I Gave My Fujifilm X-H2S Its First Good Bird Photography Workout; My Thoughts About About How It Performed

Great Egret flying in from behind the trees to my left.  All images made with a Fujifilm X-H2S
and Fujifilm 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lens. Having these bright white birds with a very dark,
shadowy woodland background made correct exposure critical.  Otherwise it was very easy to lose
Feather detail.  (click to enlarge)

Last week I spent three days on Virginia’s Eastern Shore photographing birds as well as any other interesting things I discovered enroute.  It was my annual trip with photographer friends to the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge as well as an opportunity to wander the back roads of the peninsula and explore the small fishing villages.  This is about the 15th year I’ve made this trip and, in the past, have used gear from Nikon, Olympus as well as Fujifilm.  This year, I wanted to especially try out the bird subject detection capabilities of my newest camera, the Fujifilm X-H2S.

First, please understand that this is not a review of the X-H2S.  I am not a good bird photographer or consider myself even a competent one as I practice this genre of photography only a few times a year.  Capturing birds-in-flight is one of the hardest types of photography I’ve ever tried.  Second, this will be the first time I’ve really put the camera’s subject detect capabilities to a significant test and much of my photography was aimed at trying different settings, etc., to better understand the camera’s capabilities.  In other words, much of my photography on this trip was experimental.

Second, I want to make a coupe of comments about what we saw and and didn’t see in this wildlife refuge.  Again, this year, we have seen fewer migrating birds than previous years.  Each year there seems to be fewer birds and fewer species of bids present as compared to when we first started making these trips.  Two years ago a ranger told me that they feel the migration patterns have changed and the birds are flying inland and not stopping in Chincoteague as they have in the past.  The trend is clearly fewer and fewer birds each year.  I find it sad.  In January, a couple of photographer friends and I will travel to eastern North Carolina to a few of the wildlife refuges located there to assess if more birds are present.  We’ve heard that thousands of snow geese, tundra swans and other migrating birds remain there over the winter.  Hopefully.  Now, onto the assessment of how the X-H2S performed.

In general, the X-H2S was a joy and pleasure to use.  I had fun with it.  I had less frustration than in past years with other cameras.  I think the X-H2S performed better for both sitting birds as well as birds-in-flight than any camera I’ve previously used.  This includes the Nikon D850, the Olympus E-M1 Mark III and the Fujifilm X-T3 and X-T4.  While I didn’t calculate my hit rate, my general sense is that the ‘bird detect’ feature very quickly found the bird, bird’s head or bird’s eye and mostly locked on to it.  I say mostly because it was erratic at times also.  It performed well but it also could have been better.  I’ll explain why I say that.

This Great Blue Heron was standing there looking intently at the water waiting for its prey.  It was
oblivious to me standing about 30 ft. away.  When it struck the fish, I made several images of the scene.
It finally flipped the fish before swallowing it (below). (click to enlarge)

Flipping the fish for easy swallowing! (click to enlarge)

Overall, I am pleased with how the camera performed.   My initial assessment is, from reading and watching pro photographers using other brands of cameras for bird photography that the X-H2S is not as competent at bird photography as the Sony A1, Nikon Z9, Canon R3 or R5 and possibly the OM Systems OM-1.  But I’m okay with that as this camera is significantly less costly than those cameras which can cost as much $6500, $5500, $3800, etc.  I didn’t include the Canon R6 in that list as I haven’t seen any reviews of photographers using that camera to photograph birds.  I don’t feel I can comment on its abilities.  I think “you get what you pay for” is appropriate when comparing the X-H2S against the aforementioned cameras.  If I were a photographer who spent all my efforts on photographing birds, I would most likely buy one of those cameras.  But I don’t and the capabilities of this camera suit me well for how much of this type of photography I do.

Here are a few of the notes I made about my use of the X-H2S over the three day period in no particular order or importance.

