A Fujifilm X-T3 Feature I've Come To Quickly Appreciate

Grounded by the fog. (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 100mm; 1/500th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200

One of the issues I've had with both my Fujifilm X-T1 and X-T2 was "underexposing" the RAW files.  I put underexposing in quotes as the files are not truly underexposed (the sensors are ISO invariant), but when opening the image files in Lightroom, the images look about a stop underexposed.  Dark, in other words.  In the past, I would almost always have to move the Exposure slider to the right about a stop to brighten them to where I thought they should be.  I don't know if any of you have experienced the same.  I had identified why I did this and even created an import preset for the X-T2 to compensate for this.

In my camera settings I normally have the Live View Highlight Alert, commonly called the "blinkies," turned on so I can easily see blown highlights.  But this turns out to be my problem. For those of you who have never seen or used this feature, this setting shows blown highlights as blinking black, then white, then black, then white, etc. in the EVF and on the LCD. It is a visual aid to avoiding blown highlights if you are not one to pay attention to your histogram.  The reason I tended to "underexpose" my images files with my Fujifilm cameras was because when looking through the viewfinder and setting what I believe was my desired exposure for any particular image, I would see the "blinkies" and reduce my exposure to ensure no highlights were blown. But... The "blinkies" you see reflect your film simulation settings and only apply to the embedded JPEG file, not necessarily to the RAW file (unless you were way overexposed).  Those "blinkies" caused me to reduce exposure to ensure I hadn't blown my highlights.  Better safe than sorry, I always thought.  Hence, all of my images seemed to be about a stop underexposed.

With the X-T3, there is a setting called Natural Live View.

On page 195 of the X-T3's User's Manual, you will find this definition of Natural Live View:

"The effects of cameras settings are not visible in the monitor, but shadows in low-contrast back-lit scenes are and other hard-to-see subjects are more visible.  Colors and tone will differ from those in the final picture.  The display will however be adjusted to show the effects of advanced filters and of monochrome and sepia settings."

Utilizing this setting does a couple of things.  First, it basically permits you to see in the EVF and on the LCD what the RAW capture will look like, with all of its dynamic range. You will not see what your film simulation settings look like and not see how the embedded JPEG image will appear.  This allows you to see more highlight and shadow detail as the what you are looking at is very low contrast, low color saturation, etc.  Not seeing highlight and shadow detail, especially in high contrast or backlit scenes, has been a complaint with electronic viewfinders as opposed to optical viewfinders.  

Natural Live View gives you a much better preview of what you will have to work with in your final image file.  The negative aspect of Natural Live View is that looking through the viewfinder your image color will look nothing like real life so it is not pleasing.  Ignore that.  The files will look the same as always when you open your images in Lightroom or other editing program.  This only affects the way you see it in the viewfinder.

The X-T2 has a setting called "Preview Pic. Effect," which reads and acts pretty much the same but somehow I think there is a difference, besides just how Fujifilm named it in the newer model camera.  The view you get in the EVF in the X-T3 is even flatter and reveals more highlight and shadow detail than even an Eterna film simulation.

Here is an interesting comparison for you to do to see how this works.  Looking at the same scene with Natural Live View turned off (using your favorite film simulation settings), increase your exposure until you get the "blinkies" to show.  You think you are going to get blown highlights.  Now turn on Natural Live View without changing anything else and you will see the "blinkies" go away.  What you thought were going to be blown highlights are really not at all.  Your film simulation JPEG preview is what shows them as blown.  They will not be blown in the RAW file.  Also, take a look at how your histogram changes.  The apparent contrast is reduced, pulling the sides of the histogram in toward the middle.  This feature is very helpful, even if you use it occasionally.

Another offshoot of this feature is that when turned on, the light meter readings are almost always now correct.  Only an occasional adjustment to exposure needs to be made.  In the past, I was adjusting my exposure compensation dial for almost every frame.

By setting a function button to easily turn Natural Live View on or off, I can now either see my set film simulation or quickly change it to see what the actual dynamic range of my RAW file will look like.  I've come to really appreciate this and my files are no longer underexposed.  

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Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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