Very informative video. I hope that Fujifilm will watch this video to get your settings and improve the autofocus. I hope that your knee heals up quickly.
Hi Robert. I've just discovered your channel, and really like your reasoned approach to your cameras and photography. Fuji gets a lot of stick for it's Autofocus, but I think what this video demonstrates is that you need to spend a good amount of time with a new camera to experiment and fine tune settings, and also that even for one type of animal, you might need different settings for different scenarios. Great video!
Thanks Martin! Yes I totally agree - I see quite a lot of talk about the Fujifilm AF system, and overall I never really had any trouble with it for wildlife. It's a little more awkward than some of the other systems, as you do need a few different configurations for different scenarios, but it still performs well enough for my uses. I think a lot of the stick comes from the slower-sensor Fuji cameras as it does perform notably better on the X-H2S than on the non-stacked sensors, but this is consistent with other brands too.
@@robert_may Yes, that's a good point. I had an X-T3 and upgraded to an X-H2S for the stabilisation and autofocus mainly. The speed bump really makes a difference and in my experience the AF does what I want it to do most of the time. When it doesn't, I'm pretty sure that it's my skills that need to be addressed more than the camera's shortcomings. Keep up the good work!
Very well explained and helpful, as was your previous video on the XH-2S. Have spent the better part of 2 weeks researching a lightweight but reliable bird photography kit with good image quality. Having issues with arthritis etc I can no longer walk around with Z7II & 200-500mm sadly over 3kg. My old Xt2 & 70-300 + 1.4 work quite well though the tc loses bit of light, was looking at OM1 as a better alternative but weight still bit heavy. You have been very helpful, hope the knee improves soon. Cheers from Australia
There's thankfully a lot of good options for lighter weight gear now. The M43 long lenses are pretty compact and lightweight, particularly the primes - the Olympus 300mm f/4 is roughly equivalent to a DSLR 70-200 f/4. Also has the benefit that it fits in a smaller bag than a bigger setup, which could be additional weight savings. Sony could even be an option with the new Sigma 500mm f/5.6 too (something like the A7IV would be under 2KG with that lens). Primes are less flexible than zooms but would give you a good weight saving. Nikon has the 400mm f/4.5 which comes in just over 1KG too. Weirdly the lightest setup I've tried is probably a Canon R7 with the 100-400 f/5.6-8. Not super sure about the R7's AF, and might be a bit short with a full-frame body like the R6II I guess 🤔 The Panasonic G9II with the 100-400mm f4-6.3 II would come in around 1.6KG - that would be one I'd certainly consider myself. I hope you're able to find something that works for you!
X-H2S' recent firmware version 3.0 really improved things dramatically for me! Nothing's perfect but so far, the camera now detects birds from very far away now. It is not consistent when the camera would identify a bird in the distance, yet when it did not, zone AF still nailed focus. If you start taking photos before the camera has focused on the subject yet, it should still focus and it does not. It does not happen every time, but something to try to avoid. It loses focus when there's little contrast or color difference between the bird and the background. The farther away, the worse it is. For what it is, how much it costs and how beautiful the photos are, I'm perfectly satisfied with it. I still want to get my hands on the OM-1 though, just to get a sense of the differences. I haven't owned a m43 for over a decade.
Counter-intuitively I've found that turning off release-priority in C-AF actually benefits this camera. Usually I'd say you'd want release-priority on for fast-moving subjects, but like you say, it just kinda never bothers focusing then. Forcing it to try and acquire focus seems to improve it quite a bit, although it does still sometimes focus on something else anyway 😅 And yeah distance is a big part of the performance of the AF. I think they're swapping to eye-AF too soon, when the bird is too small for it to perform well. But once the bird fills a bit more of the frame it gets notably better. Totally agree on the cost and photo quality - with the big names like Canon and Sony kinda ignoring the 2k-ish market for sports cameras, the OM-1 and X-H2S feel like the modern equivalents of the 7D MkII, where they offer 90% of the performance of the top-end cameras at like 1/3rd of the price 😀
@@robert_may I've been wanting to play around with more settings so yes, agree that turning off release-priority in C-AF is a good idea. Thanks for that! I might have to rent the OM-1. I am coming from a hand injury during 2020 and curious to see how a lighter weight option could enhance my shooting. Love your channel thus far. I'm new here!
