Photography News | Issue 37 | absolutephoto.com
Camera test 45
Performance: exposure latitude
Original image
For the scene here the metered corrected exposure was 1/500sec at f/7.1 at ISO 200 and a +/-4EV bracket was made in metered manual mode. In Lightroom the bracketed imageswerecorrectedbytheamount each was under or overexposed by, and the files were exported and examined. The shot underexposed by -4EV recovered very well in processing with good tonal rendition in the shadows and highlights. Where
the corrected image has suffered is with increased noise and a negative impact on fine detail. There is less noise in the -3EV shot and the -2EV shot is not too far off the correctly exposure image. With overexposure, the +3EV and +4EV shots are not acceptable with the highlights looking verypoor. The +3EV looks okay in the shadows but it is the highlights that let the image down. The +1EV and +2EV shots look fine when corrected in software and are perfectly acceptable.
Original image
-4EV
-3EV
-2EV
-1EV
0EV
Images Shooting a +/-4 EV bracket in Raw and then correcting the files in software shows howmuch exposure abuse the files can take. On the X-T2, -3EV and +2EV will give you very good results.
Performance: autofocus
The X-T2’s phase detection systemhas 91 AF points with the option of 325 covering a large part of the image area. Various AF zone configurations are available so you can pick single spot, wide/tracking and zone. In zone there is the option of either nine, 25 or 49 sensors active. In single spot and zone the active area can be moved around to suit using the focus lever. In single spot the size of the active area can be varied too. You get the quickest AF with the sensors in the central area. Face detection AF is a feature commonly found on modern cameras and it is available here too. The X-T2 goes a step further and there’s eye detection AF which you can set to pick up on the left or right eye or the eye closest to the camera. It is in the area of continuous AF where the X-T2 stands out from previous X-series models. Five focusing presets vary the three parameters of tracking sensitivity, speed tracking sensitivity and zone area switching to suit different scenarios. There is a
sixth option where you can register your own preferred variations of these three parameters. This sequence of shots of an East Coast Main Line train going through a station doing around 70-80mph was taken on an X-T2 with a XF55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 lens attached at the 200mm end. The camera was set to its continuous high so you get 8fps with the mechanical shutter – you get 14fps with the electronic shutter. A total of 18 shots were taken. Continuous AFwas selected along with zone focus mode. AF-C custom setting 6 was used with tracking sensitivity and speed tracking sensitivity both set to the maximum possible. The camera tracked this subject very well and even the last frame in the sequence is sharp. Looking closely at the shots, there are several earlier frames that could have been sharper, but the ones shown are later in sequence and the camera seemed to have locked on to the subject and held focus well.
+1EV
+2EV
+3EV
+4EV
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