Fuji X-H2S for Sports - Field Use and Observations

I took my new X-H2S to a tennis match yesterday and used extensively. I'm a hobbyist but I've been shooting tennis for over a decade. Prior cameras used (for context) have included Nikon D5, D4S, D500 and Fuji X-T2, X-H1.

It was a moderately hot day (85f) and we were in direct sun for almost all of it. I took my new X-H2S to give it a full workout. Shot over 5,500 images in the course of about 8 hours during 3 different matches.

Primary Settings us Custom2 setup (some tweaked during shooting):

-ES

-Fine/JPG (no raw)

-AFC / Zone / custom AF action settings

-PRE-AF off

-Pre Shots (ES) on

-Face Detection off

-Shutter speeds ranging from 1000-2500

-CH Bursts shot at 15, 20, 30, 40 frames per second

-Lens was Fuji 50-140 F2.8

Overall, this camera is amazing. While I love my D5 it is huge and far from quiet. Since I'm not a pro it was always challenging as an amateur sitting in the stands being careful not to bother other fans (even though I sit close the camera pit). The Fujis I used in the past were great but the % of keepers not as high as the Nikon given rolling shutter and firing responsiveness. Thankfully, most of the issues that bothered me in the past under similar conditions with the Fuji X-T2 and X-H1 were significantly improved. (1) Rolling shutter was almost eliminated - in particular the tennis ball is the right shape when coming into the frame and after being hit, and the frame stretching under high speeds did not happen. (2) The Pre Shots On feature is truly amazing. I captured a ton of great photos that were milliseconds before I managed to anticipate the action / to go from focus to shot. Even my D5 would miss those unless my timing was perfect. Plus the battery life was incredible. After all those pics I had only exhausted 1 of the 3 I had with me (2 were on the grip of course). As to the pics themselves - excellent performance (sharp, great tracking with few exceptions - see below), etc. So very happy overall and will use again next week.

Challenges - these are actually new for me with the XH-2S.

First, I noticed that in some sequences (in the middle of a burst) and when locking and shooting in some cases the focus was simply off. This might be a setting issue on my end, and I will try other configurations in the future. But the same setup with my X-T2 and X-H1 did not show the same behavior in the past. Still a ton of keepers so I wasn't too concerned. And the Pre Shot feature made up for it in my mind.

Second, and very challenging, was the overheating issue. I have the new Fan addition but did not bring it (stupid me) because I thought the overheating was primarily a video situation. I only shoot pics and didn't expect the problem. I did use the camera heavily - as you can tell from my shot count and my settings (e.g., continuous bursts of 15-40 frames on serve sequences) and it was hot in the sun, but I am surprised it kept giving me the overheating warning. For a "pro sports camera" this is concerning. The D5 and D4s never overheated and I only managed to overheat the D500 in the past. Never the Fujis. Based on other comments I've seen this might be fixed with firmware as well - but the last thing I need is to have 2 cameras. In terms of mitigation strategies, I did keep the camera in the shade when I wasn't shooting and took breaks from the action - but it kept happening.

Third, just for the sake of testing I tried using the Face Detection mode On but that was did not work well least in this context. Perhaps it was because I kept the Zone on - but the focus kept picking out spectators on the other side of the action (parallel to the player's head) so I kept that off most of the time.

Other than these two challenges this camera is a powerhouse. I've never posted here before (been a reader for years) but felt it was important to share given how new this camera is and I haven't seen that many heavy use field reports yet.

85f seems to be the starting point for overheating on the X-H2s. I find this very annoying and attaching the fan seems a crazy solution as it requires the LCD to stick out. Have you found a safe position for the LCD while carrying the camera using a sling?

My workaround for the overheating is to turn the camera off during breaks. Eventually it will get hot. Changing boost from Performance to Normal slows the problem yet it still happens. This is simply unacceptable and Fuji support was very surprised when I reported it. They need to address this.

I've had the same issue using Subject Detection: Bird where the camera will select a distant subject. I've set a button to toggle subject detection on and off so I can revert to zone and take control.

As for the tracking issues, take a look at your AF-C settings. I'm using my X-T3 birds in flight settings yet have AF-C Focus Priority set to release.


I'd love to see some of your photos.

Morris

AHCphotos said:

I took my new X-H2S to a tennis match yesterday and used extensively. I'm a hobbyist but I've been shooting tennis for over a decade. Prior cameras used (for context) have included Nikon D5, D4S, D500 and Fuji X-T2, X-H1.

It was a moderately hot day (85f) and we were in direct sun for almost all of it. I took my new X-H2S to give it a full workout. Shot over 5,500 images in the course of about 8 hours during 3 different matches.

