osiphi saunder legran
Badomero Schoulund
In my Fujifilm X-T5 review, I noted that I was reaching the limit of my patience with Fujifilm in regards to their autofocus performance. Unfortunately, a recent episode pushed me beyond my limit and I decided to sell the X-T5 and X100V and replace them with a Sony A7R5. I hate having to make this change, but I need at least one camera that can focus reliably.
I have a number of cameras that are targeted for specific tasks with minimal overlap. The GFX100S is for landscape and high resolution requirements. The X-T5 was for casual use and moving subjects, the X100V was for discrete shooting circumstances, and the Leica M11 is for pure pleasure with its rangefinder experience.
Over a recent weekend, I had a once-in-a-lifetime trip for my birthday to Weihai in Shandong Province, China. My friends had arranged a number of surprise activities to help celebrate my special day. This included a beachfront fireworks show! During the weekend, I took hundreds of images of my friends with the X-T5 and 90% of them were perfectly focused.
At first, I put this down to simple user error. I know that the X-T5 needs about a half second for the autofocus to settle in continuous mode (AFC) and also requires the camera be held steady when the target is moving. However, two annoying things happened on this trip that pushed me over the edge to the point I decided to move on from this camera.
The first annoying thing is that my X-T5 is not consistent with autofocus. The recent firmware was supposed to improve this, but it appears that Fujifilm is now leaning more heavily on contrast detection in the newer firmware within their hybrid system rather than phase detection. This manifests itself by a back-and-forth pulsing that occurs in more situations than it should.
I also had a bizarre situation occur with the XF33 F1.4 WR lens. In relatively bright conditions and with a high contrast target, the lens would rack back and forth on focus and would ultimately show a red focus box. Switching the camera to manual focus, I was able to get the target perfectly focused.
I can live with all of the above, but what really irked me was what happened when the same friends who were achieving 90% hit rates. With no change to their technique, they were able to intuitively achieve a very high hit rate. This is how a modern camera should operate in 2023.
Kaizen was a compelling attribute of Fujifilm cameras with that implicit agreement that Fujifilm would keep updating the cameras and oftentimes deliver updates so significant that it felt like a new camera (anyone remember the amazing X-Pro2 or GFX50R updates?!).
Recently, as the cameras have matured, the firmware updates have become fewer and further between. Those that have come have been buggy and poorly tested. The recent GFX100S 2.0 firmware is an example. The firmware broke the exposure compensation button and would randomly dim the EVF. How can Fujifilm allow these kinds of obvious bugs to be released for a professional camera like the GFX?
This is very similar to my experience and I moved to Sony for the autofocus issues too! I wrote up my whole experience and picked up similar lenses to you too, interesting how similar our stories are: @anthonystonehouse/switching-from-fujifilm-to-sony-a-journey-to-full-frame-mirrorless-6799ef10ac82
I have been using Fujifilm gear for about five years and have built up a big inventory of their camera bodies and lenses: X-T20, X-T3 (2), X100V, and X-H2S. I also have almost every X series lens. Last year I picked up a GFX 50S II, along with a couple of lenses, and have been learning that system. I am frustrated enough with the X series auto-focus issues to sell it all and move to GFX along with either a Sony A7R5 or a Leica Q3. Fujifilm X series has a lot of interesting features and functions, but I need creative tools that work consistently.
1. False Positives. The green box will show during AF-Continuous mode and appear to be in focus, however several frames will actually turn out to be out of focus. While I can somewhat understand this occurring with slow focusing lenses such as the XF56 F1.2 WR, it should not happen with fast focusing lenses like the latest generation XF33 F1.4 WR.
2. Inconsistency. For example, when using a wide angle lens with a small aperture, the camera seems to focus randomly into the distance, even when AF-Single mode is used with a defined target using the AF box. With a small aperture and wide angle lens, the effect of this is masked somewhat by the deep depth of field; I believe this issue has been present in previous Fujifilm cameras as I recall coming across this before with my X-T4. However, with the 40MP sensor, the issue has become more visible in the X-T5.
I have a new X-H2S and have seen the same autofocus issues. Subject detection will pick up the eye of a bird or animal perfectly but the resulting image is sometimes out of focus. Have used the same lens (100-400 Fuji) for about 4-5 years on my XH1, so not a new system for me.
I thought I was doing something wrong, because sometimes the focus is just great.