I was very pleased with the overall quality of the images produced by this camera.  My selected files were sharp, highly detailed with accurate colors and a nice tonality.  There is no doubt I could easily make very large prints from my files.  If I were to be absolutely honest, I think 26mp is sufficient for everything I would ever do with my images.  I don’t think I need 40mp or 46mp, but I admit, there is some undefined satisfaction in having more pixels.

Most of the time I had my camera’s ‘C1’ top dial setting which I programmed for Shutter Priority, Bird Subject Detect, RAW file, Auto ISO (max 6400), Auto WB, Pro Neg S film simulation, 15fps, 1/1600th second, -0.3 exposure compensation, electronic shutter, back button AF, AF-C and focus priority (to minimize out of focus images).  Also, in-body-image-stabilization (IBIS) was set to ‘continuous.’  The “C2” setting on the top dial was programmed the same but I added the “Pre-Shot” feature to capture ‘peak of action.’  Also, at times, if a greater depth of field was needed, I quickly switched over to Aperture Priority and made the appropriate adjustments.  What is nice is that after making changes, I just had to turn the dial back to “C1” and my primary settings were restored instantly!  Nice.  I did not try the full screen “Tracking AF” mode, but stuck to single point AF and the smallest Zone AF.  In the three days, I made over 1500 exposures so I did achieve some good experience with the camera.

Correct exposure and brighter light seem more critical to fast and accurate autofocus than other cameras I've used.  When underexposed or with lower light, the camera has a more difficult time locking on autofocus.  Lower light equals fewer in-focus images.  I started 'exposing to the right' (ETTR) to expose my images as bright as possible and the hit rate rose accordingly.  The problem then becomes the risk of losing detail in the highlights especially the feathers of white birds.  I felt I had to be very exact to balance AF competence and not lose highlight detail.

Also, my sense is that my copy of the camera seems to have more noise than my X-T4 or X-T3.  Other X-H2S users have said the noise is less or about the same as the X-T4.  That hasn’t been my experience so far.  I'm going to have to run some tests to really determine if more noise is or is not the case.  Some of the excess noise could be my fault as when I was shooting Auto ISO was already high and I underexposed some of the files (initially trying to maintain white feather detail) which then caused me to raise the exposure slider in Lightroom Classic, which in effect, boosts the ISO even more resulting in more noise.  I'll test it soon.  The jury is still out on this point.

Belted Kingfishers are notoriously skiddish.  It is difficult to get near enough to one to photograph it.
I knew this dead branch was this kingfisher’s perch from previous years.  I took a position in my
vehicle and sat at the ready with my camera for about 20 minutes before it finally felt comfortable
enough to return.  Patience pays off. (click to enlarge)

The dynamic range was about the same as with my X-T4.  I was shooting RAW and had the film simulation set for Pro Neg S, which is relatively moderate contrast and with normal color saturation.  However, in Lightroom Classic, the images with bright white birds and dark foliage background looked overly contrasty as LR assigns the film simulation from the camera to the RAW files when viewing in the Develop mode.  I found that when I switched to the Eterna film simulation in LR, that reduced the apparent contrast which worked out much better for for seeing detail in bright white birds with delicate feather detail in sunlight.  In the future, I think I will assign the Eterna film simulation to my files in-camera so I have a better idea what is the best exposure.  All that said, even with white feathers in sunlight against a background of dark foliage in shade, the dynamic range of the camera held all of the detail.  In all instances I was able to bring out shadows and tone down highlights adequately with the sliders in LR Classic.

If you can, edit your files in any editing software but Lightroom Classic.  Many of my images looked marginal when I made my first pass at them in Lightroom, but when I batched processed about 100 in DXO PhotoLab5, surprise! They looked so much better!  A real definable difference in image quality.  I suspect Capture One, On1, Iridient X-Transformer will give similar much better results than did LR Classic.  Just a recommendation.

I'm struggling with which AF Custom setting works best.  I've tried #2, #4 and #5.  The #4 seems to give me the highest hit rate.  I will need to test this much more in the future.  If anyone knows or can find a someone who has determined a definitive AF Custom setting for birds, please let me know.

