Fuji X-T1 Disappointed with Fuji X-T1 Firmware 4.0? We have tipps for you...

[Antony]

Hi guys,

 

I have a problem with the new firmware. With the 50-140 on, the IS never stops running. I have set it for "Shooting only", but it still runs all the time, as long as the camera is on.

Tips?

I'm pretty certain that this is normal behaviour for this lens.

[milandro]

I used all the right setting - AF-C, HP mode, Ch, 3x3 zone. The problem was at that distance as shown in my samples the 3x3 zone is simply too large and imprecise, it switched focus from the skater onto the background and back.

 

I have tried only a few shots with the 50-230 at 230mm  they were all well focussed. Different strokes for different people! Good luck!

[Trenton Talbot]

Anyway samples below shows what I mean, images from a burst sequence - 

 

…And why did you need a tracking AF for this sequence, exactly?

 

 

Seriously? That's your solution?

 

 

Ever heard of viewfinder blackout?

[kin2son]

…And why did you need a tracking AF for this sequence

Wow I'm amazed at this board with so many fanboys and their condescending replies.

 

I posted a legitimate concern with sample photos and these are the replies I get? Great....

 

Where do I begin.....as I've said in the previous post the actions were flying left and right, there was actually 4 female skaters in the ring and there was no way that I could keep switching af-s to af-c/single to zone.

 

You are absolutely right about not needing tracking af in the particular sequence I posted, but the problem lies with zone mode algorithms.

 

First answer this question - Is the camera supposed to lock on the CLOSEST SUBJECT within the zone (either 3x3 or 5x3 in Ch) when using zone AF mode and continues to track if camera is put on af-c?

 

If the answer is yes, fact that it locks onto the subject in the first few frames (note the four samples I posted wasn't every single shot in the sequence), lost the subject in the next couple (focused on background) and back onto the skater again means the zone af isn't that great after all.

 

The skater was spinning at the same spot which means the camera to subject distance remained constant, which means in zone AF mode it SHOULD lock and continues to focus on the subject without jumping off.

 

This alone shows the Fuji's zone implementation is flawed.

 

Ever heard of viewfinder blackout?

Irrelevant to my problem, but thanks for pointing out another X-T1 shortcoming.

[erwiurewurwehu]

I'm pretty certain that this is normal behaviour for this lens.

Yes, it always makes that noise.

[jlees]

Hi,

Thanks to all involved for tips and trials on FW4

So far so good for me

 

However I have a question concerning the interlocking of spot metering and the zone tracking.

 

On which point in the zone does the spot meter take its reading: the one in the middle of the zone? The one used to focus on pressing the shutter? Or...?

 

I have looked at many of the posts (but not all) and have not seen this addressed (and it does not appear to be addressed in the xt1 additive to the manual either).

 

Thanks and have a nice evening

Jeremy

[flysurfer]

Seriously? That's your solution?

 

Almost always CL.

[flysurfer]

Besides burst speed has nothing to do with it.

 

For me, it has a lot to do with achieving good AF tracking performance. Hence my recommendation.

[digitalfella]

thanks for the reminder re MS+ES mode disabling PDAF!  But I don't really understand why this needs to be a user intervention - couldn't the camera use PDAF when the camera is using the mechanical shutter and keep doing so until the aperture and light combo pushes the shutter into ES mode and THEN have it auto disable PDAF at that point?  Now I have to keep switching ES on when shooting wider aperture with the F1.2 in sun.  I guess though that the rule is if shooting any moving subject then keep the shutter to MS mode only which I agree does make sense.  Nice photo by the way!

[flysurfer]

thanks for the reminder re MS+ES mode disabling PDAF!

 

It doesn't.

[kin2son]

It doesn't.

Pretty sure it does in tracking mode (meaning AF-C and either Cl or Ch).

[flysurfer]

Pretty sure it does in tracking mode (meaning AF-C and either Cl or Ch).

Not really. AF is limited to the first frame, though.

[wildcart]

Yesterday I had some time to test firmware 4 on some dancers. Its an improvement over firmware 3 but its nowhere near the AF speed of an DSLR. And maybe I would have had more keepers with AF-S then AF-C. Maybe its also because the light in the room was not that great. Hopefully in the next 3 to 4 years the mirrorless cameras catchup with the DSLR performance so I can leave those big cameras / lenses at home.

[milandro]

I suppose the best is to accept the camera as is. If one wants something else there are easy options.

