Setup walkthrough·Document 4 of 21·From the GFX 100S II field guide
C2 Portrait
— Menu Setup Guide
C2 is the bank where the GFX 100S II makes its strongest claim to being irreplaceable. At f/1.7 on the GF 80mm at medium format sensor size, the quality of optical separation — the transition from focused to unfocused, the way a face exists in tonal space against what surrounds it — is not achievable from any other configuration in this system or most systems at any price. The depth of field at f/1.7 on a close portrait subject is measured in millimetres. A subject who breathes, shifts weight, or turns their head by five degrees moves the iris plane out of the acceptable sharp zone. Every C2 setting exists to address this single fundamental constraint: precise, sustained focus on a moving human eye, at an aperture where the margin for error is smaller than the eye itself.
GF 100-200mm F5.6 note: this is not a C2 portrait-bank lens. Use it only for distant environmental portrait compression, stage-side portraits, or restricted-access situations where the subject is physically beyond the 80mm/45-100mm working envelope. In that case, treat it as a C3/C4-style long-reach choice rather than changing the core C2 doctrine: higher minimum shutter speed, OIS/IBIS ON handheld or monopod, and no expectation of the 80mm's f/1.7 optical transition.
How to use this document
Use this while configuring the active bank directly on camera in menu order.
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| # | Setting | C2 Value | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IMAGE SIZE | Full · 102 MP | Skip |
| 2 | IMAGE QUALITY | RAW | Confirm |
| Universal base. Portrait work at f/1.7 demands maximum post-processing latitude for skin tone, shadow detail, and highlight recovery from backlit or windowlit scenarios. The RAF file retains everything the sensor captured. Any JPEG interpretation of skin tone at this aperture is a commitment made in the field that cannot be undone. | |||
| 3 | RAW RECORDING Two sub-settings: compression + bit depth | LOSSLESS · 16-bit | Confirm |
| Universal base. Portrait work — particularly with window light, mixed interior sources, or deliberately low-key lighting — occupies some of the most demanding tonal territory in photography. Skin in the upper midtone zone against a deep shadow background requires every tonal step the sensor can record. 16-bit gives 65,536 steps per channel. At the fine gradations of a lit face in a dark room, those additional steps are the difference between a smooth tonal transition and banding. | |||
| 4 | SELECT JPEG/HEIF | — | Skip |
| 5 | FILM SIMULATION | ASTIA / SOFT | Set |
| Why Astia over Provia or Classic Chrome for portrait preview: Astia slightly compresses midtones and softens its highlight roll-off — giving a preview that more accurately represents how the 80mm renders at wide apertures. At f/1.7, bright skin tones in the upper midtone zone can appear falsely optimistic in a Provia preview: the RAW file is closer to clipping than the preview suggests. Astia's compressed rendering brings the preview closer to the processed output, helping you read exposure and tonal atmosphere more accurately in the field. The RAW file is unaffected — Astia governs the preview only. | |||
| 6 | MONOCHROMATIC COLOR | — | Skip |
| 7 | GRAIN EFFECT | OFF | Confirm |
| Grain in the preview obscures your ability to read the fine tonal gradations of skin — the exact zone where the 80mm at f/1.7 delivers its most distinctive output. A preview with grain overlay cannot tell you whether the lit cheek is within the recoverable highlight zone or just outside it. OFF for clean signal. | |||
| 8 | COLOR CHROME EFFECT | OFF | Confirm |
| # | Setting | C2 Value | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | COLOR CHROME FX BLUE | OFF | Confirm |
| 10 | SMOOTH SKIN EFFECT | OFF | Confirm |
| OFF — and this matters more than it might appear. Smooth Skin Effect applies frequency-selective blur to detected skin tones in the JPEG preview. With it active, the preview lies about the actual skin texture state of the RAW file — it shows smoother skin than the file contains, making it impossible to accurately evaluate whether your focus is landing precisely on the iris and whether skin texture is rendering as intended. The effect also has no impact on the RAW file. Keep the preview honest. | |||
| 11 | DYNAMIC RANGE | 100% | Confirm |