Primary Settings us Custom2 setup (some tweaked during shooting):

-ES

-Fine/JPG (no raw)

-AFC / Zone / custom AF action settings

-PRE-AF off

-Pre Shots (ES) on

-Face Detection off

-Shutter speeds ranging from 1000-2500

-CH Bursts shot at 15, 20, 30, 40 frames per second

-Lens was Fuji 50-140 F2.8

Overall, this camera is amazing. While I love my D5 it is huge and far from quiet. Since I'm not a pro it was always challenging as an amateur sitting in the stands being careful not to bother other fans (even though I sit close the camera pit). The Fujis I used in the past were great but the % of keepers not as high as the Nikon given rolling shutter and firing responsiveness. Thankfully, most of the issues that bothered me in the past under similar conditions with the Fuji X-T2 and X-H1 were significantly improved. (1) Rolling shutter was almost eliminated - in particular the tennis ball is the right shape when coming into the frame and after being hit, and the frame stretching under high speeds did not happen. (2) The Pre Shots On feature is truly amazing. I captured a ton of great photos that were milliseconds before I managed to anticipate the action / to go from focus to shot. Even my D5 would miss those unless my timing was perfect. Plus the battery life was incredible. After all those pics I had only exhausted 1 of the 3 I had with me (2 were on the grip of course). As to the pics themselves - excellent performance (sharp, great tracking with few exceptions - see below), etc. So very happy overall and will use again next week.

Challenges - these are actually new for me with the XH-2S.

First, I noticed that in some sequences (in the middle of a burst) and when locking and shooting in some cases the focus was simply off. This might be a setting issue on my end, and I will try other configurations in the future. But the same setup with my X-T2 and X-H1 did not show the same behavior in the past. Still a ton of keepers so I wasn't too concerned. And the Pre Shot feature made up for it in my mind.

Second, and very challenging, was the overheating issue. I have the new Fan addition but did not bring it (stupid me) because I thought the overheating was primarily a video situation. I only shoot pics and didn't expect the problem. I did use the camera heavily - as you can tell from my shot count and my settings (e.g., continuous bursts of 15-40 frames on serve sequences) and it was hot in the sun, but I am surprised it kept giving me the overheating warning. For a "pro sports camera" this is concerning. The D5 and D4s never overheated and I only managed to overheat the D500 in the past. Never the Fujis. Based on other comments I've seen this might be fixed with firmware as well - but the last thing I need is to have 2 cameras. In terms of mitigation strategies, I did keep the camera in the shade when I wasn't shooting and took breaks from the action - but it kept happening.

Third, just for the sake of testing I tried using the Face Detection mode On but that was did not work well least in this context. Perhaps it was because I kept the Zone on - but the focus kept picking out spectators on the other side of the action (parallel to the player's head) so I kept that off most of the time.

Other than these two challenges this camera is a powerhouse. I've never posted here before (been a reader for years) but felt it was important to share given how new this camera is and I haven't seen that many heavy use field reports yet.

Click to expand...

Have you got any images of the ball coming off the racket or the racket being swung? Be great to see how the rolling shutter performance is?

And-roid said:

AHCphotos said:

I took my new X-H2S to a tennis match yesterday and used extensively. I'm a hobbyist but I've been shooting tennis for over a decade. Prior cameras used (for context) have included Nikon D5, D4S, D500 and Fuji X-T2, X-H1.

It was a moderately hot day (85f) and we were in direct sun for almost all of it. I took my new X-H2S to give it a full workout. Shot over 5,500 images in the course of about 8 hours during 3 different matches.

Primary Settings us Custom2 setup (some tweaked during shooting):

-ES

-Fine/JPG (no raw)

-AFC / Zone / custom AF action settings

-PRE-AF off

-Pre Shots (ES) on

-Face Detection off

-Shutter speeds ranging from 1000-2500

-CH Bursts shot at 15, 20, 30, 40 frames per second

-Lens was Fuji 50-140 F2.8

Overall, this camera is amazing. While I love my D5 it is huge and far from quiet. Since I'm not a pro it was always challenging as an amateur sitting in the stands being careful not to bother other fans (even though I sit close the camera pit). The Fujis I used in the past were great but the % of keepers not as high as the Nikon given rolling shutter and firing responsiveness. Thankfully, most of the issues that bothered me in the past under similar conditions with the Fuji X-T2 and X-H1 were significantly improved. (1) Rolling shutter was almost eliminated - in particular the tennis ball is the right shape when coming into the frame and after being hit, and the frame stretching under high speeds did not happen. (2) The Pre Shots On feature is truly amazing. I captured a ton of great photos that were milliseconds before I managed to anticipate the action / to go from focus to shot. Even my D5 would miss those unless my timing was perfect. Plus the battery life was incredible. After all those pics I had only exhausted 1 of the 3 I had with me (2 were on the grip of course). As to the pics themselves - excellent performance (sharp, great tracking with few exceptions - see below), etc. So very happy overall and will use again next week.

Challenges - these are actually new for me with the XH-2S.

First, I noticed that in some sequences (in the middle of a burst) and when locking and shooting in some cases the focus was simply off. This might be a setting issue on my end, and I will try other configurations in the future. But the same setup with my X-T2 and X-H1 did not show the same behavior in the past. Still a ton of keepers so I wasn't too concerned. And the Pre Shot feature made up for it in my mind.