Thanks @@juliettemansour! 😄 Yeah the OM-1 and M43 system just can't be beaten when it comes to weight - the OM-1 + 300mm f/4 is lighter than full-frame cameras with a 70-200mm, but has a 600mm equivalent reach. If you have relatively decent light where you are, it'd definitely be worth checking out. My only real complaints around it are tied to the very low light levels I'm often shooting in, as otherwise it's a very solid camera with about the same number of quirks as any other system.
@@robert_may - I just stepped outside and tried to take a few shots of the squirrels in my yard, turning off release priority and you were right! I actually had better acquisition. I will try with small birds too at a distance and see if it also improves. Thank you!
Very interesting video. I have been fiddling with my OM-1 settings and am now going to try Mathieu’s advice. I’m not ready to give up, as there is a lot too like still for me and i have all the gear collected i wanted. Maybe not the 150-400/f4.5. But for the price of that lens, you have to be very sure about your choice. I drove through Cardiff the other day. Cardiff, New South Wales.
The 150-400 f/4.5 is a really cool lens - if it was a bit cheaper I might have been sorely tempted to upgrade to that as it's such a good focal range. I bet Cardiff New South Wales is much less damp than Cardiff South Wales at this time of year! 😁
Hello Robert. I have the OM-1 with the 100-400. I'm testing the XH2S next month. How do you find the stabilization of the Fuji compared to the OM-1. Is the Fuji Autofocus for Wildlife better then then the OM-1? Greetings from Munich/Germany
I'd say the stabilisation is roughly equivalent. They behave slightly differently but the end result out of both is very good! Autofocus is a bit more complex - if you mostly photograph birds in flight then I'd say the OM-1 is slightly better, and for birds in bushes and trees the XH2S is better. For other subjects, like mammals, I'd say they're pretty equal. The biggest difference between them is configuration - the XH2S has far more options for tweaking the AF. I hope that helps! I'll be interested to see what you end up choosing 😀
I tested both systems for a longer period of time and was not satisfied with either system. I bought a Canon R6Mark II and am super satisfied for my needs.
Hello! You said focus was single point, but then you said focus was "all". I can only choose one in my X-T5. Single point or "all". Is this something different with XH2 software?
It's been a while since I had the X-H2S so I'm not too sure, but I think it's the difference between single point and zone AF. It can be set to single point but with all the AF points, and it'll focus on a single point but selected from the whole sensor automatically. With zone it works more in groups, as far as I know 🤔
Hi Robert you said Face detection off, so should bird subject detection also be off for birds in flight? Thanks and hope your knee has fully recovered!
I’m not sure what the case in the latest firmware is, but yes I had the bird detection off at this point. That’s mostly for birds flying towards the camera - I think bird detection still works well for birds flying across the frame, or birds at greater distance 😀
I've watched videos saying that xh2s' object tracking sucks. What does your experience say about this? Did the software updates work? I'm thinking of buying the camera. but this is bothering me
I can only speak to how it works for birds, but in general I don’t think it’s any worse than the OM or Panasonic cameras. For perched birds it’s actually quite a bit better than the OM-1 as it doesn’t get distracted by twigs as easily. For birds in flight I didn’t tend to use it as much, as I find the zone area AF faster for those sorts of shots. Currently I’d say it’s slightly behind Nikon in terms of performance (which is itself slightly behind Canon & Sony), but it’s certainly usable in most situations. Works well for people and in video too.
