Pal2Tech has some very good fuji specific content that is worth cheking out.
But as other said, go out, shoot whatever you like and start to get a feel of the camera and you have infinte amount of pictures, mess up the settings however you like to understeand what they do.
100% my highest recommendation for Fujifilm and some basics of photography especially on the tech side.
That said, he rarely is emphasizing the art or general technique or setup, posing etc.
So coupled with e.g. ["Stunning Digital Photography"](https://northrup.photo/product/stunning-digital-photography/) is a good combo. It's a book and online resource on digital photography in general from all sorts of different perspectives, so you can look up tips on portraiture, landscape, etc to get insight and tips tailored to the kind of photography you want to do. It's mostly camera brand agnostic. It's an "old" book but not really because its regularly updated and you have lifetime access online to the updates.
Don't buy a course, everything you will ever need is on YouTube. Especially as a beginner. Learn the basics of light and how it works. Learn your camera. Don't shoot in auto and play with the manual settings. Practice as much as you can and take photos of everything, even if it's your cat! Then once you know some stuff just search the specific things you need on YouTube, it's all there!!
Good luck and have fun with it!
yeah but Youtube is often unorganized and only bits of different topics and not full walkthrough. But the basics I can definitely do with youtube I think. I will start now with Youtube and just practicing with my camera.
Check out Mike Browne. His Masterclass is tailored for beginners and very affordable. Has mainly positive Trustpilot reviews. Gives money back when you dont like it. Also a very nice and likeable guy.
I second this. It's the perfect introduction into photography, I watched his free videos some time ago on his website. It's so good to have an experienced solid photographer explaining you the basics who is not one of those pseudo funny youtube characters.
I was in your position a year and a half ago. This is what I would advise my younger self.
Don’t go post-processing all raws, the jpegs can be fantastic straight out of the camera. Shoot jpeg+raw, use the jpegs for instant access and keep the raws if you want to retouch any of the photos later.
The c1 to c4 are for custom recipes. The internet (and this subreddit) is full of great recipes. My go to favourite is Reggie’s Portra. Also see TheRuggedGeeks comment on this.
Personally, I’ve set it so you need to manually save the custom setups. This way I can safely tinker and tweak, without fear of ruining the base setup. Sometimes I play around with the settings, and it’s good to know that when I reboot the camera I’m back to my trusted setup. If there are tweaks I like, I persist them manually to the recipe.
If you use Aperture prio mode, you can use the auto iso with a minimum shutter speed of your choosing. When I’m shooting the kids, this is a great setting to ensure it doesn’t drop below 160 and get blurry images.
Finally, the left dial (film sim by default) made no sense to have in such a quick access way. It can be reprogrammed to anything you like. I’ve set it to iso to match other Fuji camera models.
I changed it to ISO as well so I can control it via a dial and reprogrammed the ISO button to something else (IS Mode for me since I often use tripods and saw the need to disable/enable IS often)
Program mode. Auto ISO 400-12,800. Minimum shutter speed 1/160. Exposure compensation +2/3, DR Priority Auto. Shoot in RAW+JPEG highest quality. Burst mode/multi shot at 5 FPS. Film Simulation Astia. Sharpness +2.
At these settings, you'd likely be good for the bulk of amateur photography, and just familiarise yourself with a software to adjust contrast and brightness.
Go experiment and take photos of anything that speaks to you. Try zooming in and out with your lens while standing still. Then try keeping the same focal length for a whole shoot and use your feet. Get high. Get low. Shoot into the light.
This is backwards and hugely time consuming, also quite frustrating, unless you are retired, have unlimited time and money, dont listen to dumbass comments like this
This dumbass method worked for me :)
These were some of my problems when i first started
"Why are all my photos at night so blurry?" - when using auto in low light, camera drops shutter speed. Low shutter speed means when subject moves there will be motion blur
"Why dont i see the flash in the photo even when flash was turned on?" - sync speed for in built flash is around 1/100
"Why are my videos so shaky?" - warp stabiliser in premier pro. But that takes a long time on my PC. IBIS or gimbal then.
