How I Set Up My Fujifilm for Stills
I shoot stills on the X-S20 and X-H2S, but this setup isn't tied to either body. It's built around Nostalgic Negative, so it carries across to any Fujifilm camera that has it. The goal is simple: soft colour, honest skin tones, and as few surprises as possible.
The recipe at a glance
If you only want the look, these are the settings that matter:
Film simulation: Nostalgic Negative
White balance: Auto White Priority
Dynamic range: DR200
Tone curve: Highlights -2, Shadows -2
Colour: -2
Sharpness: 0
High ISO NR: 0
Grain and Colour Chrome effects: Off
Image quality menu
Image size: L, 3:2. Full resolution, native ratio.
Image quality: Fine + RAW.
RAW recording: Lossless compressed. Same file, more space left on the card.
File format: JPEG, not HEIF. JPEG opens everywhere, which matters when you're sharing straight off the camera.
Film simulation: Nostalgic Negative. It's soft, with a bit of colour and a warm, amber lean in the shadows rather than the usual blue-green. Out of the box it's a little punchy for me, so I pull the contrast and colour back below.
Grain effect and Colour Chrome effects: Off. I'd rather the image stayed clean.
White balance: Auto White Priority. It keeps skin tones where they should be.
Dynamic range: DR200. It protects the highlights in mixed lighting. Worth knowing: DR200 needs at least double base ISO - ISO 320 on the X-S20 and X-H2S.
D Range Priority: Off. I don't need it - DR200 and the tone curve do the job.
Tone curve: Highlights -2, Shadows -2. This is where most of the softness comes from.
Colour: -2. The standard Nostalgic Negative recipe is a bit strong for my taste.
Sharpness: 0. High ISO NR: 0. Long exposure NR: Off. Lens Modulation Optimiser: Off.
Colour space: sRGB. Everything I shoot ends up on a screen.
AF/MF menu
Focus mode: AF or MF, depending on the lens.
AF point display: On. Wrap focus point: On. Number of focus points: 425.
AF illuminator: Off. It draws attention.
AF+MF: Off.
MF assist: Focus peaking, red or blue high - whichever stands out more against the scene.
Focus check: On.
Interlock spot AE and focus area: Off.
Instant AF setting: AF-S. Keep it simple.
Touchscreen mode: Off. Too easy to trigger by accident.
Shooting menu
Sports finder mode: Off. Pre-shot ES: Off.
Self-timer: Off. Self-timer lamp: On.
Photometry: Multi.
Shutter type: Electronic for events, where silence matters. Mechanical with electronic front curtain for everything else - it avoids the distortion and banding the electronic shutter can produce with fast movement or artificial light.
Interval timer exposure smoothing: Off. I don't need it.
Flicker reduction: Off. Flickerless SS setting: Off by default.
IS mode: Continuous.
Sound
All off. Always.
Buttons and dials
On the X-S20:
Left dial (unmarked): ISO, assigned in Fn settings
Rear command dial: shutter speed
Front command dial: aperture
One thing that caught me out: the front dial isn't in the Fn settings. It lives under Set Up > Button/Dial Setting > Command Dial Setting.
Setup
Shoot without lens: On. Essential for manual and adapted lenses.
Shoot without card: Off. Non-negotiable.
Which cameras
Nostalgic Negative is on the fifth-generation X-series and recent GFX bodies: the X-H2S, X-H2, X-T5, X-S20, X100VI, X-T50, X-M5, X-E5, GFX100S, GFX100 II, GFX100S II and GFX100RF. Newer bodies should have it too, so check your film simulation menu. If yours doesn't, the rest of the setup still applies - just swap in the closest simulation you have.