Setting up the GH4, Q Menu and Fn buttons

GH4, 14-140mm

 

The Menus of the GH4  and many other modern cameras are like a supermarket. You walk along the aisles and see a multitude of items. Some are of no interest to you but are desired by others with different preferences and practices. You can pick items from the shelves and relocate them to a more readily accessible place, such as the pantry in your kitchen,  where they are available for immediate use.

The GH4 can be considered to function similarly. The main menus are the supermarket. You can take items from the supermarket and duplicate them in the Q Menu or the Function buttons. The items remain functional in the main menus, by the way,  and can be adjusted in either location.

There are 35 items which can be allocated to the Q Menu and 55 which can be allocated to a Fn button. At first sight the decision making process might appear almost impossible. However there is a logical process which you can utilise to make the job manageable.

Newcomers to the GH4 can simply leave the Q Menu and Fn buttons at their default settings, go forth and make photos without further ado. The camera will work just fine.

There are 4 phases of camera use,

Setup, which is what we are doing right now. That is, making various menu selections which we do not expect to alter when out and about with the camera. Setup items can stay in the main menu system.

Prepare Phase  is the period of a minute or few just before a photo session. In this phase we reconfigure the camera for a new set of circumstances. It might be switching from general hand held photography to sport/action or to low light/tripod. You get the idea.

Items for adjustment in this phase can be conveniently allocated to the Q Menu. You will notice on Page 315/6 of the Manual that items which can be allocated to the Q menu are from the Rec, Motion Picture and Custom menus. There are no items from the Playback or Setup menus.

I suggest you go through the list of items for the Q menu and highlight those which you think might be useful in Prepare Phase of use.  Your selections will almost certainly change with experience.

The Q Menu can accept 15 items 5 of which can be seen at any time. Lateral scrolling is required if there are more than 5. 

You need to set the Q Menu item in the Custom Menu to Custom.

Exit the Custom Menu then press the Fn2/Q Menu button to enter the Q Menu. The process for setting up custom Q Menu items is well described on Page 315 of the Manual.

Each individual will have his or her own idea about which items to include. For the record I have Burst Rate, Self Timer, HDR, Stabiliser, Silent Mode, Auto Bracket, Peaking and Flash Adjust.

Capture Phase  Refers to the process of making pictures.  Many adjustments might be required in this phase, all of them quickly,  while looking through the viewfinder and without having to change grip with either hand.  

The Function buttons are a suitable place for adjustments required in Capture Phase.

Some of these adjustments have already been assigned to hard controls which cannot be changed. These are the Drive Mode dial, Focus Mode lever,  WB, ISO and +/- buttons and the Video Start button.

I suggest you look through the list on Page 318 of the Manual and think about which items you might like to adjust in Capture Phase.  Each individual will have a different idea about this. That is the point of a camera like the GH4, everybody gets to design their own personalised user interface.

There are 5 hard Fn buttons and, if the touch screen is active 5 more soft buttons.

For the record, my allocations are:

Fn1, Picture Quality

Fn2, Q Menu

Fn3, Autofocus Mode

Fn4, Level Gauge

Fn5, E-Shutter

I don't  use the touch screen.

The 4th phase of use is Review which is not particularly relevant to Q Menu or Fn button task allocations.

Notwithstanding the long list of tasks which can be allocated to the Q Menu or Function buttons there are still two which I use which require a trip to the main menus. These are Format (last on the Setup Menu list) and Shutter Delay which is on page 4/7 of the Rec Menu.  If I know I will be doing long exposure tripod work later in the evening I go into the Rec Menu, scroll down to highlight the Shutter Delay tab then exit by pressing Fn4.  This camera has Menu Resume which means that when I do want to access Shutter Delay I just need to press the Menu/Set button once and the menu system will open at the Shutter Delay tab.

Next,  some thoughts about setup switching for different subject scenarios.