| Universal. DR200%+ raises the minimum ISO — particularly damaging for portrait work where base ISO is already being pushed upward by the 1/200s minimum shutter speed in low light. DR expansion at the expense of a higher ISO floor in portrait work is never the correct trade. | |||
| 12 | D RANGE PRIORITY | OFF | Confirm |
| 13 | WHITE BALANCE Select AUTO → choose Ambience Priority sub-option | AUTO · AMBIENCE PRIORITY | Set |
| Ambience Priority for portrait — warm over clinical. Standard AWB corrects tungsten and warm interior lighting toward neutral white, rendering skin tones in a cooler, more clinical tone that the eye does not actually perceive in that environment. Ambience Priority preserves the warmth of interior, candle, and tungsten light — matching more closely the tonal quality the scene actually had. For RAW workflow, WB is metadata and fully adjustable in post; but a warm starting reference in the field helps you evaluate skin tone rendering and tonal atmosphere accurately during the session. In daylight or flash-lit studio work: switch to Custom WB from a grey card for maximum accuracy and consistency across the session. | |||
| 14 | TONE CURVE Two sliders: Highlights and Shadows | H: −1 · S: 0 | Set |
| Preview only — the RAW file is unaffected. A slight −1 Highlight compression in the Astia preview helps you read the transition zone near blown highlights on lit skin. At f/1.7 in a window-lit or tungsten-lit environment, the brightest lit portion of the face — a cheekbone catching a window, a specular on a forehead — can appear safely within range in the preview while the RAW is closer to clipping than you realise. The −1 compression rolls the brightest tones back slightly in the preview, giving you an earlier visual warning of the region where you need to watch the histogram carefully. Shadows remain at 0 — portrait shadows in the RAW contain real depth that a shadow lift would falsify. | |||
| 15 | COLOR | 0 | Confirm |
| 16 | SHARPNESS | 0 | Confirm |
| # | Setting | C2 Value | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | HIGH ISO NR | −4 | Set |
| Universal base. In portrait work, the −4 setting is particularly important: the 80mm f/1.7 at base ISO in controlled light will show almost no noise — the preview and the file agree. But in lower-light portrait sessions where ISO rises to 800–3200, the −4 setting ensures the preview honestly represents the noise state of the file. If the skin texture at ISO 3200 looks rough in the preview, the RAW is rough — add more light rather than pretending the file is cleaner than it is. | |||
| 18 | CLARITY | 0 | Confirm |
| 19 | LONG EXPOSURE NR | OFF | Confirm |
| 20 | LENS MODULATION OPTIMIZER | ON | Confirm |
| LMO corrects for peripheral focus falloff and diffraction using GF-lens-specific profiles. For the 80mm at f/1.7–f/2, it primarily addresses the subtle falloff at the frame edges where the shallow depth of field and wide aperture combine to reduce corner resolution. Always ON. | |||
| 21 | COLOR SPACE | ADOBE RGB | Confirm |
| 22 | PIXEL MAPPING | — | Skip |
| 23 | EDIT / SAVE CUSTOM SETTING | ← Use last | Later |
| 24 | AUTO UPDATE CUSTOM SETTING | DISABLE | Critical |
| Universal critical. Portrait sessions involve real-time adjustments — exposure compensation for changing light, occasional ISO override. With ENABLE, every such adjustment overwrites the bank silently. DISABLE protects the bank. Any deliberate change to C2's configuration must be saved intentionally via EDIT/SAVE CUSTOM SETTING. | |||
| # | Setting | C2 Value | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | MOUNT ADAPTOR SETTING | — | Skip |
The DC motor constraint — read before configuring AF. The GF 80mm F1.7 focuses using a DC motor, not a linear motor. DC motors are precise but deliberate — they do not have the instant-response character of the linear motors in the GF 20-35mm, GF 45-100mm, or GF 100-200mm. In AF-C at f/1.7, the DC motor's focus tracking loop can introduce subtle oscillation: the focus plane shifts slightly around the target rather than locking cleanly. At 102 MP, this oscillation is visible at print scale even when it appears sharp at 1:1 on screen. The C2 AF strategy accommodates this: AF-C with Eye Detection for sessions where the subject moves freely; AF-S Single Point directly on the near iris for controlled sessions where maximum precision is the priority. Know which mode the session demands before you begin.
