The Fuji X-T1 is FAST

Focus speed seems to be a big criteria for some people. Not me. I only use manual focus lenses. From the earliest 1930s Leicas to the best SLRs of the early 1980s there wasn't autofocus so "focus speed" was up to the photographer. Maybe I don't understand the problem because I don't use auto focus, where you are tied to the speed of the camera trying to figure it out. But Does 200ms versus 500ms or whatever they do really matter?
 
Garrett - It depends what you photograph. With the Olympics going on, sports photography is a great example. Talking with working sports photographers, they've told me that their percentage of "in-focus" keepers increased with each advancement in Canon and Nikon's auto-focusing systems. I'm sure the same holds true for wildlife and aerial photography.

Granted that the Fujis will more often tend to use moderate focal length lenses in closer situations but toddlers running around a playground are a pretty good substitute for ski racers, hummingbirds, and F-16s.

Understandably, landscape photography or composed portraits may not require fast focusing speed or auto-focus at all. But for a large segment of the photo world, speed matters.

Personally I'm waiting for Fuji to make a fat-fingered user interface for clods like me. These tiny Asian cameras feel like they're designed for women who sharpen their fingertips in order to hit the little cell phone-sized buttons.
 
The really frustrating thing with an AF system is that the camera shutter won't fire if the AF doesn't get a lock, unless you are pressing down on the shutter in a single movement (i.e., no half press to focus first). The Fuji XP1 AF is very accurate, but it will regularly have trouble getting a lock on targets with low contrast. There are work arounds, but that's what they are, work arounds.
I don't need greater accuracy, nor even greater speed, but would like to have a way to actuate the shutter after half press in AF mode even when the focus isn't spot on.
 
noimmunity said:
The really frustrating thing with an AF system is that the camera shutter won't fire if the AF doesn't get a lock, unless you are pressing down on the shutter in a single movement....
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You might dig farther into the manual. My E-510 has release priority setting for both single AF and continuous AF that allows the shutter to release before the AF as locked on the subject.
 
TXForester said:
You might dig farther into the manual. My E-510 has release priority setting for both single AF and continuous AF that allows the shutter to release before the AF as locked on the subject.
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I have not noticed this function in any of the related literature, so if anybody wants to pipe in and set me straight, it would be much appreciated.

The best thing I have found is to switch to MF, use the AF function, then actuate the shutter.
 
noimmunity said:
I have not noticed this function in any of the related literature, so if anybody wants to pipe in and set me straight, it would be much appreciated.

The best thing I have found is to switch to MF, use the AF function, then actuate the shutter.
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I don't know about Fujis but Canon and Nikon allow you to assign priority to "focus-first" or "release-first".
 
goamules said:
Focus speed seems to be a big criteria for some people. Not me. I only use manual focus lenses. From the earliest 1930s Leicas to the best SLRs of the early 1980s there wasn't autofocus so "focus speed" was up to the photographer. Maybe I don't understand the problem because I don't use auto focus, where you are tied to the speed of the camera trying to figure it out. But Does 200ms versus 500ms or whatever they do really matter?
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That's a totally different case, and I think we're in agreement when it comes to that. I have multiple manual focus cameras and love them all. They were designed to be used manually and are, therefore, good at it. I can operate them very quickly.

The Fujis, however, are designed to be used with AF (which is why they implemented software based focus by wire tech). If a camera/lens is designed for AF, it should be good at it. In addition, it's not just the speed that is important, but the AF behavior as well. Fuji lenses and cameras used to act a little erratic and indecisive when it came to focusing. They're a lot better now, which is good news (and the reason I posted the video).
 
Where I need faster af then what I can get out of my current x series cameras is nature. This is where fast af and predictive comes into play, especially if u are trying to capture birds in flight. I am currently using the Olympus em5 for this due to better af and 2x factor for the lenses. I am not sure if I would ever use the Fuji for this right now though because they don't make a tele zoom that goes out to at least 400 fov, plus that lens would be very large and heavy compared to what I use on m43.

Gary
 
I don't think this video proves a damn thing!

The af area is set to be very large. When I have the AF area set that large on the XP1 the focus is also very fast although not as precise.
Also this video is showing an extremely high contrast subject to background situation.

Maybe the new camera is faster but this video is far from convincing in that regard.

Cheers!
 
f16sunshine said:
I don't think this video proves a damn thing!

The af area is set to be very large. When I have the AF area set that large on the XP1 the focus is also very fast although not as precise.
Also this video is showing an extremely high contrast subject to background situation.

Maybe the new camera is faster but this video is far from convincing in that regard.

Cheers!
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I agree. x100s is at least as fast as the video looks...
 
I think fast af by itself is really not that big of a deal... What is a bigger deal is how good that new predictive af algo is. When taking pics of birds in flight, I have noticed that the predictive af algo on my Olympus is not as good as the Panasonic fz200 I was playing w/. Overall iq went to the Olympus omd.

Gary
 
goamules said:
Focus speed seems to be a big criteria for some people. Not me. I only use manual focus lenses. From the earliest 1930s Leicas to the best SLRs of the early 1980s there wasn't autofocus so "focus speed" was up to the photographer. Maybe I don't understand the problem because I don't use auto focus, where you are tied to the speed of the camera trying to figure it out. But Does 200ms versus 500ms or whatever they do really matter?
Click to expand...

I can understand why people want to use AF, even fast AF.
What I don't get is the apparent obsession to achieve the fastest (as in your example, 200ms vs 500ms).

It sure matters when you are shooting the Olympic games, but 90% of photographers in the world are not sport photographers. So why the need for the fastest AF speed other than just specification-worship (which I completely understand and sometimes participate).

Me personally, if the subject moves too fast for my camera to track, I'd just pre-focus and anticipate. Most of the time I got more interesting pictures this way :)
 
noimmunity said:
The really frustrating thing with an AF system is that the camera shutter won't fire if the AF doesn't get a lock, unless you are pressing down on the shutter in a single movement (i.e., no half press to focus first). The Fuji XP1 AF is very accurate, but it will regularly have trouble getting a lock on targets with low contrast. There are work arounds, but that's what they are, work arounds.
I don't need greater accuracy, nor even greater speed, but would like to have a way to actuate the shutter after half press in AF mode even when the focus isn't spot on.
Click to expand...

My X100 and XE1 have no problem with allowing me to take an out of focus shot after a half press. I doubt the xp1 is any different.
 
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