A lot of useful answers here. I thought it would be useful to summarise everything in one place. I have an X-H1 not the T5.
Focus priority (not release).
Body and lens firmware updated.
Boost mode on.
Pre-AF may help but does drain the battery.
AF plus MF off
Shutter speed high enough? At least 1/1000 for fast action.
Don’t use the default mode for AF-C…try the others, and also try the AF-C recipe used by Morris (see DP review x forum and also on the Fred Miranda fuji forum) for his outstanding birds in flight images. Alan Hewitt (has a website in his name) also uses settings similar to Morris and gets great results. Mike Lix (posts on DPreview) also put up some superb images of dog frisbee using a T2. So Fujis can and do focus well even on difficult subjects.
Some older Fuji lenses have slow focus. I have the 55-200 and can take sharp photos of my cocker spaniel (fast, small target) so you should be OK with that.
Have a look at the Fuji x forum over on DP review and think about asking your question there BUT do search through for previous posts as this subject has been done to death, several times. Do post a photo with full EXIF to help others understand your problems.
Some posters on DP review x forum who have been with Fuji for years are suggesting (with evidence) that the 40mp sensor on the T5 (and H2) requires careful technique and settings to get the best results, more so than when using lower resolution sensors.
All cameras brands have problems - a quick search on DP review forums will find people having focus issues with Canon, Nikon and Sony.
Weird that they would downgrade the X-T5’s autofocus performance on purpose compared to the X-H2… If this is not a hardware/firmware bug, which it shouldn’t be, it’s not a good outlook on Fujifilm. Expected this from a company like Canon but not from them as in the past(ignoring porting film sims) they’ve more or less shared performance between cameras with the same hardware, even bringing X-T4’s AF improvements to the X-T3.
I don’t think they have degraded the performance on purpose. Rather, it’s most likely due to the resolution of the sensor requiring more resources for the AF system. It’s simply much more data to process, so if the processor hasn’t been upgraded as well, it may not be fast enough for good performance.
My guess is that they intended this camera for situations where tracking AF can afford to be a bit slow (portraiture etc.).
That’s why I mentioned the X-H2, since supposedly they have the same exact internals, at least when it comes to cpu and sensor, (memory is smaller as evidenced by the smaller buffer).
If you’re using continuous autofocus you may want to look at the AF-C custom settings menu, which allows you to tweak how focus-tracking works and optimise based on your requirements. I’m still learning this stuff on my X-T4 and am assuming it is probably similar on the X-T5.
@martbetz
Hmmmm… This gets trickier and trickier :-)))))
Qute from Fuji (re X-T4):
If ON is selected in focus mode S and focus has been locked (whether by pressing the shutter button halfway or by other means), focus lock can be ended and focus adjusted manually by rotating the focus ring.
Lenses with a focus distance indicator must be set to manual focus mode (MF) before this option can be used. Selecting MF disables the focus distance indicator.
If the lens is equipped with a focus distance indicator, set the focus ring to the center, as the camera may fail to focus if the ring is set to infinity or the minimum focus distance.
To be honest, for the purposes I have in mind, AF+MF is of little to no use to me — if turning it off improves the speed, it would be a welcome bonus. I mainly use manual (zone focusing — for street and documentary photography), but being able to stop down and use autofocus when the light is poor would be really useful.
Others report similar problems (and others don’t). I have to say that this guy didn’t sell himself very well…forgot to lock his dials repeatedly, and apparently so ham fisted he changed settings pulling it out of a bag. I have done the first very occasionally, but never the other. Didn’t mention tweaking AF-C modes (maybe I missed it) so probably didn’t.
Also, if you are using the distance indicator in the viewfinder or rear screen, turn it off. It doesn’t work properly for focal lengths below about 35 mm and only causes more angst and confusion.
Last tip which works for me on my X-H1 for work with a long lens (Xf100-400): set aperture to whatever (say 6.4 to 8), set shutter speed to whatever is needed (I don’t want those to change), set ISO to auto base to 6400. Let the camera set ISO according to prevailing conditions. Don’t be afraid to let ISO get as high as is needed for a sensible shutter speed to freeze motion. You can get rid of noise but not motion blur.
qmpel
Hi Thank you. I am not offended, please do not worry, why should I be? This is a discussion and I am happy with your thoughts and comments.
I actually hesitated about the H2s, but it was too big and heavy for my little hands (i could not grip to the front as i do on the 5) and i preferred the old dial to the PASM.
But the dealer did tell me that the H2s has an even better focus and the burst of shots.
Also the price was higher.
Well we live and learn. You have to try stuff to get things right. Absolutely no regret.
The 5 was an amazing machine and It was I who could not use it.
Maybe you should compare their advertisements on the camera with that of McDonalds. A big mac on the screen panel looking juicy and delicious and what you get is that kind of whatever burger it comes onto your plate. But I guess they would say that they have something similar too: Both never expire as a product.
I miss the old days of photography. Now you just have to get new stuff every 6 months…
What do you mean, exactly, when you say the body lags? Do you mean the image in the EVF? Compared to the optical viewfinder of a DSLR, an electronic viewfinder is always going to be a bit laggy.
Never trust ads to be fully honest. They might not be lying, but they do push the limits of the truth.
That’s largely nonsense. Certainly, newer lenses may have better performance, but that’s due to improved technology, not age (usually). Plenty of photographers using (very) old lenses, but still getting as-new performance out of them.
Other’s have already mentioned it, but I’ll mention it again: Make sure you have updated to the latest firmware. Because if you haven’t, it’s very possible that you’re looking for solutions to problems that have already been fixed.
Hi Terry
Thank you for your message.
Sorry for late reply, but new users have to wait 8hrs before they can reply.
I am a little bit against on line shopping considering the environment (Belgium is so densely populated and all the vans driving around are not doing any good…). Also there is no physical place or person to turn to if you have problems.
So the indoor shoot was not so great. Luckily is not for a client, but for fun.
I left the camera on all AUTO on purpose and wanted to focus on THE FOCUS. But it did a terrible job… Shot at 1/80, 1/125… Took iso 300 to 800…My mistake here.
Check these two shot. The running one is NOT close to sharp even though i PRE focused on the kids before they started the race. So normally it should have tracked them. Even the ones with no big movement are NOT sharp.
true, thnx