Fun Lens Adaptations. Here's my "32mm" Len for the GFX.

Homage to twentieth century art photography.

I know some people look down their noses at the idea of adapting older or unusual lenses to their modern cameras. I get it. In the Fuji medium format system using Fuji's lenses means you don't have to worry much about things like vignetting and corner sharpness. Or overall sharpness. Nor do you have to learn/practice focusing manually. But sometimes I look for something other than a perfect rendering from a lens. And sometimes I want a lens that doesn't yet exist in a camera maker's inventory. And, to be frank, there are instances where I just don't want to splash out the cash for a lens that's not an everyday necessity. It's fun to play.

Last year, on a whim, I bought a Voigtlander 40mm lens that's made for the Nikon F mount. It's called the 40mm f2.0 Ultron. It's a smallish lens. Not quite as small as a lens in the same focal length made for the M series mounts, but small just the same. I think I was moved to buy it because I'd been using a Voigtlander 58mm f1.4 lens in the same mount and thought its performance was quite good. That lens was also a Nikon F mount version. I guess I buy the Nikon versions because they are easily and inexpensively adaptable across most lines of cameras. With the correct adapter these lenses are right at home on a Leica SL, and with a different adapter they are equally comfortable when used on a Fuji GFX camera. 

But what every lens adapting Fuji GFX user worries about is whether or not the lens adds too much vignetting to the image and whether it will be sharp enough. My experience tells me that there is no one answer across all the lenses in a particular line up. Nor are more expensive and intensively engineered lenses made for full frame at all guaranteed to work well on the larger format cameras. The 58mm Voigtlander seems to add a harder vignette than does the 40mm, for example. And, the 50mm f1.4 Zeiss Milvus lens, which is a superb all around lens on the format it was designed for (24x36mm), is not as good on the larger format as it just covers the 35mm frame but has a hard vignette on the larger frame. 

There are two things I like about the 40mm V lens better than the very good 35-70mm kit lens from Fuji. First, it's smaller and lighter. Second, it has a fast f2.0 aperture as opposed to the f4.5 aperture that is the max aperture on the Fuji GFX zoom. Another reason to like the 40 is how cool it looks on the front of the GFX with its Fotodiox Pro adapter. There's a red ring for Nikon G series lenses, an aperture ring on the lens, and a well marked, manual distance scale. In a nod to backward compatibility the lens even has the little silver "rabbit ears" that allows it to function (without an adapter) on older Nikon cameras. Even the pre-AI cameras. 

So far I've found the lens to be a good overall performer. One could easily cobble together a complete manual system of these Voigtlander lenses made for the Nikon as a basic package for a GFX incursion. 

The lenses made for the Nikon F mount by Voigtlander include a 28mm, this 40mm, a fast 58mm f1.4 and also a 90mm f2.8. This would give a GFX users a range that included (equivalents) a 22.5mm, a 32mm, a 46.4mm and a 72mm. I've only bought and tested the 40mm Ultron and the 58mm f1.4 Nokton SL ii s in this family (Nikon F mounts) but I have also used the 90mm f2.8 APO-Skopar lens in an M to GFX mount and found it to be a wonderful combination. 

Caveat: Your tolerance for vignetting might vary from mine. I shoot a lot of people and portraits where the corners don't have to be anywhere near as bright as the center of the frame. Since there is a lot of resolution in the GFX sensors it's easy to choose a more conservation aspect ratio and set that in the menu.  For example, I've been using the 40mm in the 3:2 ratio and hardly see vignetting at all. With the 58mm  there is more vignetting but I switch to a 4:5 ratio and it effectively kills the vignetting. All of the lenses work superbly well with a 1:1 crop and you know that's a basic preference of mine. If you are shooting your GFX in a square aspect ratio then the world of adapted lenses is your oyster....

Today I think I'll take the 40mm out for a long stroll. Get the kinks out. Get to know that focal length on this camera (Fuji GFX 50Sii). It certainly is fun. 

I came in close on these day lilies. Then I used the Focus Blur

tool too defocus the background. When I look closely at the closest flower is see

detail upon detail. It works well. 

Here's the what I'm talking about....

Go forth and adapt to your heart's content. 

An adapted lens as a mother's day present?

Your call....