Fujifilm's Improved Autofocus Tested: "I Fell in Love with the X-H2S again and Will Not Sell it Anymore" - Fuji Rumors (2024)

Fujifilm’s Autofocus Firmware

Fujifilm just released the new firmware for the Fujifilm X-H2, X-H2S and GFX100II. You can read all details here (it did bring also completely new features).

So how does it work?

I will share a few videos on FujiRumors.

First impressions: definitely improved. I’d say enough to end months of sh*tstorm, although we know Fujifilm is the most hated brand, so there will always be those, who’ll attack it no matter what.

Also, people who cirtizied Fujifilm (and whose critics I shared on FR), now say it’s way better and one guy even had the X-H2S listed for sale to buy Sony, but now removed his sale offer and will keep the X-H2S as he says he fell in love with the X-H2S again.

Video 1

The video below shot on GFX100II with latest firmware in low light video AF tracking.

The guy walks around in a huge room, turns around, moves freely and the film guy follows him handhelding the GFX100II. Very low light often.

• the guy filming says: “It’s not missing. It’s literally on you the whole time. It’s dark and it has not missed“

Video 2

You can see the video below. In short:

• it looks like solid tracking
• when turning the head around, it looks like it automatically switches to tracking the head
• no crazy jumping when moving in and out of the frame. Out of frame: it focuses I guess on whatever the focus box is placed. Back in frame: re-acquires focus fast
• smooth tracking when running towards the camera
• zig-zag running: tracking no problem
• hiding face: quickly tracks the hands in front of face. Remove hands, quick focus on face
• turn around and walk away: camera keeps tracking the person
• his conclusions “it seems like it is working pretty well”

Comments from the youtube video

• It seems to be sooo much better, thank you for review mate!
• This looks to be tracking and in focus.
• seems fuji did their homework extensively
• Very impressive

Video 3

Another video in which the photographer says he is happy with the result and for him it’s a win.

Video 4

“If you were considering to leave Fujifilm because of its autofocus, you might now change your mind […]. [this new firmware] s not the fastest out there, but it is very intelligent. It works. Now finally I can say that I have a camera that I like. I will remove my marketplace announcement to sell the X-H2s. I fell in love with this camera once again. This autofocus system looks very good to me.

VIDEO 5

Below is another video.

Condition: Sigma 10-18 and Fujinon XF18mmF1.4 with ND filter on.

• eye AF sticks to eye even when face is partially covered
• when face is covered by a product, if the camera does not recognize the product, it stays locked on the last known focus point (the face), which is very nice, as this eliminates crazy pulsing and hunting in search for the subject. It’s as if the camera would only start focusing, if it knows what it has to lock-on
• when he switched product to face with eye detection, the transition is smooth. If he uses single point AF instead, I feel the transition is less smooth with a bit more pulsing
• sometimes the reviewers thinks he could be below the mimium focus distance that’s why it did no lock focus
• moving face back and forth in front of camera seems to work very well without hunting, pulsing or lost focus
• when he uses the Fujinon, he perceives the AF to be better
• the reviewer says doing the “back and forth thing” seems to be a lot better compared to previous firmware
• He says that the “product thing” is a problem even on Canon when eye detection is enabled
• detecting the product is not consistent: it can focus very fast but also not at all
• I noticed that most products he holds up are poor of contrast or quite reflective. Except for the Nitecore Blower Baby, which the Fujifilm detects always very good.
• most of the video he has set a slow cinematic focus pull. Only around 16:20 he changes to fast focus pulls
• the fast jump “is accurate” the reviewer says

Positives:

• the camera won’t lose focus on a face if you cover it with something. So the camera won’t hunt around. Just stick with last know focus point, which is great, as also the reviewer says
• I did count the number of focus pull (product to face), and out of 60+ times he did that, there were 2 times the camera struggled to re-acquire focus on the face (it did, but it needed too long).
• moving back and forth from camera seems to work very well
• definitely less pulsing and hunting than in the past

Negatives:

• the camera has no product showcase mode. So you have to cover your face for the camera to track a product. And you don’t get consistent results. It can track quickly or just not track the product. The only product that was always tracked nicely was the Nitecore Blower Baby, which had more contrast than the blown out Airpod box or uniform and contrast-poor power bank etc.

From the comments on the YouTube video, the feedback is mostly positive, with the usual ones who will always sh*tstorm no matter what, but I share it here.

• This is honestly looking good!
• Good start. Probably not the best but a good start in the right direction.
• Fuji nothing has really changed.
• seems it tracks better the eye now
• The AF is miles better than before and super sticky to the eye and I don’t see a lot of pulsing at all.
• It’s inconsistent. That’s what it is.

Conclusion

• Next step Fujifilm: give us “product mode” also on higher end models