ACTION SHOTS AF-TEST
Which mirrorless camera has really the fastest AF? Is it the [shoplink 21553]X-T1[/shoplink], the [shoplink 17516]Olympus OM-D E-M1[/shoplink], the [shoplink 22210]Sony A6000[/shoplink] or the [shoplink 24784]Panasonic GH4[/shoplink]? And how do they compare to a $7000 speed monster camera like the [shoplink 24785]Nikon D4S[/shoplink]?
Chris (camerastoreTV) compared them all in this video.
The Fuji X-T1 was tested with the [shoplink 12892]55-200 zoom lens[/shoplink] and the [shoplink 14969]95MB/s UHS-I SD card[/shoplink].
And no, the X-T1 still can’t break the speed records of the two M43 cameras (Olympus and Panasonic), and also the A6000 (with a wider sensor area covered with phase detection pixels) is faster than the X-T1. Chris says that
“the X-T1 is perfectly capable of tracking moving subjects, it’s just when push comes to shove, it kind of slips a little bit. […] Sometimes it has a slow and hard time trying to get the initial focus. Once it does, it’s ok.“
And is the death of DSLR’s really near? Well, if you compare DSLRs and mirrorless in the same price range, then it really seems so. Mirrorless is better. Chris says:
“Mirrorless cameras are all amazing nowadays. This is really the last bastion that DSRL’s held, quick focussing and shooting.
But fact is that all mirrorless cameras we tested today are faster than any DSLR in their price range.
The fact is, mirrorless cameras are only getting better, and they are already outcompeting a lot of their competition. If your going to spend $7000 on a DSLR you’ll get the best of the best, but otherwise, look to mirrorless. These cameras can really handle their own.”
AF tracking test
– Here is another AF tracking test, this time with the 18-55 kit lens.
LOW LIGHT AF TEST
And since we are comparing AF-speed, here is another video of eyalg. He compared the [shoplink 16816 ebay]Panasonic GX7[/shoplink], X-T1 and Sony A6000 in low light conditions.
In this case, the X-T1 is faster than the A6000, but slower than the GX7.
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88 Responses
I thought it was a very fair comparison and it’s just a pity the X-T1 didn’t perform better. Fujifilm always seem to be able to resurrect themselves through regular firmware updates. So I think the X-T1 could have some room for improvement.
I like The Camera Store’s reviews a lot. Unbiased and informative.
Not really. They don’t think about DOF and for the D4s the test was much harder than it was for every other camera.
They had should done the test with f/5.6 on the D4, f/4 on the X-T1 and a6000 and f/2.8 on the Oly and Pana. That’s by the way the reason why the Nikon 1 beats everything when it comes to AF: the DOF covers every possible AF failure 😉
It’s not only the DOF. A 50mm requires less movement to focus than a 100mm.
Agree. That’s the reason why the XF 14mm is the fastest in AF in Fuji Land.
Sorry, I wasn’t referring to the D4s.
This was about people who pick up the camera and shoot moving targets with a mirrorless camera, not about depth of field at all. Fast-focus & tracking in good light conditions.
It’s about people who want to consider a mirrorless camera for action photography. He didn’t sit there doing math to work out what depth of field and how much light will be hitting the sensor, because that’s not how those cameras will be used in the real world.
We know about the specs and their pros/cons already.
We know the reasons why a smaller sensor is better for certain things (in ideal light).
It wasn’t about why, it was about focus & tracking out in the field.
If you think like that, than nothing beats a iPhone 5s or a Samsung S5 when it comes to AF on mirrorless cameras 😀
Much faster as everything else and DOF don’t matter, right?
Yeh, look, I do get your point.
But how was Chris from The Camera Store supposed to compare these cameras?
he did all right , nothing wrong with the video, just those unhappy D-SLR fanboys cannot admit it.
Yeah that must be the reason why all the pros use DSLRs for sport shootings. Damn stupid fanboys 😀 😀
I photograph sports, and I usually do it wide open at a fixed aperture of f/2.0 or f/2.8, unless it’s extremely bright.
I am concerned about getting the shot at the best speed possible, not the DoF so much.
The BS about fastest autofocus usually doesn’t matter since that’s not available when tracking. When I’m using a mirror-less body, I have to change my method to get the shots.
we all know Chris and Jordan are pretty fair to all, and their vids are all well filmed.
