One of the most prestigious French photography websites, PhotoTrend, has now published its Fujifilm X-M5 review.
I will only highlight what they said about its autofocus.
And yes, they do talk very good about it.
And yes, there are people who told you the X-M5 autofocus is total garbage.
And yes, they based their judgments on 1.5 seconds of video extrapolated from hours of launch video.
And yes, that’s not really a smart way to judge the autofocus.
Why?
Well, look at the Sony A1II.
There have been lots of A1II launch videos, and when I looked at the one of Tony Northrup, I saw the Sony A1II occasionally focusing on hats and shoulders rather than faces and eyes as you can see in this screenshot and this screenshot – video here.
Now I could extract those few seconds of video and go out and claim the Sony A1II struggles to track eyes. But I won’t do that, because it would not be fair towards the Sony A1 II.
It’s better to wait for full reviews with production cameras. And today we have one, from Phototrend. You can trust them or not.
My personal position is: I am curious about what reviewers say, but I will wait for my X-T5 AF boost firmware to make final judgements.
With that said, here is what Phototrend says about the Fujifilm X-M5 autofocus.
Thanks to the X-Processor 5, the Fujifilm X-M5 benefits from the latest autofocus improvements. And we might as well say it: the latter bluffed us several times.
From a technical point of view, the body has an AI-doped hybrid AF, with 425 AF points (and 117 selectable positions). But above all, it takes advantage of the intelligent detection / tracking modes of the subject, already present on the other boxes in the range.
And in the field, the detection and monitoring of the subject are very effective. Humans or animals: the eye is detected instantly, even when the subject occupies only a small place in the frame. A point that portraitists (and lovers of wildlife photography) should appreciate.
In addition, the box always offers modes dedicated to birds and vehicles (trains, cars, planes, motorcycles). Enough to seduce fans from all walks of life. Especially since the detection is extremely effective.
In plain language: the autofocus of the X-M5 is very efficient. In general, the development is carried out without delay. Pumping phenomena are very rare, even in (very) low light. Caution, however, with certain zooms or fixed focal lengths (especially a little old), whose AF motorization can sometimes be less fast.
Finally, note that the number of “false positives” is particularly low. Fujifilm would therefore have corrected the few small problems suffered by the X-S20.
You can read the full review in original French language at phototrend.
