Switching from Fuji

[Edward Greenberg]

My t-3 needs to be replaced. I have several Fuji mount lenses, mostly viltrox lenses. I was all set to either get xt-5 or xh2s. Then I started reading recent reviews and watching YouTube videos. As Fuji xeems to have completely fouled up the af in recento cameras, I am reluctant to get one of these cameras. As an enthusiast af is very important to me. As an older shooter a bright elf is also important. As a 95 percent stills shooter video features are not important to me. I would like to spend less than 2500 for a body. What would people recommend to me as an alternative to the cameras I was originally considering.

 

[jhorse]

My t-3 needs to be replaced. I have several Fuji mount lenses, mostly viltrox lenses. I was all set to either get xt-5 or xh2s. Then I started reading recent reviews and watching YouTube videos. As Fuji xeems to have completely fouled up the af in recento cameras, I am reluctant to get one of these cameras. As an enthusiast af is very important to me. As an older shooter a bright elf is also important. As a 95 percent stills shooter video features are not important to me. I would like to spend less than 2500 for a body. What would people recommend to me as an alternative to the cameras I was originally considering.

Good luck, hope you find want you need/want.

I find that most YT reviewers do not have the experience to set up the Fuji AF optimally or use it competently.

I use a XT5 for high goal polo, cycle racing and wind surfing and its AF is just fine.

 

[DJ STU-C]

As I understand it, the primary issue with AF is related to tracking in video… if you’re a stills shooter you should be able to work with the AF on either of those cameras.



why don’t you rent one for a weekend and find out for yourself how good or bad it is? YouTube reviews of pretty much anything are to be taken with a pinch of salt, especially ones that contain emotion.



if you still find it an issue, then you can get rid.

 

[Edward Greenberg]

I read the reviews and watched the videos with some skepticism. But when I watched a video by pal2 tech I became quite concerned. I have complete trust in him and why he originally praised these. Ameras he no longer does. This is the one channel I have explicit trust in. He suggested the problem is greatest in continuos mode, whether with stills or video. Suggestions were made to improve af but we’re not a cure all. And I would rather get a system that works out of the box.

 

[jnesselrode]

My t-3 needs to be replaced. I have several Fuji mount lenses, mostly viltrox lenses. I was all set to either get xt-5 or xh2s. Then I started reading recent reviews and watching YouTube videos. As Fuji xeems to have completely fouled up the af in recento cameras, I am reluctant to get one of these cameras. As an enthusiast af is very important to me. As an older shooter a bright elf is also important. As a 95 percent stills shooter video features are not important to me. I would like to spend less than 2500 for a body. What would people recommend to me as an alternative to the cameras I was originally considering.

In my opinion the whole focus thing is so overblown as to be almost comical. Day-in, day-out the X-T3 focus is perfectly fine for me and the things I shoot. Landscape, people/family, etc. I’ve shot a lot of moving subjects and people and the camera seems to do fine. Viewfinder is fine too. Can’t speak to the newer models but folks here seem to be able to get good captures in challenging situations.

Are there cameras that do things marginally better? Yep.

No offense, but you sound like someone who is suffering from review intoxication.

 

[ernest56]

My t-3 needs to be replaced. I have several Fuji mount lenses, mostly viltrox lenses. I was all set to either get xt-5 or xh2s. Then I started reading recent reviews and watching YouTube videos. As Fuji xeems to have completely fouled up the af in recento cameras, I am reluctant to get one of these cameras. As an enthusiast af is very important to me. As an older shooter a bright elf is also important. As a 95 percent stills shooter video features are not important to me. I would like to spend less than 2500 for a body. What would people recommend to me as an alternative to the cameras I was originally considering.

FujiRumors have reported that Fujifilm are aware of the AF issues with af-c and the YT videos and are working on a fix.

If set on switching systems I would hold off on buying now and wait for Black Friday sales for a better price before deciding.

Most of the current camera bodies are now hybrid bodies, so finding a "stills" only body might be tough. The new Nikon Z6 III has an excellent bright EVF, but so does the Fuji X-H2 series have excellent EVF's.

