Why I need the X70?

This is both a rhetorical question and a practical one, and would appreciate replies from X70 users. I'm looking to see how the touch screen works, and if it would work in the specific situation I have here. I am using a XA1 with 35/1.4. (I am waiting to get the X70, but have to wait to buy it in Canada as Thailand is too expensive).  I was taking portraits of this monk in Thailand. and noticed he had a really funky wooden staff. I wanted to first get the staff in focus, and then his face in focus, but found it hard to go from one to the other. Maybe it was just my lack of technique, tho I'm thinking it would have been much easier with the X70 and it's touch screen. I didn't have a lot of time, and it was impolite to ask him to pose this way and then that way. So I had to move myself to get the best angle to get the shots I wanted. The first picture focused on the hand and staff, and that was fine, but I couldn't seem to then refocus- I use A priority with spot focus (the smallest spot I could make)- to get his face in focus. with the same shot as before but I could not seem to refocus on the face quickly. I had to back off and reposition myself, but it wasn't the same shot I had in mind. So, my question is, with the X70's touch screen, and spot focusing, with this setup, could I easily refocus to get the face in focus even tho the staff probably wouldn't be in focus? I'm thinking that the X70 with just a touch could easily refocus from the staff/hand to the face. Would y'all agree? If so, this is a great feature that would be very useful in many situations. Refocus easily from foreground to background and vice versa.  Interested in your answers. Thanks.

This is just my opinion.

To get his face and hand in focus you would need to be farther away and use a very small aperture. A wider FL lens would help too, but then his arm would look a mile long that close.

If you had to move quickly, messing around with focus points and touch screens will make you lose the shot. Inability of your camera to refocus on a selected target is a different issue, it should have no problem shifting focus to something farther away (his face). I don't know what's causing that.

When shooting quick candids of people you would be better off keeping the center AF point enabled and focus and recompose. His hand and face are near the center of the frame, and you could have refocused and shot many more images in the time you had. Focus and recompose can get tricky in very low light and wide open apertures but that wasn't an issue here.

You don't have to use the center AF point to focus and recompose. Think about your framing as you approach the subject. If you know your best composition will be with the subject left or right of center, move the AF point to eye level on that side of the frame, then focus and compose with that.

You could also use zone focus to shoot very quickly. I use snap focus on my GR to instantly set a predetermined focus distance for shots that need to be instantaneous.

Sal

KKJohn wrote:

So, my question is, with the X70's touch screen, and spot focusing, with this setup, could I easily refocus to get the face in focus even tho the staff probably wouldn't be in focus? I'm thinking that the X70 with just a touch could easily refocus from the staff/hand to the face. Would y'all agree?

yes.

It can work in two ways :

• touch focus : with touch you set the focus point in position. Then, you focus and shot with the shutter.
• touch shutter : the camera focus and shot where and when you touch the screen

Thanks for all your replies. And yes, glad you like the blurred monk. I like it as well as it focuses on what I want which is the wooden staff. And look forward to using the X70 when I finally get one, and will try your suggestions on the different ways to change focus.

Sorry I didn't have the EXIF details. I had problems importing into Picasa. At first I couldn't do it at all, then 3 copies of each photo finally arrived. So, before I got my pics into Picasa I switched into XnView and then finally got them into DPR. I hadn't realized that XnView didn't supply the EXIF details. Google asked me to send a report of the problem about importing into Picasa (give them credit for that), which I did and gave them a blast for their closing down Picasa, which I think is a shame, as I have used Picasa for a long time and find it very good for cataloguing and quick editing all in one easy package. Hope they get the message! I had thought XnView would be a substitute but if they don't supply EXIF details when exporting files, then that's no good. Anyone else use XnView? Maybe I am doing something wrong when trying to export files.

Found the problem in XnView. In the window for export the default has a tick on the box to "remove all metadata". So will continue with XnView for now as EXIF data will now be included.

ALso, good to know Picasa hasn't been cancelled, so will continue for as long as able. Don't know why I had the recent problem, but seems to have been resolved, and Picasa working okay, for now. Haven't heard from Google yet.

Geez, at my age all these little problems seem never ending!? Is nothing ever easy?

As 0lf points out with touch modes, the Touch to focus is actually quite good.

Instead of using a fn button and then d-pad to move the focus point, you can just touch the screen where you want your focus next, and take the shot. I like it, and would take the two shots relatively fast; first the staff, then the monk.

If you wanted everything in focus in one shot, then the other tips given should followed. But I didn't read you question that way.

LensElf wrote:

As 0lf points out with touch modes, the Touch to focus is actually quite good.

Instead of using a fn button and then d-pad to move the focus point, you can just touch the screen where you want your focus next, and take the shot. I like it, and would take the two shots relatively fast; first the staff, then the monk.

If you wanted everything in focus in one shot, then the other tips given should followed. But I didn't read you question that way.

Yes, that is exactly what I would like to do, taking the two shots relatively fast, and not having to move around, just touching the screen. Seems like a very useful technology. Hope it will be introduced in more Fuji cameras in the near future!

Looking forward to using the X70