Fujifilm X-H2S & X-T5 Interview Setup

The Fujifilm X-H2S is a great hybrid camera, combining powerful video features with Fujifilm's world-class photography technology. I recently used it for a triple-camera interview, paired with the X-T5 as a B-camera and the Canon R5C as an extra camera. I would recommend using the below parameters & settings when delivering in 4K.

Filters: to achieve soft skin tones on the close-ups of the interviewees, it's a good idea ​to bring some 1/8 or 1/4 Black Mist filters (or equivalent). I wouldn't use these on the wide shots as the diffusion effect applies to the whole frame which might not be useful. If your camera does not have an internal ND filter (Fujifilm cameras do not, nor does the R5C), then be sure to bring along a variable ND filter as well. This allows you to retain shallow depth of field by opening the aperture to f/1.4 (or similar) on the close-ups but not overexposing - using the ND to bring exposure down. 

Capture settings: I knew I would be delivering in 4K (UHD) in a 16:9 ratio, but also that this would be a longer interview (20+ minutes). I chose to shoot in H.265 Long GOP 422 (200mpbs) as a good compromise between compression and quality. With these settings, I managed to record 30 minutes within a 45GB file - so roughly 90GB for an hour's recording. I was shooting on a CFExpress Type B card to avoid any issues with overheating or dropped frames. The X-T5 recorded and behaved very similarly, but using SD cards (V60 II) instead.

Colour: it was tempting to shoot in FLOG2, however given the compressed codec and a number of other variables (solo shooting with 3 cameras), I decided to revert to the Nostalgic Negative film simulation with some tweaks to achieve a REC709 look that would pass for a Sony Cinetone / Canon Cinestyle look. I have never been a fan of Fujifilm's Eterna simulation, finding it too flat to deliver as is. I tweaked the colour settings to +1 (Highlights), -1 (Shadows), -2 (Colour), -4 (Sharpness). My WB was adjusted to a single value based on the colour of the lights.

Autofocus: I turned Face/Eye detection ON with the setting to AUTO, as well as enabling AF+MF to allow me to correct if needed. I usually set the AF to be quite reactive, with +1 on tracking and +5 on speed. However, it's always good to check if the focus is pulsing beforehand as some environments with many faces might distract the AF, causing it to be too reactive. In this case, I had it set to AREA with no issues. I also had peaking turned on (MF PEAK > ON) with a high visibility.

Monitoring: when using an external monitoring solution, it's important to turn ON the option for HDMI Output Setting > Info Display. Otherwise the camera will produce a "this monitor is not compatible" error. On the camera itself, I would also turn on several options: Rec Frame Indicator (red frame around the image when recording), FLOG view assist (when shooting LOG, the camera applies a LUT so you can see what it looks like), and most importantly Histogram (in Custom Display Settings - amazing for tweaking exposure). I turned Zebras off as I found them distracting, and the Histogram is a tool I have found more useful to judge exposure as it behaves like it would in an editing or grading app. 

Recording: be sure to select Card 1 > 2 so that any recording that runs long doesn't just halt capture, and continues onto the second card. Unless of course you have bigger cards and are recording one as a redundancy, for instance.

Audio: if recording directly into the camera's jack input, make sure you have selected the right option between LINE and MIC. This often causes issues that are head-scratching when in a rush but seem obvious once you realise what you've missed. It's a very rookie mistake but one that is easily made. Similarly, making sure you have plugged the jack into the INPUT jack rather than the headphones jack. For some reason, camera manufacturers haven't figured out that having these two next to each other is very confusing without clear markings. Finally, I like to set a limiter on the microphones (if possible) to -9 or -6, to ensure they don't peak. My RODE microphones also record audio to the microphone device itself, which is a great redundancy and one that often produces much better-quality audio due to the pre-amps being better. On-camera pre-amps don't tend to be very good, so if your wireless microphone pack allows you to record locally it's the preferred option. Running both works great too, that way you have redundancy. The luxury option is running all into an external recorder, but this requires coordination and syncing which is not always possible on location given your constraints.