Second, and very challenging, was the overheating issue. I have the new Fan addition but did not bring it (stupid me) because I thought the overheating was primarily a video situation. I only shoot pics and didn't expect the problem. I did use the camera heavily - as you can tell from my shot count and my settings (e.g., continuous bursts of 15-40 frames on serve sequences) and it was hot in the sun, but I am surprised it kept giving me the overheating warning. For a "pro sports camera" this is concerning. The D5 and D4s never overheated and I only managed to overheat the D500 in the past. Never the Fujis. Based on other comments I've seen this might be fixed with firmware as well - but the last thing I need is to have 2 cameras. In terms of mitigation strategies, I did keep the camera in the shade when I wasn't shooting and took breaks from the action - but it kept happening.

Third, just for the sake of testing I tried using the Face Detection mode On but that was did not work well least in this context. Perhaps it was because I kept the Zone on - but the focus kept picking out spectators on the other side of the action (parallel to the player's head) so I kept that off most of the time.

Other than these two challenges this camera is a powerhouse. I've never posted here before (been a reader for years) but felt it was important to share given how new this camera is and I haven't seen that many heavy use field reports yet.

Click to expand...

Have you got any images of the ball coming off the racket or the racket being swung? Be great to see how the rolling shutter performance is?

Click to expand...

Same request.

I'd also like to know why you turned face detection off. Does having face detection on reduce the number of in-focus keepers?

Morris0 said:

85f seems to be the starting point for overheating on the X-H2s. I find this very annoying and attaching the fan seems a crazy solution as it requires the LCD to stick out. Have you found a safe position for the LCD while carrying the camera using a sling?

My workaround for the overheating is to turn the camera off during breaks. Eventually it will get hot. Changing boost from Performance to Normal slows the problem yet it still happens. This is simply unacceptable and Fuji support was very surprised when I reported it. They need to address this.

I've had the same issue using Subject Detection: Bird where the camera will select a distant subject. I've set a button to toggle subject detection on and off so I can revert to zone and take control.

As for the tracking issues, take a look at your AF-C settings. I'm using my X-T3 birds in flight settings yet have AF-C Focus Priority set to release.

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1594539/0

I'd love to see some of your photos.

Morris

Click to expand...

Thx Morris - I will play with the SF-C settings next week and see if I can correct the focus issue.

I can't post full images given I'm an amateur and pics are for my personal collection only, but I will do some cuts of the ball to show the performance on the rolling shutter.

And-roid said:

AHCphotos said:

I took my new X-H2S to a tennis match yesterday and used extensively. I'm a hobbyist but I've been shooting tennis for over a decade. Prior cameras used (for context) have included Nikon D5, D4S, D500 and Fuji X-T2, X-H1.

It was a moderately hot day (85f) and we were in direct sun for almost all of it. I took my new X-H2S to give it a full workout. Shot over 5,500 images in the course of about 8 hours during 3 different matches.

Primary Settings us Custom2 setup (some tweaked during shooting):

-ES

-Fine/JPG (no raw)

-AFC / Zone / custom AF action settings

-PRE-AF off

-Pre Shots (ES) on

-Face Detection off

-Shutter speeds ranging from 1000-2500

-CH Bursts shot at 15, 20, 30, 40 frames per second

-Lens was Fuji 50-140 F2.8

Overall, this camera is amazing. While I love my D5 it is huge and far from quiet. Since I'm not a pro it was always challenging as an amateur sitting in the stands being careful not to bother other fans (even though I sit close the camera pit). The Fujis I used in the past were great but the % of keepers not as high as the Nikon given rolling shutter and firing responsiveness. Thankfully, most of the issues that bothered me in the past under similar conditions with the Fuji X-T2 and X-H1 were significantly improved. (1) Rolling shutter was almost eliminated - in particular the tennis ball is the right shape when coming into the frame and after being hit, and the frame stretching under high speeds did not happen. (2) The Pre Shots On feature is truly amazing. I captured a ton of great photos that were milliseconds before I managed to anticipate the action / to go from focus to shot. Even my D5 would miss those unless my timing was perfect. Plus the battery life was incredible. After all those pics I had only exhausted 1 of the 3 I had with me (2 were on the grip of course). As to the pics themselves - excellent performance (sharp, great tracking with few exceptions - see below), etc. So very happy overall and will use again next week.

Challenges - these are actually new for me with the XH-2S.

First, I noticed that in some sequences (in the middle of a burst) and when locking and shooting in some cases the focus was simply off. This might be a setting issue on my end, and I will try other configurations in the future. But the same setup with my X-T2 and X-H1 did not show the same behavior in the past. Still a ton of keepers so I wasn't too concerned. And the Pre Shot feature made up for it in my mind.

Second, and very challenging, was the overheating issue. I have the new Fan addition but did not bring it (stupid me) because I thought the overheating was primarily a video situation. I only shoot pics and didn't expect the problem. I did use the camera heavily - as you can tell from my shot count and my settings (e.g., continuous bursts of 15-40 frames on serve sequences) and it was hot in the sun, but I am surprised it kept giving me the overheating warning. For a "pro sports camera" this is concerning. The D5 and D4s never overheated and I only managed to overheat the D500 in the past. Never the Fujis. Based on other comments I've seen this might be fixed with firmware as well - but the last thing I need is to have 2 cameras. In terms of mitigation strategies, I did keep the camera in the shade when I wasn't shooting and took breaks from the action - but it kept happening.