 

[RobRoy22]

My t-3 needs to be replaced. I have several Fuji mount lenses, mostly viltrox lenses. I was all set to either get xt-5 or xh2s. Then I started reading recent reviews and watching YouTube videos. As Fuji xeems to have completely fouled up the af in recento cameras, I am reluctant to get one of these cameras. As an enthusiast af is very important to me. As an older shooter a bright elf is also important. As a 95 percent stills shooter video features are not important to me. I would like to spend less than 2500 for a body. What would people recommend to me as an alternative to the cameras I was originally considering.

In my opinion the whole focus thing is so overblown as to be almost comical. Day-in, day-out the X-T3 focus is perfectly fine for me and the things I shoot. Landscape, people/family. I’ve shot a lot of moving subjects and people and the camera seems to do fine. Viewfinder is fine too.

Are there cameras that do things marginally better? Yep.

No offense, but you sound like someone who is suffering from review overload.

Ditto that with X-T5. It does what I need a camera to do, and it’s really pleasurable to use. Hope the OP finds their happy place.

 

[1000DTL]

My t-3 needs to be replaced. I have several Fuji mount lenses, mostly viltrox lenses. I was all set to either get xt-5 or xh2s. Then I started reading recent reviews and watching YouTube videos. As Fuji xeems to have completely fouled up the af in recento cameras, I am reluctant to get one of these cameras. As an enthusiast af is very important to me. As an older shooter a bright elf is also important. As a 95 percent stills shooter video features are not important to me. I would like to spend less than 2500 for a body. What would people recommend to me as an alternative to the cameras I was originally considering.

For $2500 you can either stay with APS-C of another brand, move up to FF or down to micro four thirds. You need to figure out what's important to you in a body. If it's low light performance, then move to FF, if it's size and weight look at micro four thirds. You didn't indicate what type of photography you are interested in so I'm hesitant to make a recommendation. If you are close to a camera store, handle different bodies in your price range. Ergonomics is an important factor in deciding.

 

[Edward Greenberg]

I do mostly travel photography and family shooting. I also enjoy landscapes and nature photography. I have been shooting since I was 12 years old. I am now 73. But I still consider myself more of an a mature enthusiast. I had an Olympus and found it too restricting. I rarely shoot extreme low light and have generally been happy with the results I get from apc cameras. If I had my druthers I would prefer to stay with Fuji. However, they need to fix the autofocus before I will commit. I can get by with my phone till May. Perhaps they will have fix by then or come out with a new improved camera.

 

[GeoMur]

My t-3 needs to be replaced. I have several Fuji mount lenses, mostly viltrox lenses. I was all set to either get xt-5 or xh2s. Then I started reading recent reviews and watching YouTube videos. As Fuji xeems to have completely fouled up the af in recento cameras, I am reluctant to get one of these cameras. As an enthusiast af is very important to me. As an older shooter a bright elf is also important. As a 95 percent stills shooter video features are not important to me. I would like to spend less than 2500 for a body. What would people recommend to me as an alternative to the cameras I was originally considering.

I'm happy to be corrected, but I'd be genuinely surprised if the AF on the X-T5 wasn't significantly better than the X-T3, regardless of firmware update issues. That could be enough for you? I'm not saying Fuji are doing AF well, and a lot of YouTubers really want to tell you they're not, but I have I never had any particular issues with it.

I shoot stills exclusively and probably more often use AFS, which might be why I haven't been much impacted. Having said that, I also chase my two year old around with the camera on AFC as well. I definitely miss shots, but I always have. Can't say whether Canon or Sony would give a higher hit rate, but I tend not to think about that when I can still get the images I want.

If you shoot a lot of sports or wildlife, or if someone is paying you for results, I can see how this furore might sway you. For me, though, photography is a hobby. I'm all for applying pressure to Fuji to improve things, but you'd think from some of the commentators that it was impossible to take an in focus image!

Switch If you want the change. Sometimes it's good to mix things up. But I personally wouldn't for this reason alone. If you're not convinced, just look at some of the galleries - either there are a lot of photographers using Fuji gear who get lucky...or the gear is as capable as it ever was

 

[Meeces]

As someone else mentioned, I would rent first. There are many users in this forum who show over and over how successful they are with Fuji and autofocus (Morris, Alan Hewitt come to mind with wildlife right away).