Nothing comparable/available from Fuji for…
1) Macro work as my Nikkor 70-180mm or Sigma 150mm macro lenses.
2) Motorsport work like my Nikkor 70-300mm afs vr lens.
3) low light shallow depth of field work like my Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 lens either…
Great as a daily carry camera though.
Does Nikon make an 85mm f/1.2?
Ummmmmmmmmmm… no.
How these cameras are supposed to be better (or equally good) AF wise than a d7100, 7d or even a d300s or a used d700 (all in this price range or lower) is beyond me…. Not to mention that they don’t have to be half as accurate with lots of DOF to compensate for any focusing errors.
How does the X-T1 have more DOF than the D7100, 7D or D300s?
Sorry that was inaccurate. I was referring to the m43 cameras which scored better. The x-t1 using a similar lens would have the same DOF as any APS-C camera.
Thought so. That comment should be at the respective post on 43rumors: http://www.43rumors.com/thecamera-store-tv-autofocus-shootout-gh4-is-damn-close-to-the-6500-nikon-d4s/
They will hate you for it but that is where it belongs. 😉
And have you done the math if it is really more than double the DOF?
No, it is more like 1.3 = 2 * 2/3 = 2 * 1/1.5. (The last is the reciproce for APSC to FF and then you multiply by 2 for FF to MFT.)
What as 1.3?
in terms of speed or accuracy or lowlight focusing or what?
unless you specify it you cannot discuss it. but one thing you all know is D-SLR AF or any D-SLR tech in not much advancing , and as you mentioned D300s and D700 basically share the same core AF tech as the D800E or the D4. the D4s has better AF but not vastly better , just barely better.
I cannot comment on the 5DMK3 AF since I have never used it in serious work or in lowlight.
So what’s the problem with these cameras? Owning a d700 and d300s I can tell you that they sport a highly capable Autofocus system which will get you the shot in most situations if handled correctly and which even works very well in auto mode since it recognizes skin colors. Not something I can say about my x100s and I don’t expect the x-t1 to be worlds apart from it. Regarding revolutionary Phase detect Autofocus advancements, I guess that you will have to wait another 1,5 years for the d5 to arrive.
The big question is: Did Camera Store use the X-T1 high performance mode in this AF test??
I didn’t use high performance in my test with the A6000 and GX7,
so I checked now how big a difference this makes over AF – didn’t see any significant improvement.
-eyalg
Same question.
The X-T1 is in manual mode! It is not comparable to the others.
I have an X-E2 with the same AF system and fair enough for me (street, fashion, travel photography). I think this cameras isn’t made for sports photography. It’s a different category as the Leica made cameras for street photographers, Hasselblad made cameras for studio photographers, etc, etc…
It’s all about the ratio of performance to size & weight for me . . . and my X-T1 comes out favourably on a lot of occasions vs. my big DSLRs, even if the DSLRs are still fractionally faster. As for the CSC competition, I paid my money and made my choice, and I’m not regretting choosing the Fuji system over the others.
Why is it that the amateur AF-test videos always seem to be out of focus. 😉
And why is it that it’s rarely mentioned much of the AF is down to the LENS.
{We’ve shot a lot of cameras, so I think we know what we are talking about….}
So to keep things fair we are going to shoot with the top-of-the-line $2400 70-200mm for the Nikon – the top-of-the-line $1500 35-100mm for the Olympus and Panasonic – the top-of-the-line $1500 70-200mm for the Sony – and the consumer grade $600 55-200mm for the Fuji… we will be using the same memory card for all the cameras so no one has an advantage over another, so lets get started!
…and the Fuji didn’t perform quite as good as the others – um, duh…
BTW, unless they evaluated images they didn’t show in the video the ranking would be D4, Fuji, Sony, Olympus, Panasonic based on which and how many appeared the sharpest in the video – regardless of whether one camera may have gotten off a few more frames than another..
Personally I would rather have the higher hit rate even if it means a couple less frames taken.
Well, the Fuji doesn’t yet have “pro” zoom, so even though it is not the camera’s fault, that’s what you can achieve with the system today. I would say it is a fair test of the system.
