XT5 crash course questions

Hello,

I'm a new XT5 owner, having bought the camera abruptly last week as an upgrade from an XT1 when my new baby made a surprise early appearance. I'm familiar with - I think- all of the menu options and features of the XT1 but looking at the XT5, it's clear things have moved on a tad in the last decade. I've never used IBIS/a modern autofocus system/etc. I generally use the XT1 on manual exposure.

Usually I'm a read-the-manual cover-to-cover type of person but I'm spending my life breastfeeding and trying to scroll through the manual on my phone one handed, so I thought I'd post some of the questions I haven't been able to work out quickly here in the hope of getting a bit of a crash course.

I haven't had time to transfer any photos to a PC yet so I'm checking sharpness etc by zooming in on the camera's screen. All the photos are of the baby so they have to be perfect - no time for a learning curve

I'm using the 35mm f/1.4 at the moment.

1. I'm taking a lot of low light photos on aperture priority/auto iso and I've noticed the shutter speed seems to default to 1/52. On the XT1 I would set my minimum shutter speed to 1/80 or 1/100 (I have learnt the hard way that I have shaky hands). However, as far as I can tell on the screen, there's no shake at 1/52. I assume this is the IBIS kicking in? How low can I go with the shutter speed? Is there a rule of thumb? I can't find where I set the minimum shutter speed rules for auto ISO? Or turn IBIS on or off?

2. I was looking forward to using face/eye detection and set it to nearest eye. But was surprised to find that some shots seem to be missed - baby's nose in focus even though system seemed to correctly detect eye when taking the picture? I have gone back to manual selection of autofocus point for now.

3. I don't understand zone autofocus - where is the focus actually being set? An average of the points?

photosesame said:

3. I don't understand zone autofocus - where is the focus actually being set? An average of the points?

Click to expand...

This is a really good channel with lost of Fuji and XT5 content. Here is one about Zone Focusing.


Also try AF-C + Wide/Tracking (even without subject/face detection)- The square is pretty good at sticking to your subject which will let you recompose while still maintaining focus. It's a big improvement over the old array of 9 boxes even on my X100V.

--
www.darngoodphotos.com

photosesame said:

Hello,

Click to expand...

Hi,

Firstly, congratulations on the baby!

photosesame said:

I haven't had time to transfer any photos to a PC yet so I'm checking sharpness etc by zooming in on the camera's screen.

Click to expand...

Make sure to turn down some of the NR settings down. Really helps with JPG sharpness.

photosesame said:

All the photos are of the baby so they have to be perfect - no time for a learning curve

I'm using the 35mm f/1.4 at the moment.

1. I'm taking a lot of low light photos on aperture priority/auto iso and I've noticed the shutter speed seems to default to 1/52. On the XT1 I would set my minimum shutter speed to 1/80 or 1/100 (I have learnt the hard way that I have shaky hands). However, as far as I can tell on the screen, there's no shake at 1/52. I assume this is the IBIS kicking in?

Click to expand...

Yes.

photosesame said:

How low can I go with the shutter speed?

Click to expand...

On the X-H1, I can generally do 1/8th without any issues. I believe the X-T5 has a better IBIS, so presuming your subject remains still, you should try 1/20th or 1/30th and if those shots come out good, you could try going lower.

photosesame said:

Is there a rule of thumb? I can't find where I set the minimum shutter speed rules for auto ISO?

Click to expand...

Page 97 of the manual. Menu -> Shooting setting -> ISO AUTO setting. Make sure you're actually on Auto ISO when putting the ISO dial on A.

photosesame said:

Or turn IBIS on or off?

Click to expand...

Page 174 of the manual: Menu -> Shooting setting -> IS mode.

photosesame said:

2. I was looking forward to using face/eye detection and set it to nearest eye. But was surprised to find that some shots seem to be missed - baby's nose in focus even though system seemed to correctly detect eye when taking the picture? I have gone back to manual selection of autofocus point for now.

Click to expand...

You're using a pretty old lens at what I suppose is fairly close distances, which can introduce issues. Where you in AF-S or AF-C?

photosesame said:

3. I don't understand zone autofocus - where is the focus actually being set? An average of the points?

Click to expand...

In AF-S, think of it as a larger single point square.

