I am Sorry Fujifilm, but You MUST fix This NOW (a Firmware Request and a Workaround)

November 9, 2022
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Over all these years of covering Fujifilm I came to one conclusion:

there is a dedicated team inside Fujifilm that serves the sole purpose to figure out how to annoy customers by constantly changing camera controls.

Well, that team was very successful again.

Let me quickly explain.

I own a PSAM dial camera, the Fujifilm GFX100S.

Here is how I prefer to use it.

I manually set the aperture (using the lens ring) and the shutter speed (using rear command dial). Done that, I see in the EVF if the image is under or overexposed and I quickly adjust exposure by changing ISO with the front command dial.

For me, that’s a direct, intuitive and fast way to change ISO and basically use ISO as exposure compensation.

And no, I don’t use the dedicated exp.comp. feature on my GFX100S, as it requires me to press a button first and then turn the command dial… and I don’t like that.

And if you also like to operate your PSAM camera like I do with my GFX100S, then you won’t like how it works on the Fujifilm X-H2 and Fujifilm X-H2s.

On the Fujifilm X-H2 and X-H2s you can no longer assign direct ISO control to a command dial. You have to press the dedicated ISO button first (see image above), and only then you can change ISO.

Now, it’s not that this “press the button first” approach slows you down terribly. But it is an extra step you have to go and it goes against one of the supposed advantages of PSAM dial cameras: direct and fast control over ISO and shutter speed by simply turning the command dials (although you can also do that with retro Fuji cameras too, as I show in this video).

Why this extra step on the X-H series? I don’t know.

If somebody of you can tell me why Fujifilm’s decision makes sense, please let me know. But personally I have no idea why they did that.

The good news:

Fujifilm can fix this super-fast and easily via firmware update. So Fujifilm, time to go back to work after the X-T5 launch and invest 5 minutes of your R&D time give us a firmware fix for X-H2 and X-H2s.

The Workaround:

As reported by Fuji-x-Forum members here, you can assign the top and bottom D-Pad function buttons to ISO. Press the top D-pad button to increase ISO and the bottom button to reduce ISO.

With love to the Fujifilm headquarter,
Patrick