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Class introduction

Lesson 1 from: Fujifilm X-H1 Fast Start

John Greengo

Class introduction

Lesson 1 from: Fujifilm X-H1 Fast Start

John Greengo

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Lesson Info

1. Class introduction

Next Lesson: Photo Basics

Lesson Info

Class introduction

Welcome everybody to the Fuji X-H1 Fast Start class. In this class, what we're gonna be doing is looking at everything the X-H1 does. We're gonna be going through all the external controls, we'll be going through the entire menu system, and I'll be advising you on what all the features do, and how to set those for different types of photography. Along with the class, you may want to download the PDF that goes with it. And this is an entire menu for the Fuji, all laid-out on a single page, with the recommendations. I have a second page without my recommendations because I know that you're likely to make your own settings according to your own needs. And so this'll be helpful throughout the class, especially in the second half of the class. And then I do have a couple of additional pages down here. Fuji has a lot of shortcuts and secrets in them, and so I have a little cheat sheet here on how to get to all those shortcuts. And then I have some more information about setting the camera up...

for different types of photography. Now the X-H1, kind of on a big scope here, kinda surprised me I have to say. I've been a fan of the Fujis, I've been owning them for quite some time, and this didn't fit in to any previous niche that they had established. And so, I kinda see this camera as a bit of a test market for them. They wanted to see how a camera that had more video features did 'cause they wanted to compete with other camera manufacturers out there that were offering a lot in the video feature world. They also wanted to put in some image stabilization, and they wanted to make a little bit bigger camera, and I think that there's a lot of professionals, and I've heard of wedding photographers, photo-journalists, that have been switching over to the Fuji system, and I have to admit that their cameras are small, that's part of their attraction. But there are some people who use these in a very professional, serious manner, and they just wanted a camera that had a little bit bigger, heavy-duty grip on this, and this definitely has a grip and a feel to it that's more like your traditional Nikons and Canons, but it's still relatively on the compact side. And so I think it addresses and is kind of testing the market for some new users, and I think it's bringing new people to Fuji, which is great. It just offers a new hybrid camera out there. So, let me show you what we're gonna be doing in the class here today. I have class all laid out and we're gonna be covering a lot of different topics. We're gonna start with a little bit of overview of how this fits into Fuji's system. We'll do a few photo basics. We're not gonna do that very much in this class, I have a feeling a lot of you already know those, but I wanna cover a few of those for those of you who are new. The main part of the class is gonna be in camera controls. This is where we go around the camera externally, and we look at all the different physical controls, and we talk about what they do and how to set them for best pictures. Then the menu section is where you'll want the PDF that we talked about. And this is where we go through all the menu items, and there are a lot of them in there, and we're gonna get it all set up so your camera is really set up the way you want it to for your type of photography. And then we'll end the class with camera operation, and this is where we look at how we would set the camera up for a variety of scenarios. And I do a rundown of all the different little secret options that you have on this camera. There's a lot of little buttons on this camera that if you press it and hold it for two or three seconds, something different than you might expect would happen. And so we'll go through all those little secrets towards the end of the class there. Alright, so when you do get this camera, you get a rather lengthy instruction manual that you can spend quite a bit of time on, and this class is gonna mostly replace the need for that instruction manual. There's still some, oh, specifications and compatibility things that it might talk about in there, so it's not something you should quite throw away yet, but I hope that we're gonna cover all the major topics in this class. I'm gonna be concentrating on items that deal with image quality and manual control of the camera, and so any topics concerning that are ones that we're gonna be covering very, very thoroughly in this class. Now this is what I consider a camera class. We're learning about how to use a specific camera. And you can be a master of this camera and still not be very good at photography, because there's a lot of other things you need to know to be good at photography. So there are other classes, I make a couple of classes, a basics class and then a much more thorough fundamentals class on photography. So if you do want additional information, it's out there. I have some classes, CreativeLive has a number of other great classes that will help you in your photography needs as well. Fuji is somewhat new to the interchangeable lens mainstream game. They have been making cameras though and photographic products for many, many years that a lot of people didn't know about. Of course, they are known for their film that they've made over the many years. And they have made cameras in the past, in fact, they specialized in making medium-format cameras, which is the next level up on cameras, you might say, in size and professionalism. And so they were doing this back in the 60s and 70s and 80s. And they had a wide variety of products. They probably have the widest variety of photographic products of any camera manufacturer out there. From compact cameras to full-size, medium-format