Camera Settings; Back To Basics; Continuing My Journey Toward Simplicity

Lush, fresh vegetables any time of the year!  Aren’t we a fortunate bunch here in the
United States?  I know I am thankful. (click to enlarge)
Ricoh GRIIIx; 1/160th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 5000; -0.3 EV 

I love the fact that the camera manufacturers give us so many unbelievable features in today’s digital cameras. More features and abilities than most of us can use and more than some of us even imagined would be available. Our cameras are almost “do anything at any time” (and do it excellently) photographic tools.

I used to relish utilizing most of the features provided to me.  I got giddy (hyperbole, of course) when a new camera came out and featured something I didn’t know I needed.  More and more features.  Computational features.  Features that would allow me to do about anything in the camera as well as making photos in circumstances never before possible.  I considered these features and abilities as gifts from the ‘photo gods.’  Perfect!  The more the better.

But after more than five decades, those features are not so novel anymore.  I have found through experience, I don’t need most of them.  My photography is pretty basic these days and many of those feature I celebrated having are rarely if ever used today.  But the nice thing is, there are there if needed.  So, I’m still thankful for them.

In the past few years, I’ve pretty much gone back to basics for my camera settings.  I normally use Manual Mode with Auto ISO.  That allows me to definitively decide what shutter speed and aperture is appropriate for what I’m shooting and let the ISO take care of any variation in light.  Alternatively, I often harken back to the first automatic mode I had in a film camera—aperture priority—and use that as well.  Pretty basic.

One of the features I have fully exploited in the past and the one that I like second* best in Fujifilm cameras, is the film simulations.  There are about 20 available now, I believe, and possibly more coming.  Being someone who incorporated Fuji film in my analog photography for years before my switch to digital, I was familiar with the names of many of the simulations.  I had photographed with Provia, Astia, Velvia, Acros, Reala and other Fuji films.  All wonderful.  That said, when buying my first Fujifilm digital camera and wanting to know more about these film simulations to expand my creativity, I studied as to how Fujifilm applied them to this new digital photographic world.

I made these photos as I walked through a grocery store last week.  I had the little Ricoh camera in
my jacket pocket and, when I saw something interesting, pulled out and made some snapshots.
Ricoh GRIIIx; 1/160th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 5000; -0.3 EV (click to enlarge)

I would not only use the film simulations in their default configuration, but I would also modify some to meet my own tastes.  Additionally, because my Fujifilm cameras allowed me to save seven custom banks of settings, including about every aspect of the film simulations, I fully took advantage of that ability as well.

Among others, I made film simulations for general photography, portraits, landscapes, Americana and those subjects that are old, obsolete, etc., as well as a general black & white and a black & white with higher contrast and deep shadows.  Soon a problem arose.  I found I would keep fiddling with them.  While editing my photos, I would judge if I was getting the ‘look’ I wanted and, if not, I would modify the simulations.  Sometimes I would change them in the field on the fly.  The more I changed them the more I felt I needed to fiddle with them.  But, in my case, it is more complicated than that.

Since I also shoot with OM and Nikon cameras, I created similar film simulations/styles/effects to sort of mimic what I did in my Fujifilm cameras.  With my Nikons I would modify their picture styles.  With the OM cameras I would utilize their controls to do much of the same, even though they all were somewhat different in looks.  

I continue to be impressed by this little camera.  It took a while to get used to using it, but 
once I did, using it became second nature and more satisfying.
Ricoh GRIIIx; 1/160th sec. @ f/4; ISO 1000; -2.0 EV (click to enlarge)

When I was out photographing, I would consciously pay attention to my subject, the light, the context, and other aspects of what was before me, then choose a film simulation to match how I envisioned I wanted the final photograph to look.  I did this for years.  Now, looking back, I have to think what I was doing was a bit ridiculous.  You may disagree, but my photography became unnecessarily complicated.  I found I’m no longer into complicated at this point in my life.

