X-Pro1 comments on certain FW functions

[giellaleafapmu]

Dear All,

Here is are a few quick questions about the X-Pro1. When it come out I was put down by the reviews, especially those concerning the problems encountered by many to manual focus. Now most seems to have been fixed but in many reviews I still see complains about several functionalities. Problem is that to have a complete image one should know to which FW was each reviewer referring and few persons writing such reviews add this information, so from those of you who actually have the camera and got the latest FW (I believe it to be 3.20) I'd like to know what is your opinion about the following.

- AF speed.
- Focus peak.
- Ability to focus with non-Fujinon lens (especially interested in the performance of Zeiss ones.

Thank in advance for your help!

GLF

 

[rybolt]

It's going to be hard for anyone to give you meaningful data. You really need to go find a camera and test it out for your self. I own the X Pro 1 and most of the lenses. The AF speed is plenty fast enough for me. But I don't know if it's fast enough for you. Also, be aware that the AF system is Contrast Detect and not Phase Detect so it works very different from a DSLR camera.
I find that the focus peak works fine with legacy lenses and also the non-af Fuji mount. It is, however, much slower and somewhat tedious to use.
The bottom line is that it's a terrific camera when used with the Fuji lenses. being able to use legacy lenses is an added feature but not something that I would buy the camera for.

 

[geertvn]

AF speed has been quite good from day one and has improved some with firmware updates. Focus accuracy has been improved as well. It still happens that the camera focuses on something bright in the background - a lot less than before but enough keep on the lookout. (All in all I missed very few shots because of autofocus speed or accuracy issues.)

It's not a fast camera in the sense that it's not the best option when you want to shoot - let's say - 150 pictures in 5 minutes amidst a crowd of moving people. The whole process of focusing, recomposing, getting the picture is less fluent with mirrorless than dslrs. Mainly due to the shutter having to close first before opens again to actually capture the picture. There's just this little more lag that causes your subject to move out of the plane of focus. High end slrs are just faster and better suited for this type of shooting. The x-pro asks for a more contemplative approach. (I know of course that you just can scale focus, but it's not always practical.)

Focus peaking. It works somewhat, but I find it not particular reliable. It shows too many things being in focus, more than actually can be in focus considering subject distance and aperture. Practice may improve results. I prefer to zoom in on the focus point (10x) when I use manual lenses, and they're easy to focus this way. A press on the back dial zooms in on the focus point, even when using the optical viewfinder (the zoomed in part of the image is always electronic of course).

I shoot 50 summilux and summicron on the x-pro (concerts mostly) and the results are generally good, the edges are suffering a little from softness though, somewhat remarkable since they're designed for a larger image area. The summilux (asph) shows a hint of CA, easy to fix in post. I shoot them wide open, I guess results improve closed down.

No experience with Zeiss lenses, or manual wide lenses for that matter.

Geert

 

[bobbyrab]

I'm really enjoying using my M lenses on the x-pro, early days and I haven't been able to produce a reasonable comparison shot as yet between the Fuji and M lenses [always seem to have a discrepancy in the focus], but so far I'm delighted with what I'm getting from my Zeiss 35/2.8 and 25/2.8, they both have slight smearing at the edges, more so the 25 than the 35, but for my uses the sharpness and pop from the centre more than makes up for it.

I also have the e46 summilux 50 which is lovely as long as it's slightly stopped down. I'll see if I can post some examples from the Zeiss for you, but I warn in advance usual test rubbish.

 

[GaryLH]

Af speed improvements maybe pretty close to limits w/ the latest fw updates for the xp1 and xe1. The new digital hw and faster CPU of the xe2 and the even better xt1 are much better than the first gen bodies of the x100/xp1/xe1. Some of the af performance is associated w/ issues related to lens moving mass and the specific af motor they used w/ that lens.

The 60 macro is the slowest lens of the bunch, but that is nature of a macro..not out to win a race, focus accuracy and small incremental focus changes for near life size objects.

Relative af speed.. Dslr fastest - m43 cameras tend be be faster - Fuji cameras - Sigma dp Merrill cameras the slowest. In terms of m43 vs Fuji, w/ some lenses, they are pretty close in af speed, but on average, they are slower. But my experience is only w/ xp1 and xe1. The xe2 is faster and the xt1 is suppose to be faster than xe2. I would assume that xt1 vs m43 on average could be pretty close. Predictive af, the pro level dslrs are still the king.

Focus peaking helps, but until they provide different peaking colors like Sony, not as good. I am hoping they come out w/ yellow peaking. I would use jpg+raw and set film to monochrome so I can easily see the yellow in the evf. The raw image retains all the color info.. I tend to use mag feature more then peaking for manual focus lenses.

U should have no problem w/ any legacy slr lens via adapter. Ymmv a lot if we are talking rf lenses.. A lot of these issue can be addressed via corner fix, some are smearing issues at corner/edges, so a lot depends on what is acceptable to u. Most of the lenses that can cause u problems are from 28 on down. 28 seems to be the borderline where some are ok others are not. There have been some issue reported where I wonder if it is due to not well made adapter though.

Check out the legacy lens thread in the Fuji sub forum that Ezzie started.

Gary

 

[willie_901]

As others wrote earlier, focusing the X-Pro 1 is not an issue using AF, MF mode automatically or actually turning a lens collar. I agree the main challenge with AF is to confirm the focus subjects the intended object. Confirmation is not difficult or particularly time consuming, but you do have to use the EVF.

I have only used the Fujifilm XF lenses. Some of them have mechanical focus collars and they are easy to focus using the EVF. If you are keen to use your Zeiss lenses on a Fiujifilm X body, the XT-1 can be operated more quickly than the X-Pro 1.

 

[bobbyrab]

With regards the OP's question about Zeiss. The following couple of images where focused fairly quickly on the LCD on the back of the camera, the EVF would be easier.

All images with the Zeiss 35/2.8






and just for an example of sharpness.



100% crop

 

[bobbyrab]

Actually that 100% crop is way over sharpened, I assume it's a flicker thing as it wasn't me.

 

[giellaleafapmu]

Well, thank you to all of you, I am...as confused as I was, but watching the pictures at least I know I cannot go wrong, it's just matter of deciding whether it is worth loosing some of the performance for the form factor that is actually what most attracts me.

Just to be precise, when I mentioned non-Fujinon lenses I was thinking to the Zeiss Touit 32mm, nothing old with adapter...

GLF

 

[GaryLH]

I think Zeiss worked w/ Fuji on the Touit lens line in x mount given they have it officially on the Fuji lens roadmap, so the lens should not have any problems.

Anyway google the Fuji Touit lens reviews.. There have beens several if I remember correctly.

Gary

 

[mllanos1111]

Personally I don't find the focus all that slow since the last update.
Most of my shooting takes place in small clubs shooting live bands and I'm amazed how well it works.
Sure it's not as fast as my D700 was but it's very usable.