Third, just for the sake of testing I tried using the Face Detection mode On but that was did not work well least in this context. Perhaps it was because I kept the Zone on - but the focus kept picking out spectators on the other side of the action (parallel to the player's head) so I kept that off most of the time.

Other than these two challenges this camera is a powerhouse. I've never posted here before (been a reader for years) but felt it was important to share given how new this camera is and I haven't seen that many heavy use field reports yet.

Click to expand...

Have you got any images of the ball coming off the racket or the racket being swung? Be great to see how the rolling shutter performance is?

Click to expand...

Yes - these are super tough to find online. I did some crops to show the effect - let's see if this works.

First two pics show 95% ball shape as correct. Some distortion with the ball off the racket on pic2 but for me that's light years above what I used to get w/ Fujis (my D5 would have nailed this of course). I would bet the pros on here might say it's not good enough though...









Second sequence shows a little more but still pretty good. Again pros might not be able to use based on what I've seen of their work.













As these are parallel plane the rolling shutter would show the most from my past experience. Shots taken further away (across the net) were better re: the ball shape.

If any of you are pros please let me know your thoughts on my observations. One day I would love to do some professional work when I retire (if it's even possible).

Hope this helps.

The second image is festinating:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66447962?image=1https://4.img-dpreview.com/files/p/E~forums/66447962/21a885a5d8324f5f8409c2e4ca134714

The strings of the racket are still bent from contact yet the ball is elongated rather than round or collapsed. I don't think a publisher would care.

I was planning to run photo tours when I retired from my 30 year IT career. I'd been mentoring people for years and this was a natural progression. Running your own busyness is hard work and being retired so nice. I parked those plans and am very happy having done so.

Morris

My take is Fuji designed a fan for the XH2S because the features of the camera would allow usages where passive heat dissipation was necessary. The EVF and LCD displays are power hungry because they require a lot of power and they also require the reading of the sensor and processing to generate the images. When one is shooting sports action one is most likely using AFC and continually looking for shots to take and taking burst maybe even pre shot burst. That's a lot of current flying around the camera. Then with long zoom lens with a lot of heavy elements to be moved around, the power for moving those lenses comes from the camera and motors are energy hungry. While the motors are in the lens, the current to drive the motors comes through the camera.

I expect this type of shooting along with what Morris does - when done under open sky on sunny days will stress the cameras as current is almost always flying around the camera. So it may very well be the design decision came down to an internal fan, some sort of liquid cooling or an external fan.

There are several cameras out there with internal fans. One has to wonder how the WR requirement plays with a fan - not to mention fan noise. Canon is even looking at integrating magnetic refrigeration into its cameras. The problem is the heat generated by electronics. Long ago in a land far away, I was on a team developing a satellite payload. At the time no type of MOSFET technology could be used in space - not PMOS, not NMOS and of course not CMOS - because MOSFET is very susceptible to radiation damage. So we had to use a radiation resistant technology. TTL was not fast enough so the only solution at the time was Emitter-Coupled Logic. The only viable ECL at the time was Fairchild F100K (yet I'm dating myself).


The problem with ECL was it sucked power like a sailor sucks cheap beer. The result was production of heat which had to be removed. Heat production and dissipation is a real issue in space - there is no air. Heat sinks are heavy and there are three critical budgets in space, heat, power and weight. Fairchild Semi came up with a cooling method using wicked ether (yep the stuff that puts you to sleep) refrigeration pulling heat from the payload to the dark side of the space craft where it would be conducted to cold space. At that time one didn't even think about flying a series of reflective sails like on the James Webb to keep the electronics in dark cold space away from receiving any radiant heating.

To make a long story short - we could not meet the bandwidth and processing speed goals with any technology that was reliable enough to be flown in space because of heat. It happens. We spent 4 years trying and finally the requirement was dropped.

It may very well be that there are features on this camera when fully used (even in stills) that tax the heat dissipation that can be achieved through passive means in some situations. It's also I think a distinction between shooting at high frame rates video is non-existent. Shooting at 15 frames a second - well that's pretty close to a video clip.

The higher the current draw from the displays continually running. A no black out high refresh rate EVF/LCD is wonderful but it sucks power. A long zoom lens with big elements is great but it sucks current from the camera to move multiple large chunks of glass. The high frame rate sucks current. AFC is going to suck current. So the sports use case is going to suck more current than other use cases. The more current drawn the higher the power requirement coming from the battery and the higher the heat generated that has to be removed.

Hi Truman,

I agree with everything you have stated. I experience the overheating even when I have not used the camera for a while and have it hanging at my side. It continues to get hotter.

You comment about current is very interesting. My LCD is closed so it should be off. How do I check this? It's like dose the light go off when you close the refrigerator door.

My camera is set not to sleep as that's an opportunity killer. Even when it was sleeping I was having the overheating issues. I have to check and see if my 500 PF VR is turning off when I'm not 1/2 pressing the shutter. That would be an issue and if so I can discuss that with Fringer Support.

It's starting to cool off so I will not be facing overheating till I travel south during the winter. I might get the fan though I hesitate due to the way the LCD will be swinging at my side and my magical talent for breaking things.