Thanks David! It depends on what you're expecting, I suppose, and the camera attached to it. f/8 really isn't very bright, but so far I'm finding the X-H2S itself very good at maintaining detail and colours when underexposed at ISO 12800, so for me it's working well. It's f/7.1 to 538mm, and f/6.4 to 315mm, which makes it very comparable to something like the Canon RF 100-500mm in full frame terms (some details about the apertures/focal lengths here: mirrorlesscomparison.com/x-mount-lenses/fuji-100-400-vs-150-600/#fov), but with the added bonus of not needing a teleconverter to get all the way up to a FF equivalent of 900mm 😀
Thanks Robert. Great video! It seems that both the OM-1 and the XH2s have some quirks to birds photography. For better autofocus performance, the only options might be high-end FF canon and sony or even the Nikon z9. However, those FF telephoto lenses are definitely too heavy. Sounds like there has to be some trade-offs between weight and AF performance up to now.
@@shantiontour Yeah. That's what I am talking about. Canon r6II is an excellent camera with the 100-500 lens. It's just that it is too heavy for many (including me). So I am probably not considering it (also the 100-500 lens is so expensive). Currently the most reasonable upgrade for me would be the OM1.
Weight is definitely important! The OM-1 is very hard to beat there, it's so much more compact. For Fuji there are a couple of lenses that are smaller than the one I have that might be worth trying - the 100-400 (which I have used and it's very good) and the Tamron 100-500. The 150-600 isn't very heavy but it's quite big! 😅 On the OM-1 I had the 300mm f/4 and that was a very good size and weight. If you can get to a store or rent a demo camera then it's definitely worth trying both cameras to see how they feel.
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Very informative video. I hope that Fujifilm will watch this video to get your settings and improve the autofocus.
I hope that your knee heals up quickly.
I will watch this with great interest later.
Hi Robert. I've just discovered your channel, and really like your reasoned approach to your cameras and photography. Fuji gets a lot of stick for it's Autofocus, but I think what this video demonstrates is that you need to spend a good amount of time with a new camera to experiment and fine tune settings, and also that even for one type of animal, you might need different settings for different scenarios. Great video!
Thanks Martin! Yes I totally agree - I see quite a lot of talk about the Fujifilm AF system, and overall I never really had any trouble with it for wildlife. It's a little more awkward than some of the other systems, as you do need a few different configurations for different scenarios, but it still performs well enough for my uses. I think a lot of the stick comes from the slower-sensor Fuji cameras as it does perform notably better on the X-H2S than on the non-stacked sensors, but this is consistent with other brands too.
@@robert_may Yes, that's a good point. I had an X-T3 and upgraded to an X-H2S for the stabilisation and autofocus mainly. The speed bump really makes a difference and in my experience the AF does what I want it to do most of the time. When it doesn't, I'm pretty sure that it's my skills that need to be addressed more than the camera's shortcomings.
Keep up the good work!
Nice video, thanks Rob.. Nice to meet you at Forest Farm too..
It was great meeting you too David! 😀
Very well explained and helpful, as was your previous video on the XH-2S. Have spent the better part of 2 weeks researching a lightweight but reliable bird photography kit with good image quality. Having issues with arthritis etc I can no longer walk around with Z7II & 200-500mm sadly over 3kg. My old Xt2 & 70-300 + 1.4 work quite well though the tc loses bit of light, was looking at OM1 as a better alternative but weight still bit heavy. You have been very helpful, hope the knee improves soon. Cheers from Australia
There's thankfully a lot of good options for lighter weight gear now. The M43 long lenses are pretty compact and lightweight, particularly the primes - the Olympus 300mm f/4 is roughly equivalent to a DSLR 70-200 f/4. Also has the benefit that it fits in a smaller bag than a bigger setup, which could be additional weight savings. Sony could even be an option with the new Sigma 500mm f/5.6 too (something like the A7IV would be under 2KG with that lens). Primes are less flexible than zooms but would give you a good weight saving. Nikon has the 400mm f/4.5 which comes in just over 1KG too.
