Fujifilm X100VI Setup: Menu Settings to Change Before You Shoot

To set up a new Fujifilm X100VI, start with four places: the dials on top, the AF/MF SETTING menu for focus, the Q Menu and Fn buttons, and the MOVIE SETTING menu if you film. Change those before your first shoot, and the camera will feel like a friend instead of a puzzle.

Before you change any settings

Start with the memory card. Fujifilm's specification page sends owners to its compatibility list to check which memory cards work with the camera. PetaPixel notes the X100VI has a UHS-I SD card slot. A UHS-I slot is like a one-lane road: everything still gets through, just not as fast as on a wide highway.

Keep the manual close too. Fujifilm's Quick Start Guide for the X100VI introduces the camera's features and controls. Fujifilm also publishes Owner's Manuals and New Features Guides for its cameras on its support site.

Then think about power. PetaPixel's review describes the X100VI's battery life as not great. The reviewer guessed he used far less battery than a colleague because he turned the camera off when he wasn't shooting. One team member needed two and a half batteries to get through a day of video. So switch the camera off between shots, and pack a spare battery if you plan a long day.

Learn the dials first: your way out of auto

Three settings decide how bright your photo is. Think of them as a team that has to agree.

• Aperture is like the pupil of your eye. A wide pupil lets in lots of light. A small pupil lets in a little.
• Shutter speed is like a door opening and closing. A quick door freezes a running dog. A slow door can turn that dog into a blur.
• ISO is like the volume knob on a radio. Turn it up and a dark scene gets brighter, but you may hear a little hiss, which shows up in photos as grain.

On the X100VI, Digital Camera World describes two dials on top: one for exposure compensation and one for shutter speed. You lift and twist the shutter speed dial to change ISO. Aperture is set with the ring on the lens. Exposure compensation is your "a bit brighter, please" or "a bit darker, please" dial.

Here is the friendly part. Every dial has an auto setting, so you can leave some on auto and set others yourself to shoot in aperture priority or shutter priority.

What you want	Aperture ring	Shutter speed dial	Who decides
Full auto	Auto	Auto	The camera picks both
Aperture priority	A number you choose	Auto	You pick the pupil size, the camera picks the door speed
Shutter priority	Auto	A number you choose	You pick the door speed, the camera picks the pupil size
Manual	A number you choose	A number you choose	You pick both

Aperture priority is a gentle first step. You get to play with blurry backgrounds while the camera keeps the brightness in a safe range. If a photo comes out too dark, that is not a failure. It is the camera showing you what to try next, and the exposure compensation dial is right there for it.

If you would rather use wheels than dials, Digital Camera World says you can set the camera to change aperture and shutter speed with the thumb and finger wheels instead.

Set up autofocus

Pick a focus mode with the switch

The Focus Mode selector sits on the left side of the camera. AF-C keeps adjusting focus, and Fujifilm's guide says that in video it can track people or subjects around the frame. M is manual focus, where you turn the lens yourself. Think of AF-C as a helper who keeps re-aiming a flashlight at a moving puppy, and M as holding the flashlight yourself.

Choose a focus area

The focus area is the part of the picture the camera looks at when it focuses. Fujifilm's guide says you pick it in the Q Menu with the rear command dial, and you can move it around the frame and change its size.

Focus area	Fujifilm's description	Good first use
Single Point	Highly selective	A person's eye, a cup on a table
Zone	For erratically moving subjects	Kids or pets that won't stay still
Wide/Tracking	Uses the whole frame	Letting the camera find and follow the subject

The descriptions in that table come from Fujifilm's Quick Start Guide. PetaPixel points out that the X100VI has no autofocus joystick, so the Q Menu method above is the place to start.

Turn on face and subject detection

Fujifilm's guide says you turn on Face Detection or Subject Detection from the AF/MF SETTING menu, and you can also add it to the Q Menu. Digital Camera World lists subject recognition and tracking for faces, eyes, animals, birds and vehicles. If your photos of people look a little soft, face detection is a kind first fix, because the camera then hunts for the eye for you.

Turn on the manual focus helpers

Two switches in the AF/MF SETTING menu make manual focus less scary. With FOCUS CHECK on, the camera enlarges a central part of the scene when you start to focus manually. Pressing the rear command dial like a button does the same thing without touching the control ring. With AF+MF on, you can focus manually by turning the lens's control ring without changing the focus mode. That is like letting the helper aim the flashlight, then nudging it yourself.

Make the Q Menu and buttons yours

The Q Menu gives you information at a glance and quick access to settings, and Fujifilm says you can change what appears on it. Fujifilm's guide also shows how to reassign the Fn buttons and the gesture controls on the LCD screen.

