John Warkentin from the michaels camera Social Media Team is joined by Warwick Williams, the National Digital Sales & Training Speciailist, Electronic Imaging from FUJIFILM Australia and Paul Daniels, one of our in-house product experts for a lively round table discussion on the brand new Fujifilm GFX 50s Medium Format Mirrorless Camera.
The full range of current GFX Products are presented in this discussion and we shed some light on size, usability and incredible quality of the GFX system.
See the GFX 50s in action on a live Cocktail Photography Shootout:
https://youtu.be/0xRkJLnB5BA
Order the GFX 50s here:
https://michaels.com.au/collections/photography-digital-cameras-medium-format-cameras/products/fujifilm-gfx-50s-body-94035
FUJINON GF32-64mmF4 R LM WR
https://michaels.com.au/collections/photography-lenses-medium-format-lenses/products/fujifilm-g-gf-32-64mm-f-4-r-lm-wr-lens-94061
FUJINON GF63mmF2.8 R WR
https://michaels.com.au/collections/photography-lenses-medium-format-lenses/products/fujifilm-g-gf-63mm-f-2-8-r-wr-lens-94036
GF120mmF4 R LM OIS WR Macro
https://michaels.com.au/collections/photography-lenses-medium-format-lenses/products/fujifilm-g-gf-120mm-f-4-r-lm-os-wr-macro-94038
Fuji H Mount Lens Adapter for GFX 50S
https://michaels.com.au/collections/photography-lens-accessories-lens-adapters/products/fujifilm-h-mount-adaptor-94041
Script:
Introduction
(Peter Michael)
I’m Peter Michael; I’m the managing director of Michael’s Camera, Video and Digital, Melbourne.
It’s my great pleasure to introduce Warwick, from Fujifilm Australia, who is the International Product Specialist.
(John Warkentin)
Thank you very much, Peter, for the introduction.
Of course, I’m John Warkentin, from the Michael’s Camera Social Media Team, and as Peter said, we’ve got Warwick Williams with us here, from Fujifilm Australia, and he is a Product Specialist.
(Warwick)
Yeah, the National Digital Specialist.
(John)
National Digital Specialist.
(Warwick)
Just because I’ve done some stuff overseas.
[Laughter]
(Paul Daniels)
Well, it sounds reasonable.
(John)
And of course, we’re also joined by one of our in-house experts, Paul Daniels, and he has a vast amount of experience in all things photographic; as well, he brings an awful lot of medium-format expertise to the table.
And of course, this is a new area for me, and I can honestly tell you, I’ve played with one medium-format camera, and this is it! The brand new Fuji GFX 50s.
And, with very little trouble, I had this thing in my hand and I was shooting pictures with it, probably within five minutes.
(Paul)
Yeah.
(John)
And I think that’s really important for people to know.
So, I want to obviously, thank Warwick for joining us today.
We’re here, it’s Saturday morning, at Michael’s Camera. We’re in the world famous camera museum.
The Fuji GFX 50s
And Warwick’s here to help our customers out with a hands-on demo day, with the GFX 50s.
And so, we’ve got a collection of cameras on the table here – but I’m just going to hand it over to Warwick and he can tell us, where do you see this product sitting in Fuji’s line, and in customer’s hands? What’s getting people excited about this?
(Warwick)
Well, I guess it’s going to assume flagship status, being the best, I suppose, camera that can produce the best photo quality. No disrespect, sorry, X series!
[Laughter]
Sensor Size
But, you know, no substitute for cubic inches, as they say in the car industry, and sensor size on here is just so big, that medium-format sensor produces the best picture quality; it’s got the best detail, and as I’ve discovered, the best micro transition definition.
Now, if you’re wondering what that is, go and shoot some photos of snow, and if you can, shoot it with even an X series, or a full-frame, and then shoot it with a medium-format, and you’ll suddenly see more detail than you’ve ever seen in your life.