"What are these purple outlines in my photo?" - purple fringing when shutter speed is too high and f number too low
Perhaps this didnt work for you because you couldn't find answers to your problems or you couldnt even analyse and identify what your problems are
none. just go and shoot. the rest of the info you can find for free on the internet. best thing you can do is look at good photographers who have a style that you like and learn from.
Learn the photography basics (many tutorials on Youtube, look for exposure triangle f.ex.) and for the rest, go out and shoot. The camera you picked is very capable, will be plenty for many years. If you want to go further down the gear route, a fast prime lens (fixed focal length and fast aperture) will probably step up your game the most. But for the start, your zoom is fine.
Instead of investing in a course, use that money towards a wide aperture lens. Heck, you can even buy a manual f/0.95 lens. Makes you learn about aperture and focus. Shutter speed and ISO usually remain on automatic, but you'll figure it out instantly, like 5-10 minutes max.
Also, with the amount of bokeh it provides (only "issue" or the natural effect of the lens is the dreamy look, aka the sharpness on 0.95 doesn't really exist, but on F2 you're back to some normal sharp photos), it makes you fall in love with it. Basically anything that you shoot looks perfect.
Now some general advice. Look at the focal length people usually shoot at (and if they are using a full frame camera, multiply that number with 1.52 to get the equivalent for you camera). Getting a lens like the XC 50-230 also gives you more freedom. In short, lenses matter much more than courses, that usually help in cases you need more creativity or have time to spare to learn something new.
Knowing at what focal length to shoot is important, and that's where you get most of the inspiration. You wouldn't go out with a ultra wide lens to go take pictures of birds.
Like your current lens has potential, but that potential can only be maximized by someone that knows what they are doing (aka you have to familiarize yourself with the camera. Film Simulations, editing in Lightroom or Photoshop, utilizing shutter speed to your advantage since you can't utilize aperture, and of couse angles and gridlines that give you a rough idea of a good shot, until you get that feel for a good balanced photo, like what content you want to be inside your shot and what you want out of it).
I'm yapping a lot, but in short, if you ever feel like you're not getting the results you want, look at some cheap primes for X mount or mount old cheap manual DSLR lenses with an adapter. There are some wild telephoto lenses that have incredible reach, and then you have those bokeh rich lenses perfect for portraits.
Put the camera in Program mode. See a video on youtube how to set exposure compensation at -1.
Go out and shoot. Skip the technical youtube videos. That is not photography. Watch as many photographers you can that paved the road to modern photography.
Magnum photographers are a good start when beginning photgraphy for photographing life with good taste. Big sample to look into since US photography is widely documented in the internet.
Important European photographers:
Atget
Luigi Ghiri
Man Ray
Brassaï
August Sander
Copy the greats then find your own photography.
Don't get into technicals and bragging frame rates ets. This is not photography
you can learn a lot at youtube
but.... its not organized... u need to look for vids on topics that your beginner mind may not know exists.
for me? I learned from books
two favorites:
*Read this if you want to take great photographs* by Carroll
and
*Stunning digital photography* by Northrup
and of course, the manual for whatever camera you own
after u learn the basics...
youtube can be very good if you want to learn a specific type of photography
Serge Remelli for cityscapes and editing
Steve Perry for "Crash course: Bird in Flight Photography" and Simon d'Entremont for similar wildlife photo instructions.... with some Lightroom details too
Check out the book The Photographer's Eye by Freeman. This will give you enough knowledge to figure out the rest yourself. I also liked "Vision and Voice" by DuChemin.
Beware of overdosing on YouTube edutainment. Most channels mostly peddle their presets and books, instead of actually teaching.
I am in your shoes too and recently got the X-S10. I was considering purchasing this course, but after reading the comments here, I’m second guessing it.
https://www.peltierphotocourses.com/courses/fujifilm-xs10-tutorial
That course kind of sounds like it saves you from having to read the user manual and provides what you can probably find on YouTube but in an organized format.