| # | Setting | C2 Value | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FOCUS AREA Position set in live view with focus lever | — | Skip |
| 2 | AF MODE | WIDE / TRACKING | Set |
| Wide/Tracking with Face/Eye Detection as the default C2 AF mode. Combined with Face Detection ON and Eye Auto (configured below), Wide/Tracking allows Face and Eye Detection to drive the AF point selection across the full frame. You retain compositional freedom — you do not need to centre the subject to lock focus, then recompose. The camera identifies the face, locks the near eye, and tracks it as the subject moves within the frame. For a portrait session where the subject is actively moving, turning, or working in different positions across the frame, this is the correct configuration. When to switch to Single Point instead: for fully static subjects (a subject seated and still, looking directly at camera), switch to AF-S Single Point placed precisely on the near iris via the focus lever. The DC motor is more accurate in AF-S than in AF-C — at f/1.7, this precision difference is visible in the final file. | |||
| 3 | ZONE CUSTOM SETTING | — | Skip |
| 4 | AF MODE ALL SETTING | — | Skip |
| 5 | AF-C CUSTOM SETTINGS | SET 2 | Set |
| Why Set 2 for portrait: Fujifilm's SET 2 uses Tracking Sensitivity 3, Speed Tracking Sensitivity 0, and Zone Area Switching CENTER. It is tuned for subjects that move at a moderate pace with some acceleration changes. Portrait subjects turn their head, lean forward and back, and shift their weight between positions; SET 2 is measured enough for that kind of motion without the more abrupt subject-switching behavior of the sport presets. | |||
| 6 | STORE AF MODE BY ORIENTATION | ON | Confirm |
| Portrait sessions move between horizontal and vertical orientation constantly — a horizontal frame for environmental context, a vertical for a closer face composition. With STORE AF MODE BY ORIENTATION ON, the eye detection focus area does not jump to an inappropriate stored position when you rotate the camera. Particularly important at f/1.7 where any focus point displacement from the eye translates immediately into a missed shot. | |||
| 7 | AF POINT DISPLAY | — | Skip |
| 8 | WRAP FOCUS POINT | — | Skip |
| # | Setting | C2 Value | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | NUMBER OF FOCUS POINTS | 425 POINTS (17×25) | Set |
| 425 points for portrait — for the moments you need Single Point precision. Fujifilm applies NUMBER OF FOCUS POINTS to manual focus and SINGLE POINT AF, not to Face/Eye Detection or Wide/Tracking. C2 still uses the denser 425-point grid because portrait work often falls back to Single Point placement for static poses, eye-line verification, or difficult face-detection situations. It keeps the most precise manual point placement available on a 102 MP body. | |||
| 10 | PRE-AF | OFF | Confirm |
| Pre-AF continuously searches for a subject even without a half-press. With the DC motor in the 80mm, this means continuous motor activity — contributing to the slight hunting oscillation that undermines f/1.7 precision. OFF means focus engagement is deliberate: half-press to acquire, hold to track. The DC motor works most accurately when it is given a clear instruction rather than continuously searching. | |||
| 11 | AF ILLUMINATOR | OFF | Confirm |
| The AF illuminator intrudes on the portrait relationship — a visible beam projected at close range disrupts the subject's natural expression and presence. For low-light portrait work where contrast AF struggles, use a continuous light source to establish ambient contrast, or switch to MF with Focus Peak Highlight. The illuminator is never the correct solution for portrait work. | |||
| 12 | FACE/EYE DETECTION SETTING Face Detection + Eye Detection sub-settings inside | FACE DET. ON · EYE AUTO | Set |
| Face Detection ON with Eye Auto — the C2 tracking engine. With Face Detection active, the camera identifies the face within the frame and locks the detected eye using the Eye Detection sub-setting. Eye Auto selects whichever eye is closer to the lens and more prominent in the frame — the correct choice for portrait work where the compositional relationship between the subject and camera changes continuously. When to override Eye Auto: for a consistent compositional style where one eye is always dominant — a three-quarter profile series always showing the far eye, for example — switch to Left Eye Priority or Right Eye Priority to prevent the camera from switching eye selections between frames as the subject shifts slightly. The inconsistency of Eye Auto switching between the near and far eye mid-session can create discontinuity in a series. | |||
| 13 | SUBJECT DETECTION SETTING Available: Animal · Bird · Automobile · Motorcycle & Bike · Airplane · Train | OFF | Set |
| No Human category available. Face/Eye Detection above handles all intelligent human tracking. Subject Detection OFF prevents any category from competing with Face Detection for AF priority in the portrait session. | |||
| 14 | AF+MF | OFF | Set |
