Another Feature In Fujifilm's X-T3 That I find Very Useful

Gulls love to sit on poles and posts.  When looking to where I could find one, I just looked for a post. (click to enlarge)
Fujifilm X-T3, 50-140mm f/2.8 lens @ 50mm; 1/1250th sec. @ f/11; ISO 800; (12mp crop of 26mp image)

I continue to find more and more goodness with my Fujifilm X-T3.  As I may have mentioned in the past, this camera is not just an incremental upgrade over the X-T2, I believe the upgrades are significant.  If that isn't enough, Fujifilm just announced a major firmware upgrade to this camera for release in April to improve the already excellent autofocus capabilities.  If you have an opportunity to watch the recent Fujifilm summit held in Dubai, you should.  Several Fujifilm product managers along with Fujifilm's General Manager as well as 5 professional photographers were on a panel.  Each Fujifilm manager gave a presentation on various aspects of their cameras, lenses, sensors, color science, etc.  During the summit Fujifilm actively solicited input from the audience, the pro photographers and the internet audience as to what we all wanted next.  They also laid out what the company has coming in the near future.  You can find the video here on the FujiRumors.com website.

In this post, I want to highlight another feature in the X-T3 that I find very useful.  Have you ever just "missed" the peak of action or optimum moment because you weren't able to sufficiently anticipate it, your reflexes were just a bit too slow or the action took an unexpected turn?  If you have, this feature comes in very handy.  Fujifilm calls the feature Pre-Shot.  Pre-Shot (known in Olympus cameras as Pro Capture) is one of the features in my E-M1 Mark II that I have found very useful to ensure I don't miss peak action. Now Fujifilm has introduced a very similar feature in the X-T3.  Here is how it works.

When you turn on Pre-Shot or Pro Capture and press the shutter button halfway, the camera internally buffers a number of images continuously, dumping the ones that are the oldest and saving the newest until you fully press the shutter.  When you fully depress the shutter the camera then writes those last buffered images to the memory card and subsequently records the images you make after the full press.  Utilizing this feature you never miss the peak action due to you already having a number of buffered images in your camera before you even fully press the shutter.  Genius!

Over the past couple of years I have used this feature numerous times with my Olympus camera and have now conducted experiments with my Fujifilm X-T3 to compare how it works in that camera as well.  Both cameras gave good results, but the Olympus provides much more versatility in the way it can be set.  The X-T3 only has off/on.  No other controls are available where the Olympus gives us more control.

Briefly, in the Olympus version of this feature there are two general settings.  One is Pro Capture High and the other is Pro Capture Low.  The general difference is the number of frames the camera records in its buffer as well as the rate of frames per second the camera uses once the shutter is fully depressed.

In Pro Capture Low, you can set the camera to buffer 1-35 frames at rates of 10, 15 or 18 FPS.  Pro Capture Low also allows the camera to continue focusing as you follow your subject.  With Pro Capture High, you can set the same 1-35 frames to buffer at rates of 15, 20, 30 or 60 FPS.  Pro Capture High locks focusing so once you fully press the shutter, focus doesn't adjust.  This mode would work better with subjects that don't change distance.  With both modes you can make as many subsequent images as you want or limit the number of frames after you fully press the shutter to between 1-99. My normal settings are Pro Capture Low, 18 FPS and buffer 18 frames, giving me 1 second's worth of images before I fully depress the shutter button.

If you want to see an example I made of using the E-M1 Mark II using this feature, take a look at this blog post.

The X-T3 has no way of changing the number of images buffered (I have found it around 8 or 9 in my tests).  The T3 requires the use of the electronic shutter, continuous high, only.  Focus can be set to AF-S or AF-C.  You can set your continuous high (the best I can determine) to 8, 11 or 20 FPS.  Also, there is no setting to limit the number of images taken after pressing the shutter.  Now, this is Fujifilm's first foray into this feature and they may introduce more flexibility with a firmware update as did Olympus a year or so ago.  We'll have to wait and see.  The number of frames per second, to me, is secondary to the number of frames being buffered.  A small number of frames being buffered, if there is really fast action, could still allow one to miss the optimum image.  For example, buffering 8 frames in the second prior to full shutter release is not as good as buffering 15 frames.  The peak action may occur between frames.

Posted ere are some images I made the other day when experimenting a bit with this new feature.  Again, the camera has to be set on Continuous High FPS and Electronic Shutter for this to work.  The camera will not allow you to turn on the feature until you set these two parameters. I have placed the Pre-Shot menu item into the "MY" menu page for easy access.  The Olympus E-M1 Mark II does not have a My Menu option, so it has to be found in the menu and turned on and off.  That is not as convenient as Fujifilm's arrangement.

I thought about what I could easily find to photograph to demonstrate this feature.  I thought about the multitudes of gulls that populate this area.  Also, knowing a bit about gull behavior, I know they like to sit on the top of various types of poles.  If I were to slowly walk toward a gull on a pole, it would fly.  I drove to a small local beach, spotted a gull sitting on a sign, set my camera and lens to C-AF, electronic shutter, manual exposure.  I pulled the camera to my eye and slowly walked up toward the bird with my finger on the shutter.  I knew that when I reached a certain point, the bird would fly.  I just didn't know what that point would be.  I tried it 3 times, two with gulls and one with a crow.  All were successful attempts.  Below are the various sequences.  

From my early experiments, it seems the camera buffers about 8-9 images as you are half pressing the shutter.  That number, surprisingly, is difficult for me to precisely determine.  I think 8-9 images is insufficient for some subjects but not others.  I'm hoping that Fujifilm will give us owners some additional controls to we can set that number between 1 and at least 25.

There were 7 images identical to this.  The image below
shows the wings just starting to move up.
X-T3; 50-140mm f/2.8 lens @ 50mm; 1/1600th sec. @ f/8;
ISO 800

I believe this is where I fully pressed the shutter.

The gull in my second attempt, below, allowed me to get much closer.  The lens was zoomed out to 50mm and could not go wider.  Finally, it started to fly.  I was probably within 5 or 6 ft. of the bird at that point.

Again there were 7 images identical to this.

I'm not quite sure if I fully pressed the shutter here or the
image below.

The final series features a wise old crow.  You know how skiddish they are!  Again, as I walked up with the camera up to my face, shutter half pressed, buffering images and continuously focusing, the crow finally flew.

There were 5 images of the crow sitting upright.  Then, as
I got closer, you can see it start to lean forward preparing
to fly.

Even if the Fujifilm X-T3's Pre-Shot feature is not quite as versatile as Olympus', it works and works pretty well.  You just have to remember when you want to turn it on to switch to electronic shutter and CH on the drive dial.  Otherwise you will scratch your head in trying to figure out why the "On" position is grayed out.

If you have played or used this feature, please leave a comment.  The more information we share among ourselves, the better we all become.

P.S.  I found it interesting that the birds allowed me to come much closer than normal before they flew away.  I chalk that up to having the camera cover my face.  I don't think they quite knew I was a human as I approached.  I find this similar to photographing wildlife from an automobile as opposed to on foot.  You can get quite close with an automobile as the animals don't typically see it as a threat, but as soon as you exit, often times, they see the human form and flee.

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Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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