Question
Fujifilm's new camera uses contrast-detect autofocus, and the current Internet hand-wringing is over whether this is a horrible critical flaw or not. As often happens in such discussion, a bit of street wisdom has arisen: it's better to just push the shutter the whole way. For example, this blog comment:
AF speed on the XPro isn’t that slow, the problem is that most people use it as they would an SLR/DSLR for focusing, i.e half press the shutter and wait for AF confirmation then press the shutter all the way, in most cases with the XPro and the X100 you don’t need to do this.
And there's at least one thread on DPReview, but as characteristic for such discussions, there's a lot more smoke than fire.
The X-Pro 1 manual says nothing about this, and in fact says:
S (single AF): Focus locks while the shutter button is pressed halfway. Choose for stationary subjects.
In my experience, if the subject is stationary, the half-press method works as it always does, and if it's moving the full-press method isn't as good as using AF-C (continuous autofocus). I've used plenty of point-and-shoot cameras as well, which of course use contrast-based AF, and the half-press focus lock has always served me well.
But then, a lot of people are saying this is a big deal. Is there any reasonable basis, or is it just wishful thinking?
Answer
No, it is not. There is nothing magical about not waiting at the halfway point.
What you read is silly, as if waiting would make the focus take longer or something. It does not work that way. You can press all the way as fast as you want and you'll get a shot in focus or not. The longer you wait at the half-press (in AF-S) mode or before fully pressing (in AF-C mode), the higher the probability the shot will be focused. Waiting too long might make you miss action but it won't make the camera miss focus.
Note, having an X-Pro1 one in hand and, for all I tried, I cannot see how not waiting at the half-press can improve focus.
Check more discussion of this question.
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