A while back, something about the way I think about my photography, my subjects, my finished images and technique changed.  If you’ve read this blog throughout last year, you may remember I received a Fujifilm X100VI as a birthday present from my wife.  You may also remember I took two long road trips—one three and a half weeks and the other four weeks.  On both and for most of my daily photography, I always took along this new camera with the intent of using film simulations and JPEG files for this blog.  Indeed, that is what I did.  Almost all of the images I posted from the two road trips were from JPEGs although I had the raw files ‘just in case.’

But then I started finding that creating and using a variety of film simulations was making my photography more complicated than it had to be.  The different ‘looks’ were nice but I found using a variety of them too troublesome and slowing me down.  Switching among film simulations, I discovered was not really necessary.  Why was I doing that, I asked myself?  What was the point?  I was mostly shooting raw plus JPEG and I found that the two files looked almost identical when opened in Lightroom, no matter what simulation I used.  Also, I found with either file format, with most (but not all) images there is enough flexibility to make the final image look the way I wanted it to look, regardless of what film simulation I used.  I started examining my images in Lightroom and saw there really was not a huge difference between the film simulations.  Yes, some warmth, contrast and hue variations with altered dynamic range as well, but not enough that I couldn’t modify one to look pretty much like another.  Of course, Lightroom and other editing software offers the same (Adobe created in consultation with Fujifilm) film simulations in the software.  I found Lightroom Classic’s simulations pretty accurate.  Not bad.  Also, if Adobe could create the different looks using the tools we have in Lightroom, I certainly can use those same tools to change them to my liking.   I make ‘regular looking images and I was not creating or editing my images so they looked radically different than using a standard film simulation.  Nothing far out of just normal looking photographs.  So this works for me.

The upshot was that I had a desire to, again, simplify my photography (and my life in general) and eliminating the need to create and choose film simulations is another step that allows me to remove a friction point and gain more satisfaction.  See the pattern.  Manual Mode with Auto ISO and no complex film simulations.  I’m finding ways to uncomplicate my photography.

Even for this camera, I started using a couple of, what Fujifilm calls, film simulations.  Then I just
simplified and dialed the camera to one and use that.
Ricoh GRIIIx;1/160th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 1250; 0.3 EV (click to enlarge)

What do I do now?  I have one film simulation for color and one for black & white.  That is it.  Simple.  Nothing complicated now.  I shoot mostly with raw but do employ JPEGs for specific situations.  Custom mode C1 for color, C-2 for monochrome, or the equivalent in my other cameras.  Lightroom will allow me to edit the raw files to look the way I envisioned my final photos to look.  The JPEG files, if I set the camera to include them, would have that one simulation applied.  I will also add, and this is important, this works for me because I enjoy the editing process the same way I loved being in my darkroom all those decades.  However, if you don’t like editing, and many of you do not, then dialing in you images in-camera with a variety of different settings may work better for you.  This is all very personal and your answers may be very different than mine.

I find now that, removing this one additional sticking point when I photograph, is one less thing I need to think about and more time to concentrate on my composition, exposure and pressing that shutter button at just the right moment.  Simplifying.  Step-by-step.  More enjoyment.

Oh!  And for all of those wonderful features on my cameras.  I don’t use most of them but I like having them if I do find myself in a situation when using one will enhance my photography and allow me to fulfill my vision.  Again, my mantra is simplify.  Simplicity equals a more pleasurable experience.  The same goes for carrying fewer lenses or even just one lens.  Fewer choices, less worry.  Less decision-making.  Less consternation.  YMMV.  

But I know from personal experience that some people actually thrive on chaos.  They do their best under fast approaching deadlines, uncertainty, pressure, confusion and high stress.  That was me for the many years I was a chief of police, but no longer.  That was a former lifetime, thankfully.  

Grocery store lighting is certainly lacking. I think the little Ricoh did a bang up job with these images.
Ricoh GRIIx; 1/160th sec. @ f/4; ISO 1000; -1.3 EV (click to enlarge)

Hearing from many of you through comments and private emails, it is apparent that as we age, most of us, photographically speaking, have a desire to reduce the size, weight and bulk of our gear as well as complexity of the process.  We tend to find more satisfaction with as many friction points removed.

*I like the shutter speed and ISO dials along with the lens based aperture ring best!

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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