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6 minute read
Quick Start Guide FUJIFILM X-T30 II
Congratulations on your new FUJIFILM X-T30 II! 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
- Advanced SR AUTO mode
- High-speed shooting
- Shooting video
- Connecting to your smart device
Personalising your camera
Many aspects of the X-T30 II 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 to go straight to the FUNCTION (Fn) SETTING customisation screen.
- Scroll through the various options, scrolling right to change the default behaviour of each button or swipe.
- From the main menu, go to the SET UP menu, access the BUTTON/DIAL SETTING menu, then select TOUCH SCREEN SETTING. Ensure T-FN TOUCH FUNCTION and TOUCH SCREEN SETTING are both set to ON.
Customising EVF and LCD information
The information you see when you compose a scene can be changed so that only the data you need is shown.
- Press MENU OK and scroll down using the rear command dial to the SET-UP menu tab.
- Choose 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.
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; the customisation screen will appear.
- 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 your own tastes?
- Hit the Q button to display the Q Menu.
- Adjust highlights, shadows and colour saturation with the H Tone, S Tone and Color options.
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-T30 II can be changed in size and moved around the frame. In the camera’s Q Menu, choose from Single Point (highly selective), Zone (for erratically moving subjects) and Wide/Tracking (uses the whole frame) using the touchscreen and/or the rear command dial. To move the active point or zone, or change its size while on the shooting screen:
- Move or press the Focus Lever.
- Move the Focus Lever to shift the focus point/area up, down, left or right.
- Rotate the front or rear command dial to change the size of the focus point/area.
- Press MENU OK or half-press the shutter release button.
Did you know you that pressing the DISP/BACK while you’re adjusting the focus point moves it back to the centre of the frame?
Custom AF-C modes
The X-T30 II tracks and focuses on moving objects differently, depending on the kind of focusing behaviour specified in continuous AF-C mode.
- Put the camera in AF-C mode using the focus mode selector then press MENU OK and navigate to the AF/MF SETTING menu.
- Choose AF-C CUSTOM SETTINGS, then choose preset 1-5 based on the action you’re shooting.
- Or try setting number 6 to specify your own focusing behaviour.
Making the most of manual focus
When you’re focusing manually, the X-T30 II offers all kinds of focusing aids to help you nail critical focus.
- Put the camera in M focus mode using the focus mode selector then press MENU OK and navigate to the AF/MF SETTING menu.
- Scroll down to MF ASSIST and choose from DIGITAL SPLIT IMAGE, DIGITAL MICROPRISM or FOCUS PEAK HIGHLIGHT.
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.
Advanced SR AUTO mode
Did you know the SR in Advanced SR AUTO mode stands for scene recognition? This should also give you a clue as to what your X-T30 II is doing when you move its top-plate switch to AUTO.
When you compose a picture using Intelligent Advanced SR AUTO mode, the camera will choose one of 58 scene types, depending on what you are photographing. These can include Landscape, Blue Sky, Portrait, Moving Subject and so on. You’ll know which scene type the camera has picked, because the X-T30 II displays this as you work.
Advanced SR AUTO mode is perfect for those situations where you’re struggling to pick the right combination of settings yourself, or for when you want to forget about the technical side of photography and concentrate on your subject.
High-speed shooting
The X-T30 II can shoot at high frame rates and very quietly. With its electronic shutter turned on, you’ll be able to capture at up to 30fps, in complete silence, and at shutter speeds 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 ELECTRONIC SHUTTER.
- With electronic shutter activated, you can select frame rates up to 30fps by navigating to the SHOOTING SETTING menu and selecting DRIVE SETTING, then ensuring CH is selected on the top-plate Drive dial.
Shooting video
Picking the right settings
To access the X-T30 II’s movie functions, first select the Movie option on the top-plate Drive dial. Next, choose a combination of resolution/frame rate from the MOVIE SETTING > MOVIE MODE menu.
- 4K 2160p resolutions offer the best quality on the X-T30 II.
- Full HD 1080p resolutions are a good compromise between quality and storage size.
- When it comes to frame rates, 24p, 25p or 30p are fine for most normal applications. 24p is sometimes favoured by creative filmmakers for its Hollywood look and feel.
- Footage shot at frame rates of 59.94p or 50p can capture motion more smoothly. Plus, when played back at normal speeds (30fps or 25fps) during editing, it delivers silky-smooth slow motion.
Did you know that 25p and 50p frame rates are best for European countries, while 30p 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 top-end look and feel.
- Select a shutter speed that is roughly double the frame rate you’re using, so that each frame is exposed for 50% of the time. So, if you’re shooting at 24fps, pick a shutter speed of 1/50 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
Switch to AF-C using the focus mode selector and the X-T30 II will adjust focusing as you film, tracking people around the frame if the face detection is switched on. You can turn this on from the AF/MF SETTING > FACE/EYE DETECTION SETTING menu. (You can also assign this to the Q Menu.) You can choose from two focus areas in the MOVIE SETTING > MOVIE AF MODE menu: MULTI, which uses the whole frame, and AREA, which allows you to change the focusing point location and size in the same way as stills photography.
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-T30 II:
- Set ETERNA as the Film Simulation to recreate the look of this classic FUJIFILM emulsion, used widely in the film industry. Go to the IMAGE QUALITY SETTING menu, choose FILM SIMULATION and the choose ETERNA.
- Set F-Log RECORDING to ON (you’ll find this in the MOVIE SETTING menu). F-Log produces flat-looking footage straight from the camera, which can be colour graded with very good results in post-production.
Connecting to your smart device
Your X-T30 II can communicate wirelessly with your smartphone or tablet computer via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, so you can 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, controlling the camera, and even looking 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
- 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 should begin.
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-T30 II.
To make things even easier, why not map WIRELESS COMMUNICATION to one of the camera’s function buttons?
