What's the deal with the X-T5 autofocus?

yomimoi wrote:

OK, first off I know this post is bound to raise suspicions, what with this being my first post here, but please bear with me.

I'm looking to upgrade from X-T2 now that Fuji has finally released the almost ideal camera I'd been waiting for and, although there are a couple other things that bother me, the AF issues (if that's what they are) are definitely stopping me from rushing to the shop. I went through a similar situation with my Pentax K5 a about a decade ago, and I don't want to get burnt twice.

However, for event photography, weddings and other similar situations, you just can't afford to have 5-10% (or whatever the exact percentage may be depending on the lens used, AF parameters and shooting conditions) misfocused shots because many of those are unique moments that must be captured well in focus, no matter what.

So I suppose my question is, what do you guys think? Is the AF firmware kind of undercooked and likely to get a big improvement in future firmware updates? Or maybe Fuji should issue detailed guidelines covering specific shooting scenarios and types of lenses, to help users minimize errors? I don't know.

Keep in mind that the AF upgrade from a K5 (I had a K20 and K-3) to an X-T2 (also my current body) was a huge leap. The top Canon pro bodies from the K5 era were roughly matched by the X-T2. The reviews that have been posted on the latest bodies indicate that human eye/facial tracking is very good... fairly close to what Sony or Panasonic delivers, but maybe just slightly behind. And you are correct, Fuji has a fairly complicated system for getting AF-C just right and it isn't at all clear which parameters are going to work best in the various, changing scenarios.

So, if you are shooting a wedding procession in low light the prospects of missing 10% of shots while using a zoom on an X-T5 are not likely to change with firmware upgrades. If that kind of (paid presumably) shooting is a major share of what you do, you probably might want to work in the systems that seem to be consistently 2-3 years ahead of where Fuji tends to land in terms of dealing with challenging AF situations.

In any event, Fuji isn't very far behind. It is still about 5 years ahead of Pentax/Ricoh when it comes to AF. I'm fine with that, but I'm not paid to shoot weddings.