Home · Register · Join Upload & Sell

Moderated by: Fred Miranda
Username  

  New fredmiranda.com Mobile Site
  New Feature: SMS Notification alert
  New Feature: Buy & Sell Watchlist
  

FM Forums | Leica & Alternative Gear | Join Upload & Sell

1      
2
       3       end
  

Archive 2016 · I think my Fuji 100-400 is soft!

  
 
jj_glos
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.2 #1 · p.2 #1 · I think my Fuji 100-400 is soft!


I like mine better than my Tamron 150-600 on a 1D4. It's true test will be tomorrow when I take it out for motorsports.

This is a 100% crop, handheld at 1/200, 400mm wide open:

Fuji 100-400 by JJ, on Flickr



Apr 01, 2016 at 01:47 PM
Perreault
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.2 #2 · p.2 #2 · I think my Fuji 100-400 is soft!


That's what I want. Definitely not what I get.
I'll see what Fuji says when they receive it.




Apr 01, 2016 at 02:06 PM
RustyBug
Offline
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.2 #3 · p.2 #3 · I think my Fuji 100-400 is soft!


jj_glos wrote:
I like mine better than my Tamron 150-600 on a 1D4. It's true test will be tomorrow when I take it out for motorsports.

This is a 100% crop, handheld at 1/200, 400mm wide open:
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1613/25767289102_ced553e181_o.jpg
Fuji 100-400 by JJ, on Flickr


At what subject distance? This seems to be much closer than the OP's shots that all seem to have greater camera - subject distance (portrait) for his wildlife images.

RustyBug wrote:

optics perform differently at different distances also. That said, the eyebrow shot is likely at a much closer distance than those of the birds, etc. Imo, the 100-400 should be optimized for the longer distances, so if it is a great performer @ rock solid portrait distance, but not at field distance, I'd likely not be satisfied with the short distance performance as an indicator of the lens merit.




Apr 01, 2016 at 10:35 PM
jj_glos
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.2 #4 · p.2 #4 · I think my Fuji 100-400 is soft!


RustyBug wrote:
At what subject distance? This seems to be much closer than the OP's shots that all seem to have greater camera - subject distance (portrait) for his wildlife images.



This is the full image the 100% crop was taken from. I'm however far away it takes for the shot to be framed like that at 560mm


Fuji 100-400 by JJ, on Flickr

Tried the lens at motorsports today. I think the lens is fine, I'm beginning to really hate the EVF "blackout" on the X-T1 when taking panning shots. I find it so frustrating and can't maintain the framing around the car that I want (which is easy for me with the DSLR) if I can even keep the car in the frame! So I have to back the zoom out and crop afterwards which kind of defeats the purpose. It's got me considering selling all my Fuji kit and maybe getting an X100 again, and using my DSLR more again (maybe pick up a 5D3).



Apr 02, 2016 at 04:30 PM
Rand47
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: On
p.2 #5 · p.2 #5 · I think my Fuji 100-400 is soft!


I wonder what the outcome for the OP was with his lens. I am currently struggling with the same kind of softness his examples exhibit. So much so, that I've rented another 100-400, which will arrive tomorrow, just to confirm that it isn't operator error. I'm greatly dissappointed in this lens.

Rand



Jul 04, 2016 at 08:31 PM
Perreault
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.2 #6 · p.2 #6 · I think my Fuji 100-400 is soft!


Hey Rand!

I am the OP.

I sent the lens to Fuji Canada. They tested it and they say it is fine.
I am still getting soft images with this lens. Not really terrible but not close to what I am getting with my Nikon 500 F4 or Nikon 80-400 VR. I am really disappointed.

My plan was go all the way to Fuji gear. It is not happening. I am keeping my Nikon gear for wildlife and using Fuji for travel, street, landscape and portraits.

Please, let me know what you find when you compare with another 100-400.

Yves






Jul 04, 2016 at 08:42 PM
cputeq
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.2 #7 · p.2 #7 · I think my Fuji 100-400 is soft!


Perreault wrote:
Hey Rand!

I am the OP.

I sent the lens to Fuji Canada. They tested it and they say it is fine.
I am still getting soft images with this lens. Not really terrible but not close to what I am getting with my Nikon 500 F4 or Nikon 80-400 VR. I am really disappointed.