It’s a big of a drug, in that sense. Once you’ve actually done that, it’s very hard to go back to anything else.
[Laughs]
Value
So, the one thing I will say about this, though, that this really, even at the price, does put medium-format in the reach of a lot more people; it really does. So, your enthusiasts, as well as your professionals.
(John)
And that’s very important to bring up. Obviously, everybody’s price conscious in this day and age, but if you just step back 10, 15 years, in the early days of full-frame 35 mm format digital cameras and take a look at time/value of money; this camera is the exact same price as those cameras were when they were introduced, if not cheaper.
(Warwick)
Absolutely. You’re absolutely correct.
(Paul)
Actually, much cheaper, because initially, any professional full-frame camera you were talking about $20,000 at least.
(Warwick)
And the S1 Pro, when it came it out, our first “professional” digital SLR, was the shockingly low price of $1599.
But it sold! And that was back in what, 1999?
(Paul)
And it was actually (___) popular.
(John)
So, we’re sort of spoiled for choice with all these sub-1000 dollar cameras, and some of them are spectacularly good.
So, it’s, we just have to sort of have a bit of a reality check and realise how much value for money there really is in this camera.
(Paul)
Yeah. [Agrees]
The Fujifilm Range
(John)
Now, the other thing you’ve talked about is the HALO status, you know, this is sitting at the top of the Fuji line; and is a very interesting – you’ve stepped passed full-frame. Why bother? You just went from what was brilliant X-Tran, APS-C-style sensor cameras, skipped full-frame altogether, and went to medium-format.
(Warwick)
Well, the reason for that is that the whole concept of the X series camera was to give you full-frame picture quality, without the size in the way.
[Paul agrees]
And the only way we could do that was to create a smaller camera, and a smaller lens system; and the only way we could claim a full-frame type picture quality, was to create a new type of sensor, in effect. And, so, the X-Tran sensor was specifically designed to give that higher resolution output that you would normally get from an APS-C, something that would compete; and ultimately with, I believe, the X-Pro 2, and the XT 2, surpass full-frame sensors.
So, to me, it seemed only natural if we were going to go bigger, then we were going to go a medium-format sensor. So there would be no point – if we can do what a full-frame does with these, then really, the logical next step would be to medium-format.
(John)
And, of course, the DNA in these cameras is right here.
Using The Fujifilm GFX 50S
(Warwick)
Absolutely.
[Paul agrees]
(John)
So, if you just take a look at the top panel, we’ve got the physical controls; and if you’re familiar with the Fuji X series cameras, you’re going to be right at home.
(Paul)
You can just pick one up and start.
(John)
And even if you’re not, manual is, you don’t even need to read the manual to put this camera into manual.
[Paul agrees]
[Warwick agrees]
(John)
It’s just; everything is at your fingertips.
(Warwick)
And the nice part is, it’s customizable. There’s - sorry X users, I know there are a few features that have appeared on here that you’ve been wanting on X cameras, but we’re working on that.
One of the really cool things, I think, is the, of course, everyone loves the aperture ring. [Moves aperture ring on camera, with “wrrr” noise]
Well, nearly everyone. For those that don’t, there is actually now, a lock-in C setting – which transfers control of the aperture to your front command dial, and of course, if you then take your shutter speed dial, set that to T, that transfers control of your shutter speed to your rear command dial. So, whatever you prefer.
(John)
Just like every other camera ever built, pretty well.
(Warwick)
If you prefer to use it that way, you can; if you prefer to use it the, dare I say the “old fashioned” way, you can do so as well.
So, with that, with all the programmable, or user-programmable, buttons on the back and things like that, it’s very easy to customize it specifically to the way you want to use it; but otherwise, I always like to, when I pick these things up, use them without reading the manual. And, I suppose, in this sense that was a little bit easy, because I already knew how to use the X series. If you can use the X series, you can use this. But, I know from experience, having taken this around to people who are not familiar with the X series, they don’t have a whole lot of trouble – it’s pretty obvious, shutter speed; ISO; aperture; you’ve used a camera, you can use this.
