X-T5 AF Lock

[SimonW]

On my X-S10 the AF On  button is set so that I press it once to lock focus to that distance, and it remains fixed (as indicated by a viewfinder icon) until I press it a second time. This is very useful rather than focus & recompose every shot.

The manual for my X-T5 says it can be set the same way. I'm now very familiar with the settings, and it should be simple, but I cannot set it like that. The button will hold the focus fixed only as long as it's held down, no matter what settings. I fiddle with.

I'm almost certain I set like that soon after purchase (to match the other camera) but I'm not sure when I last made use of it. My firmware is fully up to date (v1.03 February 2023). Is it possible this problem is caused by an error in the firmware update?

(Just in case it's a lens issue I tried with different lenses with no result - and the obvious suspect: Auto+Manual focus is switched off, nor am I using Back-Button focus at present).

Any suggestions welcome?

Simon

[robnsue86]

Hey Simon, if I understand you correctly, your issue is that the AF-ON button on your X-T5 only keeps focus when you hold down the "AF-On" button, correct? So, if you are focused on say, a bottle, and you depress the AF-ON button, it focuses, but then when you move away, and back on the bottle, it has gone out of focus? So what happens when you just press it once? Does it not focus?

It sounds like you "may" have the "Pre-AF" setting under "AF-MF" turned on. This will continually try to focus your X-T5 wherever you are pointing.

And by default, Back button focus is already turned on by fact that the "AF-ON" button is programmed for just that. You still have to decouple the AF off of the shutter, but back button focus is already enabled out of the box. So, if you have the "AF-On" button programmed to be, in fact, "AF-On", then you are using back button focus. And hence each time you press the button, it will focus on what you are intending. If you keep it depressed, it will continue to keep focus wherever you move the camera.

For a try, depress the disp/back button at bottom for a few seconds for the function menu to pop up and assign "AF-On" to another button on the back, and see if the behavior follows. If it does, then it isn't the AF-ON button. Hope that helps

[Greybeard]

https://fujifilm-dsc.com/en/manual/x-t5/menu_setup/button-dial_setting/#ae-af-lock_mode

[SimonW]

Greybeard, thank you for trying but I do have the manual and of course that was the first thing I looked at.

Robnsue, thank you also for your input. It seems you've almost understood my problem and I've now re-checked your suggestions.  The Pre-AF is not turned on, and re-assigning AF Lock to the F1 button gets the same behaviour. To confirm, it behaves exactly as it should if set for back-button focusing with the shutter-AF switched off. But although it is clearly set to Toggle On/Off (as in Greybeard's shot of the manual, it does not remain locked while not pressed. (The viewfinder indicator showing it locked just goes out as soon as the button is released).

As I said, I'm almost certain it used to work exactly as it should because I would have set it to match my X-S2. I backed up the settings shortly after I bought it, as well as a couple more times since. So I tried to restore from the first backup but unfortunately found I could not. I believe that is a consequence of a later firmware update. Restoring from a later one worked OK but made no difference to this issue. That's why I wonder if it's due to an error in the new firmware....

Simon

[Edp]

I use back button almost exclusively, and what you're after is how I implement it on my X-T5.  I *DO* have the AF set to "MF" and not AF-S nor AF-C when doing so.  I also have the shutter button decoupled, as well as pre-AF turned off, and AF+MF turned on.

 

[robnsue86]

Hey Simon, thanks for the response back and the various steps you have tried. That has to be frustrating. I think I was still a bit confused by what you are experiencing, but with this last response, i think I understand. Whatever button you attach to "AF-ON" works like back button, and when you depress that button, it "will" focus. But if you move the camera away from that target, it does NOT remain locked to the previous focus point, and hence if you go back to the same subject, you have to depress it again. Is that correct?

So, a few questions. Does it happen with other lenses? Hate to ask this one, but have you reset your camera back to defaults, and start "from scratch"? You mentioned trying to restore from backup or change firmware, but have you wiped the camera back to default, and re-configure, as painful as that might be. I dont think it is firmware related to be honest. I have a feeling there is some other control that is causing this. It really sounds like the Pre-AF is somehow "on". It would be interesting to see if it follows different lenses. 

