What are the chances of Fuji improving AF on XT4 to reliable level?

FujLiver wrote:

I have to say that some of the responses on this thread are rather defensive, and fall short of the erudite conversation which is generally the norm amongst Fujifilm folk.

Even though the heading subject "XT4 .... AF ..... reliable" perhaps is a trigger for some people

I don't buy the argument that "I used to get great shots using MF". Once you rely on AF, you do need it to work.

The bottom line is that expectation of AF have changed vastly over the last the 10 years. Today AF is judged by three things: stills, tracking and video tracking.

On dpreview, where you have many gear heads and specs watchers, unless any camera is the best in everything, there will be some people who viciously mock it. I suggest these folk are not real photographers.

If you are taking stills with the X-T4, its excellent, and the limitations will entirely be you as a photographer. It you are using tracking, its excellent most of the time but is not as snappy as the best, and occasionally looses its way. However overall I would say it is very good.

Sony AF, and eye detect, is simply telepathic. If you want the best in this particular department, then even the three year old A7iii is still king over the latest cameras. The new Canon camera tracking is also excellent, and then Nikon is a whisper behind.

Panasonic has vastly improved the tracking on the S5, but it is still attacked for being DFD. Its stills AF is excellent. Its tracking is pretty good, falling behind Sony in speed of acquisition and occasionally loosing it.

BTW loosing it is not terrible. You can quickly see this and re-acquire once you are skilled with the controls. Both Fujifilm and Panasonic are both very good, and in most cases eye detect and tracking will be absolutely fine once you have learned the camera.

If I was a commercial photographer and relied on AF tracking, particularly in sports, I would probably put my business money in Sony. For every other type of photography, particularly amateur and hobby, the feel and the workflow is king.

Therefore, IMHO, in your circumstances, it would be a mistake to be guided by AF amongst the current crop of Sony, Leica, Canon, Panasonic and Fujifilm cameras. I recommend that you are guided by look and feel, workflow and how much time you want to be in P&P. Where Fujifilm still reigns supreme for people work.

Best of luck!

That’s a great post. Experienced photographers can get superb shots with Fuji,I love the system,  but if you’re inexperienced with AF or really want to just concentrate on other aspects of photography, particularly with fast moving sports or even weddings, and let AF be automatic there’s no doubt that other systems are slightly stickier, particularly with eye detection.

What worries me is the length of this thread, largely due to defensive posts. Fuji is a terrific system and has many advantages. We should welcome debate and not be a ‘cancel culture’ where we mock or shut down other views or enquiries about perceived shortcomings.