 

Things then to be as they are and rarely they are as we think they should be.

[gordonrussell76]

Chaps

 

One thing I noticed with Fireware 4 is in the AF sub menus the Release/Focus priority settings are both default set to release priority (ie for Single Point and for Continuous)

 

This means the camera is prioritising release over focus accuracy.

 

Might be worth checking this setting if you have not already as that might help with accuracy of focus.

 

+1 as well to using CL mode. I used to always use that on my X-E2 as on the X-E2 in CH mode it would not re-focus between frames, so even in C mode on the front dial when in CH it would focus for the firts shot and then lock at that focus for remaining shots.

 

I found that Cl was actually quite good for most applications good example my daughter going down a slide and running towards me, in CH mode I would get about 17 shots of which the first 4 or 5 were vaguely acceptable but nothing special. Same thing in CL mode I would only get 6 shots, but 5 of them were very sharpa nd one passable none were as badly focused as the CH mode. I would rather have less shots and them all be useable than lots of not very good shots. YMMV

 

Now the X-T1 does re-focus between shots, I think the shot rate does go down slightly if you have focus priority on, but its not as slow as CL, so I think that CH plus focus priority is probably the sweet spot, but I need to experiment more.

 

Most of the above was done with Single AF, not played with Zone AF and burst shooting yet. I have mainly be focusing on comparing it to X-E2 with a view to which camera I keep.

G

[izzyosman]

Hi. I know I'm late to the party to have comments on the firmware, but one thing you should also keep in mind is how the phase detection works only with vertical lines when the camera is in landscape orientation-- so subject tracking will be heavily improved if you are tracking vertical lines. If the subject has more horizontal lines, you will have to have the camera in portrait orientation to take advantage of phase detect af. Xt2 better have cross type pdaf.

[A.R.]

 

I shot some ice skater yesterday and although I got some in focus shot I also have a lot of oof ones that goes straight to the bin.

 

Problem is 3x3 zone is simply too 'loose'.

 

Sure you can argue that I should use single point, but what I think is Fuji needs to implement something like Canon DSLR with 4/8 AF points expansion explained here - http://www.learn.usa.canon.com/resources/articles/2011/1dx_af_pts_article.shtml (Page 2, 4 & 8 points expansion)

 

Anyway samples below shows what I mean, images from a burst sequence - 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh well maybe I'm expecting too much, but I feel there's still plenty of room for improvements if Fuji gives us more flexible AF modes to improve it further.

 

 

That happens to me even when shooting not moving subjects using AF-Single set to one point at minimum square dimension (which I don´t why it´s a square instead of a point) specially with wide focal lengths 18-35mm ... The speed is ok, but the AF is still far from being accurate, and at this point I´m not sure if they can fix it with more firmware updates.

[JadePixel]

 So looking at the tips, and the venting over the firmware..  

 

Seems like PDAF might be the biggest pain, because it's not compatible with so many other features of the camera..  (can't use ES, FD, etc).

 

Was getting so wrapped up in these "must do" tips before I thought about it and realized I don't spend my days chasing cyclists down the street...

[milandro]

very true, I have shot some cyclists and motorcyclists just for kicks and then returned to what I do more often than not which is sigle shot, no auto-track autofocus if not completely manual focus.

 

This whole business of the improved AF, in reality, only ever improved the performance of the 60mm autofocus for me.

 

But of course it was marketed as the panacea for everything for months and so, when it arrived was rather more anticlimactic than most would have liked.

[flysurfer]

 So looking at the tips, and the venting over the firmware..  

 

Seems like PDAF might be the biggest pain, because it's not compatible with so many other features of the camera..  (can't use ES, FD, etc).

 

Was getting so wrapped up in these "must do" tips before I thought about it and realized I don't spend my days chasing cyclists down the street...

 

PDAF and ES are perfectly compatible.

[bergat]

 5.40 firmware has not added anything and autofocus for the sports is very much far from that sony cameras do.

We hope in the next release.

Edited January 23, 2018 by bergat

[TOPSHELFJUNIOR]

Wow, this is good to know. Thinking about buying an X-T1 for someone in my family but.. Maybe I should just get them an X-T3 or something instead, to avoid all this lol. I just figured, just go with the cheapest body, and a camera that has some soul to it, to let them learn the basics first. Hmmmm.

Edited April 21, 2024 by TOPSHELFJUNIOR