Using Fujifilm's PC AutoSave function

There's not a lot I don't like about my Fujifilm X-E2. The size, weight, form factor, ergonomics and IQ are all fantastic, and I adore the range-finderesque style of shooting (which is a complete surprise to me).

There are, however, a couple of features (or lack of in one case) that I am not all that crazy about. First, which I wrote about last post, is the X-E2's inability to set individual white balance shifts for each custom film setting. To be fair, this isn't just an X-E2 issue, and was only recently fixed with the X-Pro 3 and X100V. Still, I wish the X-E2 had this ability.

Second, due to its X-Trans II sensor, the X-E2 doesn't have the Acros film simulation, and nor does it have any Grain setting for the film recipes. If I am going to stick to shooting in Jpeg-only going forwards (which remains to be seen), these are two settings I would dearly love to have. As much as I adore the X-E2 in most other respects, these omissions have me seriously considering upgrading to the X-E3.

And third, I'm not a huge fan of the positioning of the SD card underneath the camera right next to the battery. For a couple of reasons. Primarily, it's fiddly to get the card out with the battery in place, and even worse if the extra grip is attached. Fuji's own accessory grip for the X-E2 covers the battery compartment completely and so needs to be removed every time you need to change battery or SD card. I also have a third party grip which is better, in that it does have a cut-out so the door can be opened without complete removal of the grip. However, it makes the hole quite a bit deeper and therefore even more difficult to get you fingers in to eject the card. Sigh...

While not much can be done to fix my first two gripes (other than an upgrade to the X-E3 or X-Pro 3... yes please), my final issue does actually have a work-around - especially if you're shooting jpeg-only. It's a brilliant solution called PC AutoSave, and basically uses your home wi-fi connection to transfer all the images from the card to your computer wirelessly.

I recall a couple of years ago investigating whether this could be done on my Olympus OM-D EM5 MkII. I think that I had seen on some promotional material at the time that this feature was available on the Fuji's - so I presumed that since the E-M5 MkII had wi-fi connectivity, that it could do it as well. But alas, it couldn't. I actually wrote about my frustration with this at the time here.

In the ensuing couple of years, I'd obviously forgotten about this feature on the Fuji system (I'm getting old), and haven't been utilising it at all. Something (don't ask me what) jogged my memory the other day when I had returned from a quick shoot with the X-E2 at the Cobden Lagoon (see last post). As I was preparing to fight yet again with the camera to give up its SD card I suddenly thought "Hang on a minute. Can't you download these images over wi-fi?" And the answer is 'yes', you can.

It's pretty strtaight-forward as well (thanks Fujifilm). Just download the Fujifilm PC AutoSave App on your PC or laptop, open the software on the computer, and follow the prompts. You will first have to set your camera up to 'Save to PC' in its wi-fi settings, and then connect the camera to your home wi-fi network. But once you've achieved these simple tasks (the software walks you through the process) the rest is plain sailing. Point the software to the folder you want to use as the 'download' folder, hit enter when the camera asks you if you want to transfer the files to your PC, and bingo - away it goes. Brilliant!

Honestly, this is the answer to all my prayers (in-so-far as the SD card issues are concerned). With wireless transfer of images to my computer, I need never take the 64GB SD card out of the camera ever again! And you only have to go through the (relatively painless) rigmarole of setting it up once. Next time you come back from shooting, set the camera to 'Image Preview' mode, press the wi-fi button, and the camera should pair up to the computer automatically.

It's a great system for someone shooting Jpeg-only, with 'relatively' small file sizes. I'd imagine that if you were shooting RAW + Jpeg and came back from a wedding with a full 64GB card (or two), then it might take quite some time to transfer them all over wi-fi. In that scnario, perhaps the old-fashion card reader might still be the better option? But for one or two hundred Jpegs transferred over wi-fi, the wait time isn't too horrendous.

Fortunately, after file transfer is complete, the camera disables the wi-fi connection automatically. You should, however, make sure that you have a reasonably full battery in the camera during image downloading, since the camera - not surprisingly - needs to be 'on' during the process.

This all may be old-hat to many of you who have been using Fuji cameras fro a while. But for me, it's been almost revolutionary! I've never been able to do this with any other camera that I've owned - although I wanted to with the Olympus's and couldn't understand why they didn't.

