photography
The Best Video Settings for the FUJI X-T3
Do you own a FUJI X-T3 camera and want to take your videography to the next level? Look no further! In this blog, we will discuss the best video settings for the FUJI X-T3 that will help you capture stunning footage with exceptional clarity and detail. The FUJI X-T3 is a renowned mirrorless camera known for its outstanding video capabilities, and by optimizing the camera settings, you can unlock its full potential. Whether you are a professional filmmaker or an aspiring videographer, these recommended settings will make a significant difference in the quality of your videos. So, let’s dive in and discover the ideal video settings for the FUJI X-T3!
The Best Video Settings for the FUJI X-T3
What’s up it’s Mitch here, welcome back to another video and if you guys have been following me over on Instagram, you’ll know that recently I upgraded from the Fuji XH one to the Fuji XT three and it has now become my main video camera. And so far, I’m really, really enjoying shooting with it. One of the things I love most about Fuji cameras, and the XT 3 is definitely no exception to this, is how customizable they are. You know, in terms of setting up the menus and all the custom buttons, it really makes the shooting experience much more enjoyable.
So today, I thought I’d make a video going through how I set up my XT 3 for shooting beautiful cinematic videos. This video is going to be fairly similar to the one that I did on the XT 2, simply because the X t2 and The XT 3 both share the same body, very similar button layout, and almost identical menu with the exception of a few small things. But the XT 3 has really added some amazing features and I think it’s worth making a new video showing you guys how I setup the XT 3.
It’s important to know that this is simply how I set up the camera for my style of shooting and it’s not necessarily going to suit everyone, so feel free to make minor tweaks to your camera. But overall, this has just made the shooting experience so much more enjoyable to me.
Setting Up the Top Dials
So I’ve got the XT 3 here on a tripod. I’m gonna bring this over and I’ve got my iPhone here set up to record the back of the screen so you guys can see exactly what I’m doing and follow along. Alright guys, so jumping into the settings of the Camera and first I’m going to start with the top dials. So these top dials control both ISO and shutter speed and most people who pick up a Fuji camera for the first time, they just kind of assume that this is how you change the camera settings, this is how you change the Shutter speed and the ISO and while you can do that, that’s one of the big features of the retro styling of the Fuji XT3, you don’t necessarily have to use these dials. And if you can imagine being on a set and having to take The the camera away from your eye and then fiddle with these dials and then up to your eye again it doesn’t seem super efficient. So what you can do in order to make changing settings on the fly a lot easier is just setting these top dials and also selecting some options in the Menu which will go through soon in order to just use the XT3 just like a normal DSLR.
You’ve got your shutter speed adjustment on the back and then your ISO adjustment on the front. So in order to do that, first of all, you want to set Your top dials, so this shutter speed dial here, you want to set it to T so you can change it from whatever it was on to the T setting and then you’re going to want to lock that dial off. Now with your ISO setting as well, you want to go to The a setting and then also lock that dial off. The exposure compensation doesn’t really make a massive difference, so I just leave that set to C or zero, it doesn’t really matter.
So now jumping into the menu after we’ve set our top dials, you want to go to the setup menu which is the little wrench icon and then go across to the button dial setting and then you simply want to go down to the ISO dial setting a. So if you remember, we set the top dial to a, and now we’re going to choose what we want that value to be. Now by default, it’s set to auto but what we actually want to set it to is command.
Now once you do that half press the shutter, go back to the main shooting window. If we click in the front dial, then we get this. We can either have exposure compensation or ISO, and you can see we can switch between the two. Now once you select ISO just by pressing in that button, now the front dial, we have complete control about ISO and by default this back wheel here will control our shutter speed and of course if you’re using Fuji lenses, all of your controls for aperture are on the lens. So I’ve got the 35 millimeter 1.4 on there right now and you can see I’m changing the aperture. So it’s really easy. I’ve got my ISO, I’ve got my shutter speed, I can pretty much use one hand. And the great thing about this as well is I’m looking through the viewfinder and I’m just changing the settings as I go. I can see what I’m doing, I don’t have to bring the camera away from my eye and that’s really important and helpful when you’re shooting video. If you guys want to set up the front and back dials in any other way, maybe you’re used to them being reversed, maybe ISO on the back and shutter speed on the front, you can come into this command dial setting as well and obviously change those. So for lenses that have an auto Aperture or if you set the Fuji to order aperture, you can obviously control the aperture from the front dial as well. I’ve got it set to aperture and ISO, but I obviously keep it just as ISO and then the rear dial as shutter speed. So that’s really simple to setup in that menu there.
