Fuji Fuji X-E2 Face Detection Missing Focus on Eyes?

kineda

New Member
Testing out the Fuji's new FD feature on the X-E2 with both the 23mm and 35mm at f1.4... does anyone else notice that it's missing focus on the eyes, instead often times focusing on the nose, cheek, etc. instead?

Would love to hear your experiences using this feature.
 
I think your expectations are a bit high! You are expecting the camera to:

a) identify a face -- yep, fair enough that's what face recognition is for

b) identify specific features, of which most faces have two

c) work out which one you want to focus on

d) shrink the focus spot to small enough to only cover the area of one eye

e) centre the focus spot on that eye -- which might very well not lie on one of the manually selectable spots.

All of that with wafer-thin DOF due to the selected aperture.

Sounds a bit demanding to me.
 
I think your expectations are a bit high! You are expecting the camera to:

a) identify a face -- yep, fair enough that's what face recognition is for

b) identify specific features, of which most faces have two

c) work out which one you want to focus on

d) shrink the focus spot to small enough to only cover the area of one eye

e) centre the focus spot on that eye -- which might very well not lie on one of the manually selectable spots.

All of that with wafer-thin DOF due to the selected aperture.

Sounds a bit demanding to me.

I used to own a EM5 which had the ability to not only select the face but also the eyes. I assumed that Fuji would've also implemented this feature as part of their FD algorithm.
 
Yeah... it's a tough problem to solve no doubt, but... other camera maufacturers are already doing it. My Sony RX1, Pansonic GH3, and my Nikons all do face detection now (though I don't use it on the Nikons currently).

I'm not surprised to hear that Fuji may be having some trouble with their first implementation of it but 1) progress takes time and experience and 2) Fuji has been awesome about updating and improving features in firmware. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see this get better over time with the X-E2 :)
 
I used to own a EM5 which had the ability to not only select the face but also the eyes. I assumed that Fuji would've also implemented this feature as part of their FD algorithm.

I had an E-M5 as well -- the feature worked but it was far from totally reliable.

First off, it would select the wrong eye sometimes and focus on the one furthest away which was not always helpful.

The little bit I've used Fuji's feature on the X-M1 it worked okay but I never rely on that for a portrait or anything. I'd rather fix the focus point. Face detection is a "hope it works because I won't have time to focus" feature and I don't consider it to be the most important thing nor do I expect perfection from it. It has worked pretty well to grab photos of my grandkids when I need to quickly get a shot of their face.
 
I haven't encountered many problems with FD in the X-A1, X-M1 and X-E2. I am of course used to it from the X10, X20, X-S1, XF1 and XQ1, as well. Not to mention several FinePix cameras that offer it, like my old HS20.

A few shots miss, but the vast majority turns out perfectly okay. Fuji's current FD also detects profiles. I find it pretty usable.

Shot earlier today wit super-intelligent flash and FD at ISO 6400:

11244372194_8866d9e401_c.jpg

DSCF3217 – SOOC JPEG / ISO 6400 by ricopress, on Flickr
 
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