My brief affair with current medium format digital cameras has come to an end. I tried to make it work. Really, I did.

 

I am in no way a neophyte when it comes to medium format digital cameras and the general practices of using them. The image above was done with one of Mamiya's attempts, circa 2007-2009. As a camera reviewer/writer for Studio Professional Magazine I enjoyed extended use of various Phase One cameras and Leaf Aptus cameras. I even spent some time with the Leica S system.  The difference between the CCD sensor-ed cameras from earlier days and the current CMOS offerings by Fuji, in their GFX line, rests on two things. The first is the the increase in both resolution and high ISO noise performance while the second is the $10,000 to $20,000 price drop from the bleeding edge days until today. You can now buy a used Fuji 50+ megapixel "medium format" (just barely...) camera for around $2,000 to $2,500; depending on the mood of the markets.

When one of my friends bought the GFX50Sii he thought he'd give it a try and see if it was much better than his current high res digital camera which, like most others, is based on a 35mm sensor size. Being affluent and able to turn on a dime he decided in short order that a newly released version of the 100 megapixel Fuji camera might suit him better. He jumped on the new product and offered me his scantly used 50+ megapixel model for a bargain price. I bought some extra batteries because I'd heard through the (accurate) grapevine that the bigger Fuji cameras sucked down battery power voraciously. That's also quite true. 

When the camera stores had sales on Fuji GFX lenses I bought the 50mm f3.5 and the "kit-ish" 35-70mm zoom. I quickly decided that 70mm was not going to be long enough for portraits so I looked around and played with a number of candidates. Having spent most of my budget for cameras on various  Leica camera bodies and lenses I looked for older lenses that might fit the bill for the MF camera. I stumbled onto the Pentax 645 AF lenses and I have to say that several of them are at least as good, optically, as some of the popular Fuji GFX lenses. I'll quickly add, for the naysayers, that none were as good, wide open, as the Fuji 110 f2.0. That is a nice lens. Pricey and heavy but optically very nice. 

I used the camera and the lenses on a number of involved photoshoots and, for the most part, I found the files to be at least as good as the images coming out of the Leica SL2 that I've owned for the last four years. But not much better. Certainly not remarkably better. If pushed I might say that the difference added up to about 1 or 2 % --- if every parameter was optimal and I could work with great care. 

But here's the deal. The Fuji GFX50Sii just didn't feel anywhere as sturdy and reliable as the camera I'd been using. Even the SD card slots are upside down (two is on the top, one is on the bottom. The opposite of every other camera with two card slots that I've used...). Even with Fuji lenses it's not a focusing speed demon. It makes contrast detect AF Leica SLs look fast by comparison. Then there is the unreliable performance from the camera if it is ever used in direct sun with an ambient temperature over 85° Fahrenheit. I've had the high temperature/thermometer icon go on sometimes in as quickly as fifteen minutes on a hot day. Go out shooting on any day with the "mercury" over 100f and you will quickly find that you are shooting on borrowed time. 

And then there are the batteries. The charged life reminded me of the painful days of the early Sony A7 series cameras and their tiny, weak batteries. Most pros I met out in the field who were shooting with those early Sony cameras (myself included) had a handful,  or maybe even a dozen spare batteries waiting for their 15 minutes of fame in one of the cameras before exhausting themselves and having to embrace a recharge. And, glory be, my Fuji GFX was in the same ballpark. 

Finally, the menus suck. Never drive a car that's faster and better than the one you own or you'll be disappointed with yours for as long as you own it. In the camera world I might say, where menus are concerned, that you should never shoot with a current Leica SL series camera if you plan on sticking with a Fuji GFX. The difference in menus is about the same as either having a clear and concise interface versus learning to read Klingon presented via a nasty and poorly designed font. Outrageous that menus have become so unwieldy and complex. And ugly.

While I got some good work out of the GFX I'll be un-modest here and say that it's mostly because I understand most camera operation basics and I spent time getting the lighting just right --- which is camera independent. When I finished my big group shot of the sixteen doctors with the downtown skyline in the background, last month, I was pretty much over any good feelings I may have had about the camera. 

The camera and the attendant lenses have now all been sold. The warm and happy feeling that this provides me is ... comfortable. If a job comes up that can't be done with an SL2, and a sensor with nearly 50 megapixels, then it's probably not the right job for me anymore. And that makes me happy. 

The ongoing purge of gear is all part of my current mania to pare down the excess inventory, simplify my professional and hobbyist life, and to stop thinking that I need to have every conceivable base covered by the appropriate photo gear. Might have been true when we were all professional generalists back in the 1980s and 1990s but now? Forget about it. 

Additional silver lining of no longer being a "Digital Medium Format" photographer? A lot more space in the storage cabinets. Who knew that negative space would be more comfortable?

The reason so many of us might be attracted to medium format digital cameras, especially since they are now so affordable, has to be our memory of the film MF cameras with their generous 6x6cm or 6x7cm film "sensors".. The geometry and size of the film formats gave us a lot more than just resolution. It also provided us with a different look and a different ramping of depth of field --- which made many subjects look so much more elegant. The current Fuji MF sensors are less than half the size of those in their film ancestors and not that much bigger than the 35mm size of most full frame digital cameras. Add faster lenses for the smaller sensor cameras and you've got marginal differences in the looks you can get. 

I'm waiting until some company designs and brings to market an affordable 6x6cm digital sensor medium format camera. That would be MF the way the photographic gods intended. And a sensor size that would make much more interesting photographs.

In the meantime I might go over and check out the new Hasselblad offerings. I hear the MF bodies are beautifully designed, feel much more solid, and the menu layout is even better than that in the current Leicas. If that's even possible.... But maybe I'll just continue to enjoy my four year journey amongst various Leica offerings. They are much more fun. Just sayin.

Thanks for reading.