Digital Home Thoughts: Fujifilm's Hybrid AF Explained

"With the announcement of the Fujifilm F300 EXR and Z800 EXR coming on a day that also saw four other cameras being launched, it would be easy to overlook their most radical feature. Because, with the latest version of its EXR sensor, Fujifilm has achieved something that's been hoped for but not previously brought to market - through-the-lens phase detection autofocus on a compact camera. The company is claiming the system enables focus times as fast as 0.158 sec. We got some more details of the system from Hitoshi Yamashita, manager of the company's Technical Support Group."

Fujifilm has always been pushing things a bit differently with their digital cameras, and this year they're trying to do something new with compact camera autofocus. DPReview.com has a good article explaining how the new Hybrid AF system from Fujifilm works. As I've mentioned before, I suspected the imaging sensor was doubling up as the phase detect sensor, and the article more or less confirms it. For how it roughly works, hit the read link and find out!