By the end of this video, you will have a better understanding of Fujifilm’s focus
modes, and best practices to get the most out of your Fuji camera and capture images
more effectively and efficiently, let’s get it.
So the three focus modes I’ll be going over are: Manual, Single and Continuous.
On the x100v you can find the focus mode selector on the left side of the camera just underneath
the strap eyelet.
So why have three focus modes?
This is because each mode has its own usefulness and perform best under its intended usage
scenarios.
This is not to say you can’t stick to just one and shoot any scenario, it is fully possible
to do that.
It just won’t be AS effective and you will more than likely miss FOCU S if you select
the wrong mode for the task at hand.
We will begin with Manual focus mode, then move to Single and finally Continuous.
I did it in this order because there will be extra settings you will need to know as
we change modes so bear that in mind.
If you get stuck at any time you can always backtrack with timestamps in the description
box below.
Manual Focus mode is exactly what you think it is.
You have complete control over focusing the lens, just rotate the dial clockwise to focus
further away and anticlockwise to focus closer.
You can reverse the focus ring rotation by going to the button dial setting and selecting
“FOCUS RING”.
Now let’s look at some extra settings we can adjust while in Manual Focus mode.
To access these settings, go to the AF/MF icon.
We will work down the list for relevant settings.
First is focus area.
It will bring you back into Liveview and using the rear control dial, you can adjust the
size of the focus box and with the joystick move the focus box around.
You can also access the focus area quickly from live view simply by pressing down on
the joystick.
Even though the camera is in manual focus, the focus box still plays an important role;
when you press down on the rear control dial, you will zoom in on the focus box position
of the scene, this will allow you to make finer adjustments to your focus.
“Number of focus points” will dictate how many points will appear when you access
focus area.
You can select either 117 points or 425 points.
This comes down to preference and what you are shooting.
The more points you have on the liveview, the harder it is to navigate quickly through
the points, especially if you have touch functions turned off.
If you have touch functions set to shot, AF, or area then you will be able to control the
focus box by pressing down on the joystick and use your fingers to move the box around.
Now we come to the most important setting for Manual mode, MF assist.
Standard will not provide you with any extra guides through the electronic viewfinder or
live view.
You will have to trust in your eyes to ensure whether or not something is in focus.
Next is digital split image, and you will have two to choose from: monochrome or color.
This will create a large square box made up of 4 horizontal bars in the center of your
screen.
When out of focus, there will be a slight offset of the subject in frame when looking
at the 4 bars.
As you adjust focus, the image will slowly become less offset (or split) until the lines
all match up between all 4 bars.
Next is Digital microprism, which may not be available for older model fuji cameras,
and this works the same way as split image focusing but instead of 4 horizontal bars,
you have a circle with many small squares.
It works essentially the same way.
Finally we have focus peak highlight, which is by far the most effective, and thus most
popular, way of focusing on fuji cameras.
Select a color of choice and the intensity.
When focusing, anything that is in focus will have a coloured outline around it.
Next in the settings is Focus Check.
When focus check is on, whenever you begin to turn the focus ring of the camera, the
viewfinder or live view will automatically zoom in to the position of the focus box.
Half pressing the shutter button will return you to the original scene.
Next we have Instant AF setting, you have two options: AF-C, which is continuous autofocus
and AF-S, which is single point autofocus.
Wait, why are we talking about autofocus in Manual mode?
Sometimes when you are manually focusing, it takes a long time to focus from near to
far or vice versa.
Without having to switch focusing modes, you can still access single point or continuous
autofocus in manual mode simply by utilizing back button focusing.
The button with AEL and AFL written next to it, when pressed, will engage single point
or continuous autofocus.
If continuous autofocus (AF-C) is selected, by holding down the AEL/AFL button, it will
continuously adjust focus on whatever is within the focus box.
When the button is released, you will be returned to manual mode where you can proceed to fine
tune the focus.
And finally, there is Depth Of Field Scale.
If you take a look in the EVF or live view there is a distance scale at the bottom of
the screen.
