Fuji X-E2 AF Settings

There is a learning curve with every new camera I get. Changing to another brand increases the learning curve a great deal.

Auto Focus with the Fuji X-E2 has been a challenge for me due to learning how the camera works the best. This was true with I learned all the settings for my Nikon D4. When shooting sports, I used different AF settings than for regular photojournalistic shooting, which I usually do with the storytelling style I use.

This is what I am finding to work best for the photojournalism shooting style.

First, go to the shooting menu and the [camera 4] part of the menu. The top 4 menu items in that submenu all deal with AF.

For the AF MODE I am finding I like to use the Multi-Mode

In the AF Multi-Mode, when the shutter button is pressed halfway, the camera detects high-contrast subjects and selects the focus area automatically.

It is generally pretty quick and usually picks the closest object with high contrast to the camera.

For the most part, I am leaving the Face Detection off. I might choose to have this setting on if I am shooting portraits or a group photo. Intelligent Face Detection sets focus and exposure for human faces anywhere in the frame, preventing the camera from focusing on the background in group portraits. Choose Face Detection for shots that emphasize portrait subjects.

If PRE-AF ON is selected, the camera will continue to adjust focus even when the shutter-release button is not pressed halfway.  Note that this increases the drain on the battery. Generally, this is off for me.

You must return to the first menu item AF Mode and pick AREA to use the focus points. Once this is selected and you are not in Face Detection mode, you can move this green box around on the grid points.

You will need to push the AF button to activate the screen you see above.  Then you can toggle around the screen using the four buttons around the Menu OK Button to navigate.

When you select a point, you can increase the size of the green box to take into account more area to determine the contrast to pop the camera in focus.

Here you can see I increased the size of the box for focusing.

All these functions work with AF as long as you choose C [continuous] or S [single] on the front of the camera.

The one thing Fuji needs to do in a firmware upgrade allows you to override and grab the focus ring and adjust the focus. This is where Nikon and Canon are superior, for now.

In the M [manual focus] setting, you can adjust everything manually. I will not go into those setting right now.

AF Setting Tip

Once you have everything set the way you like it in the menu, then go and save the setting in Custom settings.  That can be found in the three menus>Edit Save Custom Setting.

I am using a few of these custom settings. My hope is Fuji will do a firmware upgrade allowing the user to change the naming of those settings rather than being stuck with “Custom 1” when I might like to call it “Portrait” or “Sports,” for example.

Sound Tidbit

Beeping noise is the default setting for the camera. So when the camera locks in the focus, you hear a beep. Please don’t make the mistake I made by choosing to turn the sound off.

Do not use the Silent Mode to turn the sound off the beeping. When you do, the flash will no longer work. This includes the internal and if you use any external flash.

You can turn the sound off by going to the Sound Set-Up screen.

The next thing you choose in the menu is Operation Vol.

I put my setting to OFF. Now the beep I no longer hear, but the flash still works. Hey, I missed a bunch of photos because I had the camera in Silent Mode and never could figure out why my moment stopped working. I thought I had broken the camera. I had to wait and read the manual to find the reason why.