[Paul agrees]
(John)
Yeah! And I’m proof positive, I did it. Yes, there’s no issue whatsoever.
If you, for example, haven’t used a Canon digital SLR ever, and maybe all you’ve ever shot were pictures on your iPhone, you picked up the Canon 5D, whatever – you might struggle to get to take a picture, you know.
[Paul and Warwick agree]
(John)
As much as, you know, I’m so familiar with them because I shoot on those, I mean, it’s only due to familiarity I am able to use the thing in my sleep. But this is just, it’s just there, it just works.
[Paul agrees]
In Your Hands
(John)
One of the other things, which is really important when you pick up a new camera, is how does it feel in your hand? And there’s no doubt in my mind that the Fuji camera, these X series, and the new GFX, they just have that feel of quality. Quality that’s, honestly, beyond the price-point, I feel. When you move these aperture rings, you just know that someone was doing their work back at the RND lab; and they’ve done it so well.
(Warwick)
Yeah, yeah.
[Paul agrees]
(John)
There are a lot of expensive products that I use, that when you adjust the controls, they are not feeling as good as they should, considering the price you’ve paid for them. I must admit…
(Paul)
The very definitive click movements on the lens are very nice to use.
Who This Camera Is Designed For
(John)
Mmm. Yeah, just beautiful.
Ah, tell us a little bit about where we’re seeing the end users of this camera. Who is excited about it?
(Warwick)
Well, as I’ve discovered from personal experience over the last few months; taking this out, testing it, and doing various consultations with pro photographers and such like; what has really surprised me, is we have the really, the full-time pro photographer is very excited about this.
[Paul agrees]
(Warwick)
But, also, your high-end enthusiast, your club photographer; and that sort of person, is also very excited about it.
For a pro, you’re looking at a product here that is very to use, very well balanced, has all the features you’re looking for; it’s faster, it’s better picture quality, and it’s lower cost than probably what they’re using at the moment.
Lenses and Sensor Size
And, so, what’s the reason you wouldn’t buy it? It’s come out with 3 lenses: so, we’ve got the 63, and we’ve got the 32-64, and of course, the 120 macro; it’s a 1:2 macro with image stabilisation. We’ve got another 3 on the way, which is the 1-10 f/2, and there’s the 23 and the 45 coming as well.
If that wasn’t enough, there’s also an adapter that allows you to use the Hassel – Ooh! I’m not allowed to say that, the H word, am I!?
[Laughter]
The HC lenses. Well, after all, they were made by Fuji, Fujinon in Japan. So, the Fujinon HC lenses that also have that “H” definition there. You can put those lenses on here. That adds another 9 lenses to the range straight away.
So, it’s a working system immediately.
(John)
If I can just interject: For those that aren’t familiar with the, how things change with sensor size – because the sensor is larger than a full-frame 35 mm sensor, and also a slightly different shape (It’s a 3:4 aspect ratio versus the 3:2 aspect ratio that many 35 mm photographers are familiar with – and of course, there you can see it, inside the mouth, it’s very large. [Warwick opens the camera by removing the attached lens to the inside sensor is visible] So, a 63 mm lens on this format is basically, your normal lens.
(Warwick)
That would be 50 mm, yep.
(John)
So, that’s just to remember: The crop factor is I think 0.79. Exactly.
(Warwick)
Yes, 0.79.
So, crop factor, yeah, going finally. Your full-frame, sorry, is a cropped sensor. [Laughs]
(John)
So, you’ve basically got a 25-50 in the zoom; you’ve got the 50 prime; and you’ve got what, it was like a 95?
(Warwick and Paul)
That’s a 95.
(John)
Yeah, a 95.
Now, this one is image stabilised! What is the long, image stabilisation in the line – are we going to see more image stabilised lenses?