There is a white marker with two blue lines to either side.
Depending on what aperture you set and what focus distance you are focusing at.
The blue lines on either side will get longer or shorter.
The white marker is the exact distance of your focus point and the blue lines on either
side mark the effective distance in front and behind the focus point that are also in
focus.
Now when the DOF scale is in pixel basis, it is calculating the exact distances where
things are in focus, everything out of the blue lines is technically out of focus.
When in Film Format basis, the blue lines become a bit wider compared to pixel; This
is because the human eye is not perfect at identifying exact focus, there is an extra
bit of distance where things may seem to appear in focus, and that is what film format basis
takes into consideration.
Fujifilm recommends using pixel basis when displaying your photos digitally and film
format basis when producing large prints, but I think the film format basis works well
if you want to practice zone focusing, which I may make a seperate video on.
Alright, now let’s move onto the next mode, Single Shot.
Some of the settings I talked about in manual mode also apply in single shot mode, so I
won’t cover them again.
Single shot will allow you to lock focus on a subject by pressing down and holding the
shutter button halfway.
Fully depressing the shutter button will take a photo, releasing the shutter button when
pressed halfway will unlock focus so you can refocus on another point.
So now you will be able to select from 4 Autofocus modes: Single point, Zone, Wide Tracking and
ALL.
Single point will create just one focus box that you can adjust the size of and position
in the frame.
The camera will focus on whatever subject is within the focus box.
Obviously the smaller the focus box and the more focus points you set, the more accurate
the focus will be at the expense of focusing speed.
Zone autofocus will create a larger focus box, and the camera will attempt to use it’s
best judgement to focus on whatever is within that box.
There are three sizes to choose from and when you press the shutter down halfway, you will
notice multiple smaller green boxes appear within.
That will indicate what points the camera has focused on.
The larger your zone autofocus area the faster the camera will achieve focus, but the less
predictable it will be at what it focuses on.
Next is wide tracking, you cannot change the size of the focus area because the entire
scene becomes the focus area.
The camera will choose what it thinks is the most exciting subject matter in the scene,
this is the fastest focus mode but at the same time the most unreliable.
Finally the “ALL” option will combine all the autofocus modes and will seamlessly
transition between each depending how small or large the focus box becomes.
With ALL selected if we push down the rear joystick and scrub through the focus box size
with the rear control dial, notice how as I make the focus box bigger, at a certain
point it will go from single point to zone, and then from zone to wide tracking and then
back to single point.
AF point display applies to Zone AF and Wide tracking mode, it will basically just show
you all the selectable focus points within the box as greyish squares and points of focus
will light up as green.
Next we have Face/Eye detection.
This will allow the camera to detect and focus on human faces and eyes and you have the option
to select which eye to prioritise focus on.
This setting will override the autofocus modes if there are detectable human subjects in
frame.
Also when eye detect is activated and the camera cannot detect an eye, it will focus
on the face instead.
Lastly, AF+MF, when switched on will allow you to toggle between using manual focus while
in single point focus mode.
Basically when you half press and hold the shutter, the camera will first autofocus , then
you are able to rotate the focus ring and manually make fine adjustments to the focus,
if you let go of the shutter button you will not be able to re-engage manual focus until
you half press and hold again.
If single point autofocus and focus check is enabled, when you use the focus ring to
manual focus it will zoom in to the focus box area for a more accurate focusing experience.
Just keep in mind you won’t be able to reposition the focus box and you won’t be able to zoom
out of focus check unless you let go or fully depress the shutter button.
Now we get to Continuous mode.
Continuous mode will allow the camera to dynamically adjust focus as you move the camera around
or as a subject is moving around in a scene, as long as you half press the shutter button.
The autofocus modes work similarly to single point focus mode, but the only difference
is it will constantly reevaluate and reacquire focus on whatever subject is within the focus
box as long as the shutter is half pressed.
Next in settings we have AF-C custom settings, this is a powerful setting that will enhance
the way your fujifilm camera tracks subject matter in continuous autofocus.
