Fuji Should I sell my X-T1?

So did you focus and recompose? If so, did you shift your plane of focus in doing so..."

Thanks Lightmancer, I appreciate your help.

In all honesty though, I have no idea what you mean by "recompose" Do you mean... did I change the object that I wanted to focus the camera on? What I did was 1) I fouced on the kid. 2) Made sure the camera got the focus. 3) I pressed the shutter.

All I know is that with this camera, I've never been able to take shots as shar as, say, the ones posted here https://www.fujixspot.com/threads/5049/

Those faces look amazingly sharp to my eye.
 
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Another pic where the kids' faces are horribly unsharp...
DSCF3755.JPG
DSCF3756.JPG
 
Okay, unless you remember, and you tell us, what you are focussing on, specifically, it is almost impossible to help you. By "focus and recompose" I mean are you putting the point of focus on the child's face then half-pressing the shutter then composing your shot and fully pressing the shutter. or are you relying upon facial recognition, or simply upon depth of focus? In other words how are you focussing?
 
Thanks

It's set on 0.

When you say that you'd have exposed the second one about 1/3 of a stop brighter, would you do it by adjusting the shutter speed or the aperture?

Where can I upload pics so that you guys could see them in full size?

1. So perhaps you should try setting Sharpness to +1, or possibly even +2 and see what you think of the resulting files. Might be more to your taste.
2. To go up 1/3 EV, it would depend on how I was shooting. If I'm in full Manual (in that I've dictated a shutter speed, AND an ISO, AND an aperture) then I usually tweak ISO but it doesn't matter much. More commonly, I'm only dictating one thing (Aperture or Shutter), so the EV Comp knob still works, and that's fastest. I just click it up one click and fire away.
3. Flickr?
 
If focus is the main problem, have your lens checked by a pro for de-centering. It's a possibility.

Otherwise: You cannot escape processing after pushing the shutter botton; you can only choose whether to have the camera do it for you or to do it yourself. If you stay with sooc jpegs, then you really need to spend time learning how to use the in-camera setting to your advantage, as many have said. For me the problem with that is that different situations demand different settings. Are you shooting a high contrast subject or low, etc. I'd rather fiddle with a raw file later than fiddle with camera settings constantly (other than white balance, film speed, aperture and shutter speed), but to each his own.

The digital file -- jpeg or raw -- is like a negative. Someone has to apply their skill and vision to turn it into a photograph. It's just information waiting to be manipulated. Something has to be done with it, and the most comprehensive choices you have for turning it into a picture is with out of camera software. You might want to reconsider your aversion to it. Because we get a positive image out of camera, we are tempted to thing of digital images more like slides than film, but their normal need for further work makes them more like a negative -- even the jpegs, I think.

I don't mean to play father knows best -- a show I always hated. As others have said, going full frame is going to give you worse focus issues. For any given field of view you will need a longer lens with less depth of field. One of the joys of my 2/3" sensor X20 is that I can snap away and count on the depth of field to save me, which I cannot do with my X-Pro. They both have their place in my closet full of kit. Don't write off a high grade point and shoot; some of them can give astonishingly good results (depending on your eye, of course, which seems OK to me) and they are more forgiving of careless technique. Some days you just don't want to fuss.
 
I've been shooting SOOC JPEGs, and this summer I really pushed myself - all my shots of the 2015 Newport Jazz Festival are all JPEG-Fine. I have presets for all seven of my slots, but I really only use 2-3 and they're pretty darn good if I may say so myself. My Post-Process time compared to my Nikon DSLRs just got cut by 75 percent. To optimize, I do a bit of Tonal Contrast fixing but if push came to shove, the SOOC is more than acceptable.

This same shot on a Nikon Dxxx would have taken me about 15 minutes from a RAW (NEF) file. For XF, all I had to do was import into LR, apply my one step of Tonal Contrast and away I go. It's seriously that good. And the best part with these mirrorless systems is that there's no front/back focus. It's either the AF system directly on chip is broken or the lens is faulty. No more sending in camera and lens specific combos to the manufacturer hoping to get it back in optimal shape.

NJF-2015-168-Edit.jpg
 
My process is similar. Fine jpgs out of camera into Polarr (web-based editor), and usually one click of some presets I've saved, plus maybe some radial or graduated filters, all in all just about 2 minutes tops, often more like 30 seconds.
 
Dear Users,

I'm not a very active member (nor a very active photographer) but I wanted to seek your opinion on a matter that has been bothering me for a while. I've owned only two real cameras in my life. Olympus E-PL1 and Fuji X-T1. I definitely have a lot to learn when it comes to photography, but... I've been thinking... should I sell my X-T1? I've never taken a single picture I'd be happy with with this camera. I love its design, I love the way it feels, the way it looks, I love the knobs... but for some reason all of the pictures I've taken with X-T1 are either not sharp enough or lack the colors I see in other people's pics... I was thinking of selling my X-T1 and going after a full-frame Sony A7 II.

I'd be happy to upload some of those pics and wait for your criticism, but it really drives me crazy that I haven't taken even one good picture with my X-T1, despite the fact that I've had it for a year.

Cheers
My experience both as a photographer and instructor of over 35 years, is that if one is unhappy with the results they get from a premium camera, they are either incompetent or refuse to read even the basics in the camera manual. A costlier camera will only create a bigger problem; you will be poorer. Concerning the XT-1, just set everything to A and just shoot. At least you will get a good start. Good luck.
 
Howdy,
I've been away for quite a while... Sorry about that and thank you for each and every post. I'd like to upload a few pictues to show you what I'm talking about. Unfortunately, these are not the pictures I originally intended to upload but here we go anyway.

1) The person's face doesn't seem to be as sharp as I'd like it to be. He wasn't moving.

Camera make :
FUJIFILM
Camera model :
X-T1
Date/Time :
2015/04/24 11:04:39
Resolution :
3264 x 4896
Flash used :
No
Focal length :
55.0mm (35mm equivalent 83mm)
CCD width :
23.40mm
Exposure time :
0.0020 s (1/500)
Aperture :
f/4.0
ISO equiv. :
200
Whitebalance :
Auto
Metering Mode :
pattern
Exposure :
Manual
Exposure Mode :
Manual

View attachment 6046

2) Same here. His face doesn't look as sharp as I'd expect.

Camera make :
FUJIFILM
Camera model :
X-T1
Date/Time :
2015/04/24 11:06:59
Resolution :
4896 x 3264
Flash used :
No
Focal length :
39.0mm (35mm equivalent 59mm)
CCD width :
23.40mm
Exposure time :
0.0016 s (1/640)
Aperture :
f/4.0
ISO equiv. :
200
Whitebalance :
Auto
Metering Mode :
pattern
Exposure :
Manual
Exposure Mode :
Manual

View attachment 6047

Some of the pictures are intedned to upload seem to have this odd kind of "fogginess" about them. I don't know how to explain it or describe it... Imagine looking at something through a piece of very thin glass that doesn't seem to be perfectly crystal clear.

I don't know. Maybe I'm just imagining things.

I never use general metering modes. I use spot focus on the focal point and half hold shutter and recompose, if necessary (yes, everyone, I know there are more 'modern' ways but I find that easiest) and use the new (from latest upgrade) continuous follow mode for birds and other moving objects. I really recommend you set the metering/focussing point to centre spot and try a few with that setting.
BTW, I have been taking photos for 55+ years, I do have a vague idea what I'm rabbiting on about :)
 
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