(Warwick)
Ah, I believe so. Look, there are more lenses – some of them I am not at liberty to talk about – but there are certainly, we’ve got as I said, another 3 planned before the end of the year. They’re set in concrete.
But there are others next year; there’s, I believe there’s another zoom, and there are some other products as well.
Famous Fujifilm Firmware Upgrades
Ah, but, I don’t know. Fujifilm does try and be a little bit “fluid” as to what we’re doing; what’s under demand at the time. We respond very much to feedback from customers. I already know that there’s a firmware upgrade being planned based on feedback.
It’s actually rather nice, is that, having taken this around in the last month, to New Zealand, around Australia; no criticism! We’re just getting suggestions!
You know, yeah, it would be nice if, if, if, and…
So, there will be a lot of that incorporated I’m sure.
(Paul)
Well, you’re famous for that though; continually improving the camera with firmware upgrades. People really like that, I think.
(John)
Well, yes! There have been so many reports about, you know, the older models new life comes into them with these firmware updates, so that’s great.
Stabilisation
I just think that the fact that we’ve got an image stabilised lens in a medium-format system. I mean, I don’t believe that’s ever been done!
(Paul)
This image stabiliser is highly effective. I was shooting it.
(Warwick)
Yeah, we use the linear motor system in there, it was developed by us. So, very fast, very accurate, and very quiet; and that’s used in this lens for focus and for your image stabilisation.
(Paul)
I was shooting the lens recently, because we had training in Japan, and I shot that 60, that’s a f/5.6. From a distance, I was shooting a model from about 4 meters away, and I had no trouble at all with the stabilisation, seeing afterwards the level of detail, I could see the pores in her skin! Even though that’s, I think I was using about 1600 ISO, but also, the ISO seems almost irrelevant! The quality of the image is still retained, even at higher speeds.
(Warwick)
You know, what’s interesting about that – an exercise we did was, we had a photo of a lady, beautiful skin complexion; and the photo was actually printed full-size, and if you look at the image, it’s just wonderful. If you then walk up very close to it and start to look, you can see as you pointed out, pores and pimples and hairs and things like that. And you go [makes the noise of uncertainty] Not so complimentary.
The interesting part is when I mentioned that micro transitions, this is what it’s all about. We actually took that photo and gave it to someone who is very good with Photoshop, to “clean it up” and they took out all those little bits and bumps, and perhaps non-complimentary things, until we had it on the screen and all of us there agreed that, yes, that’s an improvement – that picture looks much better.
So, then we printed it and stuck it next to the original, and it looked flat and drab.
Those little bits and bumps and things are almost, that’s the subconscious data your brain needs, or the micro transition data your brain needs, to interpret photo reality in almost 3D. Take that out, it might look great on a screen, but on a real print, you actually lose that photo reality.
Now, this camera can deliver that. So, you know, you might say well I don’t want to see all the little lines and things like that, but you know, it’s what goes to deliver that photo reality to the human eye. So, and, this, I haven’t seen that before in another camera.
(John)
Well, that’s very interesting.
How large have you printed files from the camera?
(Warwick)
Ah, well, we’ve done various prints up to about 2m x 3m.
(Paul)
Wow, that’s quite large!
File Types - RAW JPRG Uncompressed Raw
(Warwick)
The camera itself can shoot in compressed RAW and uncompressed RAW, and interestingly enough, can also process those files in-camera; and that’s actually when we’re doing these prints this is how we’re doing it – you can process them into 8bit TIFs or a high-quality JPEG. So, aside from the JPEGs that it can create anyway.
What we’re finding out now, of course, with people now processing files through Lightroom, they’re getting staggering amounts of detail out of it, and even the most finicky customers are saying, it’s the best detail they’ve ever seen out of a RAW file.
(Paul)
Well, you saw that yourself, yeah. [Gestures to John]
(John)
I was blown away by the JPEGs I was getting and a week after I started shooting with the camera, Lightroom supported the RAW files; and then when I started processing those RAW files, and it was like another camera was born! There was just so much more detail available, and there was nothing wrong with the JPEGs!