Morris

Morris0 said:

Hi Truman,

I agree with everything you have stated. I experience the overheating even when I have not used the camera for a while and have it hanging at my side. It continues to get hotter.

You comment about current is very interesting. My LCD is closed so it should be off. How do I check this? It's like dose the light go off when you close the refrigerator door.

My camera is set not to sleep as that's an opportunity killer. Even when it was sleeping I was having the overheating issues. I have to check and see if my 500 PF VR is turning off when I'm not 1/2 pressing the shutter. That would be an issue and if so I can discuss that with Fringer Support.

It's starting to cool off so I will not be facing overheating till I travel south during the winter. I might get the fan though I hesitate due to the way the LCD will be swinging at my side and my magical talent for breaking things.

Morris

Click to expand...

Hi Truman,

I think you have helped me solve my overheating issue. Your mention of current got me thinking and if fact it is when I did not expect it. This is because of a silly Fuji default for IS mode. The default is Continuous and I just changed it to Shooting Only. I expect this will provide even longer battery life and allow the camera to cool when not in use. We will find out though it may be some time due to cooling weather.

Thank you for your assistance,

Morris

Samuraidog said:

And-roid said:

AHCphotos said:

I took my new X-H2S to a tennis match yesterday and used extensively. I'm a hobbyist but I've been shooting tennis for over a decade. Prior cameras used (for context) have included Nikon D5, D4S, D500 and Fuji X-T2, X-H1.

It was a moderately hot day (85f) and we were in direct sun for almost all of it. I took my new X-H2S to give it a full workout. Shot over 5,500 images in the course of about 8 hours during 3 different matches.

Primary Settings us Custom2 setup (some tweaked during shooting):

-ES

-Fine/JPG (no raw)

-AFC / Zone / custom AF action settings

-PRE-AF off

-Pre Shots (ES) on

-Face Detection off

-Shutter speeds ranging from 1000-2500

-CH Bursts shot at 15, 20, 30, 40 frames per second

-Lens was Fuji 50-140 F2.8

Overall, this camera is amazing. While I love my D5 it is huge and far from quiet. Since I'm not a pro it was always challenging as an amateur sitting in the stands being careful not to bother other fans (even though I sit close the camera pit). The Fujis I used in the past were great but the % of keepers not as high as the Nikon given rolling shutter and firing responsiveness. Thankfully, most of the issues that bothered me in the past under similar conditions with the Fuji X-T2 and X-H1 were significantly improved. (1) Rolling shutter was almost eliminated - in particular the tennis ball is the right shape when coming into the frame and after being hit, and the frame stretching under high speeds did not happen. (2) The Pre Shots On feature is truly amazing. I captured a ton of great photos that were milliseconds before I managed to anticipate the action / to go from focus to shot. Even my D5 would miss those unless my timing was perfect. Plus the battery life was incredible. After all those pics I had only exhausted 1 of the 3 I had with me (2 were on the grip of course). As to the pics themselves - excellent performance (sharp, great tracking with few exceptions - see below), etc. So very happy overall and will use again next week.

Challenges - these are actually new for me with the XH-2S.

First, I noticed that in some sequences (in the middle of a burst) and when locking and shooting in some cases the focus was simply off. This might be a setting issue on my end, and I will try other configurations in the future. But the same setup with my X-T2 and X-H1 did not show the same behavior in the past. Still a ton of keepers so I wasn't too concerned. And the Pre Shot feature made up for it in my mind.

Second, and very challenging, was the overheating issue. I have the new Fan addition but did not bring it (stupid me) because I thought the overheating was primarily a video situation. I only shoot pics and didn't expect the problem. I did use the camera heavily - as you can tell from my shot count and my settings (e.g., continuous bursts of 15-40 frames on serve sequences) and it was hot in the sun, but I am surprised it kept giving me the overheating warning. For a "pro sports camera" this is concerning. The D5 and D4s never overheated and I only managed to overheat the D500 in the past. Never the Fujis. Based on other comments I've seen this might be fixed with firmware as well - but the last thing I need is to have 2 cameras. In terms of mitigation strategies, I did keep the camera in the shade when I wasn't shooting and took breaks from the action - but it kept happening.

Third, just for the sake of testing I tried using the Face Detection mode On but that was did not work well least in this context. Perhaps it was because I kept the Zone on - but the focus kept picking out spectators on the other side of the action (parallel to the player's head) so I kept that off most of the time.

Other than these two challenges this camera is a powerhouse. I've never posted here before (been a reader for years) but felt it was important to share given how new this camera is and I haven't seen that many heavy use field reports yet.

Click to expand...

Have you got any images of the ball coming off the racket or the racket being swung? Be great to see how the rolling shutter performance is?

Click to expand...

Same request.

I'd also like to know why you turned face detection off. Does having face detection on reduce the number of in-focus keepers?

Click to expand...

I turned if off because the players faces were basically in the same plane as the spectators faces (tons of them) behind them. So the zone setting (9 points) was finding other faces and zooming on them all the time when I tried to track the player's face in front of them. It was like watching the old electronic game SIMON with all the different colors going off in sequence.

