gavinlg
Veteran
With all the negative talk about the x100's AF which is (in my opinion) rather unjustified, I'd like to present a little hidden gem I found with my x100 in use.
It's true that the AF system needs contrast to get a lock, and it's true that the tolerance for how much contrast is needed is lower than a good dslr, however Fujifilm decided (in a stroke of brilliance) that if the camera can't acquire an AF lock, that it will automatically default the focus to a distance of around 3 meters, whilst showing the 'red box' or 'AF lock failed' icon. You can still take the photo of course, and in street style photography, it gives a decent enough depth of field so that you generally have a pretty good chance of getting what you need in focus (imagine a 35mm f2.8 lens set at 3m focussing distance on a film camera).
If you again stop down to f2.8, you're getting f4 equivalent depth of field on a film camera, which means usually a subject mid-frame on the street is still going to be in focus, even if the camera has failed to lock.
This implementation is absolutely brilliant - I've got quite a few photographs taken in super low light (iso 3200, f2, 1/30th) where I couldn't get a focus lock but still took the shot, and the photographs came out in focus. All other AF cameras seem to rack in and out and end up on the near or far focus setting when they're finished.
Just another little thing that makes me believe fujifilm really designed this camera for photographers.
It's true that the AF system needs contrast to get a lock, and it's true that the tolerance for how much contrast is needed is lower than a good dslr, however Fujifilm decided (in a stroke of brilliance) that if the camera can't acquire an AF lock, that it will automatically default the focus to a distance of around 3 meters, whilst showing the 'red box' or 'AF lock failed' icon. You can still take the photo of course, and in street style photography, it gives a decent enough depth of field so that you generally have a pretty good chance of getting what you need in focus (imagine a 35mm f2.8 lens set at 3m focussing distance on a film camera).
If you again stop down to f2.8, you're getting f4 equivalent depth of field on a film camera, which means usually a subject mid-frame on the street is still going to be in focus, even if the camera has failed to lock.
This implementation is absolutely brilliant - I've got quite a few photographs taken in super low light (iso 3200, f2, 1/30th) where I couldn't get a focus lock but still took the shot, and the photographs came out in focus. All other AF cameras seem to rack in and out and end up on the near or far focus setting when they're finished.
Just another little thing that makes me believe fujifilm really designed this camera for photographers.