Exactly. It is the best tool for the job, that Fuji is able to provide at this time. Also, some people probably took the D4 being there a bit too serious. No one (except the people who has been praising how mirrorless cameras are currently on par with DSLRs in every way) expected that the D4 would place anywhere else but first. Well, actually it was not even involved in the “ranking”, since it was there only to demonstrate the difference.
So to be fair (as in price point, equipment tier, etc) they should have dropped down on the lenses used for the other brands.. I mean the foundation of the comparison was ‘if your going to spend $xxx’ and in that context the Fuji technically should have been left out being ~$1000 less of a kit due to the lower grade lens..
heh, or praised for how competitive it is with a $1000 cheaper lens!
Well then the test should have been a $650 Fuji vs a $650 m43’s vs $650 Sony (as it was the cheapest in the bunch too).
I mostly agree and they should have have added a disclaimer but the fact is that there wasn’t really any alternative Fuji lens. We’re still waiting for the F/2.8 lenses to arrive and hopefully they will do a better job.
They also mention the initial AF lock which I agree with. I have the XF 18-55mm and 56mm lenses and the time it takes to initially grab focus is too long. Once it’s finally locked on, the C-AF works pretty well in my experience.
I personally have not had any issues with af performance. I mean its not as fast as my dslr bodies, but I didn’t expect it to be. I have the 18-55mm and 23mm, and with either the XT1 finds focus and locks faster than my brothers Sony or my sisters Olympus – in all focus modes – even in the instances they have said theirs feels faster, the Fuji has a much higher hit ratio and that is more important to me.
And if you’re shooting portraits of people, the Fuji has the added advantage of face detection; so you can recompose your frame to your heart’s content and maintain focus on the person’s face (no more focus and recompose or fiddling with focus points). That’s something no DSLR gives you.
Actually the Canon 1Dx has face recognition that works amazingly well even in a very dark venue (I shoot small music venues where lighting is quite bad).
different aperture should have been used for this tests on focus speed right in view of the different sensor sizes?
Cameras have been focusing wide-open since the 80s, the aperture only ‘activates’ when you take the shot. This ‘auto aperture’ was a big thing back then .. now we take it for granted. In any case, it’s not a lab test .. this is practical use. Meaning anyone would try and get the most out of what you’ve got, exploit every advantage, isn’t that the whole point of tests and decisions?
Correction: they’ve been focusing wide-open since the ’70s.
For me as an amateur the test was fine. If I would want shallow DOF in action shots I guess I would go FF with PDAF and OVF, wouldn’t I? But if I only want the action to be in focus, I will be glad the the increased DOF helped me to achieve that. Hell, as long as the kid, bird, bike, … is sharp, I would be fine with. But again, I am an amateur and the action shots will only be for my own pleasure. 😀
PS: Any, hating or blaming against me being a poor photographer or so will be uncommented. I don’t need pros to tell me something. Instead, appreciate what Fuji has achieved in 2 years and enjoy your cameras!
“Enjoy your cameras!” Amen to that Surab. We all suffer from G.A.S. from time to time. But we need to just go out and shoot. Find clients, friends or family and just use your tool of choice and give to people the gift of photography. Its the best time to be a photographer.
Graham,
This article is very interesting and I’ve also found that the X-T1 is able enough at tracking moving subjects. I recently took a trip to Hamburg in Germany to photograph trains. This has been a hobby of mine for far longer than I will admit to. It’s not main stream and is very different to most of the photography that gets discussed in this forum. I’ve always used DSLR cameras and I would normally use a 5Dmk.3 and a 5Dmk.2. Both cameras are very able and focus on moving subjects (for me) very well. This time, I took my new X-T1 with 18-55 and 55-200. The reason being that I wanted to travel light and avoid having to un-shoulder my backpack every time I wanted to photograph something. The latter reason often leading to missed opportunities. I was really pleased with the AF performance of the camera; even on subjects moving at faster than 60 mph. I managed to nail some really challenging subjects at speed and in some cases in pretty low light at ISO6,400. The camera did take some getting used to, but I expected that. It was a bit of a problem starting the camera and getting the continuous AF to wake up from a cold start and I did miss quite a few shots until i got used to starting up in enough time. In this respect my Canons are easier to use. The other issue is battery life. I tend to use the rear screen to review photos quite a lot and I don’t shoot large numbers of shots in quick succession and then review them later. However, the camera does spend quite a lot of time switched on so it’s ready to use. I got about 110 shots per battery and I really need at least 3 batteries to get through a busy day, perhaps 4 for to be sure. Overall though, I can manage the battery issues by turning off the screen for shooting and I might set the image stabilisation to only work on a half-press of the shutter release button. In conclusion for light weight travel; I am astounded at the capabilities and image quality produced by the X-T1. I believe the days of SLR cameras are indeed numbered. What the future holds for CaNikon will be interesting. I remember going full frame DSLR so the focal lengths of my lenses works and so I could buy good quality lenses and not really due to the image quality produced by the sensor. That reasoning is no longer so compelling now that the Fujifilm X system is around.