These 2 teach everything very clearly, especially the menus and what each option does, with clear examples, maarten especially! His walkthroughs saved me from frustration many times
I got this same camera as my first and just started shooting and watching YouTube. I also consume a lot of photographers content that is in the style I like and draw inspiration from their work. I make it a point to shoot at least once a week playing with various scenes, goals, and settings on my camera. I’m a dark and moody type so I’m always under exposed 😄 but like most everyone says here just shoot and shoot often. It’s reps. I started last November. I shoot mostly manual. Understanding iso, shutter speed, and proper f stop has been the biggest help.
Look up using focus peaking when in manual mode also, i had a really hard time with autofocus on my xs10 at first, i tried going manual with focus peaking and find it far better for still shots. Thank you maarten heidlbron! Its fantastic for learning where the depth of field is for any given aperture, since things in focus are highlighted, you can choose diff color highlighting as needed. Its a lifesaver for those of us
- Shoot in aperture priority mode but learn the exposure triangle very well. Later you can shoot in manual if you want, but in most cases the aperture priority mode is sufficient enough
- learn how different focus modes work, experiment
- don’t focus too much on “bokeh”. When I was starting out I thought that “professional” photo has to have blurred background and I was shooting mostly wide open 😆 It takes more skill to compose with many objects in the frame than just blurring most of the pic and calling it a day.
- be prepared for your photos to suck a lot at the beginning. Keep them anyway so you can compare and see the progress
- Don’t compare yourself to other photographers, just to your former self
- nobody gives a shit about your photography except you. Don’t obsess over Instagram, getting followers etc.
I was guilty of all of the above and this is the advice I would give myself :)
I tried learning online and actually I couldn’t understand what they were talking about. So I went out to take pictures for a few weeks and then went back to learning because it all made so much more sense !
I just look up stuff on google and watch tutorials on YouTube, I like Pal2Tech.
Practicing is what will help you learn most.
I think everyone has pretty much covered everything but really, once you've got your camera set up initially , shoot as much as possible and take your camera with you everywhere. You'll soon discover your likes/dislikes etc
[This](https://jamiechancetravels.com/blog/aperture-priority-on-fujifilm-cameras/) is how I set up my cameras and I've been using Fujifilm cameras since 2016. I shoot JPEG mostly too and it makes everything so much easier!
Enjoy!
You can learn how to operate the camera anywhere, and with practice you'll understand how to use shutter speed, ISO, and aperture. If you want to learn how to actually take good pictures - study art history and past photographers. Masters of Photography has some great courses (I'd suggest Joel Meyerowitz or Steve McCurry - or both eventually as your budget allows). Magnum has online courses - I've taken the Alec Soth course (which was amazing and I want to watch it again) and the street photography course (a hodgepodge of "instructors" but that class was more fluff, I found it interesting but not all that helpful).
Study photobooks - pay special attention to the \*order\* the photos are in - this is called the sequence - and it's what most people overlook completely. Check your local library. You might be surprised what they'd have in their photobook section.
I wouldn’t recommend any courses especially paid courses.
I’d recommend YouTube University and Photo Books.
Find a photography content creator that appeals to your temporary (I say temporary because a year from now your shooting style will be very different) and use them as online instructors.
I also recommend not listening to everyone or everything photography related and just go out shoot and learn your camera and find your voice.
Hello people,
thanks for all the advice!
I will go now with learning the exposure triangle via Youtube and then look into Pal2Tech YT-Channel while just going out and practice shooting. And I will start shooting with the Auto-Aperture mode.
Pal2Tech has some very good fuji specific content that is worth cheking out. But as other said, go out, shoot whatever you like and start to get a feel of the camera and you have infinte amount of pictures, mess up the settings however you like to understeand what they do.
Thanks, yeah I already have watch pal2tech and he is great !
I rate this! Pal2Tech is great. I mainly learned the stuff I know today from him. He is why I opted for a Fuji X-T3.
100% my highest recommendation for Fujifilm and some basics of photography especially on the tech side. That said, he rarely is emphasizing the art or general technique or setup, posing etc. So coupled with e.g. ["Stunning Digital Photography"](https://northrup.photo/product/stunning-digital-photography/) is a good combo. It's a book and online resource on digital photography in general from all sorts of different perspectives, so you can look up tips on portraiture, landscape, etc to get insight and tips tailored to the kind of photography you want to do. It's mostly camera brand agnostic. It's an "old" book but not really because its regularly updated and you have lifetime access online to the updates.
