Fujifilm GFX 50S ii. For those times when you find yourself on an
endless backorder status for the Fuji X100V...
We're setting records left and right here in central Texas. But not in a good way. We're under the blisteringly hot thumb of a high pressure system ("heat dome") that just won't quit. The actual air temperature right now is 104° but the "heat index", because of the high humidity, is 110°. I've stopped going outside after ten in the morning. Except when I run out of coffee...it's just too hot.
But that sure leaves me with more time on my hands than I am used to. Or want to get used to. Sure, the pool is great and swimming from 7-9 in the morning is now the prime time, but after a while one longs for more than a daily swim and some time spent at Gold's Gym (thankfully, well air conditioned). So I work on my book project (number 8) and when that gets old I look at cool cameras online.
I got a call from a close friend who, if you can believe this!!! buys and sells more gear in a year than I think I've owned in ten. He's super interested in cameras and lenses and buys stuff, tries it out and then moves it on. Anyway, he recently got a spectacular deal on a Fuji GFX 50Sii and a 50mm GFX lens.
He tested the camera, liked it okay and then moved on to something else. I asked him about the camera and he asked me if I wanted to try it out. Sure. He dropped by yesterday with the original boxes, extra batteries, an Arca Swiss plate, a Nikon lens adapter, and a dual battery charger (the camera comes only with a charging cable). All in new condition. I spent most of the latter part of the evening going through the menus and learning how to use the camera. Having owned a bunch of Fuji cameras (Xe30, XT3, X-Pro2, X100V, several SH1s, etc.) there was very little I didn't understand. But you never know and it's best to work through the details before you take a camera out on the street. Less futzing around. Fewer lost shots.
My friend offered the package to me for a song today. We just finalized the deal. I guess that makes me the owner of a new (to me) medium format digital camera. And now the fun begins...
Sadly, it was just too f$**ing hot to go out and test the camera in the streets today. I'll try to get up extra early tomorrow.... Do some pre-swim photos.
Hope you are having a cooler Summer than I am. three words of advice: Wide.Brim.Hat.*
*Even if you can do no better than a Tilley.
comments have returned. Be nice. It's too hot to put up with B.S. and snark.
19 comments:
go Kirk-GFX 50S ii :-) go! Can't wait to see the amazing medium format portraits and any other photos you end up sharing!
I love the "idea" of a medium format digital, but I would not buy one: for my usage micro 3/4 is enough and aps-c is more than enough. However I will be happy to read your opinions on the matter.
Somewhere, a Tilley heiress will be crying herself to sleep tonight.
I've never really understood why medium format is better than FF or APS-C. I thought I sort of understood it when we were using film (more real estate was better, and even more better with large format) but not so much with digital, once digital caught up on pixels. I read about how the appearance of MF is somehow subtly different, but how? And how subtle is the difference? Do you have to be pro photographer to see it?
A new adventure. I look forward to your final analysis. And of course the photos !
Eric
JC, I have an almost religious belief that bigger pixels on a sensor make for better images that are less dependent on having stellar performing lenses. For example, I always thought the actual photographs coming out of the 12 megapixel, full frame Nikon D700 were visually superior to the files coming from my much higher resolution D800e or D810 cameras. By the same token you have probably seen me write many times about my preference for the "look" of the files from the 24 megapixel files of the original Leica SL over the generations newer and double resolution size SL2. I read an article that talked about this in detail a number of years ago and I'll try to find and post it. But the take away for me is that 5.5 um is the demarcation between sensor philosophies revolving around two different sensor design philosophies. All other things being equal I'll vote for bigger pixels. So, if my SL2 is 50 megapixels and the Fuji GFX50Sii is about 50 megapixels then the pixels on the Fuji, spread out over a bigger sensor, can be 70% bigger. And, according to my religious precepts, 70% better. Take with salt.
I have a 50S (I) that I just love shooting. Either the fantastic 23/4, or some kind of fast adapted 50-85 Zeiss, vignetting and all. Very juicy files. Enjoy yours.
Best
Interesting times; cautionary note to all - take care where you leave your camera - I left mine in the footwell of the car (where it catches the cool draught from the air con) while I popped in to the post office with a parcel. There was a bit of a wait while someone did a complicated export shipment, maybe 5 minutes, when I went to use the camera later it was fried; mechanically OK but the technician told me when I took it in for repair that the electronics had overheated and that it was beyond economic repair - expensive learning curve.
I shall be interested in your real world review about the Fuji GFX 50S II, since I have had a couple on loan, although not that particular variant. And with a few of the Fuji lenses and adapters for my Canon TSE lenses. Anyway, I am not going to comment, yet, and hope that the weather for you and all Texans, becomes more bearable soon. (Incidentally, in beautiful Nidderdale, where we live, the maximum temperature today will be 63 degrees Fahrenheit).
It has been reasonably hot in Blighty of late (but UK hot is everywhere-else mild). Thankfully today is warm but overcast, so no blazing sun to deal with.
Medium format, eh? Looks like a lovely piece of kit, and I await your photos with it, but far too much for my mediocre talents. I do wonder what camera manufacturers can offer in the future that will have customers running to them. Not much that I can think of.
Welcome back to the Fuji camp, Kirk. I find that, as other cameras come and go, I continue to hang onto my core Fuji gear. I don’t really have the money wade into what I affectionately call Fuji’s “super full frame” format (not quite traditional medium format but pretty good anyway). But I eagerly await your findings .
We know you like to flaunt convention by mounting TTArtisan lenses on Leica bodies. Are there any cheap(er) lenses available for Fuji "medium" format digital? A whole new area to investigate.
I do love my original 50S, which I chose because I can employ the EVF-TL1 tilt adapter viewfinder with it. But then, you know me and tilting viewfinders...
I think you can use EF lenses, maybe some of your existing FF lenses would be ok too
Congratulations on your new purchase, I have the 100s & its the best camera I have ever owned, period. If you gel with the camera & you should, look at getting the 35-70 kits zoom when its on offer, its a sharp & versatile lens. If you need speed the c/y 50mm f1.4 Zeiss just about covers & has gorgeous rendering. Oh & the Acros simulations are great. I look forward to your future comments
Oh Man . . . . !
This is such bad news . . . . . . . . for my wallet.
Every time you change camera systems my subconscious thinks it is a good idea and starts scheming to get me to follow you down the rabbit hole. Maybe if I trade my SL2 and 24-70 L-lens I can make this work.
Looking forward to seeing your results, with both native and adapted lenses. I have read that older lenses perform well using the crop formats; including M-lenses at 1:1.
PaulB
Btw, today is Bastille Day. Liberté, egalité, fraternité.
PaulB, No worries. I'm not changing camera systems. Still loving the SL2, the SLs, the CLs and the Q2. And the lenses. This one was just one of those "curious --- and too cheap to pass up" kinda deals.... Promise.
I had the over/under on a new camera in Tuck Hall at 30 days from the time you wrote that you had settled comfortably into the Leica/LUMIX universe. Enjoy the Fuji.
adjunct. Just adjunct. Swear.
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