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X-T3 Focus Hunting

FromanZA

By FromanZA
in Fuji X-T3 / Fuji X-T30

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FromanZA Rookie

FromanZA

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Anyone having/had problems with factory standard settings, brand new x-t3 with kit 18-55 lens and focus hunting? I cant find anything online about this so assumed it was me...until I showed Fuji.

Lens fully zoomed in on a parking lot, no moving cars, or trees, shot in daylight, plenty to focus on (IE not a white wall), using factory set focus settings straight after a reset of camera, OIS on or off made no difference, ISO auto, shutter @ 1/60, aperture manual, 4k30, shot handheld, AF-C, UV filter on lens, focus point was central in frame (nothing moving) and about 20 meters away and nothing in between camera lens and focus point (trees).

To try and find out what was causing the problem I set the aperture to f20 = approx 2 second hunting frequency (from completely blurry to sharp, IE not a small hunt, its like it moves from extreme to extreme). As I reduce the aperture towards f16, frequency increases to say 0.5 seconds and then at f10 its not possible to see on the camera screen that there is hunting.

My test seems to show its aperture & zoom related, regardless, I cant accept that this is ok.

Above video in question was shot at the Fuji HO in South Africa to demonstrate the problem to Fuji so I don't have the video at the moment because I sent the camera in due to this hunting problem. They still don't know what the problem might be so I thought I would reach out and see if anyone can reproduce my problem so I can help Fuji help me solve my problem.

I have had a consistent problem with focus on the camera with a hit rate of probably 60%, video & photo. Even when the camera locks focus in AF-S mode, stationary scene, eye focus mode on and face mode on, photo mode, the camera will miss the shot and focus on the rear of the head region while it tells me its focused on the eye when clicking the rear dial in to show the focus point.

Any insight would be appreciate!

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  • 4 weeks later...
kiwidad Newbie

kiwidad

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try the camera in Aperture priority with an f stop under f8 i.e. f8 or f5.6

I discovered that when I have the camera in auto ISO and Autoexposure  in bright light my camera is unusable for video but works fine with stills tho.

I now set the iso manually and do aperture priority and have no problems. At high apertures in video something is wrong in the exposure options and the lens is so stopped down it hunts for focus. I can duplicate this on every lens I own

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Dudesonforums Newbie

Dudesonforums

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15 hours ago, FromanZA said:

Ill try above. Fuji ended up swapping out my X-T3. What firmware are you running? I was running V3 above and now I have a new camera with V2.1.

See the other forum which ended up assisting to some degree:

https://www.fujix-forum.com/threads/x-t3-focus-hunting.90650/

That's exactly why you don't have focus hunting problems anymore. You are on old firmware (2.10). I am so glad I never rushed to update to 3.00, because that's the firmware that introduced focus hunting problems (and some other while we are at that).

If you don't want to experience focus hunting, do not update to firmware 3.00.

See this video by Wai Lam (link below), you can see how much of a problem focus hunting is after the 3.00 update:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa7-S8bsXjk

Fujifilm needs to know about this, and fix it in the next firmware update... it should also come sooner, rather than later. People who are having trouble with 3.00, they can't simply go back, firmware downgrading is not supported on any camera as far as I know (I wasn't able to do it on my old Canon 7D, nor on Panasonic GH4), so I did not rush with updating my perfectly working X-T3 and existing 2.10

This guy is having trouble with USB-C charging after the update to 3.00:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2jMxsiYb1Ahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2jMxsiYb1A

Edited by Dudesonforums
Did not post links properly, fixed it now
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Fogboundturtle Newbie

Fogboundturtle

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I have to agree with OP. I have the same issue with Firmware 3.0. It pulsate quite violently at time. Also I've been having this issue with some wobbling effect on the kit lens. I have to run more test this week but I tend to agree that lower the F stop seems to help a lot. Maybe Fuji just love tree too much. 

 

You can watch the first minutes of the video : 

 

 

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  • 1 month later...
Dudesonforums Newbie

Dudesonforums

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It's just incredible how it's even possible that bugs like this in that new firmware v3.0 simply go unnoticed, and it seems like no one even cares anymore. Sure, most people use their X-T3 exclusively for photography, and they won't even notice this focus hunting problem, since it's super obvious in video mode only.

What is Fujifilm doing about this? I reported this problem directly to Fujifilm HQ in Japan, along with hundreds of other people. They simply don't care. Where is that "Fujifilm famous with frequent updates for their users"?! I don't even need frequent updates, I just need them to fix this bug they introduced with firmware 3.0. I still have another X-T3 that's on old firmware 2.10, and focus hunting is non existent there. The other camera (my wife uses) with v3.0, is practically ruined with this update... and of course there is no way to downgrade and go back to the old firmware.

