X-E3 and Accurate (repeatable) Autofocus ...

I have (and have used for years) Nikon DX and FX cameras.

I bought a Fuji X-E3 about I year ago as a travel camera. I really want to like the camera (and do) BUT I find the autofocus hit rate to be low ! ... missing approx 1 in 5 shots ... much lower than my Nikons in similar circumstances. This is for static subjects.

I thought it might be the lense (23mm f2) so I bought other lenses. I thought that it might be the body so I bought another (used) body. But I get the same problem with any combo.  I am now mainly using it with the 27mm f2.8.

Is this common ?. Do you have any tips for better autofocus or am I just going to have to live with it ?.

Thanks.

Chas J wrote:

I have (and have used for years) Nikon DX and FX cameras.

I bought a Fuji X-E3 about I year ago as a travel camera. I really want to like the camera (and do) BUT I find the autofocus hit rate to be low ! ... missing approx 1 in 5 shots ... much lower than my Nikons in similar circumstances. This is for static subjects.

I thought it might be the lense (23mm f2) so I bought other lenses. I thought that it might be the body so I bought another (used) body. But I get the same problem with any combo. I am now mainly using it with the 27mm f2.8.

Is this common ?. Do you have any tips for better autofocus or am I just going to have to live with it ?.

Thanks.

What focusing methodology are you using?

AF-S, single point, focus box on the subject, full-press the shutter button - never misses for me (X-T20, should be the same as the X-E3). With a static subject you should be getting a 100% hit rate.

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

Chas J wrote:

I have (and have used for years) Nikon DX and FX cameras.

I bought a Fuji X-E3 about I year ago as a travel camera. I really want to like the camera (and do) BUT I find the autofocus hit rate to be low ! ... missing approx 1 in 5 shots ... much lower than my Nikons in similar circumstances. This is for static subjects.

I thought it might be the lense (23mm f2) so I bought other lenses. I thought that it might be the body so I bought another (used) body. But I get the same problem with any combo. I am now mainly using it with the 27mm f2.8.

Is this common ?. Do you have any tips for better autofocus or am I just going to have to live with it ?.

Thanks.

What focusing methodology are you using?

AF-S, single point, focus box on the subject, full-press the shutter button - never misses for me (X-T20, should be the same as the X-E3). With a static subject you should be getting a 100% hit rate.

There are a wide variety of autofocus settings on Fuji cameras.  I can't claim to fully understand them, but this forum has proven helpful over time in doing so

Chas J wrote:

I have (and have used for years) Nikon DX and FX cameras.

I bought a Fuji X-E3 about I year ago as a travel camera. I really want to like the camera (and do) BUT I find the autofocus hit rate to be low ! ... missing approx 1 in 5 shots ... much lower than my Nikons in similar circumstances. This is for static subjects.

I thought it might be the lense (23mm f2) so I bought other lenses. I thought that it might be the body so I bought another (used) body. But I get the same problem with any combo. I am now mainly using it with the 27mm f2.8.

Is this common ?. Do you have any tips for better autofocus or am I just going to have to live with it ?.

Thanks.

It's good for AF-S, not the best for AF-C.

But here are my settings, would be great if you could share you settings as well.

Camera Settings:

Performance: High

Focus Area: Single Point

AF-C Custom: Set 2

PRE-AF: Off

AF Illuminator: Off

Face/Eye detection settings: Face / Eye

Release/Focus Priority: Focus for AF-S/AF-C

Touch screen settings: Off

Focus Technique:

Move AF single point to the area that I would like in focus, if object is further away, use a smaller single point area (this will ensure it doesn't back focus).

Raymond L wrote:

Chas J wrote:

I have (and have used for years) Nikon DX and FX cameras.

I bought a Fuji X-E3 about I year ago as a travel camera. I really want to like the camera (and do) BUT I find the autofocus hit rate to be low ! ... missing approx 1 in 5 shots ... much lower than my Nikons in similar circumstances. This is for static subjects.

I thought it might be the lense (23mm f2) so I bought other lenses. I thought that it might be the body so I bought another (used) body. But I get the same problem with any combo. I am now mainly using it with the 27mm f2.8.

Is this common ?. Do you have any tips for better autofocus or am I just going to have to live with it ?.

Thanks.

It's good for AF-S, not the best for AF-C.

But here are my settings, would be great if you could share you settings as well.

Camera Settings:

Performance: High

Focus Area: Single Point

AF-C Custom: Set 2

PRE-AF: Off

AF Illuminator: Off

Face/Eye detection settings: Face / Eye

Release/Focus Priority: Focus for AF-S/AF-C

Touch screen settings: Off

Focus Technique:

Move AF single point to the area that I would like in focus, if object is further away, use a smaller single point area (this will ensure it doesn't back focus).