(Warwick)
Yeah. I know, I had just a couple of days ago, a photographer send me a picture on my iPhone, which had been downgraded to 3 MP by that stage, and he was saying he’d taken a photo of a subject and then said, you’ve got to see the detail in this. So, he cropped the picture and then sent me this cropped version to my iPhone; I zoomed up on my iPhone and you could see the veins in this guy’s eye! You could actually see the reflection of what was, what was in the studio, in his iris. I mean, it’s just, on an iPhone! It’s just crazy!
(John)
Well, we were joking when we were looking at the files; we were doing the whole CSI thing; and (___) because, just, the “zoomability” is just staggering. And, I’m addicted to resolution, so this is why it’s a really exciting camera for me.
Use With Flash & Studio Lighting
Now, I want to talk to you a little bit about artificial lighting in the camera.
Have you done some work with studio strobes, or with the Fuji flash system on it?
(Warwick)
Well, we did when I was doing my training in Japan. Yes, we had it all connected up in a studio over there. We were using strobes – sorry, I don’t know exactly which ones they were – but the reason they did this, is because they actually chose a guy who was a professional photographer, he actually did models and items for sale.
Product Photography
(Paul)
Product photography.
(Warwick)
Yes, and product photography, that’s it. And, he just basically replaced the camera he was using with this [points to Fuji GFX]; plugged it in, our techs made a few adjustments so he could actually throw his files into the software he was using; and it just worked.
So we had plenty of time to play around – even doing multiple frames and multiple exposures; and playing around with this camera, in a lot of ways that he couldn’t with what he was currently using.
And, yeah, there was no problem at all, just replacing it.
(Paul)
No limitations wow.
(Warwick)
You can, of course, use the EFX-500 flash on here; just the same way as you would use it on the X series cameras. So, you can use it in up to 3 groups and control those groups from a flash on the camera.
One thing I was actually playing around with at home the other week was actually with the macro lens and putting the flash on the eyepiece, and tilting the flash down.
(Paul)
Oh, wow, that’s a very good idea!
(John)
You were having fun with it, yes!
(Paul)
That would never even have occurred to me.
(Warwick)
Yeah, no rules around here! You do whatever works!
Flash Speed Sync
(John)
One thing I wanted to bring up, and just more of just to tell the users a little bit – there’s been a lot of talk about sync speed with this camera, and I think there’s a little bit of a misunderstanding of sync speed means. People are getting hung up that, oh, the camera’s only got a sync speed of 125th of a second, but what you’ve got to remember is that the flashes are what stop time in studio photography.
(Warwick)
Well, you do have high-speed sync using the (ARC) system, the EFX-500.
(John)
Well, that’s true.
(Warwick)
And I would imagine, as I know some of the other flashes compatible with high-speed sync on our X series; I can’t see any reason – it’s the same thing – why they wouldn’t work high-speed on here.
(Paul)
Oh, now, I mean, the ProFoto system which actually was what that guy was using, would work perfectly in this situation.
(Warwick)
And, also, the lens, well, the camera is – and was – specifically designed as well, not just to be a focal point shutter camera, but also to offer compatibility with leaf-shutter lenses. So that gives you a shutter speed or a sync speed of 800th of a second.
(John)
Yeah, which is beyond what most digital SLRs are anyway – most of them are only like 200th to 250th.
So, the sync speed sort of matters if you’re trying to cut out ambient light from your flash photos; but indoors, there’s no way the ambient light is going to be at any level where it’s even a factor.
(Paul)
No, it’s not a relevant factor.
(John)
But, if you’re trying to kill the sunlight, well that’s where it can come into play.
But there are an awful lot of solutions for that, so I think that’s a bit of a storm in a teacup; so I think we’ve covered that issue.
