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Maximize X-Pro1 and X100 Focus performance - Tipps!

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smatty

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Thanks Smatty, great read, I will be utilizing these techniques as I learn the x100. Very much appreciated.

Paul
 
Thx again for this contribution

After about 10000 shots with X100 and X Pro1 I eventually arrived to the recommendations you brilliantly synthetized!

Just would like to add some comments : I own a 5D2 with 5 lenses, i has an EOS 40d, 600D (now sold)

The Fujis are by far the cameras with which I have nearly 0% OOF shots! Fot people claiming the vertues of phase detection AF of DSLR's they can have a look to

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2012/08/autofocus-reality-part-3b-canon-cameras

and discover if needed the issues created by phase detection AF, very fast often inacurate... Only the very last bodies plus the very last lenses seem to give a good AF

I guess there is absolutely no relationship to this welcome but very late improvement and the growing market share of hybrid contrast detction AF cameras :-)

Cheers
--
Good judgment comes from experience
Experience comes from bad judgment
 
Good blog post. I've also found my X100's AF to be perfectly usable, and I love shooting the camera. Granted, I'm not sure that I agree with using the EVF much on this camera, because, if I wanted to use an EVF frequently, I'd use my NEX-7, since it has a much better EVF and it is much easier to move around the focus points. IMO, the OVF is the primary reason to deal with the X100 and X-Pro1 and some of their eccentricities, and it's the reason my NEX cameras aren't getting much action these days.
 
Excellent tips there - except - unless I misread it - I think you need to change "minimum aperture" to maximum aperture. (First para after the first image.)
Vic
--
When all else fails - read the instructions.
 
baobob said:
Thx again for this contribution
Click to expand...
baobob said:
The Fujis are by far the cameras with which I have nearly 0% OOF shots! Fot people claiming the vertues of phase detection AF of DSLR's they can have a look to

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2012/08/autofocus-reality-part-3b-canon-cameras

and discover if needed the issues created by phase detection AF, very fast often inacurate... Only the very last bodies plus the very last lenses seem to give a good AF
Click to expand...
Interesting test from lens rentals. I have not done scientific tests, but my experience with the 5D MK II have shown that AF is a bit of hit and miss. And I have microadjusted all my lenses...

Cheers,
Smatty

Homepage => http://www.FujiXfiles.blogspot.com
Recent Flickr Photos => http://www.flickr.com/photos/internationalphotos/

 
smatty said:
framus said:
Thanks, excellent article!
Also enjoyed the photo of the boy dunking the soccer ball.
The photo of the author was a perfect 'frostiing on the cake' for this article.
Cheers,
Framus
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Framus,

When I saw the photo the Sony shooter took with my X-Pro 1 of me, I knew that I had to write this blog post :)

Cheers,
Smatty
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Maybe I'm being overly sensitive, since I own both the X100 and NEX cameras (the X100 is my favorite,) but I think it's pretty fair to assume that a non-Fuji user might mess up the AF...considering many Fuji users themselves can't seem to use the AF correctly, either. LOL :)
 
But honestly I think it largely negates the point of the X100.

Instead I use OVF only, Small centre AF point, focus & recompose.

Don't shoot macro, or anything closer than 2m except in very unusual circumstances, mostly shoot at f4 - 5.6, as the lens is optimised for those apertures. The X100 is simply not meant to be a shallow DOF camera.

Never had any problems with AF even from the earliest firmware.

I guess it all depends on your subject matter.

So, if the advice in the post works for some people, then great. But for me, no, I think it comes from trying to use the cameras in a way that goes against the entire form factor. If this is how you are shooting these cameras, then surely you would be much better off with a NEX7 or OMD?

--
Blog ------------------------ http://peri.org.uk/wp/?tag=blog
X100 Blog ----------------- http://peri.org.uk/wp/?cat=16
X100 Quickstart Guide -- http://peri.org.uk/wp/?page_id=1345
 
I'm quite partial to the OVF myself.
I didn't find the excellent focus tips to negate anything.
I learned many things about focusing the camera using the EVF.

Fuji are making chameleon cameras with the OVF/EVF viewfinder.
While I prefer the OVF I see that many users are partial to the EVF.
It's all good.

-Framus
CraigArnold said:
But honestly I think it largely negates the point of the X100.

Instead I use OVF only, Small centre AF point, focus & recompose.

