International Rugby Test for X-T2 AF Performance

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As a sports photographer the Fujifilm X-T2 continues to impress especially in the auto focus department.  Yesterday I got the opportunity to test the camera at the Scotland v Australia Autumn Test at the home of Scottish Rugby Union at Murrayfield in Edinburgh.

 I had tested the X-Pro2 at the Scotland v France Six Nations game in March but this was the first chance I have had to test the X-T2 at a top international game, so the pressure was on to come up with the goods.  I needn't of worried, the X-T2 performed brilliantly in the tricky floodlit stadium conditions.

 I set the camera's AF to Set 2 (Ignore Obstacles and Continue to Track Subject) so the camera wouldn't start tracking any players or other obstacle that came between my position behind the touch line in front of the South Stand and the ball.  

 I fitted the X-T2 with the XF100-400mm f4.5/5.6 as this gave me the pulling power that I needed but the f5.6 max aperture meant I needed to push the ISO to 3200 and upwards to maintain a shutter speed of at least 1/800s.  Towards the end of the game I was at 6400ISO and I am pleased to show that the new X-Trans III sensor handles the noise very well, though I did apply some noise reduction in Lightroom in post production.

 The first test was a sequence shot and I got the first opportunity when Huw Jones, the Scottish Centre, scored a try right under the posts after breaking through the Australia defence.  

 Shooting at 11 frames per second I captured the following sequence of 25 shots -


























Huw Jones then scored a second try later in the first half right in front of my position.  Here is a shorter sequence -





Scotland's no4 Richie Gray also provided an early test for the X-T2's AF capabilities, breaking through the Australia defence before being tackled.










Another test of the AF performance was the ability for the camera to ignore objects in the frame and remain locked onto the original subject.  Here is one example when Australia's Scrum Half Will Genia throws the ball back and the camera ignores the ball as it flies across the frame (even blocking his face in one frame) and the AF remains locked onto Genia - 





Here are a few more examples of the X-T2's AF system ignore obstacles -



All in all the X-T2s AF system is excellent for sports photography and coped extremely well in the challenging conditions allowing me to capture several decisive moments in the game and come away from Murrayfield with a set of images that I am extremely pleased with.

 I will post more images from the Scotland v Australia game on this blog very soon.

 All the images used in this feature were shot on the Fujifilm X-T2 and the XF100-400mm f4.5/5.6
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ALL IMAGES (UNLESS INDICATED) ARE THE PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION

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Jeff Carter is an Official Fujifilm X Photographer and was named as a Fujifilm brand ambassador in June 2015. In 2016 he worked with the company on the launches of the Fujifilm X-Pro2 in Tokyo and the Fujifilm X-T2 in Paris in July 2016.  You can view his profile and gallery on the Fujifilm website HERE

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