My plan was go all the way to Fuji gear. It is not happening. I am keeping my Nikon gear for wildlife and using Fuji for travel, street, landscape and portraits.

Please, let me know what you find when you compare with another 100-400.

Yves



Tell me, what OIS mode are you using? If you're using 1, try mode 2. If in mode 2, try mode 1.

I've seen some very sharp images with this lens, but I'm wondering if it's wonky OIS operation.
I was getting similar weirdness with my 18-55 when using OIS mode 1 (I don't know why).


To compare, here's a large crop of the optically inferior 55-200 at fairly close range. You should at least be able to get this:








Jul 04, 2016 at 08:46 PM
Perreault
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.2 #8 · p.2 #8 · I think my Fuji 100-400 is soft!


I think this lens has OIS on-off, no modes.
Correct me if I am wrong.




Jul 04, 2016 at 08:49 PM
Rand47
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: On
p.2 #9 · p.2 #9 · I think my Fuji 100-400 is soft!


The camera firmware has two OIS modes. 1. = the OIS is only enabled when you actually shoot. 2. = OIS operating continuously. Mode 2 does eat batteries. I'm operating in Mode 2, as I had read elsewhere that it is optimum with the 100-400. I'll test both modes just to be sure.

Perralt, I'm sorry to hear that your lens is within "spec" according to Fuji. It seems a lot of cash to lay out for this level of performance.

I'll post after I've tested with the rental lens.

Rand



Jul 04, 2016 at 09:03 PM
Fred Amico
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.2 #10 · p.2 #10 · I think my Fuji 100-400 is soft!


Your images should be sharper. Here's one of the first I took with that lens, and teleconverter, on a tripod, using the self-timer to avoid camera shake.







Strawberry Moon




Jul 04, 2016 at 10:58 PM
Rand47
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: On
p.2 #11 · p.2 #11 · I think my Fuji 100-400 is soft!


Rand47 wrote:
The camera firmware has two OIS modes. 1. = the OIS is only enabled when you actually shoot. 2. = OIS operating continuously. Mode 2 does eat batteries. I'm operating in Mode 2, as I had read elsewhere that it is optimum with the 100-400. I'll test both modes just to be sure.

Perralt, I'm sorry to hear that your lens is within "spec" according to Fuji. It seems a lot of cash to lay out for this level of performance.

I'll post after I've tested with the rental lens.

Rand


I think I solved my softness problem. First, what I say above is reversed. Wrench 5, IS Mode; Mode 1 = Continuous (the IS is active "all the time") Mode 2 = Shooting Only (the IS activates upon shutter release).

I had been told, erroneously as it turns out, that Mode 1 "continuous" was best with this lens. WRONG. While the image looked a lot more stable through the viewfinder, i.e. wasn't jumping about at 400 mm!, the images were soft upon review. I switched to Mode 2 "Shooting Only" and while even minute camera movement had the image jumping around in the viewfinder, the images on review are nice and crisp. I took some hand held shots all the way down to about 1/20th of a second that didn't look at all bad. I have reasonably steady hands for an old guy. Back in the day I could shoot static objects at 1/2 second no problem if I was careful and used rifle shooting technique on the shutter button.

OP, go into your camera's menu, Wrench 5, IS Mode, and make sure it is on Mode 2. Then retest your lens. I'm hoping this might be your problem as well.

I'll still be doing rigorous testing against the rental that will arrive today, but I've probably wasted the rental fee. I'd be thrilled if that were the case!

Best,
Rand



Jul 05, 2016 at 11:15 AM
Michael H
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.2 #12 · p.2 #12 · I think my Fuji 100-400 is soft!


I missed this thread originally, but I find this quite interesting. I rented a 100-400 a few weeks ago and found it to be incredibly frustrating. My assumption was/is that I had a bad copy. I tried to use good technique, etc but got some really bad results. At the same time, there were some that were good.

Attache is an example. Not perfect conditions but it should have nailed it here. Pretty strong contrast line, etc. The softness was far too common and not expected after seeing so many excellent results. I saw the same thing on this trip, and then locally when I tried to capture a rare Bald Eagle nest near me.

I will be watching to see your testing results.