This small Snowy Egret was ‘fishing’ on the edge of a small canal.  As I approached, it started
to walk.  Catching it walking is more interesting than it just standing there. (click to enlarge)

The AF subject detect is extremely fast.  It finds birds at great distances easily.  It quickly locates birds at more than 100 yards (100m) away.  If there is only one bird in the frame, the AF system immediately finds the whole bird, the head or eye, depending upon the distance.  The closer the bird the better chance the eye will be detected.  However.... there are two major problems I encountered.  First, even if a bird is standing still in good light, the green box will initially lock on to the bird's eye then jump off, go from eye to head, back to eye, back to head, back to eye, etc.  Sometimes after locking on to a bird's eye, the green box would just jump to something completely away from the bird!  A branch, maybe.  Go figure?  I found that, even though a bird's eye was clearly visible and in good light, many times the AF box would not stay locked onto the eye.  That needs to be fixed with a firmware update, for sure.  As it now is, I t is really jittery.  Kind of reminds me of a real nervous person.  It can't seem to make up its mind as to what it wants to do.  I’m assuming it’s the system but there might be better settings that will keep it locked on more consistently.  As I said, this outing was about a lot of experimentation.

Second, if there is more than one bird in the frame, the AF system will decide which bird it wants to focus on and you really have no say!  Seriously.  It will jump from bird to bird to bird continuously never seeming landing and staying on one.  In that case, what I did was to program the red button next to my shutter button to toggle ‘subject detect’ on/off so I could quickly use regular AF to position the AF frame on the particular bird I desired.  What is needed is to be able to use the 'joystick' (focus selector) to direct the AF spot to the bird/human/animal/train/bicycle/car, etc. you target.  I suspect that a way this could be done is that once you move the joystick and direct the spot to a particular subject, then the subject detect will only focus on that particular subject and no longer bounce around as long as you have the shutter button at least half-pressed..  This was aggravating but the toggle on/off worked fine as a solution.  I think my Nikon has the feature to use the joystick to select the desired subject.

I caught this Great Egret gliding in for a landing.  The bird detect AF system
picked up the head right away and stayed locked on. (click to enlarge)

It doesn't seem to matter which autofocus box mode I used (various sized single or zone), when the AF system sees a bird, it locks on.  The AF focus spot comes in handy when you have to quickly turn off subject detect, as I have described above.

I had some frames that were entirely out of focus.  I could not find anywhere in the frame that was in focus.  I haven't figured that one out yet.  Not often.  Out of the 1500 or so images I made, maybe three were like that.  But why?

I purposely set both AF-S and AF-C for "Focus Priority."  That means the camera will not fire unless the subject is in focus.  Wrong.  I have many slightly out of focus images with that setting.  I can't remember a single time when I pressed the shutter button and the camera didn't fire immediately.  The ‘subject detect’ gives false positives is my only conclusion.  

In my opinion, my Nikon digital cameras, currently and in the past, still have superior AF accuracy than does my Fujifilm cameras.  That is 'in general.'  By that I mean that the Nikon doesn't do so well with 'subject detection' and doesn't have all of the capabilities of the X-H2S but it seems to give me 100% in-focus image files in general.  I guess what I’m trying to convey is, when my Nikon’s focus box turns from red to green, the image is definitely in sharp focus.  No near misses as I have experienced with the Fuji cameras.  It will be interesting to see if Nikon brings the subject detect capabilities of the autofocus system of the Z9 into a Z6III, Z7III or Z8 next year.

I spotted this little Belted Kingfisher next to a canal sitting on a limb with a huge (for its relative
size) fish in its beak.  Kingfishers are very skiddish and it took flight as soon as I stopped my
vehicle.  I watched it fly onto this dead tree about 50-75 yards away.  I sat and photographed it
the best I could as I watched it repeatedly smash the fish against the limb, try to turn the fish to
eat it, then repeat the process several times until the fish was dead. This is the full image even
when shooting with the equivalent of 600mm in 35mm format. It was tiny in the frame.
(click to enlarge)

This is an approximately 100% crop of the image above showing the size of the fish, now bloodied
from this tiny bird trying to devour it.