It is pretty funny people on a Fuji Forum { whose sales barely register on the charts talking about the death of DSLRs lol. 81% of all interchangeable cameras shipped where DSLRs in the past year. Of the remaining 19% covering all mirrorless Fuji probably had what ? 5% -7% of this market .That makes for a whopping 0.5% of the overall interchangeable camera market .
So far thanks to the continued huge domination of DSLR sales Canon and Nikon have had no reason to take mirrorless seriously .Though the sensor is not quite up to scrattch the admittedly overpriced Nikon 1 system cameras is actually are excellent performers regarding speed of use , AF etc. I predict as soon as Canon and Nikon launch proper APS or FF mirrorless the rest will fall by the wayside. I have little doubt that mirrorless is the future , however there are serious doubts if any of the current large mirrorless players will survive let alone dominate.
Do you people ever actually read the numbers , mirrorless has been a financial disaster for all the key mirrorless players .With imaging divisions losing money left right and center .There has been 100s of millions of $ lost chasing mirrorless
oh you again , you are obviously trolling here and m43 fora, but what ever you think about DSLR vs mirroless, DSLRs are dying , and the OVF is a thing of the past. you know that too, but you jsut do not want to admit it. who can MF through the tiny tunnel view of the current DSLR OVF? and for high MP sensor you need MF Zeiss to fully utilize it, so EVF 8k hybrid camera is the future and the DSLR and Range Finder need to die for all good.
LOL! Shills crack me up.
and Bob , one more thing , the DSLR PDAF really terrible in terms of focus quality or accuracy. only way to fully utilize over 40mp sensor is CDAF or sensor based PDAF combined with the tech like DFD used in Panasonic GH4 or AF-D used in the Sony A99.
My current camera is a Canon DSLR, my next camera will most likely be Fuji. I am waiting for the lens roadmap to fill-out and available. I am looking for Fuji to get faster flash sync speeds, 1/180 is very slow, no reason Fuji can’t get to 1/500. The X-T1 is the one I would get now, but Fuji says they already have 140 items they would change on it, so by the time they fill out the lenses I will be ready for the X-T2 and then bye Canon.
“But fact is that all mirrorless cameras we tested today are faster than any DSLR in their price range”
I love my Fujifilm system, but that quote above is nonsense. Let’s take a X-T1 with the kit lens and look for something we could buy from Canon for about the same price these day: 7D with the kit lens. The 7D AFs faster, has a faster and deeper burst mode, has no video latency, and responds more quickly.
Mirrorless cameras are great tools and getting better each time a new one comes out, and the X-T1 is really a very fine camera. But can we please get over the “death of DSLR!” and “better than DSLR!” hype? There is enough that is good about these cameras that perhaps we can focus on the real advantages rather than making false promises about things that are not true.
well most rational people see it clearly , the death of DSLR is already you know? and I think the current state of range finder is the serious indication of what will happen to the D-SLRs even to the best ones like the D4s and the 1DX. I think next gen A99 blows any so-called pro D-SLRs out of the water in focusing speed and accuracy ,especially video AF area. so now we may still need DSLRs for serious action work but in near future we will use 8k video camera and choose some good image frames out of 60 frames 8k images.
Any time I see “X blows Y out of the water,” my hyperbole shield comes up. (Unless X is a submarine and Y is a ship.)
Sony is making a wonderful mirrorless full frame camera. It is EQUAL to the Nikon D800/D800e in the image production department. It has an advantage of smaller size and the ability to use a wide range of lenses more easily.