Don't shoot macro, or anything closer than 2m except in very unusual circumstances, mostly shoot at f4 - 5.6, as the lens is optimised for those apertures. The X100 is simply not meant to be a shallow DOF camera.

Never had any problems with AF even from the earliest firmware.

I guess it all depends on your subject matter.

So, if the advice in the post works for some people, then great. But for me, no, I think it comes from trying to use the cameras in a way that goes against the entire form factor. If this is how you are shooting these cameras, then surely you would be much better off with a NEX7 or OMD?

--
Blog ------------------------ http://peri.org.uk/wp/?tag=blog
X100 Blog ----------------- http://peri.org.uk/wp/?cat=16
X100 Quickstart Guide -- http://peri.org.uk/wp/?page_id=1345
Click to expand...
 
CraigArnold said:
Instead I use OVF only, Small centre AF point, focus & recompose.
Click to expand...
How do you set the AF point to "small" in OVF mode? I have not managed to do that.
CraigArnold said:
The X100 is simply not meant to be a shallow DOF camera.
Click to expand...
While it can be challenging to get shallow DOF the smaller the sensor gets, APS-C cameras are still fairly usable for me. I would not want to go smaller, though.

I totally understand that you enjoy the X100 at f/4 - 5.6 in OVF mode, but that does not mean that other photographers who use it differently use it in a way that goes against the entire form factor ;)

I think the X100 does quite well at f/2 in the shallow DOF department. Picture No. 1 and 4 show that:

http://fujixfiles.blogspot.de/2012/07/is-x100-enough-camera-for-traveling-my.html
CraigArnold said:
So, if the advice in the post works for some people, then great. But for me, no, I think it comes from trying to use the cameras in a way that goes against the entire form factor. If this is how you are shooting these cameras, then surely you would be much better off with a NEX7 or OMD?
Click to expand...
While I think that the NEX7 and Olympus OM-D are also very capable cameras, they are not for me!

The OM-D has a m4/3 sensor and I have decided not to go below APS-C for my serious cameras (DOF and ISO are two reasons).

The NEX7 has a good APS-C sensor and a very good EVF, but ergonomically it is just not for me.

Cheers,
Smatty

Homepage => http://www.FujiXfiles.blogspot.com
Recent Flickr Photos => http://www.flickr.com/photos/internationalphotos/

 
smatty said:
While it can be challenging to get shallow DOF the smaller the sensor gets, APS-C cameras are still fairly usable for me. I would not want to go smaller, though.
Click to expand...
I've had APS-C and currently have FF and MFT and I don't find shallow DoF to be an issue, in fact I think it's a much overblown issue and anyone who has actually tried MFT and knows what they're doing should have no problem getting shallow DoF when they want it.

I'd want to try for myself before going much smaller than MFT though, but having used MFT for some time now I'm happy with the DoF options it offers.
 
smatty wrote:
.
smatty said:
I totally understand that you enjoy the X100 at f/4 - 5.6 in OVF mode, but that does not mean that other photographers who use it differently use it in a way that goes against the entire form factor ;)
Click to expand...
I agree 100% that if these cameras can serve many people with different styles then that is a fantastic thing.

My real caution though is that we sometimes see people using the cameras in a fashion which is not ideally suited for the form factor and being disappointed.
smatty said:
I think the X100 does quite well at f/2 in the shallow DOF department. Picture No. 1 and 4 show that:

http://fujixfiles.blogspot.de/2012/07/is-x100-enough-camera-for-traveling-my.html
Click to expand...
I agree that it has wonderful fall off into the OOF areas, but the X100 particularly has a wide 23mm lens, not designed to be sharp at close distances - and close distances are absolutely required to get a narrow DOF on a 23mm lens! At close portrait distances the distortion is horrible. Also it's precisely the kind of distance where the switch from normal to Macro focus hits hard, and where the early firmware struggled.

So a great documentary lens with great falloff? Yes, that is how it was designed.

But thinking f2 & APS-C => good shallow DOF for portraits? No, and again no. Can it be done? Sure, I have some great examples and I'm sure most of us do. But that is never what the designers had in mind.

--
Blog ------------------------ http://peri.org.uk/wp/?tag=blog
X100 Blog ----------------- http://peri.org.uk/wp/?cat=16
X100 Quickstart Guide -- http://peri.org.uk/wp/?page_id=1345
 
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