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

I do a lot of landscape photography, and I haven’t done a whole lot with it apart from a few trips. I’m not super well-versed in photography lingo, but I love to use depth of field, where something in the distance is in focus and something in the foreground is out of focus.

I’m using the Fujifilm 16-80mm lens, and I’ve tried several different settings.

In manual focus mode, I get the focus exactly how I want it, and then when I press the shutter button, the camera adjusts to sharpen the out-of-focus elements. It counteracts my manual efforts, and is infuriating.

Any advice on how to completely disable auto adjustments would be great! Thanks!

Kevaf wrote:

I do a lot of landscape photography, and I haven’t done a whole lot with it apart from a few trips. I’m not super well-versed in photography lingo, but I love to use depth of field, where something in the distance is in focus and something in the foreground is out of focus.

I’m using the Fujifilm 16-80mm lens, and I’ve tried several different settings.

In manual focus mode, I get the focus exactly how I want it, and then when I press the shutter button, the camera adjusts to sharpen the out-of-focus elements. It counteracts my manual efforts, and is infuriating.

Any advice on how to completely disable auto adjustments would be great! Thanks!

In manual focus mode, you will be seeing a wide-open aperture view by default (for better manual focusing). The change you see when half-pressing is the camera stopping down to shooting aperture (where the ring is set) - it’s not refocusing, you are now just seeing an accurate DOF preview (if your lens is set wide open you should see no significant change when pressing the shutter button).

There is a DOF preview option you can assign to a custom function button that will enable a real-time stopped-down view without half-pressing the shutter button, but I usually just toggle between "no-press" to focus wide open (usually with peaking full-screen, or just magnification on a particular detail), and a half-press to see (and adjust) the DOF using the aperture ring as necessary.

AndyH44 wrote:

It's in the manual....

[SHUTTER AF]

Choose whether the camera focuses when the shutter button is pressed halfway.

[AF-S]OptionDescription

[ON]Focus locks when the shutter button is pressed halfway.

[OFF]No focus operation is performed when the shutter button is pressed halfway.

This, combined with what Erik is stating about stop-down depth of field, is most of the answer to the question.

Many of us who rely mostly on the MF setting will opt for Shutter AF [OFF] setting, and then assign one of the back buttons (or rear command wheel) to AF ON: called back button focus - or BBF. This is especially helpful with Fuji bodies because, 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.

JNR wrote:

AndyH44 wrote:

It's in the manual....

[SHUTTER AF]

Choose whether the camera focuses when the shutter button is pressed halfway.

[AF-S]OptionDescription

[ON]Focus locks when the shutter button is pressed halfway.

[OFF]No focus operation is performed when the shutter button is pressed halfway.

This, combined with what Erik is stating about stop-down depth of field, is most of the answer to the question.

Many of us who rely mostly on the MF setting will opt for Shutter AF [OFF] setting, and then assign one of the back buttons (or rear command wheel) to AF ON: called back button focus - or BBF. This is especially helpful with Fuji bodies because, 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.

Shutter AF is disabled automatically in MF mode, so no reason to disable it if you prefer it for other modes (which I very much do). I do have my rear command dial set up for AF On for instant BBF  in M mode to quickly get focus in the ballpark.

DJF55 wrote:

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

JNR wrote:

AndyH44 wrote:

It's in the manual....

[SHUTTER AF]

Choose whether the camera focuses when the shutter button is pressed halfway.

[AF-S]OptionDescription

[ON]Focus locks when the shutter button is pressed halfway.

[OFF]No focus operation is performed when the shutter button is pressed halfway.

This, combined with what Erik is stating about stop-down depth of field, is most of the answer to the question.

Many of us who rely mostly on the MF setting will opt for Shutter AF [OFF] setting, and then assign one of the back buttons (or rear command wheel) to AF ON: called back button focus - or BBF. This is especially helpful with Fuji bodies because, 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.

Shutter AF is disabled automatically in MF mode, so no reason to disable it if you prefer it for other modes (which I very much do). I do have my rear command dial set up for AF On for instant BBF in M mode to quickly get focus in the ballpark.

On which camera is that?

All of mine are set up that way - X-T2, X-T20, X100V

IMO what you see in AF-M mode is no re-focusing but a DoF change. You probably selected a smaller aperture. The camera operates with a different aperture as long as you don't half press or press the shutter button.

Regards,

Martin

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

JNR wrote:

AndyH44 wrote:

It's in the manual....

[SHUTTER AF]

Choose whether the camera focuses when the shutter button is pressed halfway.

[AF-S]OptionDescription

[ON]Focus locks when the shutter button is pressed halfway.

[OFF]No focus operation is performed when the shutter button is pressed halfway.

This, combined with what Erik is stating about stop-down depth of field, is most of the answer to the question.

Many of us who rely mostly on the MF setting will opt for Shutter AF [OFF] setting, and then assign one of the back buttons (or rear command wheel) to AF ON: called back button focus - or BBF. This is especially helpful with Fuji bodies because, 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.

Shutter AF is disabled automatically in MF mode, so no reason to disable it if you prefer it for other modes (which I very much do). I do have my rear command dial set up for AF On for instant BBF in M mode to quickly get focus in the ballpark.

Way back when I switched to BBF I found that it was quite an adjustment for a few days, and then it became natural to me. For me, muscle memory is a challenge if I'm shooting in multiple ways, so I try to keep everything set up mostly the same way for all situations. So, I'm shooting BBF in all situations.

On the X-T5 - which for me is quite the step up regarding ergonomics compared to the X-T2/20 - the AF ON button is very well placed (a bit better than rear command dial), but I still have that dial assigned to AF ON so I don't have to think about it going from one camera to the other.

JNR wrote:

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

JNR wrote:

AndyH44 wrote:

It's in the manual....

