Focus Numerique (translation)

From 50 to 800 ISO, the GFX 50S delivers sumptuous shots: the colors are vivid, the images very detailed. The dynamic range is excellent and it will be possible to climb up to 1,600 or even 3,200 ISO without too much hesitation.

But while the GFX offers the best image quality of the bunch the question remains if the price justifies the comparable negligible image quality difference. Focus Numerique says they would have loved Fuji to go for the larger 55x41mm sensor…

sony-a7r-II

hasselblad-x1d

Well known Youtuber Max Yuryev explains why you Shouldn’t Buy The EOS M5. And this is going to upset quite some Canon fan!

On the other hand DxOmark tested the EOS-M5 sensor and is quite satisfied with the results:

Taken together with the 24.2-MP Dual Pixel AF CMOS sensor and Digital IS, it all signals Canon’s intention to compete more seriously with rivals in the mirrorless segment. With hindsight, it seems like the Dual Pixel AF CMOS was designed with mirrorless in mind. Image quality is similar to that of the sensor found on the EOS 80D.

You want to see what’s the difference between the Fuji GFX 50 Megapixel 44x33mm sensor and the Phase One 100 Megapixel 54x40mm sensor? At Imaging Resource you can compare the Lab Shots. Here are quick links to full size samples:
ISO 100: GFX vs XF100
ISO 1600: GFX vs XF100
ISO 6400: GFX vs XF100

The findings so far:
– At ISO 100 the XF100 shows an incredible resolution and color information.
– At higher ISO the XF100 really sucks. Phase One does a terrible job when you crank up the ISO! Images are very noisy compared to the Fuji with lot of color artifacts.

Phase One is known for being useful for landscape photographers and studio work. So they don’t are used to work at high ISO and it seems they lack the knowledge and power of Fuji.

GFX System Camera & Lenses
GFX 50S Medium Format Mirrorless Camera at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm GF 63mm F/2.8 R WR Lens for GFX at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm GF 32-64mm F/4 R LM WR Lens for GFX at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm GF 120mm F/4 R LM OIS WR Macro Lens for GFX at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.

GFX 50S Accessories at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm EVF-TL1 EVF Tilt Adapter for GFX 50S at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm H Mount Adapter G, for GFX at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm RLCP-002 Rear Lens Cap for GFX Lenses at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm BCP-002 Body Cap for GFX at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm FLCP-62II Front Lens Cap fpr GF 63mm Lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm VG-GFX1 Vertical Battery Grip f/GFX 50S at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm NP-T125 Rechargeable Battery for GFX 50S at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm BC-T125 Battery Charger for NP-T125 Battery at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm AC-15V AC Power Adapter for GFX 50S at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.

Laowa will soon launch the new very strange-looking 24mm f/14 Relay lens. We have been told the lens will be available in native Sony E / MFT / Fuji X mounts! Here is a video showing how it works:

ISO 100: Fuji GFX (left) vs. Pentax 645Z (right)

Imaging Resource posted the Fuji GFX Labs shots. And the great news is that Fuji really managed to squeeze out much more from the Sony 50MP sensor than Pentax managed to do with the Pentax 645Z (which sues the same sensor). Imaging Resource writes:

Well, based on this initial First Shots assessment, the Fuji GFX is simply stunning, both at low and high ISOs. This camera produces the best lab shots we’ve ever come across. Detail is fantastic, and high ISO performance is excellent.

Impressive work from Fuji! Now lets hope IR will add the Hasselblad X1D Lab shots soon too. I am curious to see if Hasselblad can match the GFX performance.

GFX System Camera & Lenses
GFX 50S Medium Format Mirrorless Camera at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm GF 63mm F/2.8 R WR Lens for GFX at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm GF 32-64mm F/4 R LM WR Lens for GFX at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm GF 120mm F/4 R LM OIS WR Macro Lens for GFX at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.

GFX 50S Accessories at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm EVF-TL1 EVF Tilt Adapter for GFX 50S at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm H Mount Adapter G, for GFX at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm RLCP-002 Rear Lens Cap for GFX Lenses at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm BCP-002 Body Cap for GFX at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm FLCP-62II Front Lens Cap fpr GF 63mm Lens at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm VG-GFX1 Vertical Battery Grip f/GFX 50S at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm NP-T125 Rechargeable Battery for GFX 50S at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm BC-T125 Battery Charger for NP-T125 Battery at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Fujifilm AC-15V AC Power Adapter for GFX 50S at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.

The following article is a guest post from Andy King and was first posted on akpo.ca (text and images reposted with permission). Andy tested a set of Full Frame lenses on the GFX. And the results are surprising as most of these lenses do work just fine on the GFX!