| AF+MF in portrait work risks accidental focus ring contact during session movement — a camera passed between hands, a repositioning while the subject is still, a moment where the ring is inadvertently touched. At f/1.7, any focus ring movement shifts the sharp plane away from the eye. OFF eliminates this risk. For the deliberate AF-S Single Point on iris workflow (static subject), switch to MF mode directly rather than relying on AF+MF. | |||
| 15 | MF ASSIST | FOCUS PEAK HIGHLIGHT | Set |
| For the deliberate MF workflow when AF is insufficient — very low light, low-contrast subject (dark eyes against dark background), or deliberate manual fine-tuning of focus position. Focus Peak Highlight shows the precise zone of sharpness as you rotate the focus ring, allowing you to place the peak highlight directly on the near iris. Combined with the Focus Check magnifier (below), this is the two-stage precision protocol for any portrait moment that demands absolute focus certainty. | |||
| 16 | INTERLOCK MF ASSIST & FOCUS RING | — | Skip |
| # | Setting | C2 Value | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | FOCUS CHECK | OFF | Set |
| Focus Check magnifies the frame after each shot. In a portrait session where the subject is actively present and the session has a natural rhythm, Focus Check breaks that rhythm — you look away from the subject for 1–2 seconds after every frame to review a magnified image, breaking eye contact and disrupting the collaborative quality of the session. The subject reads this as hesitation. OFF for C2 during active sessions. Review focus precision during natural pauses in the session — when the subject resets their position, when you adjust the light, when they take a break. Not between every frame. | |||
| 18 | INTERLOCK SPOT AE & FOCUS AREA | OFF | Confirm |
| 19 | INSTANT AF SETTING | — | Skip |
| 20 | DEPTH-OF-FIELD SCALE | — | Skip |
| 21 | RELEASE / FOCUS PRIORITY (AF-C) Confirm the AF-C row, not AF-S | RELEASE | Critical |
| Release priority for portrait AF-C — with a clear understanding of the trade. At f/1.7 with a tracking subject, there are moments when Eye Detection confirms the face but the AF confirmation is marginal — the DC motor is still settling onto the iris plane. FOCUS priority would withhold the shutter at exactly these moments. RELEASE fires, giving you the frame. At 102 MP, a slightly soft shot of the decisive expression is reviewable and selectable in post — a withheld shot of that expression is gone. Accept the trade: review every portrait session at 1:1 in Lightroom before client delivery and cull any frames where the iris is genuinely soft rather than just critically sharp. For AF-S Single Point on a static subject: set RELEASE/FOCUS PRIORITY (AF-S) to FOCUS — the opposite rule applies there. If the camera has not confirmed AF-S lock on a static subject, the shutter should wait. | |||
| 22 | AF RANGE LIMITER | Consider PRESET 1 · 0.9m – 3m | Set |
| Configure a portrait working-distance range limiter as PRESET 1. The GF 80mm's minimum focus distance is approximately 0.55m; its maximum is infinity. For a typical portrait session working at 0.9–3m from subject, restricting the focus range to 0.9m–3m prevents the DC motor from hunting through the full range when the subject moves quickly or momentarily exits the frame — the lens does not search from 0.55m to infinity, it searches within the 0.9–3m window where the subject will be. This meaningfully speeds up reacquisition. Assign the range limiter toggle to a function button so you can disable it instantly for environmental wide shots where the subject is further away. The minimum focus distance of the 80mm means this limiter is not needed for very close intimate framings — disable it if working within 1m of the subject. | |||
| 23 | TOUCH SCREEN MODE | OFF | Set |
| With Face/Eye Detection active and Wide/Tracking AF mode, accidental LCD touch during a portrait session could redirect the focus point away from the detected eye — a touch on the background shifts focus to the background. With Eye Detection handling subject acquisition, the touch screen provides no benefit and a real risk. OFF for C2. | |||
The f/1.7 failure mode — and it is not correctable in post. Eye Detection places the focus point on the eye region. The detection algorithm identifies the eye area; the AF point locks somewhere within it — not necessarily at the iris surface. At f/1.7, the depth of field on a close portrait subject is measured in millimetres. The difference between focus on the iris plane and focus on the eyelid or the bridge of the nose is approximately 3–5mm in object space — which at f/1.7 is the difference between a sharp eye and a soft eye. When iris sharpness is required, verify Eye Detection performance against a reference subject at your intended working distance before the session. In environments with low contrast between eye and iris — dark eyes in backlight, heavy shadow on the face — switch to AF-S Single Point placed manually on the near iris and verify with Focus Check before each decisive moment.