On the AF-C custom settings I had:

-Tracking Sensitivity at 3 (locked on)

-Speed Tracking Sensitivity 2 (accelerate/decelerate)

-Zone area front

These settings have worked really well for my with Fuji X-H1 and X-T2. I'm sure I will try Face Detection on again (hoping it works well) but clearly not when I'm even with player line-of sight.

Morris0 said:

The second image is festinating:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66447962?image=1https://4.img-dpreview.com/files/p/E~forums/66447962/21a885a5d8324f5f8409c2e4ca134714

The strings of the racket are still bent from contact yet the ball is elongated rather than round or collapsed. I don't think a publisher would care.

I was planning to run photo tours when I retired from my 30 year IT career. I'd been mentoring people for years and this was a natural progression. Running your own busyness is hard work and being retired so nice. I parked those plans and am very happy having done so.

Morris

Click to expand...

Hah - good advice. I have enjoyed photos as a hobby (sports, nature, travel, cats, sometimes events for friends, etc.) ever since my grandmother loaned me her Nikkormat FT and some BW film - never looked back. But never sold a single photo either - always for learning and fun.

best, AHC

Truman Prevatt said:

My take is Fuji designed a fan for the XH2S because the features of the camera would allow usages where passive heat dissipation was necessary. The EVF and LCD displays are power hungry because they require a lot of power and they also require the reading of the sensor and processing to generate the images. When one is shooting sports action one is most likely using AFC and continually looking for shots to take and taking burst maybe even pre shot burst. That's a lot of current flying around the camera. Then with long zoom lens with a lot of heavy elements to be moved around, the power for moving those lenses comes from the camera and motors are energy hungry. While the motors are in the lens, the current to drive the motors comes through the camera.

I expect this type of shooting along with what Morris does - when done under open sky on sunny days will stress the cameras as current is almost always flying around the camera. So it may very well be the design decision came down to an internal fan, some sort of liquid cooling or an external fan.

There are several cameras out there with internal fans. One has to wonder how the WR requirement plays with a fan - not to mention fan noise. Canon is even looking at integrating magnetic refrigeration into its cameras. The problem is the heat generated by electronics. Long ago in a land far away, I was on a team developing a satellite payload. At the time no type of MOSFET technology could be used in space - not PMOS, not NMOS and of course not CMOS - because MOSFET is very susceptible to radiation damage. So we had to use a radiation resistant technology. TTL was not fast enough so the only solution at the time was Emitter-Coupled Logic. The only viable ECL at the time was Fairchild F100K (yet I'm dating myself).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emitter-coupled_logic

The problem with ECL was it sucked power like a sailor sucks cheap beer. The result was production of heat which had to be removed. Heat production and dissipation is a real issue in space - there is no air. Heat sinks are heavy and there are three critical budgets in space, heat, power and weight. Fairchild Semi came up with a cooling method using wicked ether (yep the stuff that puts you to sleep) refrigeration pulling heat from the payload to the dark side of the space craft where it would be conducted to cold space. At that time one didn't even think about flying a series of reflective sails like on the James Webb to keep the electronics in dark cold space away from receiving any radiant heating.

To make a long story short - we could not meet the bandwidth and processing speed goals with any technology that was reliable enough to be flown in space because of heat. It happens. We spent 4 years trying and finally the requirement was dropped.

It may very well be that there are features on this camera when fully used (even in stills) that tax the heat dissipation that can be achieved through passive means in some situations. It's also I think a distinction between shooting at high frame rates video is non-existent. Shooting at 15 frames a second - well that's pretty close to a video clip.

The higher the current draw from the displays continually running. A no black out high refresh rate EVF/LCD is wonderful but it sucks power. A long zoom lens with big elements is great but it sucks current from the camera to move multiple large chunks of glass. The high frame rate sucks current. AFC is going to suck current. So the sports use case is going to suck more current than other use cases. The more current drawn the higher the power requirement coming from the battery and the higher the heat generated that has to be removed.

Click to expand...

Great info - thanks!

Morris0 said:

Morris0 said:

Hi Truman,

I agree with everything you have stated. I experience the overheating even when I have not used the camera for a while and have it hanging at my side. It continues to get hotter.

You comment about current is very interesting. My LCD is closed so it should be off. How do I check this? It's like dose the light go off when you close the refrigerator door.

My camera is set not to sleep as that's an opportunity killer. Even when it was sleeping I was having the overheating issues. I have to check and see if my 500 PF VR is turning off when I'm not 1/2 pressing the shutter. That would be an issue and if so I can discuss that with Fringer Support.

It's starting to cool off so I will not be facing overheating till I travel south during the winter. I might get the fan though I hesitate due to the way the LCD will be swinging at my side and my magical talent for breaking things.

Morris

Click to expand...

Hi Truman,

I think you have helped me solve my overheating issue. Your mention of current got me thinking and if fact it is when I did not expect it. This is because of a silly Fuji default for IS mode. The default is Continuous and I just changed it to Shooting Only. I expect this will provide even longer battery life and allow the camera to cool when not in use. We will find out though it may be some time due to cooling weather.

Thank you for your assistance,

Morris

Click to expand...

