Why does my XT-4 still attempt to focus despite being in manual mode?

Travelerdave wrote:

JNR wrote:

frankly, the squishy and imprecise feel of the shutter release button (slightly improved on the X-T5 but still not very good) tend to cause a lot of misfocusing problems.

It is gentle yes - squishy and imprecise not at all.

I don’t agree with you on this. I did find the shutter button on my X-H1 light and tricky at first, but soon got used to it, and like many other fuji owners, I like it. I do half press a great deal, without issue.

I repair lenses so my hands and fingers are accustomed to being gentle, and I only have the one camera for my muscle memory to learn.

Good for your fingers. This has nothing to do with your unfounded presumption about my lack of gentleness.

I can't tell you how many different brands and individual models of cameras I've owned over decades, not to mention the various cameras I handled as a volume retail seller for several years. I'm quite sure I had a proper sense of touch, and I could tell that the vast majority of those cameras have a direct downward path and distinct halfway point for proper metering that is easily recognized. This is not at all the case with the two earlier Fuji models, and is only slightly improved with the X-T5. It isn't as though I often triggered a shot by mistake, I just didn't have a proper sense of when the metering would trigger if my pressure point was slightly off.

It has been only a few years over that long time span that I've used BBF, and the change to using it had mostly to do with other considerable benefits of separating the shutter release from metering - a distinction that might well be too gentle of a concept for you to embrace. I'm a better photographer for making that change.

I suppose all the many folks here who have seen their substandard shutter release fail after using a screw-in soft release button are also to blame because they simply weren't gentle enough. It couldn't possibly be that corners were cut in the design because we all know that every Fuji is perfect in every possible way.