Slow eye-sensor EVF switching response with UHS-I cards

[kimcarsons]

Here's another X-T2 bug... I didn't notice this behavior on the X-Pro2 but don't have access to one anymore to confirm.

 

Here's the problem. With a (fast=95MB/s) UHS-I card in the camera (in either slot, can be in addition to a UHS-II card), the eye sensor takes up to 4-seconds to transfer the preview from the LCD to the EVF when first turning on the camera and bringing it to your eye.

 

UHS-II cards don't seem to have this delay.

 

If you put the camera to your eye and THEN turn it on, there is only a half second or so delay, which is fine, but I have a decades old habit of turning on/unlocking a camera before I bring it to my eye.

 

This means I'm having to use $40 UHS-II cards in the X-T2, even though a $12 UHS-I cards are plenty fast enough me.

 

I've tried PNY Turbo Performance and Sandisk Ultra UHS-I cards---with either the X-T2 exhibits this bug.

 

Is anyone using a UHS-I card with the X-T2 that doesn't cause this delay?

Edited November 3, 2016 by kimcarsons

[exkeks]

Can't reproduce this behavior with my X-T2 and SanDisk Extreme 128GB(80MB/s) / 32GB(60MB/s) combo. Do you have boost mode activated in the Fuji?

[kimcarsons]

Can't reproduce this behavior with my X-T2 and SanDisk Extreme 128GB(80MB/s) / 32GB(60MB/s) combo. Do you have boost mode activated in the Fuji?

 

It happens with boost mode on or off. I should have mentioned that obviously the camera has to be in the 'eye-sensor' view mode. Sequence of events is: turn camera on with it away from your body (so that LCD comes on initially), and immediately bring the EVF to your eye. It's possible that the X-Pro2 had the same behavior and I just didn't notice because of the optical viewfinder---with the X-T2 your're just staring at a black screen for several seconds so it's pretty disruptive to shooting.

 

After the camera has already been on 4 seconds or so, switching to the EVF seems just as fast with the UHS-I cards as with UHS-II cards. I also tried disabling the shots remaining indicator from the EVF display in case the EVF was waiting on the card for that information, but that didn't make any difference.

[kimcarsons]

UPDATE: This problem still exists with FW 1.10.

[Tom H.]

I tried some old cards, never noticed anything different. I keep boost mode on though (without grip).

[kimcarsons]

One interesting little update. My Lexar 1800x UHS-II micro sd card's adapter broke. So I put the card in a UHS-I adapter. Well, still no delay when switching to EVF! So it seems that this UHS-II card using only the UHS-I pins works fine. That's not super encouraging though, because it means that, no matter the specs, every card I buy is a total gamble, with the odds strongly favoring this delay. I think I'm about to order a Sandisk Extreme Pro UHS-I card, and see if that helps (I never needed UHS-II anyway, just want to get away from this damn EVF switching delay).

[kimcarsons]

I tried some old cards, never noticed anything different. I keep boost mode on though (without grip).

 

 

I always keep it on boost mode too. Boost mode has nothing to do with it.

[kimcarsons]

OK. The weirdness continues. I bought a Sandisk Extreme Pro UHS-I card. The problem is greatly reduced (delay shortened) with this card, but, and here's where it gets really weird, it's still a greater delay than the UHS-II Lexar 1800x card using only the UHS-I pins. This is weird because the 1800x card is SLOWER in UHS-I mode than the Extreme Pro. So it definitely seems like the read/write speed doesn't have anything directly to do with it, and it's some other card compatibility problem (and I tend to blame Fuji here because I have several cards that work fine in other devices but produce read/write errors when used in certain Fuji cameras).

 

I guess the Extreme Pros are OK, as it's only $20 for 32GB (vs the $40-$60 for a 32GB UHS-II card). The delay is still noticeable, but not a hindrance like it was with my other UHS-I cards (1-2 seconds vs 3-4).

[photonongrata]

Thanks for posting about this kimcarsons, I had a much slower card in my second slot as overflow and swapping it has increased the responsiveness some. I leave my camera on while I shoot using eye sensor viewfinder only mode, so I don't run into this delay much, but you never know when you'll need your camera on in an instant!