In AF-C, where zone is the most useful, you can set up how zone behaves in the AF-C settings through "Zone Area switching" (page 146 of the manual). You'll find it at Menu -> AF/MF Setting -> AF-C Custom settings.

Within the zone, you can prioritize either frontal subjects, or central subjects.

An online version of the manual: https://fujifilm-dsc.com/en/manual/x-t5/x-t5_manual_en_s_f.pdf

photosesame said:

...How low can I go with the shutter speed? Is there a rule of thumb? I can't find where I set the minimum shutter speed rules for auto ISO? Or turn IBIS on or off?\

Click to expand...

You can go lower with a wide angle lens than a tele lens, so you may just have to practice to see which shutter speed is you minimum with different focal lengths.

Thank you both for taking the time to reply - really appreciated. I have managed to read the stills section of the manual now, during night feeds, and watched some of the pal2tech videos.

yayatosorus said:

photosesame said:

Hello,

Click to expand...

Hi,

Firstly, congratulations on the baby!

Click to expand...

Thank you!

yayatosorus said:

yayatosorus said:

I haven't had time to transfer any photos to a PC yet so I'm checking sharpness etc by zooming in on the camera's screen.

Click to expand...

Make sure to turn down some of the NR settings down. Really helps with JPG sharpness.

Click to expand...

I've set High ISO NR to 0 and Long Exposure NR to 0 - does that sound right?

yayatosorus said:

yayatosorus said:

All the photos are of the baby so they have to be perfect - no time for a learning curve

I'm using the 35mm f/1.4 at the moment.

1. I'm taking a lot of low light photos on aperture priority/auto iso and I've noticed the shutter speed seems to default to 1/52. On the XT1 I would set my minimum shutter speed to 1/80 or 1/100 (I have learnt the hard way that I have shaky hands). However, as far as I can tell on the screen, there's no shake at 1/52. I assume this is the IBIS kicking in?

Click to expand...

Yes.

yayatosorus said:

How low can I go with the shutter speed?

Click to expand...

On the X-H1, I can generally do 1/8th without any issues. I believe the X-T5 has a better IBIS, so presuming your subject remains still, you should try 1/20th or 1/30th and if those shots come out good, you could try going lower.

yayatosorus said:

Is there a rule of thumb? I can't find where I set the minimum shutter speed rules for auto ISO?

Click to expand...

Page 97 of the manual. Menu -> Shooting setting -> ISO AUTO setting. Make sure you're actually on Auto ISO when putting the ISO dial on A.

Click to expand...

I see that minimum shutter speed is set automatically, although the manual doesn't specify how this is calculated. It seems to default to 1/52 for my 35mm lens, so roughly equal to 35mm equiv focal length? I presume for a zoom lens this would change dynamically with focal length. It's a shame you can't choose to be more or less conservative with this, whilst still keeping the automatic behaviour. It seems if I want slower focal lengths, I have to either change the Auto ISO settings, or set the shutter speed on the dial, and remember to change back.

The IBIS is incredible - got down to around 1/8th before I could see shake.

yayatosorus said:

yayatosorus said:

Or turn IBIS on or off?

Click to expand...

Page 174 of the manual: Menu -> Shooting setting -> IS mode.

yayatosorus said:

2. I was looking forward to using face/eye detection and set it to nearest eye. But was surprised to find that some shots seem to be missed - baby's nose in focus even though system seemed to correctly detect eye when taking the picture? I have gone back to manual selection of autofocus point for now.

Click to expand...

You're using a pretty old lens at what I suppose is fairly close distances, which can introduce issues. Where you in AF-S or AF-C?

Click to expand...

AF-S

yayatosorus said:

yayatosorus said:

3. I don't understand zone autofocus - where is the focus actually being set? An average of the points?

Click to expand...

In AF-S, think of it as a larger single point square.

In AF-C, where zone is the most useful, you can set up how zone behaves in the AF-C settings through "Zone Area switching" (page 146 of the manual). You'll find it at Menu -> AF/MF Setting -> AF-C Custom settings.

Within the zone, you can prioritize either frontal subjects, or central subjects.

Click to expand...

I see - so focus set not to an average of the points but to one of the points in the zone, whichever seems most suitable.

yayatosorus said:

An online version of the manual: https://fujifilm-dsc.com/en/manual/x-t5/x-t5_manual_en_s_f.pdf

Click to expand...