[SHUTTER AF]

Choose whether the camera focuses when the shutter button is pressed halfway.

[AF-S]OptionDescription

[ON]Focus locks when the shutter button is pressed halfway.

[OFF]No focus operation is performed when the shutter button is pressed halfway.

This, combined with what Erik is stating about stop-down depth of field, is most of the answer to the question.

Many of us who rely mostly on the MF setting will opt for Shutter AF [OFF] setting, and then assign one of the back buttons (or rear command wheel) to AF ON: called back button focus - or BBF. This is especially helpful with Fuji bodies because, 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.

Shutter AF is disabled automatically in MF mode, so no reason to disable it if you prefer it for other modes (which I very much do). I do have my rear command dial set up for AF On for instant BBF in M mode to quickly get focus in the ballpark.

Way back when I switched to BBF I found that it was quite an adjustment for a few days, and then it became natural to me. For me, muscle memory is a challenge if I'm shooting in multiple ways, so I try to keep everything set up mostly the same way for all situations. So, I'm shooting BBF in all situations.

i use BBF in Manual focusing mode all the time, but never with AF-S and AF-C. Despite much experimentation, I have never been able to get BBC results with anywhere near the consistent accuracy that I get using the shutter button for AF with Fuji cameras, especially with moving subjects. If full-time BBF works for you, great, but it doesn't work well for me at all. Just flipping the front MCS button and I'm instantly from BBF with manual fine-tuning, to fast/accurate AF with the shutter button, the best of both worlds, IMO.

Is Pre-AF enabled? If so, the camera autofocuses on a half-press of the shutter release. It is, without question, the absolute worst, most useless, frustrating feature on any camera I've ever owned. If Pre-AF is enabled disable it and you'll have the focus control you desire.

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

JNR wrote:

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

JNR wrote:

AndyH44 wrote:

It's in the manual....

[SHUTTER AF]

Choose whether the camera focuses when the shutter button is pressed halfway.

[AF-S]OptionDescription

[ON]Focus locks when the shutter button is pressed halfway.

[OFF]No focus operation is performed when the shutter button is pressed halfway.

This, combined with what Erik is stating about stop-down depth of field, is most of the answer to the question.

Many of us who rely mostly on the MF setting will opt for Shutter AF [OFF] setting, and then assign one of the back buttons (or rear command wheel) to AF ON: called back button focus - or BBF. This is especially helpful with Fuji bodies because, 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.

Shutter AF is disabled automatically in MF mode, so no reason to disable it if you prefer it for other modes (which I very much do). I do have my rear command dial set up for AF On for instant BBF in M mode to quickly get focus in the ballpark.

Way back when I switched to BBF I found that it was quite an adjustment for a few days, and then it became natural to me. For me, muscle memory is a challenge if I'm shooting in multiple ways, so I try to keep everything set up mostly the same way for all situations. So, I'm shooting BBF in all situations.

i use BBF in Manual focusing mode all the time, but never with AF-S and AF-C. Despite much experimentation, I have never been able to get BBC results with anywhere near the consistent accuracy that I get using the shutter button for AF with Fuji cameras, especially with moving subjects. If full-time BBF works for you, great, but it doesn't work well for me at all. Just flipping the front MCS button and I'm instantly from BBF with manual fine-tuning, to fast/accurate AF with the shutter button, the best of both worlds, IMO.

I should experiment with that. I'm not entirely happy with how the X-T5 is responding on AF with moving objects (AF-c). I don't do a lot of action - so had chalked it up to that, but the XF 70-300 has been more frustrating than expected in testing. Still winter here, so very limited real action shooting.

If you set the MCS wheel to M it does not auto focus unless you press the AF On button.

So i concur with what others stated, that the camera adjusts the aparture at half press. That is what my XT4 does.

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.

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.

JNR wrote:

Way back when I switched to BBF I found that it was quite an adjustment for a few days, and then it became natural to me. For me, muscle memory is a challenge if I'm shooting in multiple ways, so I try to keep everything set up mostly the same way for all situations. So, I'm shooting BBF in all situations.

i use BBF in Manual focusing mode all the time, but never with AF-S and AF-C. Despite much experimentation, I have never been able to get BBC results with anywhere near the consistent accuracy that I get using the shutter button for AF with Fuji cameras, especially with moving subjects. If full-time BBF works for you, great, but it doesn't work well for me at all. Just flipping the front MCS button and I'm instantly from BBF with manual fine-tuning, to fast/accurate AF with the shutter button, the best of both worlds, IMO.

I should experiment with that. I'm not entirely happy with how the X-T5 is responding on AF with moving objects (AF-c). I don't do a lot of action - so had chalked it up to that, but the XF 70-300 has been more frustrating than expected in testing. Still winter here, so very limited real action shooting.

I gave it a thorough comparison on the X-T5 today, shifting between BBF and half-press activation - all with AF-c shooting. Could not find one bit of difference in the responsiveness or hit rate. This was the first time I had activated half-press on the new model - and I did find it much better in terms of consistent feel and feedback than the X-T2/20 models. That isn't a real factor in deciding between half-press and BBF for me.

In fact, there is good reason to go the BBF route with the newer models because you have a much broader useful AF phase-detection area in which to operate, not to mention the better tracking capability. Unfortunately, the tendency to lose AF tracking and arbitrarily variable eye detection operation (no matter how you're activating AF) is where things tend to fall down.

I'll play around with it some more, but I'm wondering if Erik simply had bad-luck streaks when using BBF. When you think about it, there isn't a good reason why AF would work better activated one way or another. And there is no way I'm going to buy the idea that the quick press method (no stopping halfway to allow AF to lock on) is somehow the way to get the most successful results consistently. I've tried that in the past and - predictably - too often the AF never locks on properly.