Time needed: 6 minutes

Because a firmware update isn’t something one needs to do every day, I always forget exactly how to do it. And because I’m now unreasonably paranoid about bricking a camera (…I had a mishap with a Canon 7D and Magic Lantern many moons ago), I wanted to put together a quick refresher on how to update the firmware for Fuji cameras and lenses. I hope this is useful for all Fuji shooters.

Note before starting: If you need to update a lens, make sure the lens is attached to a camera. If you just need to update the camera body, you don’t need to attach a lens. Some sources recommend definitely not attaching a lens if you are just updating the body, but I’ve never had a problem with keeping one on.

• Step 1

  To begin, put a fully charged battery in your camera. For firmware updates, I prefer to use an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) battery. I’ve never heard of anyone bricking a Fuji camera with a third-party battery during a firmware update…but why chance it? Let’s just use the genuine Fuji good stuff.

• Step 2

  Format your memory card in camera. Shut off the camera, take your memory card out, and put it in your computer’s card reader.

• Step 3

  Find and download the firmware you need from Fuji’s site. Copy it to the memory card, and return the memory card to the camera.

• Step 4

  Press and hold your camera’s “display/back” button and then turn the camera on. You’ll then see on your camera’s LCD the figure below. If you have a lens attached, you’ll see the current firmware for both the camera body and the lens. Press the “menu/OK” button.
  

• Step 5

  Select the body or the lens to update, and press OK. I’ll be updating the lens in this example.
  

• Step 6

  You’ll then see this figure. Click OK.
  

• Step 7

  You’ll now see this figure. Click OK again. And definitely don’t take the battery out or turn the camera off!
  

• Step 8

  Your firmware is now updating. Lens updates are usually quite speedy. A camera update might take a few minutes. You’ll see the progress bar blink at the bottom of the LCD.
  

• Step 9

  You’re all done! Turn off the camera, and then turn it back on. You can now play with the new features (or be happy with whatever fixes) that were included with the update. Be sure to format the memory card again before shooting.
  

The post How to Update Firmware for Fuji Cameras and Lenses appeared first on scott locklear.

Ditch it, and pick up either a plug adapter or a complete third-party charger that plugs directly into a socket. They are tidier and faster and take up less space. I have the version made by Watson.

Some reviewers have noticed that Fuji batteries don’t play nicely with non-Fuji chargers, but I haven’t experienced any issues so far with mixing brands.

While you are grabbing a new charger, pick up some extra batteries too. You’ll need them. No camera system is perfect of course, and if Fuji does have an Achilles heel that hobbles every Fuji shooter at some point, it’s definitely the battery life.

For a day’s shoot, I have to carry many more batteries than I do with my Canon gear. The third-party batteries are often significantly cheaper than the OEM versions, but in my experience they definitely have less juice than Fuji’s.

For street shooting on an X-Pro2, I get around 400 shots with an original Fuji. A Watson or a Wasabi manages around 250ish at best. This is with moderate chimping and LCD off. I never turn the camera off manually, auto-off is set to 2 minutes, and the camera performance is set to standard.

The post Fuji Batteries appeared first on scott locklear.

And it’s not just because of the image quality. Fuji images are great of course. But so are Canon’s. So are Nikon’s. Hell, even Pentax’s are amazing. At this point, you can get consistently great images from any brand’s pro-level or enthusiast gear.

Nope, so it’s not the image quality. What I really dig about Fujis then are the following four things.

The electronic shutter. This changed the game for me because it allowed for silent shooting. And I mean silent. If you haven’t heard it (or notheard it, I should say) for yourself, search for a YouTube vid with a demonstration. It’s an incredible feature if like me you need it to get the job done. It’s invaluable for street photography or shooting at speeches, meetings, literary readings, in-studio recordings, and film productions—basically anytime you need behind-the-scenes pics and want to remain as unobtrusive as possible.