But even the most enthusiastic Sony fans will admit that if you are shooting wildlife or sports or any number of subjects in which camera speed and responsiveness are critical the Nikon DSLR cameras with this sensor will perform better.
The “writing on the wall” says that mirrorless cameras are great and getting better all the time. For some purposes they are the best choice right now. (That’s why I own a Fujifilm X system camera and a half dozen lenses for some of my photography.) But as good as they are for some things—and make no mistake, they are good for a number of things—DSLRs are better than the mirrorless cameras for other things. (That’s why I also own a full frame DSLR system with a versatile and high quality set of lenses.)
In the future, mirrorless cameras will make more and more inroads. They cannot, by definition, completely eliminate viewfinder latency, so there are very good questions about whether they will replace DSLRs for all things. (There is no viewfinder latency in DSLRs, which is important for a number of important photographic subjects.)
The crazy thing is that mirrorless cameras really are very good. There is no need to play this “mirrorless blows DSLRs out of the water” silly game. It sounds like a sport contest and cheerleading more than the talk of serious photographers.
Chill.
wait.. so the a99 successor is already inferior to a Nikon counterpart for shooting wildlife or sports or any number of subjects in which camera speed and responsiveness are critical?
Well said Dan. This article is sheer nonsense. Even fans of Fujifilm gear see the blatant shills for what they are. There really is no integrity anymore, nor even any desire for such. Credibility, if it were measurable, would be at an all time low.
The fact that mirrorless shills need to constantly beat the drum “the DSLR is dead” over and over and over again truly exposes the emptiness of this claim.
Truth does not need paid shills.
It’s premature to be doing these comparisons. Mirrorless has definitely come a long way but today the price/performance crown has to be awarded to DSLRs. And probably tomorrow. But in 2-5 years it will likely be a different story.
I don’t expect my X-E2 to perform like my old D800 or before. But the Fuji has intangibles that the D800 doesn’t. After all, raw sensor quality isn’t the whole story. What matters is the picture. And, to me, Fuji delivers what I want there with enough quality, convenience, size, weight, and sensor to make up the difference.
why premature? current gear, current test, what else?
Yes, the lenses lineup is not complete, there’s more work to do with phase auto detect, and it’s still an emerging platform where slr technology is very mature with decades of research behind it.
I would love to see this test, reshot, after the new 50-140mm f2.8 comes out. I own the 55-200mm and can say it is very slow to focus. I think the X-T1 was adversely affected by the lens more than by a slow focus module in the camera. Time will tell.
Yeah, 50-140/2.8 for fuji, 40-150/2.8 for m43, by that time we might have E-M5 MK II and/or X-Pro2… The future is in the future and now is now. It is still a better test than even monsters with multi(?)-million budgets like DPR do. As sad as it is.
I thought the same – would the X system have a fast focusing telephoto lens made for use with PDAF right now, the result would be surely different. The 55-200 is not bad, but the other cameras had faster high grade lenses to their advantage, so it´s not about the X-T1 but about the system – and this can be solved with new lenses.
Did a little comparison test myself, about 2 weeks ago. Compared a low light AF performance of Fuji X-T1 versus Nikon D610 and D3s. Good news is, all things being equal, Fuji wins by wide margin. Bad news: I can hardly imagine a real world professional scenario where “things being equal”. For example, most DSLR photographers use AF illuminator in low light. You know, that dark red grid projection thingie?… It’s way less intrusive than MILC’s annoyingly bright LED. That’s why event professionals shooting SLR normally use AF illuminators, and these who shoot with Fuji’s MILC, have work in the dark. And in this case – Fuji loses. By wide margin.
well but the D610 AF is terrible , it is very poor in lowlight , the D3s AF is superb , though.
I don’t have a problem with it, as long as it is not very dark. Comparing autofocus, follow the discussion at 43rumors.com and the opinion of Thom Hogan regarding the video. As a well known pro shooting BIF I value his opinion and agree with him. The video is more about to get clicks instead of being very valuable: different DOF, different lenses, different focus distances, no indication of how many shots are in focus and where the final point of focus resides (if its on the ground next to the cycle the DOF might be sufficient for the pic to be almost in focus)… I didn’t buy the XT1 to be a sports camera (it isn’t) or my OMD (it’s not, too), it should be decent. I still think DSLRs like the D7100 have the edge regarding wildlife autofocus, but with time things will change, maybe in 1-2 years.
My point is, when AF illuminator is on, both Nikons were light years ahead of Fuji in terms of AF performance.
By the way, I don’t see any beer in these “apples to oranges” comparisons. And a beer is the only possible excuse to perform them. You know, like – there’s a few six packs in a cooler, a few bottles are already empty, and photographers suddenly decide to compare macro performance of Olumpus Mju to Nikonos V… Same thing.
Dude, Nikon pro bodies don’t have illuminators.
do not fool yourself , even try it , the Fuji X-T1 is a great camera especially considering the quality of prime line, but it is not a great camera for fast moving action or anything even moves a bit, and definitely not comparable to the Sony A6000,which has the best AF under 5k, its AF is even better than Sony’s own A99v or Nikon D800E. So it is not fair comparison , I think they are all good great tools but for different kind of works. the GH4 is the best hybrid camera , the Sony A6000 is a great action camera (but only in bright light), the Fuji is a great stills only camera with arguably the best lens line in mirrorless, the GX7, imho , is a great street camera. I think if I had the money I would get all , but for my current budget , I have to keep only 3 or 4 camera systems and I personally kept GH4 , A7R , XE2 and D800E, but I am sure if I have to choose only one camera , then it would have to be my Panasonic since I do shoot more motions than stills.
“I think if I had the money I would get all of them, but for my current budget, I have to keep only 3 or 4 camera systems…”
LOL!
Yeah. Poor you.
So true 😛 I wonder why all the pros dont listen to you and don’t take there bloody D-SLRS for sports anymore. The pictures could so much better … 😀 😀
Other mirrorless cameras might have superior tracking capabilities and video. But for the rest, Fuji X-T1, knocks easily down its competitors!
m43 still beats the shit out of everybody in AF. It’s the lenses.
Really? I found the E-M5’s AF to be unbelievably inaccurate focusing on anything smaller than the AF square. It was fast, but seemed to choose the background instead of focusing on the subject. I prefer accuracy over speed…And, it definitely doesn’t beat much with respect to image quality.
Not my experience. And now they added small AF squares in firmware 2.0.
Yeah, just too bad about the image quality. It sucks ass. Hard.
Troll.
Fanboy.
Watching AF comparisons and tests like these, I always wonder if the High Performance Mode of the X-T1 or X-E2 was even turned on.
i asked the same thing on thecamerastore’s page. and for continuous, it would have been nice to see what a uhs-ii card could have done.
The 95 MB/s UHS-I card TCS used needs 50% more time to save the buffer than as fast UHS-II card. I already made that comparison. It’s a bit strange why they wouldn’t use the fastest card available. After all, the X-T1 is first camera on the planet to support UHS-II, so why not make use of this major feature?
That said, buffer write speed doesn’t influence AF performance, so it’s only a sidenote. However, High Performance Mode DOES influence AF performance, so leaving it OFF would render the comparison irrelevant with regards to the X-T1.
I have no problem with TCS using the 55-200, as this is currently the best “action” lens Fuji has to offer. Obviously, this will change later this year with the faster f/2.8 offerings. PDAF performance is depending on a bright lens and also on the size of the selected AF frame, so there’s also also the question of optimal user performance.
This “user performance” factor applies to all tested camerasBasically, you need a user who knows the optimal AF performance settings for each camera in each situation (lens, light, distance, subject). Just shooting stuff at default settings is irrelevant, as in the real world, I will know my camera and I will know how to use each of its features in the best possible way.
“That said, buffer write speed doesn’t influence AF performance” – you are making an assumption. Yes, in the sane world where the common sense is naturally common, AF shouldn’t be influenced by SD card performance. However, in a Fujifilm world, anything is possible. Remember how X100 was influenced by SD card speed in every possible way?… I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that X-T1’s AF speed might benefit from UHS-II card – just by improving an overall performance of the camera.
Less an assumption than a fact. Anything else would be a bug and should be reported so it can be fixed. 🙂
X100 had a small buffer and was simply locking up most functions until the buffer cleared. T1 has a large buffer and it is using multiple processor cores to distribute different functions. The camera keeps working while the buffers is written. Any performance decrease during that process would be a bug, and so far, nobody has reported such a bug.
Of course, HPM is there for a reason, so it needs to be switched on for any serious comparisons. Did anyone hear back from TCS if it was on or off?
Reading your comments I always wonder if you’ll ever grasp the fact that Fuji & Autofocus do not go together well. Stop making excuses.
Excuses for heaps of images of moving subjects I took that are perfectly in focus thanks to PDAF tracking? No need for that.
Why don’t you just stop posting ridiculous comments? Ah, but you just can’t do that, because trolling is just too much fun. Never mind. 🙂
Ok Guys and Gals – what am I doing wrong? I’ve previously owned a X100 and a X100s. I currently own a X-E2 and a variety of lenses. This article made me decide to try the continuous focus capabilities have never really used it out of single focus mode. I have to say Im not impressed. Its a nice spring/summer late afternoon light is fine. I’ve tried shooting some shots of my daughters cycling towards me on their bikes. High speed burst, high performance on etc. ⅓ of the pics aren’t in focus. sometimes it focuses on the grass behind them rather than on them? what am i doing wrong? I’ve tried the 55-200 and the 18-55 and even my 1.4 35mm all the same – some in focus quite a few out. I’ve tried shooting shallow DOF and wider at F4 or 5.6 I’ve tried face detection on (it missed some of my wife walking towards me at slow speed and she was the only thing in the frame) I’ve tried all the different focus and expsore modes. Up till now I’ve been reasonably happy with it though still having nagging doubts. now I’m thinking of selling all for a Canon 6D and go back to my canon gear and TTL flashes!
Im must be doing something wrong?? help!
Yes, you are doing something wrong. You are merely owning your camera gear instead of using it. Also, you are trying out a technique that you obviously haven’t mastered, yet blaming the camera for your faults.
Try experimenting with AF area size and placement. For “high speed burst” use “low” setting instead of “high”. If you want more keepers right off the bat, turn “focus priority” on. Experiment and learn. Fuji is a quirky system, but in a good light it focuses just as good as anything money can buy.
There is no focus priority option in the X-E2, it’s always using FP to a point. High-speed burst mode doesn’t track at all, so obviously, all tracking attempts that are conducted in high-speed burst mode will lead to dismal results. Only low-speed burst mode tracks, and of course, it’s smart to use one of the 9 inner AF frames. Reading the manual would have been a great help for Neil, I guess.
Sorry about RP/FP confusion; XE2 is my backup camera – guess I need to spend more time with it instead of just grabbing an XT1 for every outing… Ditto about the rest.
you are both right. mastering the camera and reading the manual help… however I’m not sure its unreasonable of me to expect while I’m out with my kids with the camera to change it into C mode and change it to fast burst and expect it to track my daughter coming towards me on a bike at slow speed! I write software and if it can’t do that why isn’t there a pop up box on selecting fast in C mode that says – btw this doesn’t work!
reality is I’m just getting a little fed up of all the compromises. the wifi is rubbish, the gps doesn’t work, the app hasn’t been updated despite very early reviews of the X-e2 saying it would have functionality like the X-t1 has. the flash system is really lacking some decent flashes and off camera wireless TTL (something I have used loads!) yes i like the size the glass that is cheaper than L glass but you know i was looking at some shots i took with an old Canon 40D and a second hand L lens and Im not convinced theres that much difference. as the lenses and camera bodies get bigger is it really that much better or was it some kind of dream i entered after falling in love with the X100?
I know this feeling. I’m so scared from the Fuji experience that I currently use a Minolta CLE with Leica manual focus lenses! If I ever get an “Auto Focus” system camera again it will likely be a 4/3 system, basically faster and smaller!
Still, I have a few thousand shots from the X-Pro1 and they all look really good. However, most are of static subjects … cause I gave up on moving subjects, not because I could not do it, rather I could not be bothered anymore 🙂
Well – I’ve just bought your book and on skimming though it I have to say Im slightly humbled. I didn’t realise the autofocus systems were so different – though to be fair i have skimmed the manual when i got it and I’m not sure they explained it as well as you do. however the book I’m reading is about the X-e1 I’m sure its been asked on here- presumably you have an update coming?