At Photokina 2016, Fujifilm shocked the photographic industry by announcing the production of the GFX 50S, a mirrorless medium format digital camera with a redesigned 44x33mm CMOS sensor. Unlike the Hasselblad X1D that was announced months prior, the GFX 50S sported both a focal-plane shutter and full electronic shutter. This game-changing feature meant that users could use any of their vintage medium format lenses onto the GFX 50S; the G mount system was now open to the vast ocean of lenses from the 19th century and onwards.

The design of a lens, focal length of a lens, aperture, number of elements, focus distance, default flange distance, size of the front and rear elements all contribute to the size of the image circle projected by the lens. A telephoto portrait lens with a large aperture would have relatively wide front and rear elements; resulting in a bigger image circle than the image format it was designed for. We can apply this knowledge to say that many 35mm lenses will cover the 44x33mm format of the GFX 50S.

In order to test out this theory, I had to first find a way to adapt 35mm lenses onto the GFX 50S. Being a mirrorless camera, the flange distance of the GFX 50S is a short 26.7mm. Canon EF lenses have a much longer flange distance of 44.0mm, meaning that if one creates an adapter wih a length of 17.3mm (the difference in flange), the adapted Canon EF lenses would retain the same focusing range on the GFX 50S as it would on any Canon EOS body (including the ability for infinity focus). Using the mount specifications of a GFX 50S brochure, I was able to 3D-print a prototype EF to G-mount adapter at the local library.

You may ask why anybody would use a lens designed for 35mm on a slightly larger imaging sensor (GFX 50S). The main reasons are image quality and artistic choice.  Smaller format lenses are generally designed to resolve more detail than larger format lenses.  All the tilt-shift 35mm lenses would cover the 44x33mm format, with room to spare for movements. A landscape or architecture photographer can use the shift feature to correct for perspective distortion, or for DoF control using tilt. 35mm lenses tend to have large apertures from f/0.95 and onwards, meaning they can be used for low light photography, or images with extremely thin DoF (portraiture, for example). The result of putting a 35mm portrait lens onto the GFX 50S may be swirly or soft corners, but many vintage and modern lenses are able to resolve the extreme corners of larger sensor quite well.

We tend to be inspired by medium and large format film photography for the unique and shallow DoF look. A Pentax 67 with a Takumar 105mm f/2.4 has a DoF equivalence of a 53mm f/1.2 lens on a 35mm camera (digital full-frame or film). The infamous Aero Ektar 178mm f/2.5 on 4×5? has a 35mm DoF equivalence of 52mm f/0.7. To get a similar DoF equivalence, we would have to use a Zeiss/Jena Biotar 75mm f/1.5 on the GFX 50S (35mm DoF equivalence: 59mm f/1.2). We can assume that using large-aperture (f/0.95, f/1.2, f/1.4) lenses on the GFX 50S will allow us to get similar DoF equivalences of the 67 and large format cameras. By capturing more of the image circle drawn by a lens, we also capture more of the edge aberrations (distortion, cat’s eye bokeh, swirling, etc) of a lens and thus it’s unique rendering characteristics. The artistic choices we have as digital photographers are now endless.

Downtown Camera and Aden Camera organized events for interested photographers to try out the GFX 50S. I decided to bring the prototype adapter with the Sigma 85mm f/1.4, Canon 135mm f/2.0L, Canon 24mm f/3.5TS-Eii, and a Porst 50mm f/1.7 macro. The first demo day at Downtown Camera proved that my adapter couldn’t fit inside the G-mount, so I made some revisions and tried the lenses again at Aden Camera’s demo. The Sigma 85/1.4 covered the entire 44x33mm sensor with no noticeable vignetting, including infinity focus. Similarly, the Canon 24/3.5 had no noticeable vignetting at infinity, and the only vignetting appeared at full vertical shift. I noticed that there was a color shift (fixable with WB settings) in the image with extreme shift. The Canon 135/2.0 had vignetting at infinity and distant portrait distances, but the vignetting disappeared upon focusing to five meters or closer.

I would like to give a big thanks to Fujifilm Canada, as well as Downtown Camera and Aden Camera in Toronto, for letting us try out the GFX 50S and allowing me conduct this test.

Download All images (Zip file)

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Fuji GFX at BHphoto, Amazon and at Calumet Germany.

Image courtesy Thomas Ludwig from Cosypeed

Thomas Ludwig writes:

Images have a very natural appearence. Colors are true to life and I have the feeling that one can see that medium format look. This might be subjective, but I think they have more plasticity than smaller sensors could deliver. I’m mostly happy with my micro 43 cameras, but these files play clearly in another league. The look, the colors, dynamic range and of course noise–simply amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Michael Clark writes:

The X1D reminds me a lot of the Mamiya 7II, which was one of my favorite medium format cameras ever. The X1D’s small size, straightforward, no-nonsense approach to photography, like all Hasselblad cameras, helps you to concentrate on the image and not on the camera. In other words the camera doesn’t get in the way of the image.

The X1D is on preorder at BHphoto, Adorama.