Jul 05, 2016 at 12:07 PM
roger lund
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.2 #13 · p.2 #13 · I think my Fuji 100-400 is soft!


Something seems very wrong to me with the pictures almost looking out of focus vs soft.

Has anyone turned the mode to M, and turned on focus peaking and made sure they are nailing focus?



Jul 05, 2016 at 03:25 PM
gdanmitchell
Offline
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.2 #14 · p.2 #14 · I think my Fuji 100-400 is soft!


I'm late to the party here, but as I look over your examples there is some inconsistency to what I see. Some of the photograph do, indeed, look soft — but there are others in which some details are very good. Note the subjects hair in one of the people photographs, and in at least one of the bird photographs I see some very sharp detail on branded in front of the primary subject.

In cases like this a first step is to try to eliminate as many variables as possible and then add them back in as you do a series of careful tests. If the lens is bad you certainly want to send it back while it is under warranty. But if the lens works well in some situations you want to determine what variable(s) cause(s) the problem and figure out how to address those.

1. Mount the camera/lens assembly on a solid tripod. Use the electronic shutter mode if your camera has it. (This eliminates vibration from the shutter.) Turn off the image stabilization feature. Point the camera at a subject with some decent detail. Be sure the subject is mostly in a plane parallel to the plane of the sensor. Attach a remote release or use an electronic remote. Use the lowest ISO setting.

2. Allow the camera to autofocus on the subject and make a series of test images using a variety of common apertures. (I just did this with a 50-140, and I shot at f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, and f/16.) Repeat the process at a few focal length settings — perhaps just using those that are marked on the zoom ring.

Evaluate these images for sharpness. If they are good, your problem is not with the lens or with the AF system and they might be the result of your placement of AF points in the earlier photographs. camera or subject motion, or just random stuff...

3. To further refine the results of the previous step, try the test with manual focus. One one of the manual focus aids available on the camera — the ability to magnify (zoom in) the image during manual focus plus an aid like the edge detection system that highlights in-focus edges.

If you did not get a sharp image with AF enabled but you do with manual focus, there is perhaps a problem with the AF in the lens or camera, and you'll want to contact Fujifilm.

4. If you got good sharpness with both of those tests, then you may want to continue to to discover where in your shooting the problem arises. For example, you may want to try some photographs with image stabilization enabled while shooting handheld at various shutter speeds. You may wish to pay more careful attention to the placement of the primary AF point when you photograph.

Good luck.



Jul 05, 2016 at 04:08 PM
Michael H
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.2 #15 · p.2 #15 · I think my Fuji 100-400 is soft!


roger lund wrote:
Something seems very wrong to me with the pictures almost looking out of focus vs soft.

Has anyone turned the mode to M, and turned on focus peaking and made sure they are nailing focus?


Speaking for myself, I no longer have the rental so I can't do any more testing. But I did try every combination I could after discovering the images were soft/out of focus. For this particular shot, the camera confirmed it as focus locked and obtained.




Jul 05, 2016 at 04:14 PM
roger lund
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.2 #16 · p.2 #16 · I think my Fuji 100-400 is soft!


Michael H wrote:
Speaking for myself, I no longer have the rental so I can't do any more testing. But I did try every combination I could after discovering the images were soft/out of focus. For this particular shot, the camera confirmed it as focus locked and obtained.



Interesting. Be almost worth renting one my self, if I had any reason to.. :P



Jul 05, 2016 at 04:28 PM
rattymouse
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.2 #17 · p.2 #17 · I think my Fuji 100-400 is soft!


Perreault wrote:
Hey Rand!

I am the OP.

I sent the lens to Fuji Canada. They tested it and they say it is fine.
I am still getting soft images with this lens. Not really terrible but not close to what I am getting with my Nikon 500 F4 or Nikon 80-400 VR. I am really disappointed.

My plan was go all the way to Fuji gear. It is not happening. I am keeping my Nikon gear for wildlife and using Fuji for travel, street, landscape and portraits.

Please, let me know what you find when you compare with another 100-400.

Yves



Wow....that's too bad. Fuji really left you hanging out to dry. No way your images are remotely good enough for the price that you paid for that lens.

