Glad he's enjoying it! My 10 year old son is actually taking a once-a-week photography class for tweens that begins tonight. I picked up a used silver X-E2 off eBay for a couple hundred bucks and put a 27mm f/2.8 on it for him to use. Funded the purchase by selling off an old Canon G11 and some Canon flash triggers I had forgotten about that were just sitting in a drawer. He's excited to have a camera that "looks like Daddy's" (I have a silver X100F) and I figured if he actually gets into it he could try using any of my lenses, supervised of course.
I gave a look at your web site, nice !!!
What lenses are you using on your X-T1 ?
Here is a copy/paste of my X-T1 settings for sports from a previous post: High Performance Mode is On, Pre AF is On, AF-Mode mostly on Zone, 5x3 grid or 3x3, and only the central PDAF points are used, I'll use Single Point if the subject is a busy pack of athletes to keep the AF from jumping from one to the other, it really depends on de type of sport. I dont use Wide, since it uses the slower CDAF points Release/Focus Priority is set to Focus (both for Af-S and Af-C) Face detection = Off Eye detection = Off Shutter on MS only. AF is on Continuous and the Drive Mode is on CH (8fps), My EVF is set to Normal, not Full LMO is On (even if I'm shooting RAW only) OIS at Off most of the time since I'm shooting with SS usually above 1/500 of a second, OIS at On (mode 1) would give me a stabilized view in the EVF, but I find it induce a little lag when trying to quickly center the subject in the af zone (that little white cross in the middle of your Zone or the Single point square)
I'm shooting RAW only with a 300mb/sec 64gb SD UHS II, no problems with the buffer.
I always aim and follow the subject, half-pressing the shutter while tracking it, keeping the white cross in the middle of the Zone on target, I'll then fire a short burst when the subject is close to the optimum distance/spot/framing.
The hard part is aiming during the black out, practice and anticipation is the key!
Here is a important trick to get the best possible results: dont let the lens "wonder around"[
I got PRE-AF at on, so the X-T1 and XF50-140 are always trying to focus, if I take my eyes off the EVF and let the camera point to the ground it is going to focus there. When I'll lift it to my eyes to quickly take a shot it is going to have to focus from somewhere like one or two meters to 10 meters (where my subject is), same goes with far-away backgrounds, dont let it go there!
Make sure it's always around the right focus distance, aim at something close to your optimum spot or the place were you'll start your burst, the ground, something on the side of the tracks.
By doing this, acquisition time will be faster and in my experience once the X-T1 gets tracking on a subject it won't let go too easily.
So for race type sports like MTB or Skiing I always aim at where the subject is going to come into the frame, a curve / bump/ feature by the path the subject should follow.
For more random sports like soccer or football it is better to follow the action in the EVS while half-pressing the shutter.
The AF system on the Fuji likes to have a subject with good contrast too, I've shot enough speed skaters to notice a
slight difference of performance depending on the patterns and color of the bodysuit (all black suits being the worst).
With the Single Point AF make sure the AF box size is: as big as possible but cover only the subject.
One last thing I kind of feel that the XF50-140 is a big part of the equation too...makes a difference, I did not try it but the XF90mm with it's quad Linear Motors seems good from the result I've seen.
The Flickr Fuji-X Sport and Action Group: https://flic.kr/g/quLzW
My Album of AFC Tracking examples on Flickr: https://flic.kr/s/aHsjVwSDVD
Good luck (and good light ! ) too you
Gilles
I went to one of the local ski center last Saturday with my X-T1 and XF50-140 + XF1.4TC combo to shoot some university level FIS sanction Slalom race (they are fast!). There was also a Free Style event on the slope right by the slalom course so I was able to get a few SIF ( Skiers In Flight) pics as well.
The Flickr Album: https://flic.kr/s/aHsks7x5WG
The Fuji-X Sport and Action Group on Flickr: https://flic.kr/g/quLzW
Thanks for looking
Gilles
Free Style #6 by Gilles Baribeau, on Flickr
Free Style #8 by Gilles Baribeau, on Flickr
SKI - Slalom RSEQ #16 by Gilles Baribeau, on Flickr
SKI - Slalom RSEQ #23 by Gilles Baribeau, on Flickr
SKI - Slalom RSEQ #6 by Gilles Baribeau, on Flickr
Free Style #4 by Gilles Baribeau, on Flickr
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