Is it the best? Probably not, because there wouldn't be the hype over it if there weren't some kind of issue (regardless of use case/frequency). Overcoming the perception and reputation is going to be a challenge. Even the menu settings/implementation of auto focus unfortunately needs too much tweaking to get the best out of it (from a consumer wanting to set it and forget it perspective). The issue is finding the middle ground between hype (YT, etc.), real world use, and your specific use cases. I like Pal2Tech and have not yet watched a video of his that reports the autofocus is that bad (maybe I've just missed it). Was it being reported as universally bad across the board (genuinely curious)?

I tend to think lately that if auto focus were so universally bad, then why is it so hard to so consistently find Fuji equipment in stock over such a long period? Why don't sales suffer and the company contract over the long run- given how long the reputation for inability to focus has been around? A lot of people think Fuji is suffering the opposite, and not able to grow to meet the demand with the depth and breadth of the interest in the products they offer.

I don't type this to sound like a Fuji spokesperson either. Not even close- they have lots they need to work on in my opinion. However, the autofocus thing should be more carefully considered (and hence why I would suggest renting- especially if you have Fuji glass).

Just shot a wedding with two X-T5 bodies and maybe a dozen out of about 1200 images were out of focus (including the 'bad' 56mm mkii and 18mm).

I also leave this article from fujixweekly recently that touches on the issue and I thought offered an interesting perspective-

https://fujixweekly.com/2024/09/25/fujifilm-autofocus-an-uncomfortable-conversation-we-need-to-have/

Hopefully the next firmware addresses some of the issue, because I remember what a revelation the X-T5 was when I first got it compared to all the other X-T's (have had each model since X-T1).

Anyway, some food for thought. Whatever you choose, best of luck.

 

[DJ STU-C]

Great post Matt.

 

[FujiJon]

No problem here, love the X-H2S. See my post below for evidence.

 

[Meeces]

Great post Matt.

Thank you.

 

[pifilos]

I do mostly travel photography and family shooting. I also enjoy landscapes and nature photography. I have been shooting since I was 12 years old. I am now 73. But I still consider myself more of an a mature enthusiast. I had an Olympus and found it too restricting. I rarely shoot extreme low light and have generally been happy with the results I get from apc cameras. If I had my druthers I would prefer to stay with Fuji. However, they need to fix the autofocus before I will commit. I can get by with my phone till May. Perhaps they will have fix by then or come out with a new improved camera.

I cannot really tell if the AF issues are truly valid since I don't own a Fujifilm camera from that generation. I used to find them comical, then when lots of people reproduced the issues under certain circumstances I thought "ok they are too many so the issue might be valid indeed".

However, the overall approach in comment sections around platforms and websites (Youtube, Fujirumors, here in DPreview etc) seems a bit out of hand occasionally.


That being said, I completely understand their frustration and when the competition gets it right, it is not abnormal to ask for similar results.


What I can tell you is that since you already own Fujifilm gear and since you were ok with the X-T3 (unless I missed AF complaints in previous comments) you can consider getting a used X-T4. Even if I don't have any AF issues with my X-T2 - even while using the old 56mm - I can see the difference in how snappy and accurate that lens performs on the X-T4. Alongside with other benefits it is a nice deal at the moment, aside from the screen for some people.

--
https://www.instagram.com/filippos.drylerakis/
flickr.com/photos/194737069@N06

 

[Rand 47]

My t-3 needs to be replaced. I have several Fuji mount lenses, mostly viltrox lenses. I was all set to either get xt-5 or xh2s. Then I started reading recent reviews and watching YouTube videos. As Fuji xeems to have completely fouled up the af in recento cameras, I am reluctant to get one of these cameras. As an enthusiast af is very important to me. As an older shooter a bright elf is also important. As a 95 percent stills shooter video features are not important to me. I would like to spend less than 2500 for a body. What would people recommend to me as an alternative to the cameras I was originally considering.

I’d take a hard look at the Nikon Zf. It’s a great camera, has a lot of the ergos and operability esthetic of Fuji. State of the art AF.

Rand

 

[Edward Greenberg]

I looked at this and meets most of my needs. My only concern is the absence of good third party lenses. Do you know if that will change or not?

 

[fuji_phil_e]

As someone else mentioned, I would rent first. There are many users in this forum who show over and over how successful they are with Fuji and autofocus (Morris, Alan Hewitt come to mind with wildlife right away).