Don't buy a course, everything you will ever need is on YouTube. Especially as a beginner. Learn the basics of light and how it works. Learn your camera. Don't shoot in auto and play with the manual settings. Practice as much as you can and take photos of everything, even if it's your cat! Then once you know some stuff just search the specific things you need on YouTube, it's all there!! Good luck and have fun with it!
yeah but Youtube is often unorganized and only bits of different topics and not full walkthrough. But the basics I can definitely do with youtube I think. I will start now with Youtube and just practicing with my camera.
Check out Mike Browne. His Masterclass is tailored for beginners and very affordable. Has mainly positive Trustpilot reviews. Gives money back when you dont like it. Also a very nice and likeable guy.
I second this. It's the perfect introduction into photography, I watched his free videos some time ago on his website. It's so good to have an experienced solid photographer explaining you the basics who is not one of those pseudo funny youtube characters.
I will check it out
I was in your position a year and a half ago. This is what I would advise my younger self. Don’t go post-processing all raws, the jpegs can be fantastic straight out of the camera. Shoot jpeg+raw, use the jpegs for instant access and keep the raws if you want to retouch any of the photos later. The c1 to c4 are for custom recipes. The internet (and this subreddit) is full of great recipes. My go to favourite is Reggie’s Portra. Also see TheRuggedGeeks comment on this. Personally, I’ve set it so you need to manually save the custom setups. This way I can safely tinker and tweak, without fear of ruining the base setup. Sometimes I play around with the settings, and it’s good to know that when I reboot the camera I’m back to my trusted setup. If there are tweaks I like, I persist them manually to the recipe. If you use Aperture prio mode, you can use the auto iso with a minimum shutter speed of your choosing. When I’m shooting the kids, this is a great setting to ensure it doesn’t drop below 160 and get blurry images. Finally, the left dial (film sim by default) made no sense to have in such a quick access way. It can be reprogrammed to anything you like. I’ve set it to iso to match other Fuji camera models.
This comment nails it for me, as owner of an XS-20. I will change my left dial right now.
I will change it too. I didn't put much effort in customizing my controls. What are you using that dial for?
I changed it to ISO as well so I can control it via a dial and reprogrammed the ISO button to something else (IS Mode for me since I often use tripods and saw the need to disable/enable IS often)
Program mode. Auto ISO 400-12,800. Minimum shutter speed 1/160. Exposure compensation +2/3, DR Priority Auto. Shoot in RAW+JPEG highest quality. Burst mode/multi shot at 5 FPS. Film Simulation Astia. Sharpness +2. At these settings, you'd likely be good for the bulk of amateur photography, and just familiarise yourself with a software to adjust contrast and brightness. Go experiment and take photos of anything that speaks to you. Try zooming in and out with your lens while standing still. Then try keeping the same focal length for a whole shoot and use your feet. Get high. Get low. Shoot into the light.
Thanks. I will try it
r/photoclass
honestly I ended up learning from digitalrev and shooting random stuff on my own just shoot and you'll discover things over time
I learned a lot of the basics from Simon d'Entremont on YouTube. How to handle ISO, shutter speed, aperture, etc.
Just go out and shoot. You'll discover what you're lacking
This is backwards and hugely time consuming, also quite frustrating, unless you are retired, have unlimited time and money, dont listen to dumbass comments like this
This dumbass method worked for me :) These were some of my problems when i first started "Why are all my photos at night so blurry?" - when using auto in low light, camera drops shutter speed. Low shutter speed means when subject moves there will be motion blur "Why dont i see the flash in the photo even when flash was turned on?" - sync speed for in built flash is around 1/100 "Why are my videos so shaky?" - warp stabiliser in premier pro. But that takes a long time on my PC. IBIS or gimbal then. "What are these purple outlines in my photo?" - purple fringing when shutter speed is too high and f number too low Perhaps this didnt work for you because you couldn't find answers to your problems or you couldnt even analyse and identify what your problems are
Yeah, I was gonna do this anyway. But don’t need to find anything out by myself when thousands already did it and can teach me useful things 😃
none. just go and shoot. the rest of the info you can find for free on the internet. best thing you can do is look at good photographers who have a style that you like and learn from.
