Fujifilm X-H2 Setup: Travel and Street Photography in Barcelona
Pla de la Seu Square - 1/480 sec at f/11
Travelling to Barcelona, I wondered what and how I wanted to capture. First, I wanted to be able to capture everything as sharply as possible, and that meant I had to sacrifice something. As I wanted a minimum shutter speed in all conditions, the ISO would inevitably need to increase based on the lighting conditions. Second, I wanted to shoot “blind.” The X-H2 has an articulating screen that makes it easy to shoot without looking at your subject. With a glance, you can frame your subject with moderate success as you can keep the camera low to conceal your intentions. Third, I wanted a consistent look in all the photos.
Lighting conditions will vary and influence the look, but I wanted to select one film simulation and not experiment with multiple while in Barcelona. Casual situations are acceptable to experiment with, but while in what could be a once-in-a-lifetime location, you want to be sure you know what you want. I would be shooting RAW + JPEG to be sure I had that RAW file if I wanted to take the treatment another way. Here is how I set things up on the Fujifilm X-H2 for Barcelona travel and street photography.
Camera Usage
I have enjoyed shooting vertical/portrait for many years now. The orientation worked well for me; several of my favourite compositions were vertical. For Barcelona, I decided to shoot everything landscape/horizontal. This is part of the consistency I was going for. I was shooting waist height, and I rarely used the viewfinder. I always use a wrist strap for added grip. This helps prevent droppage and deter someone from grabbing the camera out of my hand. Some areas of Barcelona are known for pickpocketing, and I was always very cautious about my camera and backpack.
Lens Choice
I had the 35mm and the 23mm f/2 lenses on this trip. These lenses are similar, with the only main difference being the width. I used the 35mm the first day but the 23mm for my remaining time there. I found the increase in width beneficial, and I never felt I could not get close enough to my subject when needed. Both lenses are excellent, but I decided to use mostly the 23mm and avoid changing the lens often.
Camera Settings
To maintain sharpness, I set the minimum shutter speed at 1/500 sec. As a result, the base ISO was set at 1000. This number may seem high as a base setting, especially with favourable lighting, but it was set here for specific reasons. I could have used a lower shutter speed in the best lighting conditions and still got the sharpness I desired, but I do not want to bother remembering which settings I was on or forgetting to switch when needed. Also, 1000 ISO on the X-H2 is more than adequate. The ISO limit was 6400, although I don’t think I got close to hitting that.
A lens that goes to f/2 is great, as you can shoot in low light with a nice blur to your background. But having the option to do so doesn’t mean it should be utilized every time. The 23mm and the 35mm lenses shine at f/10 or f/11, and 95% of the photos I captured were at f/11. This guaranteed that the entire frame would be in focus, which was important when shooting blind.
I used the focus-on shutter for focusing. When exposing for highlights among shadows, I focused on the highlights and adjusted exposure compensation to my liking, sometimes stopping down 3-4 stops.
Film Simulation - Ultramax 400
Ultramax 400 is one of my favourite versatile film simulations. It produces warm, saturated tones that work well in various shooting conditions and subjects. The recipe included here is a slight variation of the original recipe, changing a few things based on my experience with the simulation and what I considered room for improvement based on personal requirements.
Classic Chrome
Dynamic Range: DR-Auto
Highlight: +1
Shadow: +1
Colour: +4
High ISO NR: -4
Sharpness: 0
Clarity: 0 (original +3)
Grain Effect: Weak, Small (original Strong, Large)
Colour Chrome Effect: Weak
Colour Chrome Effect Blue: Weak
White Balance: Auto, +1 Red & -5 Blue
ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400
Exposure Compensation: +1/3 to +1 (typically)
Other Notes
I shot JPEG + RAW for the duration of this trip to be sure I had another untouched version in case I was not happy with the JPEGs. Thankfully, I was pleased with the JPEG renderings. There were minor adjustments on some of the JPEGS: a few photos have a slight bump or reduction in exposure and adjustment with white or black levels on the tone curve.
I wanted to focus on shooting and devote as little time as possible to contemplating settings. I made decisions before arriving to ensure that I could enjoy Barcelona while ensuring that I was clicking all the boxes of how I wanted to capture the city.