One of the first things I do when setting up a new camera, right after switching to RAW, is to enable the grid lines on the viewfinder and the back screen. I find them very useful for composition and aligning elements within the frame when shooting. They’re also known as grid lines or grid overlays. But it took me a while to figure out how to do it on the Fujifilm X-T5. So I’m posting this here in case it helps anyone else (and to serve as a reminder for me when it comes time to shoot with the X-T6!).
The Fujifilm X-T5 has the feature to enable these grid overlays. But Fujifilm doesn’t always do things the obvious way. Like one or two other camera makers, they seem to relish being non-intuitive in some respects. Whether you want to call it quirky or an attempt to differentiate, Fujifilm just often does things differently. And that, after all, is part of the reason why some photographers love Fujifilm cameras (that, and the fact that they’re just darn good cameras!).
Enabling the grid lines feature on the X-T5 is one of those features. It makes sense once you know about it. And it’s not difficult. But it’s not necessarily obvious–at least, it wasn’t to me.
This is not unique to the X-T5. It also affects some other X-series cameras. So if you’re shooting with a Fujifilm X-series camera and having trouble enabling the grid lines in the viewfinder or back screen, this might help.
Fujifilm X-T5 Grid Overlays
The trick to know is that it’s a two-part process.
- The first is to choose the type of grid lines or, as Fujifilm calls them framing guidelines. The reason that it’s not necessarily intuitive that this might be all you have to do is that when you’re enabling the electronic level setting, it’s a single-step process and displays by default on the standard display. The framing guidelines feature doesn’t work the same way. And no, I don’t really know why the folks at Fujifilm have decided to do it this way.
- The second is to enable them on a custom display.
So here’s how to do that.
1. Select the Type of Framing Guideline
While it really doesn’t matter which way around you do these steps, I’m going to start with selecting the type of grid overlay. You can find this setting under:
Set Up (wrench/spanner icon) > Screen Set-Up > Screen Setting 2/4 > Framing Guideline
You have three options:
- Grid 9 gives you the standard “rule of thirds” grid lines.
- Grid 24 gives you a standard 6 x 4 grid.
- HD Framing gives you 16:9 guides at the top and bottom of the screen.
I have some screenshots below showing what each of these looks like.
2. Enable Framing Guidelines for Custom Display
The framing guidelines are not enabled by default in the custom display settings. That is, even though you’ve now selected the type, you still have to enable them in a separate menu setting.
You can find that under:
Set Up (wrench/spanner icon) > Screen Setting 3/4 > Disp. Custom Setting
That will take you to a list with checkboxes. Framing guideline is the top one, and you’ll notice it’s unchecked by default.
Check that by pressing the MENU/OK button on the back of the camera.
Then press the DISP/BACK button on the back of the camera to back out of the menu and save the options.
Framing Grids on the X-T5
There are three available framing grids on the Fujifilm X-T5. I’m somewhat surprised that there aren’t more options. This is not a camera that shies away from complexity, after all. And there are times when something like a golden ratio grid or even a golden spiral might come in handy for some shooters. It’s presumably something that could easily be added in a firmware update if Fujifilm were so inclined.
But here are the three grids that are available and what they look like in action:
