Fuji Cameras - Venting

Dino.3000 said

Aardvark🎯VonEssfolk said

Dino.3000 said

Dabhand16 said

What AF mode are you using and is subject detection in the mix?

Edited by Dabhand16

The specific issue is continuous AF with eye detect.  The green box locks on the eyes yet the camera focuses on the closest bit, not where the box tells it to.  Other AF modes seem to be functional.  I think.  

People expect WAY too much from generic (and lazy) AF settings.

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I would rather have LOTS OF tunable settings that made small but meaningful differences vs very very few (especially on anything but the most expensive (very Pro) models that money can buy.

The fact that Canon and Nikon bodies could have / still have decent, if not 'perfect' (as they bloody well should after decades) AF (standard-esque setting performance) from their 2007-2012+ ish offerings, should not be surprising.

However back from approx 2010-2015 ... increasingly both Canon and Nikon were very obviously and IMVHO cynically 'sitting on their hands' and quasi 'holding back' from throwing (100%) many £millions into transitioning into mirrorless (in a way that, credit to them, SONY so obviously DID at that time). I didn't/ don't want a Full Frame sensor (OR smaller than APS-C size either). So 'back then' Panasonic/0lympus were evolving Micro 4/3rds very nicely ... but only Fuji had the foresight to avoid FF and Micro 4/3rds ... and commit 'all in' to APS-C with their Mirrorless future.

From using Micro 4/3rds for a brief while ... It was night n day obvious just how much more accurate in critical AF situtaions the mirrorless 'AF off the sensor' tech was. I discounted how much slower and not in thensame league AFC tracking vs 'Single Shot' was back then. It wa all about how amazing consistent the focus accuracy was when shooting at (e.g. f1.2 at close quarter distances).

It was an absoulte revelation!! 😍😍 That and all the many other WYSIWYG advantages.

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I have been on my Fuji journey since about 2013/2014 (whilst still continuing using Canon EOS still, after around 25+ years at that point in time).

The fact that at that point in time I mentally/consciously further committed to Fuji (from X100S 'gateway drug' 🤣) ... into a Fuji (X) lens system (X-E2 and various zoom amd prime lenses), says a lot re: what Canon (or Nikon) were NOT giving me options on.

So ... From around that time ... until (for me) until the time when Canon eventually decided it was 'mirroless Prime Time' and launched R5 and R6 models - I gained (5+?) years of AF mirrorless advantages.

Fast forward to nearer to now ... and my X-E2, X-T2, X-H1 journey needed a (huge AF leap) to catch up with the now (unfeasibly awesome Sony AF mirrorless performance, and to a lesser degree Canon/Nikon, who had 'got serious', albeit woefully belatedly).

So I jumped on the X-H2s. The performance was now better than older Pro Canon DSLRs on the whole, but not R6/R5/R3 matching.

Yet my latest firmware has made my X-H2s the best it has ever been 😍

Do you have to turn OFF face detect / animal / other 'detect' in specific circumstances? YES. Is that piss easy to do quickly YES.

Am I splitting hairs more and more in 2024 era - YES 🙏🤪 A few 'false positives' in AI intelligent focus detection modes I can easily live with / work around.

Are the Fuji AF user-tunable settings now more convoluted and complex / spread out than ever - YES 🤣 😒

Would I rather have a tad better 'Joe Average Photographer', 'AF Green Square Idiot Mode' (and lose some of the menu setting nunaces of what you can experiment between with now) ... NO !

I have duly noted (and tried to ignore) some immature and Fuji user 'baiting' YouTube videos recently posted.

IF instead they were from some (e.g. Birds in Flight expert / sports / niche area) shooter that I respected and knew had a long history in understanding how to set up AF in a better way ... AND better circumnavigate Fuji quirks ... that would be something else.

Interestingly ... there is increasingly less and less 'negative noise' from the latter space.

BEST ADVICE - (Brand Agnostic):

Get (AF) and other tech settings tips from known experts and longstanding well-regarded names on genre specific forums (the more geeky and narrower the better) ... not from attention seeking and shit-stiring 'click seeking' folk that often know JACK SHIT re: how to set up different brand caneras, that they DON'T already have 100s or 1,000s of hours 'real use' experince with !!

🫣🤣

Edited by Aardvark🎯VonEssfolk

So, basically you buy a car with smart cruise control that does not work and your response is, to paraphrase, that is whiny click-bait because it is a lazy feature and you should be driving yourself and don't have expectations that the product you buy provides the features it advertises.  Practice driving.  

Okay.  I have a ballroom dance competition to photograph on Saturday and I have to go practice manual focus on fast moving subjects.  

  

Learn the settings from (wedding photographers / wildlife / motorsport / track and field / whateverelsemoves) ... in the nuanced forum places that are 'quieter and harder to find' than some young gobshite on YouTube ffs !!! 🤣

Really ... the hyperbole 'everthing is broken and rubbish' inflated hyperbole is just so pathetically ridiculous and childish ... It is so tedious and false! 😴😴

I can show you such a wealth of amazing photography from (not just Fuji) photographers that really know their sh*t 

Most of my shots on my portfolio are shot on Fujifilm either x-t5 or x-t2. I’ve been really happy with the results. The Fuji cameras in general I find very enjoyable to use.

Adrian Askew said

Most of my shots on my portfolio are shot on Fujifilm either x-t5 or x-t2. I’ve been really happy with the results. The Fuji cameras in general I find very enjoyable to use.

Exactly.

The AF on both of those models is superb ... and IF (if) you need even better AF (tracking) wise, the X-H2s is in a completely higher league.

After my latest firmware upgrade the (BIF, wildlife / anything else AF tracking performance= the most 'sticky' and consistent that it has EVER been).

I use  Fuji xt2 and xh1 and had no problems with focus , except when I inadvertently had the touch screen set to "on" and my nose kept taking photos! But crop sensor and 24mp gives  excellent quality.  I'm taking photos whilst complicated menu based systems are still finding their settings. 

I use a X100F. That’s a 24MPx X-Trans, so 3 generations / several years old? Its AF is absolutely fine. Genuinely cannot recall any instance of it causing an issue.  

Edited by Stanmore

Dino.3000 said

I know that crop sensors are not a popular choice, I wouldn't be surprised if next to no one uses crop sensors here.  

However...

The Fooj's Achilles heal has been its auto focus.  I am genuinely miffed with the latest firmware upgrade that has introduced more AF issues than it solved.  Continuous AF is now genuinely unusable. 

I have a ballroom dance competition to photograph this Saturday and I was counting on trying its "pre shot es" feature (buffers up to 20 pics, prior to pressing the shutter down, to write to the card when you shoot burst mode).  Now I am back to my Sony.  

Fuji's inept AF is a constant hinderance.  

Edited by Dino.3000

Really ??

🤣🤣

Aardvark🎯VonEssfolk said

Really ... the hyperbole 'everthing is broken and rubbish' inflated hyperbole is just so pathetically ridiculous and childish ... It is so tedious and false! 😴😴

I can show you such a wealth of amazing photography from (not just Fuji) photographers that really know their sh*t 

Possibly even a few who use Canon DSLRs and can get them to focus accurately?

;)

dave band I'm so glad I'm not the only person with that nose issue!

I've been a fuji user since 2016 with Xt-1 I loved the colour profiles so much better than Canon that I had been using for over 30yrs, I ended up with XT-2 XH-1 XH-2 Ive had focusing issues with the XH-1 XH-2 some could be user error not in the studio though, The XH-2 I didn't like the files it produced and with the focusing issue I sold all the Fuji gear ( I just kept the XT-2 with a 32mm zeiss lens) and switch brands.

One thing I wills say is the Fuji lenses are good and well made up there with the likes of canon, nikon, sony,

I don't have a solution to your focusing issues, and lets just say Sony is the best in this department..

Dino.3000 said

This is a specific fault in a specific setting.  It does not happen in other settings like single-point AF.  I am very optimistic that this will be rectified.  In the meantime, I have a ballroom competition that I would like to photograph and I don't know how far and deep this continuous AF glitch goes.  Maybe zone AF will work.  I am not going to experiment overly much and just bring my Sony A9.  I just don't trust the cont-AF at the moment.    

Has it occurred to you that if the issue does not happen in single point then the mode you were in was not the right mode for what you were shooting?

The modern AF systems do need to be used to suit the situation and that does mean that sometimes the most obvious detection mode is not the best one to use.  I'm on a wildlife forum where people are using top end cameras - Sony a1, Nikon Z9 etc - and still have AF issues and for instance in some circumstances subject detect works better than bird detect.

If I was shooting a ballroom dancing competition I would not be using eye detect, probably a zone or large single point.  Cameras are not like cars.  Cruise control is like locking the exposure, not following a moving target.

I find it almost offensive that you are slagging off the camera and you have not even tried other modes to see what works best.

MidgePhoto said

Canon 7 series cameras. Crop sensors.  Primary use runners and cyclists, secondary wildlife.  Also fine for stationary people.

The 6D is nice as well, of course.  ("full frame").

I still have my 7D but you can't call it lightweight it's a brick built like a tank and probably heavier than the OP's FF Sony.
The AF is incredibly fast and accurate for a 15yo DSLR, it's camera I'll never part with and still get regular use for my non model photography.

itakefotos_ said

MidgePhoto said

Canon 7 series cameras. Crop sensors.  Primary use runners and cyclists, secondary wildlife.  Also fine for stationary people.

The 6D is nice as well, of course.  ("full frame").

I still have my 7D but you can't call it lightweight it's a brick built like a tank and probably heavier than the OP's FF Sony.
The AF is incredibly fast and accurate for a 15yo DSLR, it's camera I'll never part with and still get regular use for my non model photography.

Lighter than the 1D

;)

The 7D2 autofocus is better than the 7D, quite noticeably.  I agree the 7D is good on that, but I found it an improvement for runners and cyclists.

The R7 brings a new improvement on the 7D2.

But yes, robust construction. 

I just use manual focus.

Unfocussed Mike said

I just use manual focus.

I just use a pinhole camera

:)