roughness and Size of added grain to give a classic fast film look.
- Select COLOR CHROME EFFECT and choose between OFF, WEAK and STRONG to increase the tonal gradation of highly saturated red, green and yellow colours in the frame. This mode is very useful for brightly coloured scenes and floral images.
- Select COLOR CHROME FX BLUE and choose between OFF, WEAK and STRONG to increase the tonal gradation of highly saturated blue subjects, such as clear skies and water.
If you’ve chosen one of the black & white Film Simulation modes, for example ACROS or MONOCHROME, then you can also add a tint using MONOCHROMATIC COLOR. Access this mode and use the touchscreen or Focus Lever to select between a warm/cool and magenta/green colour shift.
Remember, once you’ve created an image recipe you like, save it using EDIT/SAVE CUSTOM SETTING.
Shooting video
Picking the right settings
The first thing to decide is which resolution and frame rate settings to use. You’ll find these options in the MOVIE SETTING > MOVIE MODE menu. To get the full range of options, press the DRIVE button and scroll down to MOVIE.
- 4K 2160p offers the highest resolution on the X-E4.
- Full HD 1080p is a good compromise between resolution and storage size.
- When it comes to frame rates, 24p, 25p or 29.97p are fine for most normal applications. 24p is sometimes favoured by creative filmmakers for its cinematic look and feel.
- Footage shot at frame rates of 50p or 59.94p can capture motion more smoothly. Plus, when played back at normal speeds (25fps or 30fps) during editing, it delivers silky-smooth slow motion. When the resolution is set to 1080p, you can also access an ultra-slow motion 240p frame rate via MOVIE SETTING and FULL HD HIGH SPEED REC.
Did you know that 25p and 50p frame rates are best for European countries, while 29.97p and 59.94p are more suited to the US? This is because of the different frequencies of mains electricity in these territories, which can cause lights to flicker slightly at 50Hz or 60Hz, respectively.
Exposure settings for cinematic video
Here’s a set of standard settings you can use in manual (M) shooting mode that will create great-looking cinematic style video.
- Choose a frame rate – 24fps is a standard used in the movie industry and has a very cinematic look and feel.
- Select a shutter speed that is roughly double the frame rate you’re using. So, if you’re shooting at 24fps, pick a shutter speed of 1/48th sec or 1/50th sec.
- Select the aperture you need for the required depth-of-field.
- Adjust the camera’s ISO sensitivity to get the proper exposure.
Continuous focusing with video
With the X-E4’s DRIVE setting in MOVIE mode, press MENU OK and locate the AF/MF SETTING menu. Set FOCUS MODE to AF-C and the X-E4 will adjust focusing as you film, tracking people around the frame and following their face if Face Detection is switched on. You can turn this on from the AF/MF SETTING > FACE/EYE DETECTION SETTING menu.
You can choose from two focus areas via the AF/MF SETTING > AF MODE menu: Multi, which uses the whole frame, and Area, which lets you be more selective. Only after selecting AREA or switching to manual focus will the FOCUS AREA setting in the AF/MF SETTING menu become active. Now you can move the focus area around using the Focus Lever, like in stills mode.
ETERNA and F-Log
To protect highlights and allow video to be colour graded during editing, videographers often shoot very low-contrast footage, with muted colours. You can do this in two ways on the X-E4.
- Set ETERNA as the Film Simulation to recreate the look of this classic FUJIFILM emulsion, used widely in the film industry.
- Set F-Log RECORDING to ON (you’ll find this in the MOVIE SETTING menu). F-Log produces very flat-looking footage straight from the camera, which can be colour graded with very good results in post-production. Shooting in F-Log needs a little extra attention when getting the correct exposure though.
Connecting to your smart device
Your X-E4 can communicate wirelessly with your smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. This enables you to transfer pictures to your device, where they can be edited and shared with friends and followers online. You can also use your smart device to shoot remotely, control the camera and even look at what the camera sees with remote live view.
Linking to the camera for the first time
- Install the free FUJIFILM Camera Remote app on your iOS or Android device.
- Turn on the camera, press MENU OK and navigate to the SET UP menu. Choose CONNECTION SETTING > Bluetooth SETTINGS > PAIRING REGISTRATION. The camera will begin searching for your device.
- In the FUJIFILM Camera Remote app, follow the on-screen instructions to complete the pairing process. You may need to tap the Camera List menu in the top left of the screen if you already have another camera paired.
Transferring images to your device
- iPhone; Open the Fujifilm Camera Remote App and select ‘Import Images Selected on App’.
- The App may ask you to join the camera’s own WiFi.
- Once you’ve joined the WiFi the app will show you all of the photos on the camera that can be transferred across.
- Choose the photos you want and then press ‘Import’
- Press the PLAY button, then press the Fn button on the top of the camera.
- Scroll through your images, pressing MENU OK to tag any for transfer.
- When you’ve finished, hit DISP BACK. Image transfer will begin.
- Android; Turn on Bluetooth on your mobile device and open the Fujifilm Camera Remote App and tap ‘Import images selected on app’.
- The camera will connect to your device and you can select your photos to import.
- Once you have selected the images you would like to import tap ‘import’ on the screen.
If your device is already connected to a Wi-Fi network, the app may ask to switch to the camera’s own Wi-Fi before transfer can begin.
Remote shooting and control
- Launch the FUJIFILM Camera Remote app from your smart device and tap the camera name to connect.
- Tap the Live view shooting option to begin controlling the X-E4.
To make things even easier, why not map WIRELESS COMMUNICATION to one of the camera’s Function buttons?
Don’t forget to make use of the instruction manual that came with your camera too – you can find an online version of it here.