The C1-C7 custom settings on the top dial were invaluable.  As I mentioned above, I had C1 programmed for Shutter Priority (1/1600th sec. which could immediately be changed with the rear command dial if circumstances warranted), Bird Subject Detect, Auto ISO, 15fps, -.3 exposure compensation, Auto White Balance, RAW and the Pro Neg S film simulation.  I had C2 programmed with the same settings but added Pre-Shot.  With one click of the dial to C2, I could then wait for a bird to take flight and be sure to capture the peak action even with my now older slower reflexes.  C3 was programmed for general wildlife such as deer, foxes, raccoons and other animals I anticipated seeing.  As an aside, I only saw one fox but he scampered across the road about 50 yards ahead of me.  Didn't get to make a photo of it.

Much of the time I had the film simulation turned off as that gave me a better idea of actual highlight and shadow detail in the RAW file as well as more accurate overall exposure.  I have the Natural Live View feature programmed to the front function button.  In other words, with the film simulation employed, there is a false indication of highlights and/or shadow being lost.  That is due to the simulated JPEG mimics the film simulation’s characteristics.  Turning Natural Live View on better reflects what the actual RAW file will look like.  The down side is you don’t get a preview of the colors, saturation or contrast of a given film simulation.  The EVF image looks flatter and less colorful, but that is what you want to get the best idea for retaining highlight and shadow detail.

I thought the camera did an exceptional job at picking up small birds at a distance.  For instance, I was watching a Belted Kingfisher who had caught a fish almost as large as it was and beating it against a limb to kill it then trying to turn and swallow it.  The Kingfisher was a good 50-75 yards away and the bird is relatively small.  The AF system successfully picked up the bird and I made about 100 images of the process of beating the fish against the branch, turning the bird to try and eat it, then beating it more then turning it, etc.  

I'm not entirely sure what species this bird may be.  As close as I could determine it appears to be
a juvenile Black Crowned Night Heron.  At least it has the same markings.  If anyone knows
definitely what species this is, please let me know in a comment. (click to enlarge)

Additionally, the AF system was pretty good at picking up large birds-in-flight.  When I say large, I mean Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, gulls, etc.  Many of my attempts at this were made very quickly as, all of a sudden, the bird would come into view (lots of woodland around) and fly past.  I would say the hit rate for these birds was about 75%.  Also, if I could see the birds approaching and could identify and lock on to them, then follow them as they approached, the keeper rate was a bit higher.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the performance of the X-H2S for my bird photography.  I was able to capture sharp, well focused images of most of what I attempted.  Again, this is a $2500 camera, first generation subject detect, and not a camera costing twice as much or with second or third generation AF capabilities.  I applaud Fujifilm for a good first attempt at providing us subject detect capabilities.  I'm hoping there will be firmware updates to a) stop the jittery and constantly moving subject detect AF box, b) give us a method to choose a specific subject when there are multiple targets visible and c), advise us which AF Custom settings work best with birds-in-flight photography.  I’m certainly having a hard time figuring g it out.

Great Egret on the wing. (click to enlarge)

I plan to continue to experiment and learn all of the quirks of my X-H2s.  Hopefully, in the future, I’ll have an even higher hit rate and love using it even more!

Lastly, I want to again emphasize how poor a job Lightroom Classic did in rendering my images as compared to DXO PhotoLab5, especially when it comes to digital noise i]and overall image sharpness.  On a related subject, I also found that using DXO with my Nikon 24-200mm f/4-6.3 lens made a remarkable difference in edge and corner resolution and sharpness.  Just sayin’.  Lots of times we blame the camera, lens or ourselves when our images don’t look good on our monitors.  The wild card seems to be which editing software you use.  That can make a big difference.

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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