The Film Dial, which was introduced on the Fujifilm X-T50 and is now also found on the Fujifilm X-M5, is a lot of fun. Some people don’t like it, and that’s ok. Not every camera is for everyone, and not every feature is for everyone. It’s one of Fujifilm’s most contentious features. Personally, I like the Film Dial—it’s very useful when combined with my universal Film Dial Recipe, but, perhaps more important, it’s enjoyable.
A few days ago was Halloween. My four kids dressed up, and we went to a nearby family member’s house to pass out candy and trick-or-treat. My oldest daughter was Wednesday from The Addams Family. My oldest son was Waldo. My youngest son was a Fortnight character. And my youngest daughter was Cinderella. We passed out candy before walking around the neighborhood. It was a ton of fun!
Since it was going to be dark—starting right at sunset and continuing into the night—I wanted to use a fast lens, so I borrowed my wife’s Fujinon 56mm f/1.2 (the new version). That’s one of my favorite lenses—it has such fantastic image quality—but since it’s not mine, I don’t always get to use it. I debated between cameras, but went for the Fujifilm X-T50 because it is more lightweight and compact than the X-T5, and has IBIS, which the X-E4 does not. For this particular purpose, it seemed Goldilocks.
I only used the Film Dial Recipe that night, and turned the knob to different film simulations depending on the light, subject, and situations. The great thing is that you get a real-time preview of what the picture will look like, so you can quickly change the film sim to better match the scene, and see what each will produce. I used Classic Negative the most, but also Classic Chrome, Reala Ace, Eterna, Nostalgic Neg., and Acros+R. It worked out really well for documenting our spooky Halloween celebration.
