Fuji A Change in Platforms Maybe

Location
Central Florida
Name
Tim Williams
This has been burning at me for ever since I committed to Fuji. The lack of focus tracking. I know the XT2 and XH1 are supposed to be better but I don't see Class leading or Best in Class in any of these reviews. Not sure which way I will go if any but very much thinking about it.
 
This has been burning at me for ever since I committed to Fuji. The lack of focus tracking. I know the XT2 and XH1 are supposed to be better but I don't see Class leading or Best in Class in any of these reviews. Not sure which way I will go if any but very much thinking about it.

What do you have in mind?
 
You always have to use the tool which works best for you. But in my work, I've found the auto focus in the X-T2 to be phenomenal.
Although I do not use AF Tracking hardly at all, I've found it to work superbly on my X-E3 as well. Maybe someday my landscape scenery will speed up to where AF Tracking might be necessary :D.
 
Not sure yet which way I would go.I would love the XT2 or the 4/3system to be the answer( light ), but under bad lights, I don't think the 4/3 will hold up. The Sony A7 iii , or A9 looks like the game changers at the moment. This is the year and 2019 i will form my final kit. I am going to rent an XT2 , 50-140 kit before making any decision. I almost bought a 50-140 last week.
Wants not needs sometimes gets in the way. I have 3 grandsons now all involved in sports and want a set maybe a limited one to cover this.

If landscapes were all I shot the XT1 will do just fine, I have no beef with its IQ. Football is fast moving, erratic and usually under less than good lighting. They are all running backs , Tracking them is difficult Especially when players are coming through a pack. This is not a job for " kinda good ". Fast focus and focus tracking are two very different things.
Before all my injuries caught up with me all I shot was sports. One daughter played softball, the other was in dance all her life and was a flyer in cheer. In order to get " The shot " you need focus lock and tracking.

.Just thinking out loud again which is usually never a good idea. I still have my Nikon gear, just don't want to lug it around anymore. The D300 ,80-200 2.8 will track but it has gotten long in the tooth and it's abilities are getting rusty.

Just like bikes, Trek man Bob Bontrager wrote about parts. Light, strong, cheap. Pick any two. There's hardly ever a perfect solution.
 
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If you are just wanting to throw money at it to get the best guarantee you can on the gear doing the work, and doing it successfully. Get a Nikon D5 and Nikon 300mm 2.8.

The X-T2 is going to have a better AF system than the D300. The X-T1 should have a better AF system than a D300. As well the Sony and M4/3 bodies will have better AF systems. The issue is that you know the D300 and have not had enough practice time with the mirrorless systems.
 
There are so many factors to consider when changing gear. I loved my Canon 5Diii and had a nice selection of lenses, but the overall weight whilst trekking about made me think about alternatives. I already had a Panasonic GX8 and that is great for holiday stuff, travelling ultra light, but wanted something a bit more "full system" - so chose the X-T2 and haven't looked back. There are a couple of things I'd like to have to broaden the spectrum a bit ( T/S lens and perhaps 16mm f1.4) but by and large, the reduction in weight and ease of use makes me think I've done the right thing. I recently looked at the Sony A7riii, which a friend of mine has just purchased. He told me that he is delighted with it but now has almost the same weight as the Canon gear he sold a while ago. I think you have to filter out the most and least important things to you and then you pay your money and take your chance.
Making a choice based upon the importance of the result you need is a great starting point.
 
If you are just wanting to throw money at it to get the best guarantee you can on the gear doing the work, and doing it successfully. Get a Nikon D5 and Nikon 300mm 2.8.
There will be no D5 and 300 2.8. Money and weight have already ruled that out. I do not want to throw money at anything trusting it to do the job for me. This is not about buying a camera kit and hoping it works. Not logical thinking at all. whatever happens, this will be the last kit I own. May be Fuji, would be great if it is. We'll see.
 
FWIW, my Olympus E-M5 II is no better than my X-E3 as far as AF Tracking goes. I Love the E-M5 II but the Fuji just blows it away on near everything. If you are thinking Mu-43, you'd have to get the very top of the line gear to get reasonably decent
AF-T for what you are going to do with it. Good Luck!
 
Thanks Andy, that's the kind of info I'm looking for. Bobby is right also, I don't have enough experience with mirrorless and I do know the Nikon platform pretty well. I disagree that the XT1 will track with the D300 but I'm open to anything. I have now what I call a landscape / portrait /street kit. 16,35 90, 18-55. Only one missing link. As I said, Thinking out loud is rarely a good thing and focus tracking is an important part of a finished kit.
 
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You could probably pick up a used D500 at a decent price to pair with your 70-200 for your football kit. And keep your current Fuji kit for everything else.

I bring up practice/familiarity with gear because I remember shooting sports when I was in high school with a 70-210 on a Canon AE1. Not that I could still do that now. I bet Kyle could get good football shots with the 50-230 on his X-T1 because he knows the combination so well.
 
Andy I asked the same question on the 4/3 forum and it was confirmed the 5 will not get the job done. I would have to go to top of the line to get close. I'm not going to Sony because I won't save weight so I'll go to the XT2 probably and learn some tricks. Technique goes a long way in Sports, or anything for that matter. The XH1 is an option but again it's a big camera. I'll deal with it. thanks for the input. I'm going to shoot some film.
 
I'm not sure about the X-T2, but I'd have to see some reviews showing anything but the very latest beating the D300 AF-C/tracking. I guess it's possible, but I'd need to see it. That was the first of the 51 point AF systems along with the D3. They improved the low light ability from -1 ev to -3 ev and tracking ability before they released the D5/D500 with it's new system, but it's still a pretty darn good system. The problem is once you start moving to the larger mirrorless bodies and Pro glass you loose a lot of the size benefit you gain with mirrorless. That isn't a problem for many, but can be for many. And since you mentioned "injuries" I can only assume it is for you.

@Tim Williams, have you considered video stills? Or the options with Olympus Pro Capture? I use Panasonic's 4k stills at baseball games and I've seen some reviews of the Pro Capture features that look pretty good. In the attached images look at the E-M1 mkII wit the 50-200 f/2.8-4.0. The combo weighs less than the Fuji 100-400 alone. Is it the ultimate AF? Probably not. But 100-400 angle of view with f/2.8-4.0 in a nice small package and it's compatible with the Panasonic 1.4 TC.

There are always compromises. The E-M1 mkII and PL 50-200 is one I'm considering, I just wish the lens was a little cheaper or included the TC.
 

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24x36 is amazing from a cropped D300 image. I have a 20-30 print from a D7200 24 mp( which was great ) but I thought I was on the edge of enough. I have thousands of D300 images of my youngest in dance that are cropped. Going to pull a few of these out and print them, not that big but bigger than they are now.
 
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