Thanks

I seem to have managed to establish a permanent connection to my phone and geotagging. I have no idea how this works as my phone doesn't seem to think there is an active bluetooth connection, but it's brilliant and works very well.

I've switched to lossless compressed RAW as I was generating more data than I could keep up with. From a quick search, there don't seem to be any significant disadvantages to this format? Lightroom etc can still handle them?

photosesame said:

I've switched to lossless compressed RAW as I was generating more data than I could keep up with. From a quick search, there don't seem to be any significant disadvantages to this format? Lightroom etc can still handle them?

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FujFilm compressed raw is less widely recognized than uncompressed - but the main paid-for applications (such as Lightroom) can handle them.

MacOS doesn't recognize them so you wouldn't see thumbnails on a Mac and Photos will show a blank screen (but then MacOS doesn't currently recognize raw files from the X-T5 at all).

A lot of people here recommend setting NR to -4, and say that setting still applies some degree of NR. If you're looking to retain maximum detail, specifically in high ISO, give that a try. The -4 to 4 scale seems misleading in this case. -4 does not mean "add more noise"! I'm too new to Fuji myself to give my own opinion, but the results seem OK to me. ISO 12800 should have some noise.

Also, a lot of people here set all three of their auto-ISO settings to the full ISO range, and set different minimum shutter speeds for each one (e.g. one for static subjects, one for minor motion, one for fast motion). This way, the absolute worst thing that could happen (assuming you select the right auto-ISO preset) is that you might end up with a higher ISO than you'd like, but you wouldn't get unwanted blur.

I would strongly suggest getting Tony Phillips' Complete Guide to the X-T5. It will save you countless hours of frustration trying to find out how to confighure the camera from the Fujifilm documentation, YouTube videos, and various forums.

CatBus said:

-4 does not mean "add more noise"!

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This hadn't occurred to me, but seems obvious now you've said it!

I have set to -4. Thanks all for the responses.

I'm still wrestling with autofocus. I've been trying out face/eye detection some more. I initially thought the eye detection wasn't working for me, but I seem to get the same results with face/eye detection as with single point focus - when I focus on the baby's eye with a very shallow depth of field, the focus point actually seems to be slightly in front, at the nose/cheek. Is this more likely to be a problem with the lens (35mm f/1.4) or the XT5? I haven't noticed a problem with the lens before but admittedly I'm looking at my pictures more closely than ever before.

Also, sometimes the face/eye detection draws a box around an eye, and sometimes the whole face. Does this mean it couldn't find an eye? And where on the face does it focus on this case?

Here's an example - I seem to get either the nose or the parts of the cheek just next to the nose as most likely to be in focus. I'm in AF-S, using a spot on the lash line of the eye, and not recomposing or moving the camera after focussing.

photosesame said:

I'm still wrestling with autofocus. I've been trying out face/eye detection some more. I initially thought the eye detection wasn't working for me, but I seem to get the same results with face/eye detection as with single point focus - when I focus on the baby's eye with a very shallow depth of field, the focus point actually seems to be slightly in front, at the nose/cheek. Is this more likely to be a problem with the lens (35mm f/1.4) or the XT5? I haven't noticed a problem with the lens before but admittedly I'm looking at my pictures more closely than ever before.

Also, sometimes the face/eye detection draws a box around an eye, and sometimes the whole face. Does this mean it couldn't find an eye?

Click to expand...

Yes.

photosesame said:

And where on the face does it focus on this case?



Here's an example - I seem to get either the nose or the parts of the cheek just next to the nose as most likely to be in focus. I'm in AF-S, using a spot on the lash line of the eye, and not recomposing or moving the camera after focussing.

Click to expand...

Was this shot with eye detect or single point? Considering the fact the eyes are closed, I understand that eye detect would get confused. Also if you're shooting in single point, don't use the smallest AF box.

yayatosorus said:

photosesame said:

I'm still wrestling with autofocus. I've been trying out face/eye detection some more. I initially thought the eye detection wasn't working for me, but I seem to get the same results with face/eye detection as with single point focus - when I focus on the baby's eye with a very shallow depth of field, the focus point actually seems to be slightly in front, at the nose/cheek. Is this more likely to be a problem with the lens (35mm f/1.4) or the XT5? I haven't noticed a problem with the lens before but admittedly I'm looking at my pictures more closely than ever before.