| # | Setting | C2 Value | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SELF-TIMER | OFF | Confirm |
| 2 | SAVE SELF-TIMER SETTING | — | Skip |
| 3 | SELF-TIMER LAMP | — | Skip |
| 4 | INTERVAL TIMER SHOOTING | OFF | Confirm |
| 5 | INTERVAL TIMER SHOOTING EXPOSURE SMOOTHING | — | Skip |
| 6 | INTERVAL PRIORITY MODE | — | Skip |
| 7 | AE BKT SETTING | — | Skip |
| 8 | FILM SIMULATION BKT | — | Skip |
| # | Setting | C2 Value | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | FOCUS BKT SETTING | — | Skip |
| 10 | PHOTOMETRY | MULTI | Set |
| Multi with Face Detection active — a critical interaction. When Face/Eye Detection is active in C2, the metering system automatically prioritises the detected face for exposure calculation regardless of the photometry mode technically selected. Multi metering with Face Detection gives you intelligent exposure centred on the subject's skin tone — the camera is metering for the face, not for the background or the overall scene. This is the most reliable exposure for portrait work: the subject's skin is correctly exposed, and background over- or under-exposure is managed in post. Note: this face-centred metering only applies when a face is successfully detected. If Face Detection loses the subject, Multi metering reverts to its standard full-frame averaging behaviour. | |||
| 11 | SHUTTER TYPE | E-FRONT CURTAIN (EFCS) | Set |
| E-Front Curtain Shutter for portrait — the correct default. The Electronic Front Curtain Shutter eliminates the mechanical jerk of the first shutter curtain opening. The opening curtain is electronic (no movement), while the closing curtain remains mechanical (providing clean shutter timing). This reduces vibration at the start of the exposure — useful when shooting handheld at f/1.7. Fujifilm cautions that faster EFCS shutter speeds are more likely to produce uneven exposure and altered out-of-focus rendering, and the official product spec notes that EFCS supports CL only in continuous shooting. If you need CH burst behavior, switch to Mechanical first. An 82 mm variable ND filter on the GF 80 mm is still the cleanest outdoor solution because it keeps you away from EFCS edge cases. | |||
| 12 | FLICKER REDUCTION | ALL FRAMES (indoors) / OFF (daylight) | Set |
| Portrait sessions frequently happen in interior environments under LED or fluorescent overhead lighting. In continuous burst mode at LOW (C2's drive mode), Flicker Reduction ALL FRAMES synchronises each frame to the light source's AC cycle — preventing uneven exposure across consecutive frames of the same scene. Save the bank with ALL FRAMES as the default; switch to OFF for any natural light or studio strobe session where there is no cyclic light source to sync to. | |||
| 13 | FLICKERLESS S.S. SETTING | — | Skip |
| 14 | ISO Three sub-settings: ISO value · Auto ISO max · min shutter speed | AUTO · Max 3200 · Min 1/200s | Set |
| Set ISO to AUTO. Then configure all three sub-settings carefully: — MAX SENSITIVITY: ISO 3200. The GFX 100S II delivers excellent files at ISO 3200, and with LRC AI Denoise, ISO 3200 portrait files are fully print-viable. Capping at 3200 prevents the camera from reaching ISO 6400+ where noise begins to affect skin detail resolution at 102 MP. Adjust the cap to 1600 for controlled studio light where you want the absolute cleanest files, or to 6400 for very dark interior portrait environments where you accept the aesthetic cost. — MIN SHUTTER SPEED: 1/200s — the single most critical Auto ISO sub-setting for C2. The doctrine override: AUTO min shutter speed targets roughly 1/focal length — approximately 1/100s for the 80mm. That is catastrophically insufficient at f/1.7 on a 102 MP sensor. A subject who blinks, breathes, or shifts 5mm during a 1/100s exposure shows micro-motion blur at the iris and eyelash plane at full resolution. This blur is not recoverable in post. 1/200s is the practical minimum. At f/1.7, the aperture provides such abundant light that ISO remains low (typically ISO 100–800) in any reasonable portrait environment. The cost of the 1/200s floor is negligible; the gain in critical sharpness at the eye plane is the difference between publishable and discarded frames. |
|||
| 15 | IS MODE | CONTINUOUS | Set |