Here is one real example from 5050 Travelog's review. That reviewer set the front Fn button to face-detect AF, the top Fn button to Auto ISO, the AEL/AFL button to the view mode selector, and the back control dial to film simulations. The same reviewer turned the touchscreen off. 5050 Travelog also believes this is the first Fujifilm camera that remembers the last item you changed in the main menus.

PetaPixel's reviewer called the menu archaic. A well-built Q Menu means fewer trips into it. A simple rule: if you change a setting more than twice on a walk, give it a button or a Q Menu spot.

Choose your viewfinder

The X100VI's viewfinder switches between optical and electronic modes with a selector switch on the front of the camera. An optical viewfinder is like looking through a window. An EVF is like looking at a tiny TV showing exactly what the camera sees.

PetaPixel's reviewer mostly used the EVF to see exactly what the camera was seeing and preview the chosen film simulation. The same review says image stabilization and autofocus were slightly worse in the optical mode. If you are learning exposure, the EVF is a helpful teacher, because you see brightness changes before you press the shutter.

Decide what the control ring does

The X100VI has a fixed 23mm f/2 lens, and Fujifilm offers two Digital Teleconverter modes that zoom in on part of the 40.2-megapixel sensor. Digital Camera World says the control ring on the lens runs this digital zoom by default. It is a crop, not a real zoom: like cutting a smaller picture out of a big printed photo. Digital Camera World notes the 50mm crop keeps about 20MP and the 70mm crop keeps about 10MP.

You can set the ring to other functions in settings. If you want to learn to frame with your feet, leave the crops off for your first few walks.

Pick a film simulation

A film simulation is like choosing a box of crayons before you draw. Digital Camera World counts 20 film simulations on the X100VI, including Reala Ace. PetaPixel describes Reala Ace as giving natural-looking saturation and contrast.

In PetaPixel's review, the reviewer found Reala Ace lacked the punch he liked and used Provia, Acros and Velvia far more often. He described Velvia as ideal for scenes with lots of green and blue, and Acros for black and white. That reviewer used film simulations to preview an edit in the field, even when he never planned to publish the camera's JPEGs.

PetaPixel also notes this sensor has strong dynamic range, with detail recoverable from shots several stops over or under exposed. So if you are still learning exposure, saving RAW files gives you room to fix a mistake later. Treat each miss as practice for next time.

Settings that help keep photos sharp

Blurry photos usually come from one of two things: the camera moved, or the subject moved. PetaPixel reports the X100VI has in-body image stabilization rated at six stops. IBIS is like a cup holder in a car that keeps your drink from spilling on bumps. It helps with shaky hands, not with a running child.

For moving subjects, raise your shutter speed so the door closes faster. PetaPixel lists 11 frames per second with the mechanical shutter and 20 with the electronic shutter. Burst shooting gives you several tries at a moving moment.

Video setup if you film

Fujifilm's guide says the first decision is resolution and frame rate, found in MOVIE SETTING > MOVIE MODE. Frame rate is like the pages in a flip book: more pages per second make motion look smoother.

Video mode	Crop
4K up to 30 frames per second	No crop
4K at 60 frames per second	Substantial loss in field of view
6.2K	Substantial loss in field of view

Those crop details come from PetaPixel's hands-on. For a first video, 4K at 30 frames per second keeps the full width of the lens.

For video focus, Fujifilm's guide lists three areas in MOVIE SETTING > MOVIE AF MODE: MULTI, which focuses on the closest object, AREA, which is more selective, and WIDE/TRACKING, which locks onto a subject and follows it. PetaPixel mentions that the adapters needed for good audio made the camera a pain to hold and use. PetaPixel also suggests videographers who dislike cropped video and rolling shutter might prefer the older X100V. Digital Camera World calls the X100VI a fantastic photography camera that can also shoot very nice video when needed.

If video is new to you, the Beginner's Guide to Shooting Video with Any Camera covers the basics. For Fujifilm menus in general, the Fujifilm Camera Menu Setup Guide walks through the layout step by step.

A simple first-shoot checklist

• Card checked against Fujifilm's compatibility list, battery charged, spare in your pocket.
• Aperture ring on a number, shutter speed dial on auto, for aperture priority.
• Focus Mode selector on AF-C for moving subjects, focus area set in the Q Menu.
• Face or subject detection turned on in the AF/MF SETTING menu.
• FOCUS CHECK and AF+MF turned on.
• Q Menu and Fn buttons holding the settings you reach for most.
• One film simulation chosen, so you see a finished look while you shoot.

You do not need to change everything at once. Pick two or three items, go for a walk, and come back to the rest. Every setting you learn this way sticks.