The JPEGs and the film simulations. I’ve been shooting RAW for well over a decade, so I couldn’t imagine a time when I would be extolling the virtues of returning to JPEG. But it’s happened now. And we have Adobe to thank for it. Lightroom does not play well with RAW files from Fuji’s X-Trans sensor, so it makes more sense to take advantage of Fuji’s excellent film simulations (especially Across and Classic Chrome) and in-camera lens corrections. It’s mildly terrifying to not have the headroom available in RAW files, but it has made me slow down and truly nail down exposure in camera. The added benefit too is that I spend far less time processing and can get photos to clients more quickly. We all know that post processing is an integral component of photography and that at least 50% of an image is often made in the digital darkroom….but I confess that I’m really enjoying the extra time away from the computer. So Fuji has essentially forced me to slow down so as to speed up. It’s awesome.

All those dials! I’m not quite old enough to have exclusively cut my teeth on film cameras and lenses, but I’ve always appreciated the feel—the tactile certainty—of a physical shutter dial and an aperture ring. They somehow just seem…right. The postmodern relativist in me shudders at so categorical a statement, but I’m going to allow myself to be blinded by Fuji love here. If you appreciate film cameras too, Fuji is the only game in town for modern optics with an infusion of old-school cool.

The styling and form factor. I hate to admit it, but I’m shallow, simple, and easily seduced. Because Fuji gear is just so, so bloody sexy, I can’t keep my hands off of it. It’s also generally much lighter than a full DSLR kit. For street shooting or any gig where I can take only a single camera bag, Fuji is my first choice.

The post Four Reasons Why I Switched to Fuji Cameras and Lenses appeared first on scott locklear.

OIS

This stands for “Optical Image Stabilization.” A lens that has OIS increases your chances of shooting sharp pictures at slow shutter speeds. OIS can also provide a smoother, less-jerky image if you are shooting video.

R

A lens with a designation of “R” has an aperture ring, which is one of the coolest (and old school) features of a contemporary Fuji lens. The aperture on most new lenses from other companies must be controlled electronically from the camera itself. 

WR

This means that the lens is “weather resistant.” The lens is made with seals that make it essentially dust and splash proof, as well as pretty insulated from colder temperatures. WR lenses aren’t invincible though, so don’t toss it into a volcano or go swimming with one.

XC

XC designates a consumer or budget class of lens for Fuji’s X-series cameras. An XC lens is less well made than an XF lens. The XC line has a plastic barrel, lacks an aperture ring, and usually features a slower and/or variable aperture.  

XF

XF lenses are Fuji’s highest quality lenses for the X-series cameras. They are usually built with metal barrels and often feature aperture rings. Many of the lenses have fast apertures, and some are weather resistant.

The post Fuji Lens Abbreviations Explained appeared first on scott locklear.

In short: the Fuji camera you buy today will not be obsolete next year. In fact, it will likely be a much better camera in a year.

Other companies approach the relationship between their gear and firmware differently. On one end of the spectrum you have a company like Canon. They are very conservative and reliable and rarely release a product that isn’t “perfect” right out of the box. Canon firmware updates are equally conservative: they fix minor bugs, tweak language errors in menus, maybe add profiles for new lenses that are released, and so on. Canon hardly ever adds significant or meaningful features to a previously released camera (the addition of 24fps to the 5DII is the last one that I can remember). So that means when you buy a 5D…you pretty much just get that 5D.

Opposite of Canon is a company like Blackmagic. They have been incredibly and awesomely disruptive to the video camera status quo by offering cinema-quality gear at rock-bottom revolutionary prices. Unfortunately, they have tended (at least in their early production cycles) to release cameras with problems. They then fix those problems with firmware once the gear has already been on the market. That’s definitely not the best way to do business, because potential customers learn to wait (and wait and wait) before making a purchase. Having to fix stuff with firmware totally blows for everyone involved.