Regards,

[SimonW]

Hi Robnsue,

(I’m friends with a couple, Rob & Sue, but they’re Olympus users).
Anyway, I tend to agree with you that it’s more likely a configuration error, but now after more playing with settings I’m more confused than ever.

When I found that problem I was using the top plate control knobs, but I thought it might be less confusing to set up my X-T5 to match my X-S10 as close as possible. That is, shutter speed on the rear command dial (with the shutter control knob set to T) and aperture on the front command dial (with the aperture ring on the lens set to A. With the ISO dial set to a fixed value (400) it all works OK. That’s Full Manual. The three exposure settings are shown in the viewfinder, and the AF On button toggles AF-Lock on and off as it should. (Yes, that is AF-Lock). But now it’s the AEL button which doesn’t work at all!

If I change only one thing – The shutter control knob from T to A, then both AF-On and AEL buttons do exactly what I want, but of course that’s now in Aperture Priority mode and I can no longer control the shutter speed except by using the exposure compensation dial.

I do want to be able to use full manual (either with the knobs or the dials, whichever works) to set focus and exposure, lock them and recompose (sometimes for several shots over a period of time). Surely that must be simple to achieve, but I’m still stumped.

Last resort: If it can't be done I guess the command dials plus the exposure compensation will in effect let me lock exposure and focus, which doesn't seem possible with the knobs.

Simon

 

[jerryy]

Hello SimonW, 

Can you explain a bit more what you mean by exposure? Because it sounds, from your description, the camera is acting properly, when the shutter speed and aperture are set manually, that controls how much light (luminosity) is being allowed into the sensor, the third parameter, ISO, (also set manually) controls how much brightness boost the camera gives to the image. With these three parameters manually set, there is nothing for the AEL button to do — no automatic adjustment to make. You should be able to use the EC button to override the manual settings a bit, but in order for the auto part to kick in, the camera has to be allowed to operate/change an auto setting.

[SimonW]

Hi Jerry,

I'm sorry my post was already too long-winded, but to me it seems a very complicated issue, and in fact there's a last Gotcha I've not mentioned yet.

But to answer your question: By exposure I mean the particular settings of ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed actually set on the camera either fully manually or by one or more of the three being set to auto.

My second paragraph describes the full manual situation, when neither AEL or exposure compensation would do anything, and all is exactly as it should be. Perhaps my exclamation mark confused you. I used it only to highlight that my original problem was the AF-L button not working, which has led to much more fiddling with settings.

My third paragraph shows that the AEL button works as it should in an auto-exposure mode. That is, the camera chooses the shutter speed.

What I'd like to do is set a fixed shutter speed (and ISO) and set Aperture to Auto, and it seems I cannot easily do this.

In fact it can be done, though it's not easy to see:
With those settings the front dial can turn the aperture down to it's smallest (ie largest number) then one further click changes the viewfinder indicator indicator to red with the largest aperture (f/3.5 with this lens). At this point the rear dial starts to work and controls the shutter speed, and the AF-On and AEL buttons toggle as they should.

The Gotcha is that in this mode there is no indication of the aperture the camera has chosen, which means that in some circumstances the depth of field might be unacceptable. And if I could see the setting I'd change the ISO to something more suitable.

I still think/hope there must be a much simpler way.

(Since I started in the late 1960s until recently I never used anything but manual. Probably just go back to what I know.....)

[jerryy]

4 hours ago, SimonW said:

…

What I'd like to do is set a fixed shutter speed (and ISO) and set Aperture to Auto, and it seems I cannot easily do this.

…

Hello again. I understand how long posts can make things sound different than intended, in my response, one could get the impression the EC dial can over-ride the fully manual setting, but that bit was intended for the auto part, not the manual part.

What you are wanting to do should be very easy on an X-T camera. Try this, if it does not work, something is wrong with the body. Just test using only the top dials, not the command dials.

You did not not mention which lens you are using, so ….