I've found the face/eye detect to be unreliable.  Except with the 50mm f1, where it seemed to work much better than with any other lens..  if you aren't shooting people you might try turning it off.  Heck, even if you are shooting people you might try turning it off

Mr Bolton wrote:

Raymond L wrote:

Chas J wrote:

I have (and have used for years) Nikon DX and FX cameras.

I bought a Fuji X-E3 about I year ago as a travel camera. I really want to like the camera (and do) BUT I find the autofocus hit rate to be low ! ... missing approx 1 in 5 shots ... much lower than my Nikons in similar circumstances. This is for static subjects.

I thought it might be the lense (23mm f2) so I bought other lenses. I thought that it might be the body so I bought another (used) body. But I get the same problem with any combo. I am now mainly using it with the 27mm f2.8.

Is this common ?. Do you have any tips for better autofocus or am I just going to have to live with it ?.

Thanks.

It's good for AF-S, not the best for AF-C.

But here are my settings, would be great if you could share you settings as well.

Camera Settings:

Performance: High

Focus Area: Single Point

AF-C Custom: Set 2

PRE-AF: Off

AF Illuminator: Off

Face/Eye detection settings: Face / Eye

Release/Focus Priority: Focus for AF-S/AF-C

Touch screen settings: Off

Focus Technique:

Move AF single point to the area that I would like in focus, if object is further away, use a smaller single point area (this will ensure it doesn't back focus).

I've found the face/eye detect to be unreliable. Except with the 50mm f1, where it seemed to work much better than with any other lens.. if you aren't shooting people you might try turning it off. Heck, even if you are shooting people you might try turning it off

Agreed, I've found the Face/Eye AF pretty much worthless on the X-Trans III cameras, I never use it.

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

AF-S, single point, focus box on the subject, full-press the shutter button

+ Priority on focus not release

+ AF/MF off

never misses for me (X-T20, should be the same as the X-E3). With a static subject you should be getting a 100% hit rate.

BR,

Martin

Rightsaidfred wrote:

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

AF-S, single point, focus box on the subject, full-press the shutter button

+ Priority on focus not release

Yes, but with a full press of the shutter button, my Fujis won’t shoot until focus is acquired regardless of the Focus Priority setting.

+ AF/MF off

Why? I like AF + MF and usually keep it on.

+ High Performance mode too.

never misses for me (X-T20, should be the same as the X-E3). With a static subject you should be getting a 100% hit rate.

BR,

Martin

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Chas J wrote:

I thought it might be the lense (23mm f2) so I bought other lenses. I thought that it might be the body so I bought another (used) body. But I get the same problem with any combo. I am now mainly using it with the 27mm f2.8.

I understand you had the same problem with the 23/2.0, but just wanted to point out to you that your current main lens, the 27/2.8 has some field curvature. Especially at its faster apertures and shorter focus distances, move the AF point to your main subject, rather than using AF+S and recomposing, for more consistent results.

As for the X-E3, I've used two bodies with a plethora of lenses and outside of the so-so face detection have not had issues with missed focus. I don't shoot sports with AF-C and tracking, but you don't seem to either.  I tend to use single-point AF, with a rather small focus box and most commonly AF-S (or MF). My cameras are always on high performance mode, and AF-ON and AF-illuminator are always off.

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

Rightsaidfred wrote:

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

AF-S, single point, focus box on the subject, full-press the shutter button

+ Priority on focus not release

Yes, but with a full press of the shutter button, my Fujis won’t shoot until focus is acquired regardless of the Focus Priority setting.

+ AF/MF off

Why? I like AF + MF and usually keep it on.

Hi Erik, in critical situations, I always recommend to exclude any possible unwanted effects as much as possible. I've read in the forum that AF+MF overrides the focus priority. Seems logical, didn't check it, but this is enough reason for me to recommend the OP to switch it off, at least for now.

+ High Performance mode too.

never misses for me (X-T20, should be the same as the X-E3). With a static subject you should be getting a 100% hit rate.

BR,

Martin

Thanks for the good responses from you all.

I will make sure that the camera is set up as suggested and go out for a photo walkabout today and see what I get.    Will report back.

Chas.

Just to join in, mine is spot on.  I choose something to focus on, trigger the focus, recompose if needed and push the button.  It hardly ever misses.

Also the smallest focus box is not the best choice.  I alway use the next one up.

Chas J wrote:

Thanks for the good responses from you all.

I will make sure that the camera is set up as suggested and go out for a photo walkabout today and see what I get. Will report back.