Now, one of the most important things; now, we didn’t bring out a digital SLR from one of the competing manufacturers or whatever, but suffice it to say, yesterday’s video – it’s the exact same size! It’s the cameras most people are using now, and they carry those all day.
As a matter of fact, in some of the cases, I think with the Nikon and the 24-70 you had out here; I think it weighs less!
Because that new 24-70 Nikon’s a heavy lens.
(John)
Yeah, yeah.
(Paul)
[Agrees]
(Warwick)
I was in a lift the other day, up in Brisbane, and a guy said to me, oh, is that a full-frame? And I said, well it actually makes your full-frame a crop sensor. I took the lens off and showed him the sensor and he went, WOW. I can’t repeat what he actually said at that point! [Laughs]
(John)
Because you’re going to be showing that sensor off to everybody, you might want to learn to clean it!
[Laughs]
Because you’ve got to show that!
(Warwick)
Yeah, yeah!
(John)
You might need a t-shirt with a picture of it.
(Warwick)
That’s an interesting concept – a bit of marketing there.
(John)
Yeah…
(Warwick)
Now, if there is a dirty sensor, it’s going to be that one. This one is my pre-production one, which I am desperately trying to hang on to; rather than sending it back to Japan! I grow attached to these things…
(Paul)
Hopefully, they’ll just forget about it!
Fujifilm Weather Resistance
(Warwick)
And I’ve put this through the works. [Picks up Fuji with smaller lens attached]
One of the, what I’m known for is pushing the cameras to their limits. When I did the test of the XT2 and they said it was weather resistant, people said “How weather resistant?” so I wacked a 16 mm lens on it, and took it out into monsoonal rains on the Navua river in Fiji on a canoe, and was letting waves wash over it and stuck it under a waterfall, and that camera, by the way, works to this day!
(John)
So we can expect the same from these?
(Warwick)
I can’t see any reason why not. I’ve already got this certainly well and truly wet, and it’s courtesy of the New Zealand weather on Waiheke Island– day starts out nice and sunny, so this is how you’re dressed [gestures to his t-shirt] and next thing you know, it feels like the middle of winter and there’s a driving rain storm! And, that was kept for an hour and a half in driving rain, amongst myself and about 9 other photographers at that stage; just as you see here, this very camera [Points to the same smaller Fuji with short lens] – no problem at all.
(John)
That has to be a first. I can’t imagine any of the competing medium-format cameras…
(Warwick)
I’m not aware of something where everything is weather is resistant, so whether you’re using the adapter, the tilt adapter for the eyepiece, anything, it’s a complete weather resistant system.
(Paul)
I do sell other things that begin with other letters, that claim weather resistance; and they are to a certain degree; but one thing I was noticing a thing about this thing – you’ve used it fairly hard, you say – is it really doesn’t show any signs of wear!
(Warwick)
No, no, no; and this has been into the outback, it’s been over to New Zealand in wind and rain, very heavy wind and rain; I haven’t actually had it in the snow. We’ve taken photos of snow and ice in a studio, but it’s…
(Paul)
But the operating temperature is quite low as well, isn’t it?
(Warwick)
Ah, yeah, so the typical, the usual thing -10. I’m actually going to take it, hopefully, to Dubai in a few weeks. We’ll test it out there. [Laughs] I know it’s 32 at the moment.
Battery Life
(John)
Just pop the battery out so we can show people. It’s got a very beefy battery; great battery life.
[Warwick slides the battery out of the Fuji]
(Warwick)
Yeah, so, probably better if I actually the one out of this one. That’s my pre-production battery.
[Takes battery out of Fuji with very long lens on it]
This one’s got all the letters and numbers on it, but it’s the same thing. [Holds up battery to the camera]
Yeah, so it is bigger than the MPW126s that’s in the X series batteries; but you get about 400 shots out of that, and of course with the grip on, you can put a second one in, that’s about 800 shots, and if you actually put the camera into “economy mode” you can stretch it out to about 900 shots for the two batteries. And that does seem to be a (fruit), there’s no problem.