Also, sometimes the face/eye detection draws a box around an eye, and sometimes the whole face. Does this mean it couldn't find an eye?

Click to expand...

Yes.

yayatosorus said:

And where on the face does it focus on this case?



Here's an example - I seem to get either the nose or the parts of the cheek just next to the nose as most likely to be in focus. I'm in AF-S, using a spot on the lash line of the eye, and not recomposing or moving the camera after focussing.

Click to expand...

Was this shot with eye detect or single point? Considering the fact the eyes are closed, I understand that eye detect would get confused. Also if you're shooting in single point, don't use the smallest AF box.

Click to expand...

I can't actually remember, but the pictures look the same for both. It was detecting the eyes correctly, even closed. Why not use the smallest box?

photosesame said:

photosesame said:

Was this shot with eye detect or single point? Considering the fact the eyes are closed, I understand that eye detect would get confused. Also if you're shooting in single point, don't use the smallest AF box.

Click to expand...

I can't actually remember, but the pictures look the same for both. It was detecting the eyes correctly, even closed. Why not use the smallest box?

Click to expand...

It was shot using the mid-size single point - it’s all in the metadata

Greybeard2017 said:

photosesame said:

yayatosorus said:

Was this shot with eye detect or single point? Considering the fact the eyes are closed, I understand that eye detect would get confused. Also if you're shooting in single point, don't use the smallest AF box.

Click to expand...

I can't actually remember, but the pictures look the same for both. It was detecting the eyes correctly, even closed. Why not use the smallest box?

Click to expand...

It was shot using the mid-size single point - it’s all in the metadata

Click to expand...

Thanks. I think I've found out how to get that from metadata now. Here's the same issue in an image where I used face detection (if I've understood the metada right).

photosesame said:

I can't actually remember, but the pictures look the same for both. It was detecting the eyes correctly, even closed. Why not use the smallest box?

Click to expand...

In the past, the smallest box resulted in inconsistent AF performance. No idea if that has been mitigated in the X-T5. Just a FYI.

Concerning the misfocus, could you try to focus via the AF-ON fn button in MF mode. If the camera lens still exhibits this behavior then something weird is going on.

photosesame said:

Greybeard2017 said:

photosesame said:

yayatosorus said:

Was this shot with eye detect or single point? Considering the fact the eyes are closed, I understand that eye detect would get confused. Also if you're shooting in single point, don't use the smallest AF box.

Click to expand...

I can't actually remember, but the pictures look the same for both. It was detecting the eyes correctly, even closed. Why not use the smallest box?

Click to expand...

It was shot using the mid-size single point - it’s all in the metadata

Click to expand...

Thanks. I think I've found out how to get that from metadata now. Here's the same issue in an image where I used face detection (if I've understood the metada right).

Click to expand...

Yes - it looks like head was detected which isn’t very helpful in this case

(I have the XT2 and I'm about to buy the XT5.) Would focus improve if using a smaller aperture? F/2 is pretty shallow for a face. Try f/4 or f/5.6?

Cute baby. Congratulations!

-Amy

yayatosorus said:

photosesame said:

I can't actually remember, but the pictures look the same for both. It was detecting the eyes correctly, even closed. Why not use the smallest box?

Click to expand...

In the past, the smallest box resulted in inconsistent AF performance. No idea if that has been mitigated in the X-T5. Just a FYI.

Concerning the misfocus, could you try to focus via the AF-ON fn button in MF mode. If the camera lens still exhibits this behavior then something weird is going on.

Click to expand...

Hi yayatosorus,

I've done that, with similar conditions, and sure enough with back button focus I get the focus correct on the eyes not the nose. This was using one of the medium sizes of autofocus point. What does this mean??!

dachshund7 said:

(I have the XT2 and I'm about to buy the XT5.) Would focus improve if using a smaller aperture? F/2 is pretty shallow for a face. Try f/4 or f/5.6?

Cute baby. Congratulations!

-Amy

Click to expand...

Thank you! I take your point, but I do love that soft look. And I should be able to get the focus point right even with a very shallow DOF, surely.