cameras, 35mm SLRs, point-and-shoots, I really don't know of any other company that has had so many different models in so many different categories. In the 2000s, their first digital cameras were actually Nikon cameras that were modified by Fuji, they used Nikon lenses and they were modified by Fuji with a Fuji sensor, and they were really funky cameras. They took one battery for the camera and one battery for the digital part of it, and they still were absolutely loved by a lot of professional portrait photographers because of their color accuracy and rendition of skin-tones. And so, despite the fact of all this funkiness, they were still really, really in demand. They eventually went away and they had to come back with their own system. And so this kinda started again with the Fuji X100, which was a point-and-shoot camera that was retro-styled. Had shutter-speed dial on the top of it and looked like a classic Leica in some ways. It was very popular and everyone was wondering, would they make an interchangeable lens version of it? And they did a short time later. And the X-Pro 1 came out, and I saw that as a camera that had huge potential, but it had a lot of little flaws in it, which were addressed eventually with firmware upgrades. But this is what they've been growing on, and Fuji is still finding their footing you might say, they're trying out different products. But they are the only company, this is one of the things I love about them, is that they're the only company that is truly dedicated to the size sensor that is in this camera. They're the only company that makes a wide-range of bodies, and a whole set of dedicated lenses just for this system, and they're not trying to do what Canon and Nikon and Sony do, is, oh yeah, we make an APS-C system, and you can use these other lenses on there, even though they're not specifically designed for it. And so the system that Fuji is building is really, really unique, and they've also kind of tailored it to the medium and higher end user, which I think is really great for the enthusiast and professional and serious photographer. Recently they came out with their first medium-format digital camera. As I mentioned before, they have a long history in medium-format, so they know exactly what they're doing when it comes to medium-format. And this is proving to be a very popular camera. So they are really hitting the market strong, you might say, and they are developing a very large fan base. The way Fuji X series cameras look right now is that we do have a few little cameras with no view-finders, most of them do have view-finders now. They have a wide and growing collection of lenses that are reaching more and more professional status, you might say. And that is attracting a lot of photographers over to this because of the high quality and little bit more compact size than compared to the full-frame. When you compare this to full-frame, it compares very favorably. You obviously don't have the ability to get quite as shallow of depth of field, you can still get very shallow depth of field with this, but all those lenses tend to be a little bit smaller, which is nice. The current line-up of cameras sits like this, and the X-H1 is without a doubt, their top-end camera. It has the most number of features. Built-in stabilization is the only one that Fuji has that has that particular feature in it. Physically the largest and also the most expensive of their cameras right now. As far as care and handling, there's a lot of very obvious stuff that we're not gonna go through. Don't be stupid with it. Now, one question that a lot of people do have is about the weather resistance and durability of the camera. Now they actually mentioned in this one that they made the magnesium alloy body 25% thicker, and they were making this bigger and heavier for those photographers who were gonna be using bigger and heavier lenses. I think they were looking at their new 200mm f/2 lens which weighs roughly around five pounds, 2 1/2 kilos. They knew that they needed a heavier body to really work with that, for maximum rigidity, and so they have a little bit stronger body on this than they have on any previous model. It is dust and moisture resistant, although that doesn't give you any specifics of how long you can stay out in the rain. It does mean that it is protected. One thing to be aware of is that not all the lenses are WR, or weather resistant, lenses. And so if you do want proper weather-sealing, make sure that you have those lenses on it, and even then I wouldn't go out in the rain and stand out there for hours shooting with this camera without it protected. I think what this dust and moisture resistant means is that if there's a light rain or you occasionally get sprayed or splashed with water, it doesn't mean sudden doom for the camera. If you are gonna be needing to shoot out in really inclement weather, I would probably look into getting some sort of rain cover or other weather protection for this. I've never seen a camera that has had this rating on it, but it has a surface hardness of 8H. I had no idea what 8H meant, but there is a pencil hardness test, and what they do is they take a pencil of different hardness and they poke it against the subject, and they see at what point does it actually scratch it. And so 8H is about as hard as you can get in this type of surface and so, I suppose you might be able to scratch the paint on it, but as far as denting it or anything like that, it's about as tough a camera as you're going to find out there. In the end they say, "Do not use near water," and so that has some clue as to how weather resistant it is and so it is not an underwater camera. Try not to test the water capabilities of it. I would try to protect it in some ways. Alright let's make sure that your camera and my camera is ready for today's class. You want to make sure that batteries are charged. They take about two-and-a-half hours. You're gonna need a lens on your camera 'cause we'll be doing some practice