Get your tripod out and start shooting stationary objects with both AF and MF. If you still get the results you have shown us in this thread, I would yell loud and long at Fujifilm.




Jul 05, 2016 at 04:46 PM
Rand47
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: On
p.2 #18 · p.2 #18 · I think my Fuji 100-400 is soft!


Hello, all . . .

First, my thanks to G. Dan Mitchell for contributing to this thread. Dan, I didn't realize you had any Fuji gear!

All... my rental lens arrived today and I shot the two copies side by side. They are pretty much identical. The only variability I see is in hand held shots at 400 mm where it is to be expected, and it is random and surely caused by the me.

On tripod mounted shots they are identical in performance when carefully inspected at 100%.

So, bottom line for me is thee-fold:

1. Using IS Mode 1 is suboptimal for this lens, IMO. At least on my two X-T1 bodies. IS Mode 2 produces much sharper images hand-held, and better AF accuracy (for whatever reason).

2. The AF of this lens needs something "definitive" in terms of contrast in order to get a really solid, accurate focus lock. Especially at 400 mm and focus distances out beyond 30-40'.

3. After being used to my 50-140, which is bitingly sharp, the 100-400 is very good but not in the same league, especially at 400 mm. It lacks the very snappy contrast of the 50-140 as well.

General comments. Using an equivalent 600 mm lens takes the kind of care and forethought reflected in Dan's comments above, and I believe some of my initial issues were exacerbated by less than optimum technique.

Living in Southern CA in the Inland Empire (high desert) using a 600 mm equivalent lens is dicey in warm/hot weather. There's enough perspective compression to see very pronounced atmospheric distortion in the images. Fine if one is a fan of Cezanne, not so much otherwise. (This is an attempt at humor, but nevertheless something to be considered for long lens landscape work.)

I would not be surprised to see Fuji work to improve AF accuracy. I think it sometimes will give a positive "AF lock" when it hasn't really locked on anything precisely, especially hand held in IS Mode 1. I have no idea how there can be a relationship between IS Mode and AF accuracy, but that's my anecdotal experience.

Thanks everyone, for your comments, assistance. Renting a second copy of this lens convinces me that my copy is fine and that a combination of suboptimal camera settings and "less than thoughtful" user technique was the cause of my initial issues with this lens.

Rand




Jul 05, 2016 at 07:16 PM
gdanmitchell
Offline
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.2 #19 · p.2 #19 · I think my Fuji 100-400 is soft!


Hi:

In fact, I use my X-Pro2 (and formerly my XE1) a lot, since a Fujifilm system is my main setup for street and travel photography these days. I haven't used the 100-400, so I'm interested in reading about folks' experiences with it. (It probably isn't a lens I'll get, since I tend to do my long lens photography with my Canon system. On the other hand, I did just pick up the 50-140 for a particular purpose...)

You are right to point out the issues with long lenses and atmospheric conditions. I don't know if that figured into your issues, but a lot of people are not away of just how much "heat waves" and other dust and other kinds of interference will diminish the potential resolution of long lenses.

Thanks for your points about the two IS modes. Since I now have one IS Fujifilm lens, I'm going to play with that.

Dan

Rand47 wrote:
Hello, all . . .

First, my thanks to G. Dan Mitchell for contributing to this thread. Dan, I didn't realize you had any Fuji gear!

All... my rental lens arrived today and I shot the two copies side by side. They are pretty much identical. The only variability I see is in hand held shots at 400 mm where it is to be expected, and it is random and surely caused by the me.

On tripod mounted shots they are identical in performance when carefully inspected at 100%.

So, bottom line for me is thee-fold:

1. Using IS Mode 1 is suboptimal
...Show more



Jul 05, 2016 at 07:41 PM
cvrle59
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.2 #20 · p.2 #20 · I think my Fuji 100-400 is soft!


These two look pretty sharp, at 400mm/F5.6
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ma_muse/28357939401/in/pool-xf100-400mm/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ma_muse/28404117746/in/pool-xf100-400mm/



Jul 22, 2016 at 07:52 PM
1      
2
       3       end




FM Forums | Leica & Alternative Gear | Join Upload & Sell

1      
2
       3       end
    
 

You are not logged in. Login or Register

Username       Or Reset password



This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.