As you read here, Zack Arias is considering to sell all his X-gear to get the GFX.
In his recent GPP talk, he introduces the GFX in an interesting one hour video. Here some excerpts:
He will start telling you why he chose Medium Format and his first steps in with Medium Market.
He goes through his personal issues that, amongst the others, also influenced his work…. and shares his way out of that.
At minute 31:00 he starts sharing his recent work with the GFX
32:25: He shares pictures that his 18 years old son took with the GFX.
35:00: “I’ve shot every format, but Medium Format has this look. It’s how the highlights and shadows are retained, the soft transitions between those two, how the focus falls off. I can’t describe steroscopic bokeh at all, but I can see it. […] I want that different look.”
39:00. Pixel Peeping Time… and you will hear the people just say “WOW!!” when they see the amazing sharpness and details.
42:30: The MF Phase One is amazing. Has 1 AF point, though. He goes at 1,600 ISO at max with his Phase One now.
43:55: Zack shows an image taken at ISO 12,800 (JPEG)… and again another WOW goes through the audience.
48:00: A Fuji Representative says that Capture One will support the GFX
Check out the video at Fujifilm Middle East facebook here. For more GFX videos at the GPP by Fujifilm Middle East click here.
Dale Sood & Gary Goldberg from Vistek had 24 hours with the Fujifilm GFX. Not much time, but they tested it as long as they could, even deep in the night out in the streets at -10 degrees. It appears to me that they are trying to give their honest feedback, showing samples and crops, and also pointing out some Cons.
Here are some excerpts… and please pardon me, but the GFX is such a new and exciting piece of gear to the photography industry, that I will cover it properly here on FR.
You can be sure: good or bad feedback, I will share it all.
AF in studio: AF was perfect for Gary when shooting with the model. He focusses on the model’s eye, and the camera did a great job with nailing it.
AF in Low Light Night Street: Dale used it in low light on the street, and his experience was, as expected, different. In low light it struggled certainly more, but he says it’s always harder for every camera to focus in low light. (NOTE: remember it’s an early beta firmware)
Focus peaking: Dale switched to Focus Peaking. But he complains that there is a lot of spinning on the lens to get the focus. (NOTE: also here consider it’s an early beta firmware)
Sharpness: Just watch the video, guys :)
ISO Performance (min 6:42): The reviewer has experience with other leading Medium Format brands, and he says he rarely pushed ISO over 3,200, because he wasn’t happy with the results. He assumed it would be the same with GFX. He shot on the street at night, and had to push at ISO at 3,200 and for one shot even at 12,800. On the back of the camera 12,800 looked great. But he thought “there is no way this going to look good on the computer“. So he brought the file into the computer and said “I should have shot at ISO 12,800 more often. How clean it is at 12,800 is remarkable” :) . At 6400 the images are very usable right out of the box, without having to apply any grain reduction in post.
Battery Live: at -10 degrees, he shot the entire night, without even draining one battery.
Conclusions: It can keep up to the hype. It’s going to be a game changer
A Video, where you can hear the shutter sound of the GFX as well as a quicky & dirty 2 shots AF test has been shared on the 5,000 members strong Fujifilm GFX Facebook Group here and can be seen also on youtube here.
The Fujifilm GFX is now in the hands of selected photographers, who are testing it and giving their feedback to Fujiiflm. And every now and then, Fujifilm shares little tidbits at their youtube channel.
One of the happy beta testers is Philippe Marinig. Here are some of his comments taken from this youtube video: “I like reality, I like using natural light. […] I was very impressed by the GFX quality. […] The GFX seems to have no much limitation in terms of ISO as well. It’s freedom, no limitation. […] New Generation, exciting“.
And the lucky photographers, who can already use the GFX, share some tidbits now and then also at the Fujifilm GFX facebook group… so don’t miss to check it out.
With that said, let’s come to today’s rumor, which should be taken with a grain of salt, because it comes from a new source, and especially because Fujifilm can change the estimanted pricing anytime. I mean, the X-T2 price has been decided just shorty before its announcement, and in case of the X70, Fujifilm even changed the price 2 days after the announcement, when it was still in pre-order status.
