The Dolomites with the X-T5

So I was hiking on the gorgeous Dolomites the other day.

If you want to know where exactly (and how it looks like) check out these two videos:

• The Impressive Rise of the X-T5
• Why we Need a New Lens Roadmap

I was with my Fujifilm X-T5 and the XF18-135mm because I wanted to take landscape images, but also images of the marmots who just came out from their hibernation (as you can also see in this video).

The X-S20 Would Have Done Better (than X-T5)

So I set my X-T5 to animal tracking because of the marmots.

But then I notice an alpine chough on a rock nearby ready to jump into flight.

I wanted to track the “take-off”, but first I had to press an FN button, then scroll down to bird detection, press to confirm, go back in live view and then… the bird had already taken off.

My first thought?

“If only I’d have had the smartness of the (more affordable) Fujifilm X-S20, I would not have missed this shot“

Why?

Because the Fujifilm X-S20 recognizes and tracks all sorts of subjects automatically, without any need to press a single button and go into the menu and tell the camera what it has to track.

That’s a level of smartness my X-T5, but not even the X-H2 or X-H2S has.

I can hear some say: “but it’s just a few presses on the buttons to change subject“. And that’s true. In most cases, you will have enough time to change the settings. But in my case, it all happened quickly, faster than I could react.

It Works So Great, but with One Big Missed Opportunity

If you couldn’t care less about this feature, that’s great.

We are all different, and you are probably just seeing and reacting to things faster than I do.

But the point is that Fujifilm has this technology available. It’s there on the X-S20 and it works very well according to those who tested it such as Gordon from Cameralabs, who says:

Auto Subject Detection does a great job to automatically recognize subjects. You don’t need to manually select the type of subject anymore.

Although there is a limitation, which would be completely avoidable if Fujifilm would provide a firmware update for it. In fact, Gordon rightfully remarks*:
*the full review of Gordon can be found down below

Sadly Auto subject detect does not work, unless you are in the full AUTO mode, which is a missed opportunity. Workaround: switch quickly to AUTO if you want the camera to track automatically (but then you’ll also get Auto Dynamic Range, which can work well but sometimes give a too HDR like look.

This is a limitation that Fujifilm could fix with a quick firmware update by not linking auto detection to the full Auto mode.

Also, I do hope that Fujifilm will bring this feature (not the full AUTO feature, but the automatic subject tracking feature) also to the more expensive 5th generation Fujifilm X-T5, X-H2 and X-H2s.

And here on FujiRumors we have already suggested how Fujifilm could implement this feature on current 5th generation Fujifilm cameras.

• How Fujifilm Could Give Us X-S20 Tracking Smartness on X-T5, X-H2 and X-H2S

Your Vote

But hey, maybe it’s only Gordon and me who find this feature nice to have.

Let’s see what you think about it, so feel free to vote the survey down below.

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The 5th Generation Fujifilm Gear

• Fujifilm X-S20: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama / Moment
• Fujifilm X-T5: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama / Moment
• Fujifilm X-H2: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama / Moment
• Fujifilm X-H2s: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama / Moment

My Personal Gear

• Full list of X gear I currently own
• Full list of GFX gear I currently own
• List of some accessories I own for my Fujifilm gear
• All my Apple Gear
• All my Instax Gear