X-H2S subject tracking miss

Greybeard2017 wrote:

Morris0 wrote:

michaeladawson wrote:

I'm not surprised to hear someone report having problems like this. I'm not saying the X-H2S has an issue. I'm not saying that this is user error.

What I am saying is that you have a relatively low detailed subject, a gray body and head at too long a distance, sitting in a sea of very detailed and high contrast grass.

I would expect an advanced camera like the X-H2S to be able to easily nail this shot. But I'm also not surprised in the least if someone reports that it's not working.

The Nikon Z9 also has many reports of scenes where the camera's AF system will fail to grab focus on what to the photographer looks like an obvious subject and instead locks onto the background.

Nikon has been making continual tweaks to the advanced AF system of the Z9. I'm sure we can expect to see many refinements to the X-H2S AF system.

I'm waiting for the OP to answer my questions to understand what happened with this relatively easy subject. Cameras require instructions to understand what the photographer wants to do. If this was wide tracking the camera would have to guess the subject and your are correct, contrast is going to play a part. Had the photographer used zone or single point and placed it on the subject I suspect we would be looking at sharp images.

Morris

You don't need to mess with zone or single point with the X-H2S - just wide/area tracking with the focus square over the subject you want it to identify.

You are right.  That’s how it’s supposed to work.

However, what I’m saying is cameras like the Z9 and X-H2S have little flaws in their AF logic that sometimes miss in certain situations.  Nikon is continuing to tweak the Z9 and I’m sure Fujifilm is tweaking the X-H2.

Until these tweaks are released the solution for the time being is to know your camera and AF system and intervene as needed.