Chas.

Well. It was -24°C and I was invited to overnight with my buddy who lives so far out in the sticks that my GPS started asking me for directions.

Anyhoo. I took my (not) trusty X-E3 with me (with my Nikon D700 as back-up). Here is what I found while paying special attention to the focus:

In good light (daylight) the focus is mostly accurate and dependable. When light levels drop (dusk and beyond) the camera will give a nice reassuring 'beep' that it has found focus but quite often it has not !. Also, in good light, I was trying to photograph some birds landing on a bird feeder. I was using the bird feeder as the focus point. The feeder had many trees behind it in the background. I would say that nearly 50% of the time the camera would focus on the trees. I tried small box single focus and 'group' focus. In this instance the 'group' seemed to be the most successful.

Everybody has their own expectations and determine what is acceptable to them. For autofocus, my experience has been built on Minolta and Nikon with a sprinkling of Olympus and Panasonic. To date, in low light and / or low contrast situations the Fuji X-E3 is the least reliable autofocus camera that I have worked with. As a parallel, my Nikon D610 is notorious for not being able to focus in low light but at least it has the decency 'not' to give the autofocus confirmation 'beep' (and take the photo) when it has not found it !.

What am I going to do ?. I do not know. I like the output, look, feel and the size of the X-E3 ... I want so much for it to be a 'keeper'. But that autofocus !!!.

FWIW.

Chas J wrote:

Chas J wrote:

Thanks for the good responses from you all.

I will make sure that the camera is set up as suggested and go out for a photo walkabout today and see what I get. Will report back.

Chas.

Well. It was -24°C and I was invited to overnight with my buddy who lives so far out in the sticks that my GPS started asking me for directions.

Anyhoo. I took my (not) trusty X-E3 with me (with my Nikon D700 as back-up). Here is what I found while paying special attention to the focus:

In good light (daylight) the focus is mostly accurate and dependable. When light levels drop (dusk and beyond) the camera will give a nice reassuring 'beep' that it has found focus but quite often it has not !. Also, in good light, I was trying to photograph some birds landing on a bird feeder. I was using the bird feeder as the focus point. The feeder had many trees behind it in the background. I would say that nearly 50% of the time the camera would focus on the trees. I tried small box single focus and 'group' focus. In this instance the 'group' seemed to be the most successful.

Everybody has their own expectations and determine what is acceptable to them. For autofocus, my experience has been built on Minolta and Nikon with a sprinkling of Olympus and Panasonic. To date, in low light and / or low contrast situations the Fuji X-E3 is the least reliable autofocus camera that I have worked with. As a parallel, my Nikon D610 is notorious for not being able to focus in low light but at least it has the decency 'not' to give the autofocus confirmation 'beep' (and take the photo) when it has not found it !.

What am I going to do ?. I do not know. I like the output, look, feel and the size of the X-E3 ... I want so much for it to be a 'keeper'. But that autofocus !!!.

FWIW.

I honestly don’t know what you’re doing wrong, but my X-T20 with presumably the same AF system NEVER misses with a static subject in pretty much any light with any of my lenses.
AF-S, single point box on the subject, full-press the shutter button - perfect every time.

Can you provide some insight as to what is “low light” for you ? is it 1/60 ISO 12,800 ? and do you have any pictures to illustrate what scene you were attempting to capture ?

Yes, I don't know what is going on here. My X-E3 with a variety of lenses fro static subjects is pretty much 100% spot on.  Just pre-pandemic I was out at -30C (arctic Finland) and it worked perfectly.

Raymond L wrote:

Can you provide some insight as to what is “low light” for you ? is it 1/60 ISO 12,800 ? and do you have any pictures to illustrate what scene you were attempting to capture ?

I looked through my X-T20 ISO 12800 shots and there really aren't any that aren't in focus. Terrible, yes. But out of focus, no, not really.

Since I'm not having any trouble, why don't you post some missed focus examples and EXACTLY describe the settings and techniques used while shooting each.

I can't auto-focus on a featureless wall in the dark, but with any static subject with even a hint of contrast, i really have very little trouble focusing (AF-S) using any of my lenses in any light with anything worth photographing, including with the 35 f/1.4 and 56 f/1.2.

I bought my first Fuji, the original X100, when I shot a D800. There was an adaption process required. On my part, not the camera's. Fuji still lags the industry in AF. If that’s a dealbreaker, you should probably consider you’re not going to be happy shooting Fuji. I shoot an X100V, a couple of Panasonic m43's and a couple of Sony RX100's. The Fuji lags them all. But if I had to choose only one, it would be the X100V without any hesitation. You know your criteria. Your decision.