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It is rare and sad to see such a torn fan base of any company in the camera space. In the past you had your Canon and your Nikon camp, with diehard fans sticking to their favorite brand, bashing the opposition and proclaiming their loyalty by using only the selected brands products.
A division within the brand, with two distinct camps – one side demanding the (autofocus) issues being resolved, while the other downplaying or even hiding the well-known issues – is somewhat baffling and immensely amusing for fans of other camera brands, such as Sony.
Fuji users are right now dived in two main groups, the ones who demand Fuji fixes these issues once and for all and the other side that defends Fuji and their beloved cameras. To be fair, the stance of the Fuji apologetics has changed during this period, from blatantly denying there was an issue and blaming user error, to timidly admitting there is an issue, that will definitely be fixed by the upcoming updates.
There is also a third middle group that is just waiting to see what will happen in November and hoping they won’t need to abandon their favorite camera brand, as many have sadly already done.
How to do valid autofocus tests
In response to Pal2Tech’s review video of the X-M5, Edvard made a provocative yet highly entertaining video, and song, o how to properly test the autofocus of a camera.
Basically it is just walking up to the camera and back, going out of the frame and back and introducing objects into the scene. While his sarcastic delivery is frowned upon many more serious camera enthusiasts, he does bring out some good points:
- The box on the eye/face is irrelevant if the eye/face is not in focus
- Testing with faster (F 1.4, 1.8) prime lenses at the lowest aperture provides the most accurate results
- Clearly stating which mode is used (Focus mode, AF mode, AF-C custom settings, Face/eye detection settings) is essential for accurate test reproduction
At the same time (literally same hour) as Edvard’s video was released, Pal2Tech published his own reply adding additional footage from his 7-day testing.
I will let you be the judge of that extra footage.
More tests, more visibility, quicker response?
Inspired by Edvard’s video, Phil R Peck redid his own testing with his X-H2s, comparing it to a Sony ZV-E1, this time with the latest firmware.
As you can see, the issues with X-H2s keeping the focus on the eye/head are evident. There was no question that the Sony would outperform it in this test, we all know that it is No. 1 in the autofocus department.
What it comes down to is reliability; Fuji just isn’t reliable, while Sony (and others) is. This is a big issue, particularly for professionals, that need to rely on their equipment to get the job done the first time.
I believe that more people should do tests with their Fuji cameras and flood YouTube with these type of videos, so that there would be more attention on this subject and Fuji would be forced to really focus on the autofocus.
This might be the last we hear of the Fuji AF drama, as I think most people will wait till November to see what the new camera and updates will bring. Hopefully Fuji doesn’t let us down…again.