| C2 portrait work is handheld. IBIS in CONTINUOUS mode stabilises the camera continuously — giving a stabilised EVF preview and compensating for hand movement throughout the shooting sequence. At f/1.7 with a 1/200s minimum shutter speed, IBIS is working on the camera-motion component of any potential blur; the subject motion component is handled by the shutter speed floor. Both must be right simultaneously for iris-sharp results. | |||
| 16 | 35mm FORMAT MODE | OFF | Confirm |
| # | Setting | C2 Value | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | WIRELESS COMMUNICATION | — | Skip |
Drive Mode is on the DRIVE button, not in the menu. Press DRIVE → select CONTINUOUS (Low). Fujifilm rates CL at 2 fps, which is still enough to catch a blink, half-smile, or turn of the head without exhausting the buffer. The GFX does not reward machine-gun portrait photography. Low burst imposes the discipline of anticipating the moment. Save this as the bank default.
Shooting mode A is set on the mode dial. Rotate to A. Set the aperture to f/2 as the C2 bank default — not f/1.7. The 80mm at f/1.7 is for the aesthetic it produces: the widest transition from focus to unfocus, the richest flare character, the most pronounced falloff. But f/2 is sharper at the focus plane with only a marginal depth of field difference at portrait distances. Save f/2 as the bank default; open to f/1.7 deliberately and knowingly when the session calls for it.
The outdoor bright-light constraint at f/1.7 — the ND filter remains the cleanest solution. At f/1.7 with base ISO 100 in direct sunlight, shutter speeds can climb into the range where Fujifilm warns EFCS is more likely to show uneven exposure or altered bokeh. An 82 mm variable ND filter reducing the entering light by 3-5 stops keeps the shutter speed in a safer range. Without it, outdoor f/1.7 portrait work may require switching to full Electronic Shutter via Fn3 and accepting rolling-shutter risk with any rapid head movement.
Flash for portrait — the one bank where it has legitimate use. C2 is the only bank in this system where flash is a genuine tool rather than an intrusion. Controlled studio strobe, a single off-camera speedlight in a softbox, or TTL on-camera fill in a difficult mixed-light environment can all be appropriate. Configure flash settings per session rather than saving a fixed flash state to the bank — the default bank state saves flash OFF, and you enable per session. Note: flash does not fire with Electronic Shutter selected. If you switch to Electronic for the EFCS ceiling reason in bright outdoor light, flash cannot be used simultaneously. Use Mechanical Shutter with flash.
| # | Setting | C2 Value | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FLASH FUNCTION SETTING | OFF (bank default) | Confirm |
| Save the bank with flash OFF as the default state. Enable and configure per session when flash is required. The bank should always open into available-light portrait mode, with flash as a deliberate per-session addition rather than a persistent state. | |||
| 2 | RED EYE REMOVAL | OFF | Set |
| Red Eye Removal is an in-camera processing step applied to the JPEG preview. For RAW portrait work, red eye correction happens in Lightroom with far greater precision and control. OFF. | |||
| 3 | TTL-LOCK MODE | — | Skip |
| 4 | LED LIGHT SETTING | — | Skip |
| 5 | COMMANDER SETTING | — | Skip |
| 6 | CH SETTING | — | Skip |
| Sub-menu | Setting | C2 Value | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sound | ELECTRONIC SHUTTER SOUND | OFF | Confirm |
| C2 uses EFCS — a hybrid shutter with a mechanical closing curtain. The closing curtain produces an audible click that is already present and appropriate for a portrait session; it signals to the subject that a frame has been made without being intrusive. The simulated Electronic Shutter sound adds nothing and should remain OFF. The mechanical click of EFCS is part of the session's rhythm. | |||
| Sub-menu | Setting | C2 Value | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Power | PERFORMANCE | NORMAL | Set |