All I can give you are estimated price tags at the moment, and, according to a new source, Fujifilm has currently set the price for the GFX at around $8000 (with lens).
The 3,500 members of the Fujifilm GFX facebook group are very active. Some had the opportunity to test the GFX and shared their feedback for example here, some other guys are fighting hard to get their hands on as first on the GFX, like E. Bouvet and J. Apruzzese here, and more feedback and images can be checked out also here.
So you see… the group is very active and sharing stuff that fast, that I simply can’t keep up with it on FujiRumors. So, if you are interested in the Fujifilm GFX, then I recommend you to join the Fujifilm GFX facebook group.
Now, there are still many questions open regarding the Fujifilm GFX, and one of the hottest is for sure about its price. I’ve reported in the past, how an official Vietnamese store and Fujifilm showroom listed the GFX (+ lens) for sale for $8500 (€7,700).
Another hint has just been spotted by GFX facebook member Boerckel here. He noticed the flier of a German Store, where the Fujifilm GFX 50s price is said to be “about €8000“. It’s not clear if they mean body only or with GF63mm lens. The image shows the camera with lens, whereas the product description does not mention the lens.
I have this little habit: whenever I’m tidying up the chaos my two kids leave behind in the apartment, I put on a podcast.
Today, I came across one that I found particularly fascinating and wanted to share with you.
In the Double Exposure Podcast, Hugo Burnand talks about creating his portrait of King Charles—covering everything from location scouting and preparations, to the actual shoot, the lighting setup, his interactions with the king, the post-processing, and more.
Interestingly, Hugo drew inspiration from a painting of Prince Philip by Ralph Heymans. The painting depicted the Prince in the very same corridor where Hugo would later photograph King Charles.
The catch? That corridor is notoriously dark, making it a real challenge for Hugo and his team.
For this challenge, he chose just one camera: the Fujifilm GFX100 II—the camera he always turns to when he needs to capture a truly important image.
You can watch the video to see the clever techniques and setups his team used to overcome the challenges. The result is a portrait with a striking, almost painterly quality.
Of course Huge credits his team for the amazing results, but at some point he says:
full praise to my team […] because I think it looks like natural daylight thourghout and it also has a painterly feel to the photography.
Now, I warmly invite you to listen to the full podcast. But since I know many of you are particularly interested in what Hugo had to say about the Fujifilm GFX100 II in this context, I’ve extracted the key points below:
painterly feel in the image
fantastic dynamic range
great tonal gradation
if he’d have taken the image on a phone, it would be quite contrasty and harsher
it’s not about reproducing the image in big prints that he needs GFX, because even when reproduced small it has a greater quality intensity
the image was shot at ISO 3200
in a regular Canon he might risk shooting at ISO 800, and then he starts losing comfort
the Fujifilm GFX is amazing in low light
you can see the details of the king’s eyelashes in the image, even at ISO 3200
(Quick pause: some “smart” commenters will argue he used the wrong ISO and should have gone lower with flashes. I strongly suggest they actually watch the video before making that judgment)
the image looked like a painting by someone like Velázquez (personal note: I never thought I’d stand mesmerized in front of a painting for 15 minutes, but it happened to me in Madrid with Las Meninas of Velazquez… what a masterpiece)
And when Hugo saw the finished portrait of King Charles, he admitted that, for the first time, he felt intensely proud of his own work
(Another pause for the quick critics: some might say there is too much space above the king’s head. That’s intentional. There’s actually a rule in royal portraiture: you must leave enough room above the head to fit a crown.)
Editing?
no photoshop
Hugo explained that his adjustments were no different than what could have been done in the darkroom on a wet print
Finally, if you’d like to see this portrait (and others), Hugo has set up a dedicated website: crownportraits.co.uk.
Well, if what we received is correct, then the final price should be $16,499 and it should ship in October.
That’s significantly more affordable than for example the Sony Burano 8K cine camera but on the other hand also more expensive than something like the Canon C400 6K cine camera (which does not shoot 8K though).