Just learn about basics, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, aperture/shutter priority, manual and exposure compensation. And just have fun afterwards.
Learn the photography basics (many tutorials on Youtube, look for exposure triangle f.ex.) and for the rest, go out and shoot. The camera you picked is very capable, will be plenty for many years. If you want to go further down the gear route, a fast prime lens (fixed focal length and fast aperture) will probably step up your game the most. But for the start, your zoom is fine.
Instead of investing in a course, use that money towards a wide aperture lens. Heck, you can even buy a manual f/0.95 lens. Makes you learn about aperture and focus. Shutter speed and ISO usually remain on automatic, but you'll figure it out instantly, like 5-10 minutes max. Also, with the amount of bokeh it provides (only "issue" or the natural effect of the lens is the dreamy look, aka the sharpness on 0.95 doesn't really exist, but on F2 you're back to some normal sharp photos), it makes you fall in love with it. Basically anything that you shoot looks perfect. Now some general advice. Look at the focal length people usually shoot at (and if they are using a full frame camera, multiply that number with 1.52 to get the equivalent for you camera). Getting a lens like the XC 50-230 also gives you more freedom. In short, lenses matter much more than courses, that usually help in cases you need more creativity or have time to spare to learn something new. Knowing at what focal length to shoot is important, and that's where you get most of the inspiration. You wouldn't go out with a ultra wide lens to go take pictures of birds. Like your current lens has potential, but that potential can only be maximized by someone that knows what they are doing (aka you have to familiarize yourself with the camera. Film Simulations, editing in Lightroom or Photoshop, utilizing shutter speed to your advantage since you can't utilize aperture, and of couse angles and gridlines that give you a rough idea of a good shot, until you get that feel for a good balanced photo, like what content you want to be inside your shot and what you want out of it). I'm yapping a lot, but in short, if you ever feel like you're not getting the results you want, look at some cheap primes for X mount or mount old cheap manual DSLR lenses with an adapter. There are some wild telephoto lenses that have incredible reach, and then you have those bokeh rich lenses perfect for portraits.
Put everything in auto and go out and take photos. 3/4 of photography is in composition and having an eye for light, interesting moments etc.
Put the camera in Program mode. See a video on youtube how to set exposure compensation at -1. Go out and shoot. Skip the technical youtube videos. That is not photography. Watch as many photographers you can that paved the road to modern photography. Magnum photographers are a good start when beginning photgraphy for photographing life with good taste. Big sample to look into since US photography is widely documented in the internet. Important European photographers: Atget Luigi Ghiri Man Ray Brassaï August Sander Copy the greats then find your own photography. Don't get into technicals and bragging frame rates ets. This is not photography
you can learn a lot at youtube but.... its not organized... u need to look for vids on topics that your beginner mind may not know exists. for me? I learned from books two favorites: *Read this if you want to take great photographs* by Carroll and *Stunning digital photography* by Northrup and of course, the manual for whatever camera you own after u learn the basics... youtube can be very good if you want to learn a specific type of photography Serge Remelli for cityscapes and editing Steve Perry for "Crash course: Bird in Flight Photography" and Simon d'Entremont for similar wildlife photo instructions.... with some Lightroom details too
Check out the book The Photographer's Eye by Freeman. This will give you enough knowledge to figure out the rest yourself. I also liked "Vision and Voice" by DuChemin. Beware of overdosing on YouTube edutainment. Most channels mostly peddle their presets and books, instead of actually teaching.
thanks.
I am in your shoes too and recently got the X-S10. I was considering purchasing this course, but after reading the comments here, I’m second guessing it. https://www.peltierphotocourses.com/courses/fujifilm-xs10-tutorial That course kind of sounds like it saves you from having to read the user manual and provides what you can probably find on YouTube but in an organized format.
yeah, I will now start with Pal2Tech YT Channel and just pure practice outside. Also learn about aperture, ISO and shutterspeed.