(Paul)
What does that limit, putting it into economy mode?
(Warwick)
It slows things down, so you’ll notice the refresh rate in the viewfinder is probably a little bit slower; and it, oddly enough, what we call economy mode is still faster than any other medium-format, so… [Laughs]
(Paul)
Well, that’s understandable.
(Warwick)
But, it’s eminently usable in a lot more applications that you would normally expect the medium-format to be used in.
User Experience
(John)
I just want to just to relate a couple of my user experiences with it. I’ve just found, again, right out of the box it was easy to use; feels great in the hand. I’m extremely impressed with the autofocus capabilities of it.
[Paul and Warwick agree]
Again, there are all the couch complainers are always “oh it’s not fast” or something, but the thing was rock solid; it did everything I expected it to do! I had no problems at all! There are just so many focus points!
(Warwick)
Yeah!
(John)
The other thing I was extremely impressed with was the accuracy of the exposures! So when I put it into aperture priority mode, I was never riding exposure compensation!
[Paul and Warwick agree]
I mean, this thing is just right on the money, delivering what I need; and then, of course, the shadow detail that’s available to push later on in pilot recovery; whereas I’m used to always riding exposure compensation. So, I was like…
(Warwick)
Well, you’ve got to remember, Fujifilm, you know, in terms of cameras – I know we’ve been in film and colour a long time – medium-format is where we’ve been since we started making cameras; and that went right through, even in 1968 when we launched the G6-90, which was the sort of, the first compact medium-format, if we can call it that. But, we’ve been medium-format up until about 2014, when we started retooling to make this baby.
But, there are a lot of medium-format cameras out there that Fujifilm has produced over the years, and so, that adds up to a lot of experience in this area.
Ability To Accept Other Lenses
(John)
Now, one question I was wondering about; now that we’ve got the new G-mount, will Fuji open up the communications protocol so that third-party vendors can make lenses?
(Warwick)
Ah, now, that’s something I can’t comment on. I don’t know.
(John)
Because we’ve seen some adapters come out – some “dumb” adapters.
(Warwick)
Yeah, yeah, certainly.
(John)
So I’m sort of wondering if the Metabones people of the world will be able to make some smart adapters, and what will happen?
(Warwick)
I’m sure Metabones would certainly be very interested in doing it, and I, out of curiosity, I’d like, I’d be happy to see that.
(Paul)
I’ve seen a few people announce various devices.
(Warwick)
Yeah.
(Paul)
Even with AF capabilities.
(John)
Because when we think about what’s happened with mirrorless cameras and all the legacy glass that’s found new love and new life on these cameras; and we know that the Sony full-frame mirrorless cameras, I mean, people are mounting anything! You know, ancient Russian lenses are going on to these things!
(Warwick)
Yeah! Yeah!
[Paul agrees]
(John)
We’ve got the ability with focus-assist aids here, to manually focus anything reliably; the distance from the mount to the sensor is not that great; so basically, anything is mounted further out. So there’s, we know there’s a lot of glass that could find new life here.
(Warwick)
Oh, look, there’s, yeah. It’s like, I mean I have a fairly sizable camera collection myself, and so, you know, it’s like driving an old car – you don’t take your old car out because you want power steering and power windows and that – and the different lenses add different textures and different look and feel.
(Paul)
Characteristics.
(Warwick)
Yeah, different characteristics to your photos. As I said earlier, really, there are no rules! So, do what you must.
Yeah, it would make for a more interesting experience. Whether it’s going to happen, I don’t know. Personally, I’d like to see it, but I also would like to see a lot more Fujinon lenses as well.
(Paul)
Fair enough!
Conclusion
(John)
Well, you certainly got a nice package of three to start with! So, a working pro can buy exactly what we’ve got on the table here, and get to work.
