CKrueger
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 p.3 #1 · Fuji X-H2S autofocus is pretty good. | |
I received my X-H2S and 150-600 this afternoon. I had about 15 minutes to set it up, and only about 30 minutes to shoot some songbirds, so don't consider this a review... just some thoughts I've had so far. Also, I'm not going to post sample images, because the light was awful, harsh sun.
As background, I'm coming from a Z9 with a 500PF (sometimes with 1.4x) and a Z 100-400 (sometimes with 1.4x). I also shoot a lot of Fuji gear, but my last wildlife experience with Fuji was with an X-T4 with a 100-400.
For the camera....
* The X-H2S is solid. I also shoot a Z9, and the X-H2S feels more solid in the hand than the Z9. The grip in particular feels like a solid piece of metal. We all know Fuji has nice physical design, but this camera is significantly better than my X-T4.
* I knew the dials don't click, but I just want to say "boo". Such a waste.
* The new joystick feels like a Sony, or maybe a Nikon. Not the tiny lever we're used to on Fuji. I think I like the old implementation better because it requires less force to move, so my thumb doesn't slip as much.
* The rear dial is too far to the right. You lose your purchase on the rear of the camera if you really want to crank the dial quickly.
* If you shoot birds in M mode like me, you'll be happy to know you can set an Fn button to toggle the dials between functioning normally (ie: aperture and shutter speed) and affecting EC. So you can use EC with auto ISO to force wide open shooting while still controlling your shutter speed. I prefer the X-T4's layout, but this also works well... almost as nicely as the Z9's dedicated EC button.
* If you're familiar with the X-T4 and X-S10, it shoots like an X-S10 with an X-T4 viewfinder. Personally, I don't like how Custom Settings are handled on PASM Fujis, but that's personal taste.
* The viewfinder was nice. It reacted smoothly at 60fps, 120fps, and 240fps. I could barely tell the difference. Between the viewfinder and shooting a zoom, I had an easy time finding and tracking BIF.
* Autofocus feels like my X-T4 when not using subject detection.
* Subject detection works well most of the time, but it sometimes finds eyes that don't exist, like other Fujis. This was more of a problem for me shooting birds than it is with my other Fujis, because once it decided a tree was a bird, it was very difficult to convince it otherwise without shrinking the AF box.
* It picks up bird eyes from a LONG way away. I mean long. 100ft+? I had birds that were as small as the single AF point in the viewfinder, and it found the bird (big box), and then quickly found the eye (small box). It did this regularly. Very impressive.
* I was able to track a swallow that was hunting bugs. He was fast and chaotic in his movements, but the camera kept him in focus.
* The camera frequently backfocused on a friendly Robin that was posing for me. I would get the grass behind him, and I'd have to pump AF-ON in hopes that the camera would re-detect his face. Sometimes the camera would tell me it was focusing on his eye, but it would back or front focus. Sometimes it would wobble when the bird and camera were stationary and I was popping off frames. I feel I would have been better off shooting single-AF at times.
* If you use electronic shutter and CH drive, you can use "pre-shot" (ala Olympus or Nikon). I did this in lossless compressed RAW at 15fps with a SanDisk Extreme SD, and I immediately found that the camera froze up after a 5 frame (plus pre-frame) burst. I thought the camera had crashed, but after 2-3 seconds it came back to life. I suspect this is a bug? I didn't test with JPEG, which I presume would be easier for the camera, and I didn't let it have my Z9's CFE card, which I'm sure would have also helped. More testing is required.
For the lens....
* It's lighter than you'd think, and its balance doesn't shift as you zoom.
* It's quite a bit longer than my 500 PF, which makes it a pain to pack.
* Using the lens' strap lugs with my PD strap, the camera didn't hang well at the hip. I had to cinch the strap to keep it from bouncing off my leg. (I might just mount the lugs to an AS plate on the foot, instead, like I do with all my long lenses.)
* The focus and zoom rings have the same texture, so they're hard to tell apart. I biffed a few shots grabbing the wrong ring.
* Image quality seems fine. I got sharp images at 70ft and some decent closeups. I'd compare it to my Z 100-400+1.4x. It might be a bit better (I need more time with it). Again, light was AWFUL today, so I can't be too specific.
* It's silent in use.
* Autofocus was uneventful. It just works, like you'd expect from a high-end lens.
* I tried to abuse it and get some CA, but even a torture test couldn't coax any real color fringing out of it.
Overall:
I need to go out and shoot it again. I do NOT like how PASM Fujis handle Custom Settings, because I enjoy shooting "recipes", and PASM cameras basically kill that idea. I also don't feel so far that it's better than the X-T4 for general-purpose use.
I hate to say it, because it seems like forums in general are filled with people waiting to dance on any grave they can find, but I was disappointed in its first wildlife outing, if I'm honest. It's unfair to compare to a Z9 that costs 2x more, but with my Z9, I'm confident that anything I can see, I can capture, and I'm so confident in its AF capabilities, that I can cull images from thumbnails without worry of missed AF. The X-H2S didn't do that for me today. A typical sequence of 10 images would give me 1-2 great shots, and a number of blurry shots.
Again, I need to shoot it more. I'm sure I have a large learning curve to climb. But I know Fuji well, and I'm a pretty quick learner on this stuff, and I felt like the failures I saw so far weren't me messing up.
We'll see in the next week or so.
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Nothing wrong with it IMHO just saying. Photog matters but gear can also help, sometimes quite a bit. In old days, it probably took years of practice but now with latest tech, one can get a jump start. Good or bad, I don't know. I will still prefer old ways of learning slowly with different tools but if one can afford new gear and if it helps you, so be it.