Weirdly the lightest setup I've tried is probably a Canon R7 with the 100-400 f/5.6-8. Not super sure about the R7's AF, and might be a bit short with a full-frame body like the R6II I guess 🤔
The Panasonic G9II with the 100-400mm f4-6.3 II would come in around 1.6KG - that would be one I'd certainly consider myself.
I hope you're able to find something that works for you!
X-H2S' recent firmware version 3.0 really improved things dramatically for me! Nothing's perfect but so far, the camera now detects birds from very far away now. It is not consistent when the camera would identify a bird in the distance, yet when it did not, zone AF still nailed focus.
If you start taking photos before the camera has focused on the subject yet, it should still focus and it does not. It does not happen every time, but something to try to avoid.
It loses focus when there's little contrast or color difference between the bird and the background. The farther away, the worse it is.
For what it is, how much it costs and how beautiful the photos are, I'm perfectly satisfied with it. I still want to get my hands on the OM-1 though, just to get a sense of the differences. I haven't owned a m43 for over a decade.
Counter-intuitively I've found that turning off release-priority in C-AF actually benefits this camera. Usually I'd say you'd want release-priority on for fast-moving subjects, but like you say, it just kinda never bothers focusing then. Forcing it to try and acquire focus seems to improve it quite a bit, although it does still sometimes focus on something else anyway 😅
And yeah distance is a big part of the performance of the AF. I think they're swapping to eye-AF too soon, when the bird is too small for it to perform well. But once the bird fills a bit more of the frame it gets notably better.
Totally agree on the cost and photo quality - with the big names like Canon and Sony kinda ignoring the 2k-ish market for sports cameras, the OM-1 and X-H2S feel like the modern equivalents of the 7D MkII, where they offer 90% of the performance of the top-end cameras at like 1/3rd of the price 😀
@@robert_may I've been wanting to play around with more settings so yes, agree that turning off release-priority in C-AF is a good idea. Thanks for that! I might have to rent the OM-1. I am coming from a hand injury during 2020 and curious to see how a lighter weight option could enhance my shooting. Love your channel thus far. I'm new here!
Thanks @@juliettemansour! 😄 Yeah the OM-1 and M43 system just can't be beaten when it comes to weight - the OM-1 + 300mm f/4 is lighter than full-frame cameras with a 70-200mm, but has a 600mm equivalent reach. If you have relatively decent light where you are, it'd definitely be worth checking out. My only real complaints around it are tied to the very low light levels I'm often shooting in, as otherwise it's a very solid camera with about the same number of quirks as any other system.
@@robert_may Thanks for that. I plan to rent sometime this year. :)
@@robert_may - I just stepped outside and tried to take a few shots of the squirrels in my yard, turning off release priority and you were right! I actually had better acquisition. I will try with small birds too at a distance and see if it also improves. Thank you!
Very interesting video. I have been fiddling with my OM-1 settings and am now going to try Mathieu’s advice. I’m not ready to give up, as there is a lot too like still for me and i have all the gear collected i wanted. Maybe not the 150-400/f4.5. But for the price of that lens, you have to be very sure about your choice.
I drove through Cardiff the other day. Cardiff, New South Wales.
The 150-400 f/4.5 is a really cool lens - if it was a bit cheaper I might have been sorely tempted to upgrade to that as it's such a good focal range.
I bet Cardiff New South Wales is much less damp than Cardiff South Wales at this time of year! 😁
Hello Robert. I have the OM-1 with the 100-400. I'm testing the XH2S next month. How do you find the stabilization of the Fuji compared to the OM-1. Is the Fuji Autofocus for Wildlife better then then the OM-1? Greetings from Munich/Germany
I am considering these two cameras as well. Really tough choice. I have a G9 with 100-400 lens and am looking for an upgrade.
I'd say the stabilisation is roughly equivalent. They behave slightly differently but the end result out of both is very good! Autofocus is a bit more complex - if you mostly photograph birds in flight then I'd say the OM-1 is slightly better, and for birds in bushes and trees the XH2S is better. For other subjects, like mammals, I'd say they're pretty equal. The biggest difference between them is configuration - the XH2S has far more options for tweaking the AF. I hope that helps! I'll be interested to see what you end up choosing 😀
@shantiontour did you tried both cameras? Results?