The default setting for IBIS is somewhat confusing. There is no reason for IBIS to be operating when the camera is at your side. I expect the rational for that default is to stabilize the VF while composing prior to getting a focus. But in AF/C it makes little sense since one is always looking for focus. The first think I did in my H1 was turn it to shooting only since if continuous the sensor is being moved even when the camera is swinging by your side.

Morris0 said:

Morris0 said:

Hi Truman,

I agree with everything you have stated. I experience the overheating even when I have not used the camera for a while and have it hanging at my side. It continues to get hotter.

You comment about current is very interesting. My LCD is closed so it should be off. How do I check this? It's like dose the light go off when you close the refrigerator door.

My camera is set not to sleep as that's an opportunity killer. Even when it was sleeping I was having the overheating issues. I have to check and see if my 500 PF VR is turning off when I'm not 1/2 pressing the shutter. That would be an issue and if so I can discuss that with Fringer Support.

It's starting to cool off so I will not be facing overheating till I travel south during the winter. I might get the fan though I hesitate due to the way the LCD will be swinging at my side and my magical talent for breaking things.

Morris

Click to expand...

Hi Truman,

I think you have helped me solve my overheating issue. Your mention of current got me thinking and if fact it is when I did not expect it. This is because of a silly Fuji default for IS mode. The default is Continuous and I just changed it to Shooting Only. I expect this will provide even longer battery life and allow the camera to cool when not in use. We will find out though it may be some time due to cooling weather.

Thank you for your assistance,

Morris

Click to expand...

Yes, very helpful pair of posts. I will try different configurations (including LCD off) next week when I go back to the venue before I try using the fan.

As I reflected on the above comments, I did remember that cycling back through a heavy burst to view the images on my LCD did trigger the heat warning as well! So perhaps turning the LCD off and tweaking other settings will keep it cooler.

I am not excited about needing to use the fan with the LCD swinging out there though to take active photos. If that does become required Fuji should find a way to make the LCD have a quick release off the camera, or some method of folding down out of the way.

Anyway, I will report back next weekend!

Morris0 said:

The second image is festinating:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66447962?image=1https://4.img-dpreview.com/files/p/E~forums/66447962/21a885a5d8324f5f8409c2e4ca134714

The strings of the racket are still bent from contact yet the ball is elongated rather than round or collapsed. I don't think a publisher would care.

I was planning to run photo tours when I retired from my 30 year IT career. I'd been mentoring people for years and this was a natural progression. Running your own busyness is hard work and being retired so nice. I parked those plans and am very happy having done so.

Morris

Click to expand...

Here are a few more shots. The fist two are just other samples of where the X-H2S worked really well - no rolling shutter - with the ball coming off the racket. The first was shooting down from above (using the 2x TC), the second was shooting cross court in a later match (using the 1,4x TC).

The second two are in sequence (both shooting down and cross court using 2x TC), and show the Focus issue I mentioned earlier. Both were in the middle of a run - not separate focus stops. The first is crisp and the second just went out on me...





These are the in/out of focus two...

Morris0 said:

Morris0 said:

Hi Truman,

I agree with everything you have stated. I experience the overheating even when I have not used the camera for a while and have it hanging at my side. It continues to get hotter.

You comment about current is very interesting. My LCD is closed so it should be off. How do I check this? It's like dose the light go off when you close the refrigerator door.

My camera is set not to sleep as that's an opportunity killer. Even when it was sleeping I was having the overheating issues. I have to check and see if my 500 PF VR is turning off when I'm not 1/2 pressing the shutter. That would be an issue and if so I can discuss that with Fringer Support.

It's starting to cool off so I will not be facing overheating till I travel south during the winter. I might get the fan though I hesitate due to the way the LCD will be swinging at my side and my magical talent for breaking things.

Morris

Click to expand...

Hi Truman,

I think you have helped me solve my overheating issue. Your mention of current got me thinking and if fact it is when I did not expect it. This is because of a silly Fuji default for IS mode. The default is Continuous and I just changed it to Shooting Only. I expect this will provide even longer battery life and allow the camera to cool when not in use. We will find out though it may be some time due to cooling weather.

Thank you for your assistance,

Morris

Click to expand...

Morris on the satellite payload program I mentioned, I was responsible for the algorithms and a very good semi-conductor engineer was responsible for the implementation in silicon. It was a technology development research program and no program was scheduled to use it. However, some overzealous program managers sold customers that we had the technology - done deal so we were on the hook. Marketeers are the same every where. Milo was highly experienced in developed space qualified electronics and his first three words when we got started was power, weight and size. He was also fond of saying that current = heat because it does since electronics work on a fixed voltage and power is current times voltage. There is a fixed conversion from watt-hours to calories. So yes current = heat.

I can understand not putting the camera to sleep and bigger battery and more battery in a grip incentivizes that type of operation. But in doing so the EVF display is being generated as is the LCD display even if the LCD not directly powered. I doubt if the F/W takes that into account and skips generated the display.

That Fuji developed the fan makes me think they knew of the trades and made a decision to supply the fan for "power users." The stacked sensor that generates the speed will suck more current than the chip destine to the XH2 and XT5. There should be some F/W tweaks that could potentially reduce power consumption down the road.