Is it the best? Probably not, because there wouldn't be the hype over it if there weren't some kind of issue (regardless of use case/frequency). Overcoming the perception and reputation is going to be a challenge. Even the menu settings/implementation of auto focus unfortunately needs too much tweaking to get the best out of it (from a consumer wanting to set it and forget it perspective). The issue is finding the middle ground between hype (YT, etc.), real world use, and your specific use cases. I like Pal2Tech and have not yet watched a video of his that reports the autofocus is that bad (maybe I've just missed it). Was it being reported as universally bad across the board (genuinely curious)?

I tend to think lately that if auto focus were so universally bad, then why is it so hard to so consistently find Fuji equipment in stock over such a long period? Why don't sales suffer and the company contract over the long run- given how long the reputation for inability to focus has been around? A lot of people think Fuji is suffering the opposite, and not able to grow to meet the demand with the depth and breadth of the interest in the products they offer.

I don't type this to sound like a Fuji spokesperson either. Not even close- they have lots they need to work on in my opinion. However, the autofocus thing should be more carefully considered (and hence why I would suggest renting- especially if you have Fuji glass).

Just shot a wedding with two X-T5 bodies and maybe a dozen out of about 1200 images were out of focus (including the 'bad' 56mm mkii and 18mm).

I also leave this article from fujixweekly recently that touches on the issue and I thought offered an interesting perspective-

https://fujixweekly.com/2024/09/25/fujifilm-autofocus-an-uncomfortable-conversation-we-need-to-have/

Hopefully the next firmware addresses some of the issue, because I remember what a revelation the X-T5 was when I first got it compared to all the other X-T's (have had each model since X-T1).

Anyway, some food for thought. Whatever you choose, best of luck.

 

[jonikon]

My t-3 needs to be replaced. I have several Fuji mount lenses, mostly viltrox lenses. I was all set to either get xt-5 or xh2s. Then I started reading recent reviews and watching YouTube videos. As Fuji xeems to have completely fouled up the af in recento cameras, I am reluctant to get one of these cameras. As an enthusiast af is very important to me. As an older shooter a bright elf is also important. As a 95 percent stills shooter video features are not important to me. I would like to spend less than 2500 for a body. What would people recommend to me as an alternative to the cameras I was originally considering.

Fujifilm rumors.com has stated that Fujifilm has screwed up the autofocus with firmware updates to its most recent current cameras, so I understand your concern.
https://www.fujirumors.com/fujifilm-japan-is-aware-of-autofocus-issues-and-is-working-on-a-fix/

I can't verify their assertion of AF issues since I don't own any of those cameras listed there, but I doubt they are making this up.
However I have found the autofocus with my X-S10 to be excellent for still subjects even with a WA lens such as the XF 10-24 WR. I tried tracking AF with some birds and found it worked surprisingly well even with the low end zoom lens XC 50-230mm. Hopefully Fujifilm will sort out the AF issues with their newer cameras as well.
~ J

 

[William the X-T5 guy]

I read the reviews and watched the videos with some skepticism. But when I watched a video by pal2 tech I became quite concerned. I have complete trust in him and why he originally praised these. Ameras he no longer does. This is the one channel I have explicit trust in. He suggested the problem is greatest in continuos mode, whether with stills or video. Suggestions were made to improve af but we’re not a cure all. And I would rather get a system that works out of the box.

I watch him too and find his insights very useful. I've noted that he has found some instances where the X-T5 AF falls down, but then I realize that my shooting situations must be much different from his because I've never had an issue with Fuji's AF.

I know other people have, so I'm not saying there aren't problems with the AF integration. I do accept that what I do falls within the camera's abilities and the people who have problems are outside that border.

I've set eye tracking on a single individual in a group and the camera has stayed locked onto that person's eyes. I've set it to animal AF and shot bursts of pictures of dogs running across a lawn and the AF locked on and kept up better than I did.

Full disclosure: I come to Fuji from a Pentax K1, a camera that has last decade's AF, so I think that my X-T5 is pretty amazing.

I think look at where the complaints about AF are coming from and ask if it is likely to affect you. For example, I don't attempt to photograph birds in flight. I know from reading here that this is something that Fuji struggles with, but it doesn't affect me. I'd like the people who do this to have world class AF, but I can't really help them. Meanwhile my X-T5 soldiers on producing very nice images for me.

Hey Matt: Great post. Thank you for that.

--
Bill.
Proud user of Pentax and Fuji camera gear.