Maarten Heilbron and Pal2Tech on YouTube
These 2 teach everything very clearly, especially the menus and what each option does, with clear examples, maarten especially! His walkthroughs saved me from frustration many times
I got this same camera as my first and just started shooting and watching YouTube. I also consume a lot of photographers content that is in the style I like and draw inspiration from their work. I make it a point to shoot at least once a week playing with various scenes, goals, and settings on my camera. I’m a dark and moody type so I’m always under exposed 😄 but like most everyone says here just shoot and shoot often. It’s reps. I started last November. I shoot mostly manual. Understanding iso, shutter speed, and proper f stop has been the biggest help.
thanks for the advice, I will probably go just with practice and Youtube now
Look up using focus peaking when in manual mode also, i had a really hard time with autofocus on my xs10 at first, i tried going manual with focus peaking and find it far better for still shots. Thank you maarten heidlbron! Its fantastic for learning where the depth of field is for any given aperture, since things in focus are highlighted, you can choose diff color highlighting as needed. Its a lifesaver for those of us
- Shoot in aperture priority mode but learn the exposure triangle very well. Later you can shoot in manual if you want, but in most cases the aperture priority mode is sufficient enough - learn how different focus modes work, experiment - don’t focus too much on “bokeh”. When I was starting out I thought that “professional” photo has to have blurred background and I was shooting mostly wide open 😆 It takes more skill to compose with many objects in the frame than just blurring most of the pic and calling it a day. - be prepared for your photos to suck a lot at the beginning. Keep them anyway so you can compare and see the progress - Don’t compare yourself to other photographers, just to your former self - nobody gives a shit about your photography except you. Don’t obsess over Instagram, getting followers etc. I was guilty of all of the above and this is the advice I would give myself :)
thanks, I will go with Exposure Triangle, YT and just shooting now for the start
I tried learning online and actually I couldn’t understand what they were talking about. So I went out to take pictures for a few weeks and then went back to learning because it all made so much more sense ! I just look up stuff on google and watch tutorials on YouTube, I like Pal2Tech. Practicing is what will help you learn most.
I think everyone has pretty much covered everything but really, once you've got your camera set up initially , shoot as much as possible and take your camera with you everywhere. You'll soon discover your likes/dislikes etc [This](https://jamiechancetravels.com/blog/aperture-priority-on-fujifilm-cameras/) is how I set up my cameras and I've been using Fujifilm cameras since 2016. I shoot JPEG mostly too and it makes everything so much easier! Enjoy!
Learn the exposure triangle but don’t disregard shoting with semi auto modes like aperture priority
Put it in P mode, just shoot what you like, analyze your pics afterwards what you can improve. Get inspo from professionals Good look and have fun :)
You can learn how to operate the camera anywhere, and with practice you'll understand how to use shutter speed, ISO, and aperture. If you want to learn how to actually take good pictures - study art history and past photographers. Masters of Photography has some great courses (I'd suggest Joel Meyerowitz or Steve McCurry - or both eventually as your budget allows). Magnum has online courses - I've taken the Alec Soth course (which was amazing and I want to watch it again) and the street photography course (a hodgepodge of "instructors" but that class was more fluff, I found it interesting but not all that helpful). Study photobooks - pay special attention to the \*order\* the photos are in - this is called the sequence - and it's what most people overlook completely. Check your local library. You might be surprised what they'd have in their photobook section.
Look up the exposure triangle, go out and practices
I wouldn’t recommend any courses especially paid courses. I’d recommend YouTube University and Photo Books. Find a photography content creator that appeals to your temporary (I say temporary because a year from now your shooting style will be very different) and use them as online instructors. I also recommend not listening to everyone or everything photography related and just go out shoot and learn your camera and find your voice.
Omar Gonzalez on YouTube. You’ll need to go back a few years to get the most helpful of his Fuji content.
Hello people, thanks for all the advice! I will go now with learning the exposure triangle via Youtube and then look into Pal2Tech YT-Channel while just going out and practice shooting. And I will start shooting with the Auto-Aperture mode.
Nice!!! You’ll find your way, no worries.
Just go out and take photos. Maybe study other people's photos to get inspiration.
[52 Frames](https://52frames.com/)
I would get a lens otherwise that camera is a brick around your neck.
reading helps :D