I tested both systems for a longer period of time and was not satisfied with either system. I bought a Canon R6Mark II and am super satisfied for my needs.
@@shantiontour Nice, R6 m2 look very good. The question is, what lens for birding?
Hello! You said focus was single point, but then you said focus was "all". I can only choose one in my X-T5. Single point or "all". Is this something different with XH2 software?
It's been a while since I had the X-H2S so I'm not too sure, but I think it's the difference between single point and zone AF. It can be set to single point but with all the AF points, and it'll focus on a single point but selected from the whole sensor automatically. With zone it works more in groups, as far as I know 🤔
@@robert_may ahh yes I understand what you mean now, thanks! No more X-H2s? What is your main camera now?
Hi Robert you said Face detection off, so should bird subject detection also be off for birds in flight? Thanks and hope your knee has fully recovered!
I’m not sure what the case in the latest firmware is, but yes I had the bird detection off at this point. That’s mostly for birds flying towards the camera - I think bird detection still works well for birds flying across the frame, or birds at greater distance 😀
@@robert_may Thanks Robert I'll try your settings with the latest firmware on my XT-5 soon 🙂
I've watched videos saying that xh2s' object tracking sucks. What does your experience say about this? Did the software updates work? I'm thinking of buying the camera. but this is bothering me
I can only speak to how it works for birds, but in general I don’t think it’s any worse than the OM or Panasonic cameras. For perched birds it’s actually quite a bit better than the OM-1 as it doesn’t get distracted by twigs as easily. For birds in flight I didn’t tend to use it as much, as I find the zone area AF faster for those sorts of shots.
Currently I’d say it’s slightly behind Nikon in terms of performance (which is itself slightly behind Canon & Sony), but it’s certainly usable in most situations. Works well for people and in video too.
Hello Robert, very interesting video on the AF, how is the 150-600mm in low light situations?
Thanks David! It depends on what you're expecting, I suppose, and the camera attached to it. f/8 really isn't very bright, but so far I'm finding the X-H2S itself very good at maintaining detail and colours when underexposed at ISO 12800, so for me it's working well. It's f/7.1 to 538mm, and f/6.4 to 315mm, which makes it very comparable to something like the Canon RF 100-500mm in full frame terms (some details about the apertures/focal lengths here: mirrorlesscomparison.com/x-mount-lenses/fuji-100-400-vs-150-600/#fov), but with the added bonus of not needing a teleconverter to get all the way up to a FF equivalent of 900mm 😀
@@robert_may Thanks. Sorry, yeah I was talking about early morning at sunrise and first hour after. Thank again
Thanks Robert. Great video! It seems that both the OM-1 and the XH2s have some quirks to birds photography. For better autofocus performance, the only options might be high-end FF canon and sony or even the Nikon z9. However, those FF telephoto lenses are definitely too heavy. Sounds like there has to be some trade-offs between weight and AF performance up to now.
I tested the Canon R6II with the 100-500. Autofocus good but not perfect and too heavy for me.
@@shantiontour Yeah. That's what I am talking about. Canon r6II is an excellent camera with the 100-500 lens. It's just that it is too heavy for many (including me). So I am probably not considering it (also the 100-500 lens is so expensive). Currently the most reasonable upgrade for me would be the OM1.
Weight is definitely important! The OM-1 is very hard to beat there, it's so much more compact. For Fuji there are a couple of lenses that are smaller than the one I have that might be worth trying - the 100-400 (which I have used and it's very good) and the Tamron 100-500. The 150-600 isn't very heavy but it's quite big! 😅 On the OM-1 I had the 300mm f/4 and that was a very good size and weight. If you can get to a store or rent a demo camera then it's definitely worth trying both cameras to see how they feel.
@@robert_may Sure! That's very helpful.