I won’t go over this setting in this video as I think it deserves a separate video of
its own.
But if you take the time to read the descriptions for each one I think they are pretty self
explanatory.
This works really well in zone autofocus and wide tracking modes.
The only other setting that applies in continuous mode is eye/face detect, but when the shutter
is half pressed and held and the camera has detected an eye or face, it will continue
to reevaluate and reacquire focus dynamically.
Now for some extra setting explanations.
First up is store af by orientation.
What this does is it will allow you to have one type of autofocus mode in landscape orientation
and single point autofocus in portrait orientation.
So you could have zone or wide tracking autofocus whilst in landscape and single point autofocus
in portrait.
You can only increase the number of focus points to 425 when in single point AF mode.
Pre-AF will perpetually engage autofocus regardless whether or not you have the shutter button
half pressed.
It will automatically start as soon as you switch the camera on.
This feature will place a lot of strain on the battery and the lens focus motor will
be constantly working, so you will hear the sound of the lens barrel shifting.
I would recommend this feature be OFF for most use cases.
AF illuminator will activate the assist lamp light at the front of the camera next to the
flash when in dimly lit environments to allow the camera to acquire focus faster and more
accurately.
The drawback is that it isn’t discreet.
Next is release focus priority.
Setting it to RELEASE will allow you to take a photo instantly in Single or Continuous
mode without focusing by fully depressing the shutter button without doing a half press.
Changing it to FOCUS and the camera will not take a photo unless it acquires focus first,
and nothing will happen if you fully depress the shutter button without a half press.
Corrected AF frame is strictly to do with the optical viewfinder in AF mode.
I believe it is used as an aid to resolve parallax issues between the optical viewfinder
and the camera lens.
I have not yet tried out using the optical viewfinder so I cannot really comment on this
feature.
Now I want to quickly touch up on the optical viewfinder when it comes to manual focusing.
Switch to optical viewfinder mode by shifting the viewfinder selector dial to the right.
When in optical viewfinder mode, shift the viewfinder selector dial to the left and a
small overlay window will appear at the bottom right corner of the viewfinder.
Now you can use the joystick to move the focus box around and the little window will display
the zoomed in portion of the box.
Now you can focus accurately whilst maintaining a good overview of the entire frame.
If you do not have the small window activated, when you are shooting in Single focus mode
and you have AF/MF and/or Focus Check turned on, and you half press the shutter and proceed
to turn the focus ring, the optical viewfinder will automatically switch over to the electronic
viewfinder and will not return to the optical viewfinder until you let go of the shutter
button or after you take the photo.
So now you know how to access the different modes and what each setting does.
Let’s quickly talk about when you would use each focus mode and why.
Manual mode is fantastic if you want the most control over focus, with the help of focusing
aids it becomes very intuitive and when paired with back button focusing, it allows you to
quickly acquire precise focus.
A great example of when to use manual mode would be shooting through glass panels or
objects.
Depending on where the light is bouncing off the glass and where you are standing, the
camera can be tricked.
That’s where manual mode shines.
Basically it's a great mode for shooting static scenes.
Single shot mode is great for shooting environments where things are not completely static.
It is also the easiest mode to use for beginners, because you simply half press to autofocus,
and full press to take the picture.
With the option of different AF settings and the ability to turn on face and eye detect,
this is a safe option to have your camera set to at all times.
It can do everything fairly well, and is a lot friendlier for beginners who are just
starting out.
Continuous mode is the undisputed goto mode for fast paced action photography.
In single point AF, continuous mode is good for tracking subjects moving directly towards
you or away from you in a linear path.
In zone AF, continuous mode will maintain focus on whatever is within the focus box,
even when you move your camera.
In wide tracking AF, the camera will continuously focus on any moving subject in the frame.
So that about wraps things up.
Learning all 3 focus modes will make you more confident in taking photos in any situation.
Find what works best for you and remember, practice makes perfect.
Thanks guys and until next time.