| Normal Performance for portrait. Portrait sessions typically last 1–3 hours with natural pauses. Normal Performance provides adequate AF response speed for face and eye tracking at portrait subject tempos. High Performance (C4 mandatory) would drain the battery faster than necessary and provides no meaningful AF advantage for the subject speeds involved in portrait work. If a specific portrait session involves unusually dynamic or fast-moving subjects — a session with children, a sports portrait with athlete movement — consider enabling High Performance per-session. | |||
| Sub-menu | Setting | C2 Value | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Screen | LIVE VIEW HIGHLIGHT ALERTInside DISP. CUSTOM SETTING | ON (blinkies) | Confirm |
| At f/1.7, highlight management is more consequential than at stopped-down apertures. The wide aperture passes an enormous quantity of light — in window-lit portrait work, the transition from shadow to highlight on a face can span the full dynamic range of the sensor within a single frame. The blinkies provide a real-time warning when the brightest lit skin tones approach clipping. As with all banks, the blinkies fire at the JPEG preview point — typically 1–2 stops before actual RAW clipping. Use them as a push signal, not a hard limit. | |||
| Screen | HISTOGRAM DISPLAY (RGB)Inside DISP. CUSTOM SETTING | RGB HISTOGRAM | Confirm |
| Skin tones at warm colour temperatures can approach clipping in the red channel while luminance appears safe. The RGB histogram reveals this. Essential for warm interior and tungsten-lit portrait sessions where red-channel clipping on bright skin highlights is a genuine risk. | |||
No C2-specific network settings. For portrait sessions where a laptop review is useful, treat tethered capture as a separate workstation decision rather than a dedicated custom bank. C2 remains the shooting bank; configure review or transfer independently for that session. For wireless transfer after the session, configure Bluetooth to smartphone as normal.
Writing C2 to the camera
Confirm you are in A mode on the dial with f/2 set and CONTINUOUS (Low) drive mode active. Confirm SHUTTER TYPE = E-FRONT CURTAIN. If you intend to use CH burst instead, switch shutter type first because Fujifilm limits EFCS to CL in continuous shooting. Then navigate to H IMAGE QUALITY SETTING → Page 3/4 → EDIT/SAVE CUSTOM SETTING. Select C2. Select SAVE CURRENT SETTINGS.
Then: EDIT CUSTOM NAME → C2 → PORTRAIT.
To verify: EDIT/SAVE CUSTOM SETTING → C2 → EDIT/CHECK. Confirm: AUTO UPDATE CUSTOM SETTING = DISABLE · SHUTTER TYPE = E-FRONT CURTAIN · AF MODE = WIDE/TRACKING · AF-C CUSTOM = SET 2 · FACE DETECTION = ON / EYE AUTO · RELEASE/FOCUS PRIORITY (AF-C) = RELEASE · MIN SHUTTER SPEED = 1/200s · ISO MAX = 3200 · IS MODE = CONTINUOUS. Also remember Fujifilm's product spec limits EFCS to CL in continuous shooting; switch shutter type if you need CH.
Pre-session verification for every C2 session — five checks. (1) Verify Eye Detection performance against a reference subject at your intended working distance before approaching the actual subject — particularly in any unusual light condition. (2) Confirm Min Shutter Speed is 1/200s — not AUTO. (3) If shooting outdoors at f/1.7 or f/2 in direct sun: confirm the 82 mm ND filter is on the lens, or be ready to switch shutter type if EFCS artifacts appear at the required shutter speed. (4) Confirm the 80mm barrel is not set to any focus limiter that would prevent acquisition at your working distance. (5) Fire three test frames on the reference subject and review at 1:1 — confirm iris sharpness before beginning the session proper.
The Uganda portrait work and C2. The intimate domestic portrait series — made within acceptance, at working distances that are genuinely close — is exactly the scenario for which the 80mm at f/1.7–f/2 was designed. The subject isolation at medium format and this aperture places a face in tonal space with a quality that cannot be approximated. The reciprocal relationship that makes those images possible — photography from within hospitality rather than from observational distance — is also what makes this bank work at its best: the camera follows the moment rather than directing it. AF-C with Eye Detection is the correct configuration for that practice, not because it is fast but because it is sustained. It holds focus through the small movements, the breathing, the imperceptible turns of the head, that make a portrait session alive rather than posed.
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