Basic Menu Settings
Next up, we’re going to go through some really basic menu settings that you should make sure you have right before you shooting video on the XT3. So we’re going to go ahead and jump back into the same menu that we were just in and we’re going to go to the screen Setup. So first of all, you want to set your EVF brightness. I like to be quite bright but obviously the brighter you make it, the more battery consumption you’re going to use. So I have mine set to +2, you can set it to whatever you like. And then obviously the LCD brightness. I like to have that almost full.
The other reason that you really want to adjust this EVF brightness and the LCD brightness is because by standard, it’s set to auto and what that’s going to do is depending on the lighting conditions, the amount of ambient light that’s in the room or in the situation you’re shooting in, it’s going to change the brightness of the screen and the EVF based on that. And so sometimes it’ll look like your image is actually changing, but none of the settings in the camera are changing. But it’s actually the brightness of the screen or the EVF that’s changing and that can be a little bit weird at first when you get the camera. You’re thinking, am I in auto or am I in manual? I’m not sure what’s going on here, my exposure keeps changing. So you definitely want to have a manual setting for both your EVF brightness and your LCD brightness.
The next thing is I’ve seen this on a few Fuji cameras and it has been one of those things where you’re like, what is going on? I can’t figure this out. But essentially what happens is you are looking at the back of the LCD and you’re seeing the image, but none of the picture profile or white balance or any of those things are affecting how the image looks. And it’s because they have this natural Live View setting set to on. And I’m not sure if that’s default, but you definitely want to turn that off. So I’m going to show you how to do that really quickly. So basically you just want to go to screen set-up and then scroll down a little bit to natural Live View and make sure that that’s set to off. And essentially what that does is it just gives you a more accurate representation of what the final image is going to look like.
So there you have it, those are my recommended video settings for the Fuji XT 3. Again, feel free to make minor adjustments based on your shooting style and preferences. But these settings should definitely help you capture beautiful cinematic videos. Happy shooting!
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the recommended video settings for the FUJI X-T3?
To achieve optimal video quality with the FUJI X-T3, follow these settings:
- 1. Set the Video Mode to “4K.”
- 2. Choose the suitable Frame Rate and Bitrate for your specific requirements (e.g., 24fps or 30fps and a higher bitrate for better quality).
- 3. Select the desired Picture Profile that matches your preferred look.
- 4. Set the Video Compression to “H.264” for compatibility purposes.
- 5. Ensure you have the appropriate Shutter Speed for smooth motion (e.g., double the frame rate, e.g., 1/50s for 25fps).
- 6. Adjust the White Balance according to the lighting conditions.
- 7. Enable the Highlight and Shadow Tone settings for better dynamic range.
- 8. Take advantage of the F-Log profile for enhanced color grading possibilities in post-production.
- 9. Use manual focus or the Focus Peaking feature for accurate focusing.
- 10. Consider using an external microphone for better audio quality.
Are there any specific settings for shooting in low light conditions?
When shooting in low light conditions with the FUJI X-T3, you can adjust the following settings:
- 1. Increase the ISO setting to capture more light, but be mindful of noise levels.
- 2. Choose a wider aperture to allow more light into the lens.
- 3. Enable a slower shutter speed to gather more light, but take precautions against camera shake (consider using a tripod).
- 4. Make use of the available image stabilization (if applicable) to minimize blur.
- 5. Consider using a faster lens for better performance in low light situations.
How can I improve the overall video quality?
To enhance the overall video quality with the FUJI X-T3, you can follow these tips:
- 1. Utilize proper lighting techniques to achieve well-lit scenes.
- 2. Use a stable tripod or gimbal to ensure steady shots.
- 3. Experiment with different composition and framing techniques to create visually appealing shots.
- 4. Make use of manual focus for accurate and intentional focusing.
- 5. Invest in high-quality lenses to capture sharp and detailed footage.
- 6. Consider shooting in the Log profile for greater flexibility in post-processing.
- 7. Use an external microphone or audio recording device for improved sound capture.
- 8. Familiarize yourself with video editing techniques to refine your footage during post-production.
I hope you find useful my article The Best Video Settings for the FUJI X-T3, I also recommend you to read my other posts in my blog at this link.
If you need help with anything join the community or do not hesitate to contact me.
Best of luck! and follow your passion.
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