Usually when Fujifilm launches a new compact camera, there are always people who wish it had a larger EVF.
Of course that’s not possible, if the concept of the camera is to be compact and small. You have to make tradeoffs.
Personally I am fine with this choice. The EVF on my X-E3 is certainly not big, but big enough for my type of shooting. I am certainly not wishing of a larger EVF on my compact X-E3, but rather for a tilt screen to avoid to shoot like this ;).
And yet, there are plenty of people desiring a larger EVF and if you are among them, then this could be a solution.
Fellow Fujifilm X Shooter Yukosteel has designed a 3D printed solution to use DSLR magnifiers adapted to X-T30 and alike cameras, to make EVF 0.76x – 0.84x magnified, larger than X-T series.
Yukosteel has published article which you can read here and after more testing he also published 3D printable adapter models.
Yukosteel also plans to design an adapter for X-E and X100 series in nearest future, which is a bit more complex task but doable.
We just reported about the dedicated Film Simulation Photowalks that Fujifilm USA has organized together with Fujifilm X Weekly.
Well, one more thing just came to my mind, and I thought it is worth to talk about it in this article.
To me, it seems that Fujifilm USA has (finally) understood how important film simulation recipes are for the Fujifilm community.
Sadly we can’t say the same of Fujifilm Japan, who is not putting any marketing effort into promoting film simulation recipes.
Sure, Fujifilm Japan did give us the film simulation dial on the Fujifilm X-T50, but the fact that you can’t assign a recipe to the FS1, FS2 and FS3 position to the dial shows that Fujifilm Japan has not yet understood the importance of recipes for us Fujifilm shooters.
I hope Fujifilm Japan takes a marketing lesson from Fujifilm USA and gives us a simple firmware update that allows us to assign recipes on the film simulation dial.
But with all that said: there is a quick way to access your recipes. You have to go through the C position on the dial and then you can select between 7 recipes that you’ve set. Fuji Guy Francis will run you through it quickly below.
That’s nice and good, but it would have been fantastic to have our favorite top 3 recipes set right on the dial (FS1, FS2, FS3) and accessible with a simple turn of the dial.
I guess it is a bit normal that we are drawn to the latest and greatest, the newest and most shiny stuff.
But truth is: there is PLENTY of wonderful gear out there that has its age, but still delivers wonderfully.
And look guys, I know what I talk about, because I did just photograph a family day trip on the mountains with my X-E3 today ;).
So I thought about making a roundup of a different kind: include all the latest and greatest stuff (the 5th generation cameras and the newest lenses), but also the older gear we hardly ever talk about now (4th gen. cameras or older and older lenses).
I hope there will be something among it that you’ll appreciate as much as I did.
While things have improved with the latest firmware, there are still some issues.
In a nutshell we could say: the older firmware of Fujifilm’s 5th generation gear is superior to the newer firmware.
Andrea Cimini for example explains how with firmware 1.00 in his X-H2S he got awesome results compared to the ones he is getting now with firmware 7.00.
Same goes for Thierry Gibralta, who compared X-H2S firmware 1.03 vs 7.00, and you can clearly see that, side by side, the 1.03 firmware is much more solid, with great tracking, little to no pulsing and definitely a very solid autofocus that can be easily trusted.
And it’s also this initially solid autofocus, that convinced Andrea Cimini to buy the Fujifilm X-H2S for his sports photography.
The Problem in Depth
Here is a summary:
in the last year, the firmware updates of Fujifilm were not reliable
when he tested the X-H2S with firmware 1.00, he was stunned and thought Fujifilm finally caught up with the best
he tried the X-H2S at several sport events and in one bicycle race with 400 people participating
he took 2,300 pictures and only 27 were out of focus (98.8% in focus)
over time, the more he updated the firmware, the more the autofocus got worst
with eye detection, some times the eye detection says the eye is in focus, but it is not
the hit rate at 10-15 fps drops a lot
in sports photography, when in 5 to 8 fps, the hit rate is between 80% to 95%
in sports photography, when in 10 to 15 fps, the hit rate is between 30% to 50%
if the situation in sports photography are particularly difficult (backlight, inside a forest, etc), the hit rate drops further
linear motor lenses don’t focus so “linear” in video. He compares the 16-55mm with LM vs the 18mm with LM and the 16-55 is smooth, but the 18mm is jerky
firmware 7.00 improved things and the hit rate went up. But it’s still not where it was with the initial firmware
So why does he still stick with Fujifilm?
best value for money ratio
he shares a chart where he compares a Sony and Fujifilm system, and a Sony system would cost him 5,000 Euro more than a Fujifilm system
moreover, he grabbed the flagship Fujifilm X-H2S vs the non-flagship Sony A7IV
The X-H2S has better EVF, better LCD, faster bursts, better video specs, etc.
With Sony A7IV he would make an upgrade in terms of Autofocus, but a downgrade on pretty much all the rest
He ends up saying that Fujifilm Italy contacted him asking all the details about the problems he is encountering, the settings etc, and that they would forward everything to Fujifilm Japan.
He still believes in the brand, there are lots of reasons he wants to stay with it (which he quickly lists in the video). So please Fujifilm, do something about the autofocus.
The Easy Solution
So, Andrea Cimini and Thierry Gibralta have shown that the first iterations of Fujifilm’s 5th generation autofocus was solid and significantly superior to what we have now.
Solid tracking, incredibly high hit rates at fast fps, smooth focus transitions with little to no pulsing and so forth.
So the solution could be actually a pretty easy one: Fujifilm should take that older AF algorithm and just put it back into their 5th generation cameras.
But as of now, the choice users have is: should I upgrade to the latest firmware to get all the other goodness that Fujifilm has generously given us for free (Reala Ace, red frame indicator, etc), or downgrade at my own risk, give up on Reala Ace & Co, but have again the great autofocus of almost 2 years ago?
I made the choice for myself already. I upgraded. But I don’t really shoot critical sports photography. And for my use, the latest X-T5 June firmware has fixed the issues that arose with the April firmware. In fact, I used it for a family travel in Rome and Tuscany and it worked just great for me. So I rather keep Reala & Co, as the autofocus is good for my type of use.
And honestly, I do not recommend anyone to make DIY downgrades. If anything goes wrong, you won’t be covered by warranty.
The way to go is to ask Fujifilm to give us the autofocus solidity they once already had. Take that older algorithm and give it to us. And then, build up even better from there.
