Tips and tricks for better (auto) focus with X-E1

Ther's been a lot of discussion about the "challenging" autofocus of the X-E1. I can understand people's frustrations. Imagine my embarrassment on Christmas night when friends and family were easily snapping away with their phones and their point & shoots in my living room while I was unable to get decent focus with my X-E1. Finding vertical lines to focus on helped in some instances, but not others, and I was careful not to cover the focus assist lamp with the index finger of my right hand. Tried manual focus too, but in low light with EVF, by the time I got decent focus I had missed the shot. I would love to hear what other people have learned that might help us all?

1. Update your firmware.

2. Don't focus on vertical lines, focus on high-contrast patterns with vertical elements, with no items at other distances within the focus area (it's all adjustable). Faces, eyes, ears, furniture, wallpapers, door and window frames, Christmas tree decorations with tree in the background are good. Stand-alone poles on distant high-contrast backgrounds, individual Christmas tree branches, groups of people in front of the window in a distance are bad.

3. When everything fails, ISO 3200, f/8.

Can you post some photos with their Exif info? My guess it was more than focus issues. it might have been your f stop giving you a shallow depth of field or a slow shutter speed giving you a blurred image [ not out of focus ].

Also fear of using a higher ISO.

This might help:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/post/42171320

Great suggestions.

Generally I have resigned myself that softness is a fact of life with the X-E1.  It's my portrait / low-light camera and my Sigma is my sharpness camera.

-Scott

--
http://photos.lightriverphoto.com/
http://www.flickriver.com/photos/scottalangreiff/popular-interesting/

Thank you for all the good comments. My firmware, both camera and lens, are current. I do understand the value of using high iso (no fear there) in low light, the impact of f stop on depth of field, and the effect of shutter speed on stopping motion. I'm not sure that I understand how these variables effect achieving autofocus lock.

Also, any thoughts on getting good focus at infinity? Again, thanks for any ideas, tips or tricks on getting the most out of autofocus on the X-E1

Softness and out of focus are two different things.  Softness in a portrait is good, OOF is not.

The camera focuses beautifully in very low light.  You simply need to figure out what the Fuji iteration of CDAF is looking for to work.  Once you learn that it focuses very well in all light.

However it is not a point and shoot with 87 focus points and a 16 bit computer algorithm that does all of your thinking for you.  It expects the operator to help out just a bit.

several of the posters have given you hints at how to start but nothing helps like thousands of shots in low light.  We have all been where the OP was last night.  However those of us that have learned how to focus this camera simply don't have a problem any longer.

--
X100
XPro1; 60mm Macro, 35mm f1.4
XE1; Kit Zoom

And while the article shows us how X-E1 owners can be more precise, it makes it sound like us EVF users are hosed when it comes to being able to capture that elusive "decisive moment" due to lag... Oy.

-Scott

--
http://photos.lightriverphoto.com/
http://www.flickriver.com/photos/scottalangreiff/popular-interesting/

Another tip:

Make the auto focus LARGER. It will be easier to obtain focus in low light. But the bottom line is if there is not enough light to obtain a good photograph that's it. Any camera can not do magic.

One more thing I've learned with shooting with Bayer (like) corp sensor cameras is that you can't determine absolute sharpness by looking at the image at 100%.  Pros I know even say they determine sharpness by looking at images at 50% magnification.

-Scott

--
http://photos.lightriverphoto.com/
http://www.flickriver.com/photos/scottalangreiff/popular-interesting/

I don't agree. Shot in natural light. No trouble with auto focus.

Thanks for the link, which contained some good info, though none of the tips offered were useful in the situation described by the OP. I had a similar frustration with my XE-1 while trying to shoot pics at my Christmas Day dinner. When shooting photos of people--expecially in room lighting, where you're likely to be using wide-open aperatures--you need to be able to lock focus on faces, and preferably the eyes. When the camera will not do that--as was the case with my XE-1 in too many situations--you're left with either manual focus or focusing on the nearest thing (usually a clothing pattern) on which the camera can lock focus. MF can work, but the photo opp is usually gone by the time you're focused... in the latter workaround, by locking focus on contrasty fabric or something other than the face, you assure yourself of soft focus in the most critical area of your photograph.

You found your self in a situation where flash was needed.

I too have found this to help. It's a bit annoying because sometimes it means that stuff gets the focus lock that you didn't want, but it's still better than the alternative.

Although this is true, it's besides the point. While "any camera can not do magic," most cameras have a much easier time locking focus under the same conditions as the X-E1.

I love my X-E1. I'm glad I bought it. I always want to shoot now that I have it. Nevertheless, I'm completely amazed by the denial and excuse-making of other owners, just because people are having a hard time with one of its serious weaknesses. No need to invalidate someone just because they are having a tough time coming to grips with the sub-par autofocus on the X-E1. It's a fantastic camera overall, but it can be frustrating as well.

Here is another beneficial post discussing auto-focus:

http://www.fujix-forum.com/index.php?/topic/1713-focus-101/#entry19694

What a strange comment. How would that have helped with the auto-focus?

Yea! I got off topic thinking about shooting in low light.

Exactly the scenarios that I described in my previous response -- there are objects near the center of the frame that could accidentally get focus instead of people, but when autofocus is used correctly, people are in focus, random background objects are not.

Also at 100% one can see "Adobe signature" watercolor effect on the first and third photos, but that's completely unrelated, and does not cause a problem with those images.

From my limited experience with X-E1 there are pros and cons in selecting the size of the focus frame. The largest frame would increase the chances of a focus lock but at the same time the camera may lock at the wrong object. A smaller focus frame will improve the odds of a focus lock on the desired target. Here is an example:

In case of a close-up a largest focus frame will focus successfully around the flower. But if you are interested in focusing on a particular structure inside, a smallest focus frame may be more appropriate. I had one one mis-focus when the the small focus box was in the middle of the lower left petal (the picture is cropped for the sake of an explanation). The ideal focus point would be the brown structures in the center - these are the areas of the higher contrast that "abelits" refers to in his post - second from the top. Also the bright-red vertical vein would work. Definitely the vertical and diagonal edges (lots of red/dark-green contrast) but the focus may not be optimal for a shallow DOF.

Jacob

And slow lenses - just about anything is in focus if its within 2 or 3 feet.

One technique is simply to use MF and F 6.3 or slower, and high enough ISO, with flash.

Focus using 3X zoom at the approximate distance and fire away. Much faster too as you don't have to AF all the time.

Once you get the knack, its faster than AF in low light.