For a Fujifilm XF lens, set the top shutter speed dial to 200 or so, the ISO dial to 400, and on the lens turn the switch to the “ A “ mark. When the camera is turned on, the viewfinder or the lcd should show all three critical numbers, with the f-stop in red — provided you have not turned the display off or disabled their display in the set up menu. If you have a not-constant-aperture zoom lens, the f-stop will change as you zoom in and out

If the lens does not have the “ A “ switch, such as a XC lens or a third party lens, you will need to use the front command dial to control the f-stop.

https://youtu.be/8dk1eDYn0Qo

If you click on the “show more” part, the video’s contents with times are listed, click on the ones for third party lens and apertures and the video shows how to make sure the body is set to let the camera control the aperture.

If these tests fail, something is screwy with the body, you might try a full reset to clear out any odd menu setting that unintentionally affects things.

One thing to note, not always but a lot of times, when the camera is setting only the f-stop, it seems to choose wide open. If you want heaps of dof, you will need to take over that setting.

[SimonW]

Now there's a thing. The test you suggested is exactly what I described above when I found changing the aperture above the top (f/number) let me control the shutter (* see below) but did not show the aperture setting change to match. I thought it kept showing f3.5 in red (the limit on my Fuji 18-135 lens) but had not tried zooming, and yes, the indicated figure does change to show the wide open figure for each zoom range as you say. BUT it does not display the actual aperture in use. It's obvious that it must be changing to match the shutter speed setting, as the the viewfinder brightness and histogram remain virtually the same. 

So your last paragraph MIGHT * be incorrect - it's indicating the aperture is wide open when in fact it isn't.

* But I've just now noticed I can only control the shutter over a very limited range. In this test it went only between 1/80 and 1/200 sec. Ie. just over one stop, and it might be the resultant viewfinder brightness change isn't noticeable.

I don't like being beaten by tech, but this is becoming more trouble than it's worth. I'm very pleased with all my Fuji kit and can learn to live with this minor inconvenience.
 

[jerryy]

Okay, there are several things in your post. The shutter speed I will chat about below but I will try to keep it separate so as to not confuse things.

Your lens is a XF lens, so putting the switch to A allows the camera to control the aperture, the f-stop. By chance are you sitting indoors? If so, go outside, or into some very, very bright surroundings and maybe boost the ISO above 400. Take a shot and then push the playback button. The image should show up along with the shot settings that were in-use when you pushed the shutter button, —again as long as you have the displays set up to show these things— the settings, including the f-stop, should match what you saw in the view finder or lcd when you took the shot. If you are indoors doing the test, the light can be darker than one realizes because within their respective limits, human eyes adapt to lighting levels much better than cameras do. Again, if you are indoors, the camera probably is choosing wide-open for the f-stop.

If the settings do not match, something is wrong with the body and you may need to do a full reset, and if that does not work, have a chat with the dealer.

About that shutter speed part. If you set the top dial to a specific shutter speed, say 250, the camera will use 1/250 as the shutter speed. That is as it is supposed to be, but you may want to use a close speed such as 1/200 which is not on the dial. You can do that by using whichever command dial you have set to control the ss, in this case roll it backwards one notch to get 1/200. This technique allows you to get all of the standard speeds close to the main speed your top dial is set to. Some folks prefer to use the T speed and roll the command dial through the various choices, but using the top dial as a limiter can prevent accidental choices. It is giving you the in-between speeds.

Edited April 10, 2023 by jerryy

[SimonW]

Hi Jerry,

I have four XF lenses, two with constant aperture, two with aperture which changes with zoom. I've used them all in earnest with good results indoors and outside, and testing has been inside looking out of a window. Of course understand about the "A" switch. I knew and understood about using the command dial to get in-between shutter speeds but in honesty never felt the need for it.

Occasionally during testing I've been able to deliberately set some wildly "wrong" values which appeared in preview to over-expose yet resulted in a very under-exposed shot in playback. But it's never happened in normal use, and was probably due to me switching to review mode or changing a setting before a 30 second exposure had completed, or something like that. It didn't worry me.

As I said, I can live with this minor annoyance because so much else about this system is great. Life's too short to continue wasting time and worrying about it. Thanks for trying anyway.

[Blue Zurich]

I prefer it to be only while button is depressed, I'm in control that way. I did it that way for years with Canon so on Fuji it's seamless with my muscle memory. One thing I have found with Fuji is software between models is not consistent. Is that what you're dealing with here? I would never assume it should be that way but some might like it so, everyone's mileage will vary as in all things. I don't see this as a bug but as a differentiation.