Fujifilm - if you can't fix this problem, at least allow users who diligently paid with their hard earned money for these expensive cameras, to at least be able to go back to the old firmware. I don't need your improved eye-tracking (still sucks a33 compared to anything SONY does), I just need my wife's X-T3 with firmware 3.0 installed to not have that super annoying focus hunting. It almost looks like it's broken. If you could have done that nicely with X-T30 (absolutely no focus hunting there), what is the problem with X-T3? Why don't they simply admit and at least promise they are working on the fix?

Edited by Dudesonforums
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FromanZA Rookie

FromanZA

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Do what I did, take your camera back to Fuji, should still be under warranty and ask for a V2.10 firmware camera. They didn't give me any hassle, grief or issues. Direct replacement, new camera!

I was just about to update my software to V3 because "how bad could it be" and "maybe it was just me" and now i'll wait until V3.1 or V4.0 + some months before upgrading again....

Agree, its completely pathetic that they haven't released a fix yet.

Good Luck!

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  • 2 weeks later...
FromanZA Rookie

FromanZA

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In South Africa we have a local Fuji Head Office. I assume its the same in the states. I called them , told them about a weird hunting problem and they said to bring the camera in for analysis. When they couldnt tell me what was wrong (+- 2 weeks) they gave me a new camera and said they would keep in touch as they had to speak to Fuji Japan. That was the last I heard from them. From what I read, its not possible to downgrade firmware, I assume only maybe the engineers in Japan can.

Hope that helps!

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  • 2 weeks later...
FromanZA Rookie

FromanZA

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From Fuji South Africa, I asked whether Fuji Japan had found the problem/solution and this was their reply:
"The update was that they have found the cause in the firmware which is related to phase detection AF. The solution for the issue they are developing an upgraded firmware to solve the issue"
 
Now we wait :)
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  • 4 weeks later...
FromanZA Rookie

FromanZA

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From the Fuji technician directly that assisted me with my camera swap out when I had the issue. They apparently get a notification from Fuji before firmware is formally announced to the public. 

Im hopeful it will solve the problem and I will update straight away because if it’s not solved the camera will again go back and they will give me a brand new one yet again...

Time will tell if it actually does come out in a few days and whether it solves the problems or introduces more! I’ll post my findings when I can. 

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FromanZA Rookie

FromanZA

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So a firmware update has definitely been posted but there isn’t any mention of solving the focus hunting issue which is quite interesting. I assume the word ‘incorporates’ is used wisely...

https://www.fujifilm.com/support/digital_cameras/software/firmware/x/xt3/index.html

“The firmware update Ver.3.01 from Ver.3.00 incorporates the following issue:

  • 1.The phenomenon is fixed that in rare cases, the message of “TURN OFF THE CAMERA AND TURN ON AGAIN” can appear in the drive mode of “S” when you repeatedly and rapidly take photos in a short time./li>“

 

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Ofilaye Newbie

Ofilaye

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2 hours ago, FromanZA said:

So a firmware update has definitely been posted but there isn’t any mention of solving the focus hunting issue which is quite interesting. I assume the word ‘incorporates’ is used wisely...

https://www.fujifilm.com/support/digital_cameras/software/firmware/x/xt3/index.html

“The firmware update Ver.3.01 from Ver.3.00 incorporates the following issue:

  • 1.The phenomenon is fixed that in rare cases, the message of “TURN OFF THE CAMERA AND TURN ON AGAIN” can appear in the drive mode of “S” when you repeatedly and rapidly take photos in a short time./li>“

 

Ah, Thats frustrating I was hoping they would at least make the announcement that they're aware of the issue. I was made aware of this wobble/focus hunting the other day when shooting on a tripod with my X-T3 and 18-55 2.8-4 . My assumption is that when lens OIS is on when shooting on a tripod the lens OIS occasionally tries to stabilise the image even though the camera is perfectly still. 

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FromanZA Rookie

FromanZA

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  • With 18-55 lens, Ive had trouble focussing in low light to the point where the camera gives up. I can focus manually then switch back to autofocus change subject and then it wont focus again.
  • I had to go back to Fuji to have the shutter button looked at (its sticky/unresponsive at times) and I tried a video in the Fuji office park and to my unsuprise the camera was doing a similar hunting thing.
  • There does seem to be an improvement over FW3.0 as I didnt see hunting when zoomed out but when zooming in to 55mm the problem is still very much there. Settings were all much the same as before, all auto except aperture.
  • See attached video. Yes, I was shooting through a car window which is not ideal but the camera clearly tries to over focus beyond the cars in the distance and when adjusting the aperture to around f14 the focus hunting dies out.
  • Was on FW2.1 recently for a vacation and not a single bit of focus hunting. The 'improvements' in the FW3 versions I dont think is worth the upgrade from FW2.
  • Camera is back again with Fuji so lets see what they say next!
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  • 3 weeks later...
Rick448 Newbie

Rick448

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I contacted Fuji UK, this is the response I received from them:

"We have passed your issue onto FUJIFILM Japan for investigation, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.
 
If you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us. 
 
Kind Regards, 
 
FUJIFILM UK Digital Support"
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  • 4 weeks later...

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