Fuji, though, is different. As far as I can remember, they have never released a significantly buggy product, so they don’t need to push out firmware simply to fix something. And even though they of course want to sell new cameras to existing customers, Fuji chooses to actively improve older products. For example, Fuji announced the X-E2 in 2013, and over a period of three years released all of these improvements:

• Enhanced EVF functionality
• Selectable colors for focus peeking highlights
• Enhanced wireless shooting from smartphones
• Classic Chrome film simulation (practically worth an entire new camera purchase alone!)
• Interval timer shooting
• A brand-new autofocus system

Can you imagine any other camera company doing that? Kaizen gets Fuji all my cash now.

The post Kaizen Is the Fuji Way appeared first on scott locklear.

Plus, I’m weak. I can’t pass up brownies or inexpensive camera gear.

When the camera arrived, I ended up with this weirdness as my first shot.

I thought the white balance must be really off for some reason, and I tried to “fix” it for an hour without any success. I then went outside with the camera again, and as I looked through the viewfinder, I noticed the X-T1 was picking up light from a security camera, light that I couldn’t see with my naked eye.

Whoa. The company sent me an X-T1 IR. Or at least a modified X-T1.

I wasn’t super pleased at first. I have zero experience shooting infrared, and doing so didn’t initially appeal to me. I just wanted a normal backup body to throw in my bag, a camera that I could simply slap a lens on without having to think too much about it.

I’m starting to dig the possibilities of infrared though, especially if I can find a way to cancel the IR spectrum when I need to. I’ve ordered an IR cut filter, but I’m also playing with a custom white balance that will work under enough conditions to make the camera useable on a standard shoot. Definitely a work in progress though. Here is one example.

The post I Accidentally Bought an Infrared Fuji X-T1 appeared first on scott locklear.

In keeping with the spirit of Fuji’s small and light cameras, I wanted to make sure my Fuji gig kit for 2019 would be compact enough for a pleasant shooting experience but still able to handle any event or news job I might get assigned.

Here it is. I’ll break it down from left to right.

It starts with an Ona Prince Street messenger bag. At $280, the Ona is not cheap, but for me the bag’s exceptional functionality and durability are worth it. I originally purchased it when I needed to walk the perennially wet streets of Seattle with my gear. The Ona is made from waxed canvas, so water just rolls off, keeping gear nice and dry. Also, it looks bloody cool. And it doesn’t scream camera bag.

Next is Godox’s TT685F flash and XproF wireless trigger. I don’t use flash much on gigs any longer, but I like to have one around, and I definitely prefer it to be a wireless unit that can control the flash. If you have used Canon’s wireless system, you’ll be familiar with this option from Godox; the build quality is not in the same league as Canon’s, but the Godox’s weight is more manageable. When you need to spread some light around it gets the job done.

Then I have extra batteries for the flash and controller (Enloops are the only way to go!) and two off-brand batteries for the camera in a Think Tank pouch. 

For lenses, I bring primes now: the 90mm f/2, the 35mm f/2, and the 18mm f/2. The 18mm is always attached to the camera because I like to start with wides and environmental portraits. The 35mm earns its spot in the bag because of the weather sealing; I’m in Atlanta now, and you never know when the sky shall open and start pouring down. I don’t love the 35mm as a focal length on a crop sensor, but it’s nice to have a step between the 18mm and the 90mm, an absolutely beautiful lens that helps produce lovely portraits. It’s the heaviest thing in my bag and gets the least amount of use among the trio, but I wouldn’t leave home without it.

And now the camera—an X-Pro2. There are compromises a photographer must make with any camera, but for me when it came out in 2016, the X-Pro2 was pretty much exactly what I wanted and needed: a weather-sealed, silent-shooting, rangefinder-style body with two card slots. I shoot RAW to one card and JPEGs with Fuji’s amazing film simulations to the other card. I’ve never had a freeze up, a crash, or lost a file. Any missed shot or moment (and there have been plenty) has been my fault alone. I have no complaints: after all, a perfectly functioning camera that also feels great and looks lovely in the hand is all one can ever truly ask for.

Last is a Black Rapid strap. If you haven’t tried one and still rock the old-fashioned neck-torture device, just throw that thing away and grab a Black Rapid. You’ll love it as much as I do.

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