If, like me, you've been fiddling about getting the SD cards out of the slot next to the battery chamber, then fiddle no more! Download Fujifilm's PC AutoSave app and enjoy the liberating experience of wireless image transfer! What a relief.

My new Computer is a PC!

The title of this post might not seem very controversial, but for someone like me who has been a die-in-the-wool Mac user for the last 20 years, it’s something akin to sacrilege!

I’ve wanted to upgrade my existing iMac for a few years now. It was a very old Intel iMac 20” – one of the original white models, that was struggling to run my Adobe products with its maxed out 4Gb of RAM and 2Ghz processor. I couldn’t upgrade it to the latest OS, and had to make a cup of coffee waiting for the machine to start up. So yeah, it was time for a change. Get a new Mac then, right?

Generally, the answer would have been yes – without hesitation. But a couple of things had happened in the last year that gave me serious pause. First, for over a year now I have been using a PC at my graphic design day-job. And really enjoying it. It didn’t take me long at all to get used the Windows operating environment, and the machine is super quick and incredibly stable. More stable, in fact, than the new iMac I was using in my previous job. 

Second, and perhaps more telling, was Apple’s decisions around some of their software and hardware that I’m not particularly happy with. I’m not going to lie – Apple’s decision to stop supporting Aperture upset me – a lot. I still don’t really understand their reasoning and am quite angry about it. Which may seem very petty, and maybe it is. But it has also come on the back of what I see as a major lack of interest shown by Apple to their desktop computer users. It seems to me (and others), that Apple are far more concerned with selling the next iteration of the iPhone and iPad than they are with the iMac – and from Apple’s perspective, probably with good reason. They don’t sell 6 million iMac’s in the first week of a new release, but are practically guaranteed these sales figures when the next iPhone is released. So fair enough – for Apple it makes perfect business sense.

But I’m still of an age where I want to work from a home desktop computer for most of my design and photography work. I need to see that there is a future in my chosen system, and I just don’t get that anymore from Apple.

I decided, therefore, to take a very serious look at Windows PC desktops. And the more I looked into it, the more excited I got about actually being able to build my own system – from scratch, with individual components I could hand-pick myself depending on my budget. The complete antithesis of Apple’s pre-configured iMac.

As a photographer and graphic designer, I’m not intimidated by technology, or a hands-on, do-it-yourself type of approach. In fact, I prefer it. So in the end, the decision was actually quite easy, and I literally gave my iMac away while I began my search for the computer parts I would need for a custom build.

All the components laid out on the table before the big build.

Budget is always the biggest constraint in any technology purchase. There is the system I would like to have, and then there’s the system I can afford. After a lot of reading, internet searching and online watching, I decided to go with an AMD system that represented best-bang-for-the-buck. I purchased the AMD A8 7600 3.8Ghz Kaveri APU with a Gigabyte FM2+ motherboard supporting 4k displays, 8 Sata3 6Gb connections, USB 3.1 and 16GB’s of RAM, with a 240GB SSD drive for the operating system (Windows 10) and a Western Digital Black 1TB HDD for extra storage. I also installed a DVD optical drive, internal card reader, and went with a 20” Asus LCD monitor. All for about $850NZ. And the fun part – my son and I got to build it ourselves!

Because it was our first ever PC build, we took it slowly – checking everything three or four times to make sure we got it right. So the build took us about three hours. But it was three hours well spent, and when we fired it up and installed the OS, everything worked perfectly.

The inside of the case all complete and cable-managed.

The allure of Apple is not as strong for me as it used to be. I was a die-hard iPhone user, now I have a Samsung Android phone. I was a card-carrying iMac disciple, now I’ve build my own PC. And I don’t even own an iPad (although my wife does). My 16 year old daughter has just started her first ever part time job, working at McDonalds, and she’s saving up for – guess what – an Apple iPhone. Probably the new i7. 

Me? Well, I think she’s crazy (but all her friends have them – so there you go). The next phone I get will almost certainly be running Android– or maybe even Windows? Guess that makes me an ex-Apple fan boy? Truth be told, I can’t ever see myself going back! Alas, poor Apple, I knew it well…..