picture-taking in here. You'll need at least one memory card in the camera. Turn the camera on, which I'm gonna do right now. Now the aperture is controlled on the lens and there are different lenses. We'll talk about this more thoroughly when we get in to the class. Some lenses have an aperture ring with numbers on 'em, some do not have numbers on 'em because it's a zoom and it varies a little bit. And so there's usually a little A switch or setting on the ring that you can move the lens to, to make sure that it is in the automatic aperture setting for simplicity, that's gonna be fine for now. On the shutter-speed dial, there is an A setting, which means the camera will automatically set shutter speeds for you. And then in the front of the camera is your focus control, and you can just turn that so that it says S, which is for single-focus, means it's in auto-focus and will focus once. And then you can press down half-way and take a photo, which is what I'm gonna do right now with mine, just to make sure it's working. I hear the chirp-chirp, which means it's in focus, and take a picture. Now one of the things about this camera that's unique is it has one of the quietest shutters around. They have put a very quiet shutter on this. They have put a very soft shutter release on it. And so, it has a different sound and a different feel than any camera I've ever heard before, and even you Leica fans out there will have to appreciate how quiet the shutter is on this. And if you haven't heard it, let me lean into it next with my microphone so that you can hear how quiet it is. (camera beeps) (shutter clicks) Actually the beep makes a much louder noise, which we will turn off later. (camera beeps) (shutter clicks) So it's a whisper of a quiet. So wedding photographers, concert photographers, somebody working in a playhouse or something like this, this might be a very good camera for them. Next up, we want to talk about firmware. Fuji is the leading company in the photographic market when it comes to firmware updates. Firmware is the software that runs the operation of the camera. And all manufacturers from time-to-time will issue an update to the software on their camera. Fuji just does it more than anybody else. Some people see this as a negative and some people see it as a positive. I like to look at the world in a positive way, and the great thing is that Fuji keeps upgrading their camera. There's a number of cameras that I've had from Fuji over the years and about every six months, I get new features on the camera as they develop new ones that they can put on to the previous cameras. And so the way that... You want to make sure that we're all talking about the same camera here, because it's quite possible that three or four years down the road, Fuji will have a number of firmware updates to this. So what we're dealing with right now is firmware version 1.10. And the way that we figure this out is we press down on the display back button while the camera is turned off, and then we turn the camera on. Let me do a little demo right now. I do have the camera turned off right now, so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna press down on the display back button, on the back of the camera, and I'm gonna turn the camera on, and we're gonna see which firmware we have on here right now. So this is working with firmware version 1.1. It's usually released, when it's new, at 1.00 obviously, and so they've had a minor update. If it says 2.0 then that's a camera that has a much bigger update you might say. Now, different lenses, depending on what you might have on there, will have different firmware. There is firmware for lenses as well. And I will talk more about this later on, I just want to make sure that we're both looking at what I can call the same camera. So this is the camera that I am working with for today's class. If you do not have firmware version 1.1, you have just say, 1.0, you have one of the original ones from the camera, what you need to do is you need to go to Fuji and find your new firmware. I find it easiest just to do an internet search for Fuji firmware table, and that's gonna get you the list of all the cameras and all the firmware. And then you need to download the firmware to your computer, load it onto a memory card, and install it into the camera. And then do the same thing that we just did. Hold down the display back button, turn the camera on, and then the camera's gonna ask you about upgrading the camera. You'll say yes. And it takes usually three to five minutes to update that new software. And then you can reformat the memory card and use it for standard picture-taking. Be reminded that there are two card-slots in the camera, and you should use slot number one, 'cause that's where it's gonna be able to read that firmware information. You can get this firmware for free, absolutely, from Fuji at any time. So make sure that you check with Fuji about every six to twelve months to see if there's some new updates, because they do add features into these cameras, which is quite nice. Thank you Fuji for doing that.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Fuji X-H1 Recommended Settings

Ratings and Reviews

Erik
 

I have been thinking about buying this camera. After watching this class I know that I have made the right decision. John is fantastic! Previously I have watched a random assortment of youtube videos by self-proclaimed experts. It turns out that many of the things that these so-called experts have said about this camera are simply wrong. John is the real deal. He goes in depth for every function and explains everything very clearly. His graphics are wonderful, he obviously spent a huge amount of time on preparation. If you have this camera and want to understand it better, or are thinking of buying it, I highly recommend this class which is taught by a true expert.

Mark Ballard
 

Well done! Worth every penny. Shined shoes too.

Mario Gravina
 

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