(Warwick)
Yeah, well, you probably have at retail, you probably have 12,000 for that [picks up smaller camera and lens], and probably around 17,000 for this, with extra batteries; the grip; and the tilt adapter, which, by the way, I should point out; one of the most common questions I get: People think there are multiple viewfinders – not at the moment. There is actually the standard viewfinder that comes in the body kit, and then there is the actual adapter; and that adapter allows you to tilt and swivel the viewfinder, and that goes between the viewfinder and the body. As we have here.
[Paul shows how to attach the tilt adapter to the viewfinder on the other camera]
So, you don’t lose the flash mounting capability. In fact, you can – and I’ve tried it – you can even mount the flash on the adapter without putting the (DPF) on there for whatever reason you want to do that.
(John)
Yeah, so there are an awful lot of ways that you can use the camera; and of course, it’s a mirrorless camera! You can just use it with the rear LCD like your iPhone!
(Warwick)
Well, that’s the fun. The first time I ever saw this camera, because we didn’t have the advantage of having the viewfinder then; that’s it and it just felt strangely familiar, just holding it with that lens, just like that, the screen popped out and just looking down, it just felt normal!
(Paul)
Actually using it that way. [Gestures to the top-down viewfinder]
Using it that way, with the tilt adapter, and putting the flash on there with a macro, would be quite a viable system!
(Warwick)
Yes, and I’ve seen many people do that, and they love it. There’s obviously a lot of experience from our guys in Japan, that has gone to produce this product. Not all of it may seem obvious, but when you use it, it somehow becomes quite clear.
(Paul)
There are some quite imaginative people that have gone into designing this, haven’t they?
(Warwick)
There’s… what I really love about working with Fujifilm; and the privilege of going over to Japan and working with the guys over there; is there are some people that have unbelievable amounts of knowledge, and they’ve been with the company a long time. But, we don’t turn away from young people and the guys that are in there, that have developed a lot of the new stuff – the new sensors and things like that – you would be surprised at their age. You know, we’re talking 20s, mid-20s. These guys are so accomplished and so clever; it’s a joy to work with the company, and it’s a joy, of course, to have these sort of products coming out as well.
(John)
Well, that’s an amazing roundup; and I think what we better do is call it a day because Warwick’s got to get downstairs and start doing some hands-on demonstrations with this!
(Paul)
We would be happy to help you with that!
(John)
And I think Paul and I will try to help out where we can!
(Warwick)
Sure!
(John)
And, yeah, we really want to thank you for joining us here.
(Warwick)
Ah, thank you.
(John)
Thank you for joining us here at Michael’s camera, in our world famous camera museum, and for showing us this exciting new product line!
(Warwick)
Which is great. You know, if you haven’t been here you’ve got to have a look! [Gestures to the camera museum behind them] It’s worthwhile! It’s always changing. I come here a lot and I’ve always got to come up here and have a look.
[Laughs]
(John)
So, again, I want to thank you for joining us at our little, sort of, a casual roundtable discussion with Paul, Warwick and myself.
And, stay tuned for more exciting reviews, and usage reports, whatever, with the Fuji GFX 50s. We’re all excited about it, and we’re hoping to get a few more into inventory in the coming days.
(Paul)
Soon.
(Warwick)
Yes.
(John)
So that more of the employees here at Michael’s can have a chance to take one home and get some shots, and maybe within a very short period of time, we can start to see some of the work printed on the walls here at Michael’s!
(Paul)
[Agrees] Looking forward to that.
(John)
We haven’t had a chance to really wander too far away from the store with the camera right now. [Laughter]
But coming soon!
I’ve had a chance to play with it up on the roof a little bit, but you know, I’ve only got about 4 different subjects I can shoot from the roof – a few building tops!
But we’ve certainly enjoyed using the camera, and we’re very, very pleased to have Warwick here with us today to get our customers a chance to have a bit of hands-on time with the new GFX.
So, we’ll see you on the next video! Take care!
(Warwick)
Thank you!
(Paul)
Thank you!
(Warwick)
Always good to be at Michael’s!