But yes the continuous setting for IBIS has always puzzled me.

AHCphotos said:

Morris0 said:

The second image is festinating:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66447962?image=1https://4.img-dpreview.com/files/p/E~forums/66447962/21a885a5d8324f5f8409c2e4ca134714

The strings of the racket are still bent from contact yet the ball is elongated rather than round or collapsed. I don't think a publisher would care.

I was planning to run photo tours when I retired from my 30 year IT career. I'd been mentoring people for years and this was a natural progression. Running your own busyness is hard work and being retired so nice. I parked those plans and am very happy having done so.

Morris

Click to expand...

Here are a few more shots. The fist two are just other samples of where the X-H2S worked really well - no rolling shutter - with the ball coming off the racket. The first was shooting down from above (using the 2x TC), the second was shooting cross court in a later match (using the 1,4x TC).

The second two are in sequence (both shooting down and cross court using 2x TC), and show the Focus issue I mentioned earlier. Both were in the middle of a run - not separate focus stops. The first is crisp and the second just went out on me...

These are the in/out of focus two...

Click to expand...

I think the last is motion blur. Look at the shorts.

Morris

Truman Prevatt said:

Morris0 said:

Morris0 said:

Hi Truman,

I agree with everything you have stated. I experience the overheating even when I have not used the camera for a while and have it hanging at my side. It continues to get hotter.

You comment about current is very interesting. My LCD is closed so it should be off. How do I check this? It's like dose the light go off when you close the refrigerator door.

My camera is set not to sleep as that's an opportunity killer. Even when it was sleeping I was having the overheating issues. I have to check and see if my 500 PF VR is turning off when I'm not 1/2 pressing the shutter. That would be an issue and if so I can discuss that with Fringer Support.

It's starting to cool off so I will not be facing overheating till I travel south during the winter. I might get the fan though I hesitate due to the way the LCD will be swinging at my side and my magical talent for breaking things.

Morris

Click to expand...

Hi Truman,

I think you have helped me solve my overheating issue. Your mention of current got me thinking and if fact it is when I did not expect it. This is because of a silly Fuji default for IS mode. The default is Continuous and I just changed it to Shooting Only. I expect this will provide even longer battery life and allow the camera to cool when not in use. We will find out though it may be some time due to cooling weather.

Thank you for your assistance,

Morris

Click to expand...

Morris on the satellite payload program I mentioned, I was responsible for the algorithms and a very good semi-conductor engineer was responsible for the implementation in silicon. It was a technology development research program and no program was scheduled to use it. However, some overzealous program managers sold customers that we had the technology - done deal so we were on the hook. Marketeers are the same every where. Milo was highly experienced in developed space qualified electronics and his first three words when we got started was power, weight and size. He was also fond of saying that current = heat because it does since electronics work on a fixed voltage and power is current times voltage. There is a fixed conversion from watt-hours to calories. So yes current = heat.

I can understand not putting the camera to sleep and bigger battery and more battery in a grip incentivizes that type of operation. But in doing so the EVF display is being generated as is the LCD display even if the LCD not directly powered. I doubt if the F/W takes that into account and skips generated the display.

That Fuji developed the fan makes me think they knew of the trades and made a decision to supply the fan for "power users." The stacked sensor that generates the speed will suck more current than the chip destine to the XH2 and XT5. There should be some F/W tweaks that could potentially reduce power consumption down the road.

But yes the continuous setting for IBIS has always puzzled me.

Click to expand...

I've designed data centers and Telecommunications Rooms and used to over clock my CPUs. I've had plenty of experience with load and heat.

I believe my EVF only turns on when I bring it to my eye. I should check my X-T3 to see if I've been wasting power on it with the stabilization in continuous. That camera is now my backup and landscape camera.

Morris

Morris0 said:

AHCphotos said:

Morris0 said:

The second image is festinating:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66447962?image=1https://4.img-dpreview.com/files/p/E~forums/66447962/21a885a5d8324f5f8409c2e4ca134714

The strings of the racket are still bent from contact yet the ball is elongated rather than round or collapsed. I don't think a publisher would care.

I was planning to run photo tours when I retired from my 30 year IT career. I'd been mentoring people for years and this was a natural progression. Running your own busyness is hard work and being retired so nice. I parked those plans and am very happy having done so.

Morris

Click to expand...

Here are a few more shots. The fist two are just other samples of where the X-H2S worked really well - no rolling shutter - with the ball coming off the racket. The first was shooting down from above (using the 2x TC), the second was shooting cross court in a later match (using the 1,4x TC).

The second two are in sequence (both shooting down and cross court using 2x TC), and show the Focus issue I mentioned earlier. Both were in the middle of a run - not separate focus stops. The first is crisp and the second just went out on me...

These are the in/out of focus two...

Click to expand...

I think the last is motion blur. Look at the shorts.

Morris

Click to expand...

It's odd though as it just happens for 3-4 shots, then snaps back - I could see the focus is off in the live view while shooting. Not seen that before in the other cameras so wondered if it was something with settings (or just me I guess lol)?